"The Great Pumpkin Strikes Again"

Bainbridge Island Library
had its First Edible Book Festival
on October 24, 2009

Yours truly came up with two awards:

Palate Appeal:

Winner: "The Great Pumpkin Strikes Again"

Artistic Achievement:

Honorable Mention: "The Great Pumpkin Strikes Again"

I copied the cover of a children's book

The Great Pumpkin Strikes Again!

The base is GF pumpkin bread is made in a

baking loaf pan with the shape of pumpkins on top.

The decorated GF cookies are:

Linus w/his blankie, Marcie and Peppermint Patty.

Of course, at the end everyone enjoyed tasting the edible books!

In Honor Of Julia

Today I made an omelette a la Julia.

It cooked and flipped perfectly!

Unfortunately, it looked so good, I ate it before taking a picture.

Accompanied by a thick piece of gluten-free toast and a latte -

actually a semi cafe au lait

made with freshly ground French Roast coffee beans and foamed milk.

For those of you who haven't seen Julia make one, here it is:

Happy Birthday & Bon Appetit Julia!

Summer Crop

Julia Child - August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004

I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" today - not realizing it was the anniversary of Julia's passing.

The first scene of the old wooden-sided station wagon at the dock in France gave me a thrill as I remembered all the books I had read of Julia Child's life.

From there on, I watched and when it was done - glad I saw it after all the hoopla - but I was not thrilled. I think this review from Laura Shapiro found in the Gourmet newsletter says it all.

Why didn't they catch this?

In the movie, "Julie and Julia" the mortar and pestle that Paul buys Julia is WHITE!!!

If they had checked their facts and photos at the Smithsonian, they would know that is was BLACK with a wooden pestle!!!

Julia's Mortar and Pestle

Julia's Kitchen at the Smithsonian

100 Questions About Julia Child

PBS: Julia Child: Lessons with Master Chefs

Goodbye Again, Nancy

On March 31, I talked about the retirement of Nancy Lowery from the Washington State Ferry System. She greeted me as I stepped onto the ferry in the morning on my way to Seattle and another working day. She always had a smile for everyone.

Four months later - August 4th - late yesterday afternoon, Nancy passed away - or should I say, "went up there to help greet" as she did so often at the Bainbridge Island dock. She was a warm, caring lady who had many friends among passengers and workers on the WSF.

My daughter and I took her flowers, the week before last and she was so happy to see us, showing us a very intricate puzzle she had just finished. Much to her chagrin, there was one piece missing - right in the middle of the puzzle.

Nancy, you will be missed by many.

Landing on the Moon - Forty Years Ago

Apollo 11 Crew
Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin

On The Moon

"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind"

No Wind

Walter Cronkite 1916-2009
Reporting The Landing

Long Time, No Write

Have been busy working and just realized that I have not written in a while.
Promise to get back to giving my observes and musings of summer in a few days!

Breaking News!!!

Have TWO Jalapenos on my plant, as well as ELEVEN Patio Tomatoes and FOUR yellow blossoms on my cucumber plant. The lettuce is slowing down but the herbs are going well - and all of this on a 12 X 3 foot deck!

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

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.