Busy Feeder

Today, another Anna's hummingbird visited.
Several dips into the sweet nectar were observed.

Hummingbirds are very small birds with a high metabolism. A great deal of energy is spent flying, so they must feed almost constantly. Hummingbirds can consume up to twice their body weight in nectar every day. They usually feed on nectar and insects. They actually lap up the nectar with their tongues. A lot of people think that hummingbirds have a hollow tongue like a straw. Their tongues do have grooves on the sides that collect nectar. When the bill constricts, the hummingbird can swallow the nectar from flowers and feeders.

Buena Suerte

President Barack Obama has chosen
Sonia Sotomayor,
a United States Court of Appeals Judge,
as his first nominee to the United States Supreme Court.

The 54-year-old Sotomayor, her parents were from Puerto Rico, was born in New York City - the Bronx - and attended Princeton University and Yale University, is the first female US Supreme Court nominee of Hispanic or Latino extraction and, if confirmed, would become the third female United States Supreme Court justice, following Sandra Day O' Connor and serving alongside Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Sotomayor would take the seat of retiring Justice David Souter.

Burgers, Baked Beans and Potato Salad Time

Gluten-free Baking I've Been Doing

Gluten-free Graham Crackers
for Gluten-free S'mores!

Gluten-free Lemon Pecan Biscotti.
Dipped in my Nespresso espresso,
it's divine!

Gluten-free French bread made in loaf pan.
60 oz. Glad container is perfect for storing it.
Toasted, it tastes like an English muffin.
I also use the bread to make croutons and breadcrumbs!

Daily Visitor

After adding homemade simple syrup
to a lavender glass globe with red floral opening
and putting it in a potted plant on my garden deck,
a new visitor has been checking it out each afternoon.

Has this blog gone to the birds?
No, it's just Spring!

They're Back

Mrs. Mallard

Mr. Mallard

The Mallards
- are they "snowbirds" back for the summer in the north -
have shown up in the neighborhood garden pond.
No family members accompanied them.

See February 28, 2008 post , as well as May 31, 2008 post
for earlier info on them.

Cinco de Mayo - Ole!

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.

The date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.

It is a great time to gather with friends at home or Mexican restaurant and enjoy Margaritas and great Mexican - be it true Mexican, Tex-Mex or variations found in California, New Mexico or Arizona.

Some favorite Mexican restaurants of mine: La Fogata in San Antonio, TX; Mi Cocina in Dallas, TX, Rosa Mexicana in NYC, Casa Rojas in Bainbridge Island, WA and Mexico in Pacific Place in Seattle, WA.

Favorite foods: Fajitas, Barbacoa, Menudo, Botanas - appetizer with taquitos, quesadillas, nachos, and nachos made with steak or chicken at Mi Cocina. Oh, I can't forget flan and bunuelos and anticuchos - have only had these at NIOSA - Night in Old San Antonio during Fiesta Week in San Antonio - usually the week that has April 21st - and that is a whole other "fiesta".

5:30 AM And The Songs Begin

All of a sudden, the birds have discovered that it is Spring

and they sing as they start their morning.

Have lived in this new neighborhood for two years and this year,

the birds have come back after all construction has been completed.

Oh yes, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard

have come back to the pond

and make two landings daily.

Next door neighbor heard a loud bump the other day and

they had found that her balcony door was a solid object!

Savannah Sparrow

Anna's Hummingbird

Whipped up a batch of simple syrup

for his feeder

Black-Capped Chickadee

House Finch

Kildeer

Female Bushtit

OK, his song isn't great
but he guards the yard nearby.

Pirates Update

USS Bainbridge

When his ship was boarded by pirates just after midnight on April 8 off the Horn of Africa, Captain Phillips had given himself up as a hostage while his 21 crewmen barricaded themselves in a compartment.

On Easter Sunday, April 12, while one of the four pirates was on the Bainbridge negotiating a solution and one pirate on the lifeboat held an AK-47 to Phillips’ back, three SEAL sharpshooters fired simultaneously from the fantail of the destroyer, USS Bainbridge. They killed the three pirates inside the lifeboat, saving Phillips’ life. The shots were taken from a moving ship on a rolling ocean and were dead accurate.

Phillips, who finally returned home on Friday, April 17, emphasized the enormous difficulty of the task the sharpshooters accomplished and praised the Navy and the Navy Seals!

Coincidence?

This copied at 7:05PM/PDT on 4/09/2009 from CNN - hopefully it has come to a happy conclusion ...

NORFOLK, Virginia (CNN) -- Negotiators aboard a U.S. Navy warship are trying to secure the release of an American freighter captain who is being held by pirates on a lifeboat off the coast of Somalia, according to Maersk Line Ltd.

The crew aboard the destroyer USS Bainbridge could see the lifeboat where pirates have been holding Capt. Richard Phillips since Wednesday, the company said in a written statement issued at 5 p.m. ET.

Note the ship to the rescue - USS Bainbridge - not named for this island but for a naval hero - Commodore William Bainbridge. However in 1841, US Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes visited Bainbridge Island while surveying the Northwest. Lt. Wilkes named the island after Commodore William Bainbridge, commander of the USS Constitution in the War of 1812.

Coincidentally Commodore William Bainbridge is buried in Philadelphia - my hometown - could this be considered - "Six Degrees of Separation?

Fishing Season Opens

Female Belted Kingfisher: Eight-photo dive sequence

First shot - The bird can rotate its head freely, and is probably doing a quick, mid-air check of a potential threat. The shutter speed of 1/1600th of a second caught the action.

Other Fisherman Join The Scene

On a recent sunny day around Bainbridge Island,
the feathered population hit the water

Is this a very long scaup admiring his tail feathers
or a fellow scaup diving ...

News of the great fishing has spread

and the neighbors are "flying in"
- note Mr. Great Blue Heron on his way

"What is that I see in the water?"

Not a pretty dive

... but what great results!

Mom and Dad Bald Eagles
perhaps discussing Junior's whereabouts

... Junior is trying out his new found freedom

Dad going for takeout

Note the talons

Did he catch it?

Dinner is on its way!

Some neighbors prefer theirs on the half shell

MS Walk

Western Washington State has its MS Walk this week end

April 4 and 5th.

Bainbridge Island's MS Walk was today, April 4th.

Our Team Cooks - with Captains Lisa and Gail -
came in ninth!

Happy Retirement Nancy

Today Nancy retired after 19 Years!

Whenever I boarded the ferry on this side,
she was there, always cheery and
lifting my spirits no matter the weather.

She kept busy

keeping the ramp and docking area shipshape

and was never late to let the gangplank down

for early morning passengers

on their way to work or shopping.

The WS Ferry folks had a party for her

at the Bainbridge Terminal,

giving a plaque and gifts to one of their favorite co-workers

Pictures to follow!

Cherry Blossom Festival Time

This is my favorite time of year to visit Washington, DC

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is a spring celebration in Washington, DC commemorating the, gift of Japanese cherry trees from Mayor of Tokyo to the city of Washington on March 27, 1912.

The trees were donated in an effort to enhance the growing friendship between the United States and Japan and to celebrate the continued close relationship between the two nations. The United States government responded with a gift of flowering dogwood trees to the people of Japan.

3,800 more trees were accepted in 1965 by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. In 1981 Japanese horticulturists took cuttings from the trees in Washington, D.C. to replace Yoshino cherry trees in Japan that had been destroyed in a flood.

The most recent event in this cycle occurred in the fall of 1999. It involved the formal planting in the Tidal Basin of a new generation of cuttings from a famous Japanese cherry tree in Gifu Prefecture reputed to be over 1,500 years old.

The National Park Service predicts the cherry trees will bloom between March 28 and April 11, with peak bloom April 1-4.


Which cherry tree is which. There are actually five different varieties of flowering trees found around the Tidal Basin - Yoshino, Akebono, Kwanzan, Usuzumi and Sargent.

For a panoramic view of the trees around the Tidal Basin, check out this in the Washington Post.

The two-week festival is kicked off with an opening ceremony, followed by an array of activities and cultural events. Every day there is a sushi/sake celebration, classes about cherry blossoms, and a bike tour of the Tidal Basin. The Smithsonian Kite Festival is held as the beginning of the festival on the last Saturday of March.

Earth Hour - Lights Out 8:30 to 9:30 PM

Earth Hour is tonight from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.
to mark an international campaign against global warming.

Organizers with the World Wildlife Fund
expect switching off the lights on major buildings and landmarks,
including the Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge,
Eiffel Tower and Sydney Opera House.

In Seattle, expected to go dark
— or at least mostly dark —
are the Washington Mutual Tower,
Seattle Municipal Tower, the Space Needle and
Pacific Science Center's arches.

Number 100

My 100th Post!

It seems like only yesterday that I started.
Actually, it was begun on October 19, 2007
as a library project.

Frustration followed by elation
as the first printed words showed up on MY BLOG

... and I even added a picture later in the day!

I have learned to post pictures -
sometimes a time consuming to copy/paste
when my own pictures don't have the right one.

I have put YouTube videos
my own slide shows
and
links to other websites on it.

I have used this blog to make observations of happenings
and
musings on thoughts and ideas -
and then used the blog as an update to friends across the country.

For those of you counting, some dates have several
posts so this is approximately the 100th.

Here's to 100 more!

Goodbye PI

Cartoon by David Horsey and published today.

Today was the last day of publication for the Seattle PI,

that had persisted through 11 moves, and more than 17 owners.

Among its former employees:
Frank Herbert, who went on from the P-I to pen "Dune" and five sequels.
Anna Roosevelt Boettiger, the president's daughter, was on the staff as woman's editor.
E.B. White, beloved novelist and essayist - author of "Charlotte's Web" and "Stuart Little".

The 18.5-ton globe is a famous landmark that perched on the newspaper's building at Sixth Avenue and Wall Street near the Seattle Center, which the P-I occupied for nearly 40 years, until 1986 when the P-I moved to its current building on the waterfront north of Downtown Seattle. The 30-foot steel globe consists of two hemispheres joined at the equator.

Pacific Car and Foundry and Electrical Products Consolidated built the globe in 1948.

Erin Go Bragh

Is Fearrde Thú Guinness

Guinness is Good for You

Picture from Guinness website

Mac was a little upset that I didn't use last year's St. Patrick's Day post with his picture,so please check the March 17, 2008 post with his picture.

It's Chilly Hilly Time Again

Check out this "car'seye view" of Chilly Hilly ride. It covers a 33-mile route along the island’s perimeter and has been a biking tradition for over 36 years.

It is over 4 minutes but you can move the button forward to get to the end more quickly.



Organized by, and used as a fundraiser for, the Cascade Bicycle Club, the ride starts and ends in Winslow, reaching as far north as Fay Bainbridge State Park and as far south as Point White. More than 4,300 riders took up the chilly challenge last year, coming from 17 states and Canada.

View the map to see the route.

Weather Forecast - Rain!!!

Waiting in Seattle

Boarding the ferry in Seattle

Disembarking in Bainbridge Island

Race is for all

Up one of many hills with Seattle in background

Almost there with a little help from ...

Above Photos by Andy Rogers / P-I

Happy Birthday, George!

Is There A Yorkie In Your Life?

As you have probably noticed, there is a Yorkshire man sharing this blog - Mac. He is quite a character and to show you how he acts, check out this Yorkie Dog Blog that mirrors Mac at his quirkiest!

Also, check out Jilli, a certified therapy dog who plays poker and basketball.

You may have noticed that Mac likes to rest his chin on the arm of a chair. He especially likes to do this when he wants something - he knows the "stare" works.

A Little Known Fact

Copied this from an email Hannah sent me - we work together at the library!

"It's apparently always been easy to secure those rolls of wrap. I never examined the boxes ... just kept pulling on foil/plastic wrap all these years and having the roll come out as I cut my fingers on the edges."

"Sigh."

"Bravo to those of you who have always known this. Always glad to learn something new in a day! Was this something we were supposed to learn from our Moms? I can't believe it's been there all this time. I had to go into the kitchen and check this out for myself."

"Whoever looks at the end of your aluminum foil box? You know when you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time. Well, I would like to share this with you."

"Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box - written on the end it said, "Press here to lock end". Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place."

"How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one, too!"

"I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out, when I was trying to cover something up. I'm sharing this with my friends. I hope I'm not the only person that didn't know about this. I know you're going to go and check your boxes, so go ahead!"

I did and there they were - foil and Saran wrap.
Checked my parchment paper and wax paper and they are still behind the times!

"It's a good thing!"
Does Martha know about this?
Way to go Hannah!

Happy Birthday, Abe!

Red Is "In" Today

Today Friday, February 6th is the day to go red.

Join the fight to beat heart disease.
The national movement founded by the American Heart Association focuses on the number one killer of women – heart disease.
Everyone can show their support by wearing red Friday.

We usually wear red aprons at Christmas time in the store not for the holiday but as core employees with knowledge of the product.

Today as I looked through my closet, I realized that I had nothing red to wear. When I got to the store, I suggested we wear our red aprons instead of green and everyone thought it was a great idea.

Much to my surprise, none of our customers wore the color!

Why wear red?

By JEAN ENERSEN / KING 5 News

You might see people wearing red or hear the phrase this month "go red."
What's it about?
Red is to remind people that heart disease is the number one killer of women.

The signs of heart disease can be different for women than they are for men.
While men might get a crushing pressure on their chests, women might get:
1. a pain in the neck, arm, back or chest
2. unusual fatigue
3. shortness of breath
4. nausea

Something else that's different is that women are less likely to seek help.

The important thing to do is to recognize the symptoms and get help immediately. Time is a lifesaver. If you think you are having a heart attack, don't be shy. Speak up. Get help fast.

Love your heart. Take good care of it.

All those people you usually take care of before you care for yourself... well, they need you to take good care of YOU, too.