The Beauty All Around Us---Macro Photographs

I know I brag shamefully about my husband. He continues to amaze me, so I can't help it. This morning he loved the light so he went out and took some amazing photographs. I loved looking at them over and over so I thought in this first series I will just share his photos of dandelions.

The beauty of each seed and fiber.

The tiny center of each seed pod.

Each tiny seed is a thing of beauty tied with a umbrella of gossamer thread.

I love how they are cupped to receive light and dew with the catching the light.

Just tiny bits of beauty in the early morning light.

Even milkweed has beauty when she is dressed in morning finery.

I hope you enjoy photographs. They were taken with an I phone and a macro lens. I love how these reveal the beauty is all around us if we take the time to look I want to thank Ron for letting him share his photos today with you.

~Kim~

"
If a flower blooms once, it goes on blooming
somewhere forever, It blooms on for whoever
has seen it blooming."
---Sounder, William H. Armstrong, 1969

A Converstation about Rug Hooking

 

Happy Friday!! Can you believe February is peeking in at the edge of the calendar? I wanted to tell you about a conversation I had yesterday. I became a member of ATHA ( Association of Traditional Rug Hooking Artists) so that maybe I would find other rug hookers in my town.
 ( Always a temptation to just leave the rug part off.) Not a single person for my town was listed. So I continue to hook away by myself. Thank goodness for the internet.

 

  Yesterday I received a phone call from a lady who got my name from ATHA. I was so excited because I thought another person to hook rugs with, Finally! As we talked, I found out that nope, she has never pulled a loop. She has though bought and bought rug patterns, kits, hooks, frames, books, magazines, and a cutter that is still in the box. She has bought all kinds of hooks and wool. She thought she would do rug hooking but circumstance in her life happened that she was not able to do it. She has read, watched videos and can name designers, and rug camps and teachers. She wants to get rid of it all. ALL OF IT!!!

Next week, I am to go over and look at everything. Isn't that cool? I thought it was. Getting to talk to her and I did talk like a Dutch Uncle to try and get her to try to hook a rug. I told her I would help her and she might really love hooking rugs. So I hope that I can persuade her to try. I think with the challenges she has in her life, I think rug hooking would be nice for her as it is for me, but she just says no. So we will see. 

 

It should be fun I think. She lives on my side of town. So I am excited about an adventure. Part of me though, says, I just got my house decluttered. Do I really want to do this? So we will see.

Ron has been making things, this time it is lovely pendants. Meg's birthday is next week so he made this for her. He is so sweet, I tell you. I gave it to her yesterday, so I can show you. It is a tree with cherry blossoms.

 

Ron's Grandfather was a wonderful silver smith among other things, so it is so much fun to see Ron making these things now. I continue to be amazed how he can think of something and sit down and make it.

Must go, I have a hula hoe calling my name. Maybe for Valentines Day, I can have a new one, as my hula hoe is almost through the metal on the blade. That is my favorite Valentines Gift. 

Have a lovely weekend, weeds and cleaning chicken coops are on my list of things to get done this weekend.

~Kim~

" Each thing she learned became part of herself,
To be used over and over in new adventures."
---Gypsy, Kate Seredy, 1951

Cooking Grits

 

Right up front, I will explain to my Southern friends,  I don't know how nor have I ever fixed grits.  Megan fixed grits the other night for her sons, my grandsons. My sons, said, " What are grits?"
When Ron and I were going to get married, I was talking to him on the phone before I left for work, and I asked him what he was fixing for breakfast and he said, " Fried eggs and grits." I thought is was just so cute that he was having that. Even though, all of my family came here from lots of other states, my Mother and I were both born in California.  Iced sweet tea and fried potatoes, both were manna that she fixed, and that was about it on the Southern scale.

Stupid blooming tree.

Last night, I fixed dinner which was this lovely shredded BBQ chicken over pumpkin grits. It was lovely.
Since I have never seen them cooked even though I have read recipes. Ron was nice as I was getting ready to dump them in the boiling water, to say, " don't just dump them in, pour them very slowly and keep stirring." I was just going to dump them in and leave them. He said, " You need to stand there and stir or they will stick." Those things were popping all over me and I burned myself really good before it dawned on me to turn the fire down. Then he kept his mouth shut. Isn't it amazing all of the things you learn after almost 35 years. :)

Somewhere in the depths of my mind, I remembered eating them. I think my Mom must have fixed them but they were full of lumps. I liked the lumps. Anyway, mine were not lumpy but creamy and nice. I felt pretty proud of myself.

I will fix them again. You know I don't do recipes but I liked this recipe very much so I thought I would share it today. I changed it a bit though, I made the sauce and poured it over the chicken and put it in the crock pot. The left over chicken would make great sandwiches. It is a really good BBQ sauce I think. This comes from Taste of Home---Comfort Food Diet Cookbook.

I hope you enjoy it. I will fix this again. Have a lovely Thursday.

~ Kim~

Shredded Barbecue Chicken over Grits.

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
• 1 cup hickory smoke-flavored barbecue sauce
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 tablespoon ground ancho chili pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2-1/4 cups water
• 1 cup quick-cooking grits
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese
• 1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
• 6 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

Directions

• 1. Sprinkle chicken with pepper; place in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray.
• 2. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup broth, barbecue sauce, molasses, chili pepper and cinnamon; pour over chicken. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 170°. Shred meat with two forks and return to the skillet.
• 3. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, bring water and remaining broth to a boil. Slowly stir in grits and pumpkin. Reduce heat; cook and stir for 5-7 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cheese until melted.
• 4. Divide grits among six serving bowls; top each with 1/2 cup chicken mixture. Serve with tomato, sour cream, green onions and cilantro. Yield: 6 servings.

 

 

 

 

 

Whew!! Its Wednesday

 

Do you ever have those weeks when so much was going on that in a way, it is good it is only Wednesday and in other ways it feels like, it is only Wednesday?  That has been this week. Today, I think I will be binding the rugs I managed to finish yesterday and Monday.

My first rug was a little thing done by Primitive Spirit. It is a sweet rug, a bit out of my comfort zone. I wanted to push myself this year to try different styles.

It makes me happy to see this finished. Now hooking was a different story. I think for me big rugs are easier to hook. Little ones really give my hooking hand a work out.

My next rug I have done before and it continues to be one of my favorite patterns. I have always wanted to do it in different colors and I like this rug. It is a pattern done by Maggie Bonanomi called Mother Earth from the book Garden Gate Threads by Need'l Love.

I have no idea why this picture is coming out so small, but oh well. Here is a close up of that robin.

Just a fun rug.

I made my goal to do samplers this year. I am almost finished with my one for January. I hope I get a chance to work on it today.

 

This is a pattern done by Nan Lewis whose blog is called Threadwork Primitives. It is a nice pattern to work on and I do love stitching letters.

Okay, who knows what I did with my Picassa, but here is how the sky looked this morning. It looks like a old pictures doesn't it? Really though it was this morning as the sun was coming up and the fog was rising across the field. I thought it looked cool, and this effect makes it look pretty cool too.

One of the things I read when I was a young mother was how important it was for children to have animals to love. So all of the kids had animals that they took care of and loved. Then the children started growing up and the animals stayed with me. Which is okay, because I love animals. Not this part though. I had our two oldest cats that were beginning to really age. So yesterday, I had to take them to the vet to be put to sleep.
Bobbi was 19 years old and Claw was 17. Claw was blind and deaf and had really stopped eating and Bobbi would I think have died in her sleep this week. I think the hardest thing about having animals is doing the humane thing. I did okay until I got in the car to drive home. I sat in the car and cried until I didn't think I could cry anymore. But what is done is done and I still have three cats left but even they are getting old too.

Yesterday, all I could hear in my head was my grandmother saying, " Kim, you must never allow an animal to suffer, because that is the greatest sin a  person can commit, animals are given to us and we are responsible for their well being, they are to be cared for and taken care of and you must do that hard thing, and never let them suffer." I think she would have been ashamed of me as I think I let them suffer much longer than I should have, but I could not do it and I had to pray, " Oh Lord give me the strength." He did, but gosh, what a basket case I am.

 

But today is a new day and I have a lovely new morning. The other three cats though, keep walking around staring at me with big eyes.

Have a lovely Wednesday,
~Kim~

" Who bends a knee where violets grow
A hundred secret things shall know.
---"A Charm for Spring Flowers," Poems, Rachel Fields, 1957