Dinner in a Pumpkin

Remember I'm the one who occasionally buys tofu, only to let it expire in the refrigerator? Well, the expiration dates were close and pumpkins were in my garden, so I googled tofu and pumpkins and found a few recipes for "dinner in a pumpkin." They were too complicated so I decided to make one up!  First, I sauteed some onions, garlic and grated ginger into a bit of olive oil in my iron skillet, then added ~ 3 cups of leftover rice, a jar of mushrooms, one can of fat free mushroom soup and a cup of milk. Not too shabby! Placed all that into a bowl and added another bit of olive oil to the skillet. Then, after cutting up the tofu into small squares and squeezing all the moisture out, dumped it into the skillet with a little soy sauce and proceeded to cook the heck out of it till it was a bit brown and much drier. Kept tasting it and it was still bland so added a bit more soy sauce and finally dumped it into the rice mix. Had some leftover celery so chopped up about a cup and added it. Place ALL in the dug out pumpkin and cooked it for 1.5 hours in a 350 degree oven.  Scooped some pumpkin and rice mix filling on a plate, and served it with a nice kale salad. WOW - we were so surprised how good it was! The celery added a nice crunch and I think a cup of peas would have made it perfect. As to the tofu...well, I'm still not sold on it. Could have left it completely out and not missed it a bit! :)

21 MORE Blooms!

Can't believe this little Trumpet Lilly in my ancient old backyard whiskey barrel.  Frosts are coming soon, but have not yet hit Owl Moon Meadow...soon the 21 blooms will be brown sloppy messes, but not today! :)

8,000 Years of Chinese Dragons

What amazing works of art at the Chinese Lantern Festival at Riverfront Park this year - a Chinese Dragon 20 feet tall and 100 feet long. Apparently Dragons are the soul of their culture and have been written about and created for over 8,000 years. Wow!!  Acres and acres of dozens of lighted whimsical fantastic exhibits were lit up like beacons tonight.

Uncle John's Bamboo Salad Set

In the 1960's my Uncle John Bryan came back from the Philippines and brought my mom and dad a Monkey Pod wood salad set. I am now the proud owner of this set and use it nearly every day. I can just see Uncle John, dashingly handsome in his Navy uniform, walking through crowded market places in the many countries he visited - hunting for just the right gifts for so many family members. A particular favorite of mine was the brightly colored transistor radio. He brought one to every one of his nieces and nephews. I would take mine clear up a tree, hang it from a little branch and listen to it! We were always over the moon to see him come home...Hi Uncle John!  :)

Our Moose "House Sitters"

What a treat to know our home is in good "hooves" when we are away - haha! Took this photo at 6 am last weekend as we headed out the door. If it's anything like last winter, they will once again trim our bushes, clean up my garden, and hunker down in the back yard leaving big melted spots in the snow where they spend the night. We are careful not to ever get in-between mother and baby!?!?!

Shrimp Gumbo heading to PORTLAND!

Care packages of HM bread, granola, vitamins and cherry jam to Adam, Hunter, and Amanda...and my favorite Shrimp Gumbo recipe in the pot ready to transport. Heading to Portland for an Old Wave concert and to connect with some great "kids" :)

EWU and COLOR!

Our NW spots of yellow are often overshadowed by so many pine trees, but this fall, we are glowing with color! This was taken from my car window when I pulled up at the Eastern Washington University PUB :)

Thirteen Baby Pigs...

When I was growing up, I was always my dad's shadow caring for the farm animals. We had an old blind sow who was our favorite. I was so amazed how she made her way out to the feedlot with all the others and then back to her pen without ever bumping into anything.  One year she had 13 baby pigs and I fell asleep under the heat lamp in the farrowing stall next to the mama with all the pink piglets spread out and asleep on my lap. I think there might even be a photo somewhere in the family snapshots. Recently I told my dear friend Katie about it and look at what she found at a flea market!  Such a memory :)

LOVE Trader Joe's

Quite a shared and simple pleasure in my life is buying groceries for my kids on our rare times together anymore. I know they are much appreciated and I get to spoil them a bit with items they might not buy for themselves on tight budgets. :)  Plus I get free samples and favorite chocolates!

VERY Cool Nomada Sculpture

NOMADA:  This is at Papajohn Sculpture Park just a short walk away from Syd's apartment and right smack in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. It is so cool - three stories tall and weighs four tons!  It represents the city's vision of itself in the Information Age. The artist envisioned the letters and words in the same way as human cells for tissues, organs, and bodies.

MORE Aunts :)

With mom gone, I now cherish my Aunts even more. Aunt Ardith, Aunt Alice, Aunt Ellen, Aunt Mid, Aunt Pat...wonderful role models of living VERY full lives and staying as active as possible. As mom and dad both said:  "You do what you can with what you got." Thanks to all my Aunties for doing just that. Aunt Pat and I did a road trip across Iowa to visit Aunt Alice...and of course, found some ice cream along the way :)

Deep, Deep Iowa Prairie Roots

I've always loved this photo of my dad. It was taken in a field of native prairie grass that he and my brother planted many years ago around the home place and across the road. He was always so proud of the benefit it provided to wildlife and the organic matter it laid down each year to enrich the soil. I stood in this field today...Hi Dad! :)

My Dad's Sweet Sisters :)

I realized every single day how lucky I am to have these two lovely ladies, Aunt Mid and Aunt Pat,  in my life (and Vern know it as well!). Both are going through some tough health issues right now, but the love and light is still as bright as ever in their eyes! I just adore being around them...

It's All Greek To Me! :)

So after the White Coat Ceremony, Syd, Vern, and I come out to the farm. Vern's hanging out with Matt on the tractors, I'm baking bread, and Syd locks herself into Meaghan's room to study...and this is what she is studying! All I can say is I am so grateful it's not ME! :)

Oh I LOVE Greenbluff!

My bestie and I did one of my favorite things today :)  I love EVERYTHING about our local Greenbluff Cooperative and the 27 farms at the base of Mt. Spokane. Of course, I love the produce, the smells, the old barns, the mums, the scent of fall leaves, the brilliant orange of the pumpkins in the field now that their greenery is gone, the bright red tomatoes growing out of old tires, the grapes, the walnuts, the cats, the bales of hay, and the welcoming fruit, veggie, and craft stands...but I absolutely ADORE my farmer friends up there. Especially the Thorsons and the Yaryans :)

Trumpet Lily Just Won't Give Up!

I've shut off the water to my garden as it is appeared to be winding down with the potatoes out and purple beans picked. Carrots will remain till after frost - as long as the gopher does not get them!  And the resident moose ripped into my gangley grape vines over my little Grape House, helping me prune for winter I guess!?! This cool plant surprised me this week with FIFTEEN more fragrant blooms after I thought it had long given up. Long live the Trumpet Lily!

Kitchen Sink Apple Pie!

I do make a mean fresh apple whole wheat cake which is about the best dessert ever (the secret is whipping three egg whites to add at the end so it's light and moist and delish, BUT I'm not too much of an expert on pies. With still so many Greenbluff apples in the frig and because running the peeler is such fun, a pie it was tonight. Decided to add extra apples, cranberries, walnuts and lots of cinnamon in the mix! It's edible :)

Just a Few More Hours on the Trail...

I was dragging my feet to STAY a few more hours on the little section of the Pacific Crest Trail we did last last week. (Thankfully Vern was very patient!) So much history, effort, ritual, dedication, sacrifice, beauty, seclusion, silence, awe, respect - just to name a few words to describe this 2,665 mile long trail from Mexico to Canada. It's really a very sacred rite of passage for sooo many dedicated hikers and I felt fortunate to share their footprints. During the last couple of miles, I stopped to take a selfie of my shadow, a close up of the red leaves, leave a "rock" footprint, touch a brightly colored mushroom, gently shoo a salamander off the trail, and at last laid right down on a mossy log to just stare straight up into the slight mist. This is what I saw.

Two Old Beans on the PCT :)

Once again, Vern and I took a chunk out of the Pacific Crest Trail! Though late in the season we lucked out on lovely weather and a dense fog on the last day - which helped because a few crossings over shale were steep! Thank goodness no rain or snow because we are still wimps :)