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Category Archives: Cooking
First Day of the Last Month
It looks like we might have our first significant snow storm of the season tomorrow. Of course that prediction could easily change, but I rescheduled a long-distance appointment anyway. As always, over the last month or so the geese in … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Autumn, Cooking, Dogs, Food, Holidays, House plants, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Winter
Tagged December, End of November, fallen leaves, impending snow, intention, Japanese Maple, medicine card, missing loved ones, move with intention, murmurations, my red tree, northern lights, one flower standing, onward, Papi-Chi, papillon, The Antelope
1 Comment
Redirection
This week I will share a few things that have provided a bit of joy, appreciation, awe, or curiosity during September. For the most part they are pretty simple things which have created a necessary and probably healthy bit of … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Autumn, Birds, Cooking, Daeja's Garden, Food, Gardening, Mushrooms, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged ant vs. hornet, autumn light, Birds, bugs, Figs, flock of mourning doves, grandparenting, insects, polenta con fungi, rainbow soap, recipe, sage chips, sanity saver, scented clematis, September, september scenes, Spotted Lantern Fly, tea house
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Muggy and Buggy
Those of us who can are spending as much time hiding in air conditioned spaces, parked in front of a fan, submerged in the water, or escaping the area altogether for cooler climes. Hitting 100°F with humidity is a condition … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Are you kidding me?, Cooking, Daeja's Garden, Food, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged bad hair days, buggy, cold summer meals, days of watermelon, firefly season, gazpacho weather, heatwave, hot weather dinners, humidity, matcha, mosquito hell, muggy, overpopulating, overpopulation, summer heat, tomato face, too hot for little paws, too hot to move, too hot to weed
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Hey April!
Made it to April! Depending where you reside, so many experienced what felt like an endless stretch of cold and darkness. Around here you can almost hear sighs of relief echoing from all directions (regarding the weather, anyway). I’m going … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Birds, Cooking, Daeja's Garden, Food, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™
Tagged ant farm, bird in the house, curious turkeys, Dutch Baby, fancy crocus, harbingers of spring, house wrens, it begins again, robin, scilla arrives, seasonal reunions, sunny daffodils, turn turn turn
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A Few Days From Now
A few days from now we will hit the official Spring Equinox. On and around The Urban Porch, things are happening. Rain has been softening the earth to quench and coax emerging growth. Sun-warmed, once again the crocus and the … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Cooking, Dogs, Fashion, Food, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged banes of curly hair, basking in the sun, Cleopatra haircut, crocus, curly hair, curly haircut, Dutch Baby of the week, Fence Dino, first bee, full worm moon eclipse, gray curly hair, janis joplin pants, long curly hair, lunar eclipse, malachite clouds, nature mimics nature, papillon chihuahua, sparkly pants, Spring, tiny daffodils, two springs, wall of chocolate, warm sunny days
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Diversions – A Few November Details and Images
I’ve stopped watching and reading most of the news these days. Never one to hide my head in the sand, at this point I’m saturated and have had enough. All this angst in the media can’t be healthy. My gaze … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Autumn, Cooking, Coping, Food, Gardening, Holidays, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, treasures, Uncategorized, Weather, Weird
Tagged black and red cowboy boots, childhood memories, cloud dolphins, cloud whales, deities, ghost cat, halvah honeycomb icecream, lenticular clouds, light a candle, media anxiety, off-loading my cowboy boots, plantar fascia tear, prayers for my mother, radioactive dinosaur, seed catalogs, shakshuka, super moon, thanksgiving snow, the beast from 20000 fathoms
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The Waiting
If you pay attention you can already detect the scent of green – I love how the color is synonymous with the fragrance. The trees here are still in their remission, but the promise of verdancy is in the air. … Continue reading
Posted in Cooking, Coping, Food, Gardening, Mushrooms, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Winter
Tagged almost equinox, another year, anticipation, green, interesting fruits, lychee, moods, persimmon, seasonal changes, seasonal moods, seasonal shifts, small joys, spring is almost here, vernal, waiting for spring
5 Comments
Pattern, Color, Detail, Distraction (Look Away)
I’ve got a partial saga written and sitting in my draft folder. It is a convoluted and frustrating story that still has not reached a resolution, which plays into the procrastination. At certain moments, salient points and corresponding sentences will … Continue reading
Posted in Cooking, Coping, Food, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized
Tagged amethyst, avoiding the unfinished, beauty, Color, distractions, labradorite, moon jellies, patterns, purple potatoes, skies, stripes, sunsets, Texture, visual distracttions
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Funny What the Weather Will Do
January is bouncing all over the place in both weather and emotions these days. Views From the Urban Porch have been varied and unpredictable. One day I’m staring at an atmosphere so vibrantly blue that it conjures up tropical skies … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Cooking, Coping, Dogs, Earworm of the day, Flashback, Food, Friends, grief, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Weird, Winter
Tagged Changes, changing weather, diversions, earworm, grief, ice, January, january deaths, mood, most deaths in january, passages, personal history, retail therapy, sky, sky changes, snow, snowmelt, weather changes, youth
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Summing Up Twenty-three
Every time it gets to the last days of writing for the year, I visualize a cartoon of myself wiping my brow and saying “Whew! Made it! So here we are again. I’m scrolling back over the posts for this year … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, baking, Birds, Bucket List, Cooking, Coping, Dogs, Earworm of the day, Flashback, Food, Holidays, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized
Tagged 2023, aging, another year, baking fail, Christmas, dead monsters, earworms, end of the year, Holidays, letting go, New Year, senior musings, senior reflections, summing up, the holiday curse, whew!
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Random in the Rain
I’m sitting here at the computer, eating a very yummy but particularly stinky combination of melted goat cheese “brie” topped with last season’s harvest of honey from my brother’s hives, with a scattering of Spanish almonds on top. It is … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Autumn, baking, Cooking, Food, Holidays, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Winter
Tagged chevre dish, cozy like a dog, dutch baby breakfast, dutch baby sunday, flashbacks of youth, last of the leaves, making autumn last, melted goat cheese, my foodie thoughts, my red tree, odd memories, what ever happened to
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Stepping Out of Limbo
Mid-September. I’m awaiting a burst of productivity to occur, but it’s not happening. Earworm of the day, recorded by Jimmy Cliff in 1971: Sitting here in limboBut I know it won’t be longSitting here in limboLike a bird without a … Continue reading
Posted in Autumn, Cooking, Daeja's Garden, Earworm of the day, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged almost fall, colors of early autumn, easy recipe for the unmotivated, feeling in limbo, late summer colors, no motivation, stagnation, waiting for Autumn, zucchini for dinner
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Thoughts From the Shower
The wildfire smoke has returned. Perhaps that has something to do with the lessening of the late afternoon mosquitos out on The Urban Porch ™ . I’m not sure if that’s the case, but it could be possible. While standing … Continue reading
Mélange
What a month it’s been! Beautiful days, some lazy indulgences, some quirky sights to be seen. Due to the outrageously fine weather, I’ve spent some significant (and perhaps a bit wasteful) lengths of time just hanging out on The Urban … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Birds, Cooking, Daeja's Garden, Food, Friends, Gardening, nature, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™
Tagged blue, doing nothing, grandparents, May, purple, retirement, spring flowers, the most beautiful May, wild food
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Out of Focus
Everything feels out of focus this week. Making order of the thoughts in my head has been almost impossible – an inability to hone in and complete most things without becoming distracted. Events occurring in the news are probably a … Continue reading
Posted in Birds, Cooking, Deafness, Food, Hearing Impaired, nature, Perspective, Spring, The Urban Porch, Uncategorized, Wildlife
Tagged cooking fail, disconnecting, distraction, external reactions, internal feelings, low-end hearing loss, RSHL
1 Comment
Little Thrills
A few readers have shared with me that they have been unable to comment on some of my blog posts, that WordPress won’t allow them to register their responses without jumping through a few website hoops. In general I don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Cooking, Coping, Dogs, Food, Holidays, Perspective, Photography, treasures, treasures, Weather, Winter
Tagged crows, gifting, Gumby, hunkering down, laundry lint, little pleasures, no snow, pieces of the past, simple pleasures, winter food
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A Few Last Hurrah’s and Into the Time of Stillness
Not to be fooled by a string of balmy autumn days more reminiscent of spring, the reality of November is finally upon us. Even after a few mornings of frost, I was surprised (and a little impressed) that the geranium … Continue reading
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Cooking, Food, nature, Uncategorized, Winter
Tagged Changes, last vestiges of autumn, November, time of stillness
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Sugar Shack
I’m into wild mushrooms. From spring until the end of autumn you might find me foraging around in the forest, hopefully emerging triumphant with a small basket of woodland goodies, yet other times thrilled to have found just one or … Continue reading
Hoarding
Beneath the kitchen counter there is a corner cabinet with one of those two-level turnstile type lazy-susan gizmos which is supposed to allow you to easily view and access your stored canned goods and other groceries. I hate it. I … Continue reading
Posted in Are you kidding me?, Cooking, Food, Humor, Shopping, Uncategorized
Tagged cabinet from hell, corner turntable, kitchen surprises, stocking up
6 Comments
Waste Not
After having a conversation with an old friend about the healthful benefits of juicing, my guilt about my packed-away juicer was tweaked just enough that I hauled it back out…..what good is it if you are not using it? In … Continue reading
Posted in baking, Cooking, Diet, Food, Uncategorized
Tagged carrot juice, Health, juicer, juicing, no waste
3 Comments
Fauxtmeal
My very pregnant daughter was standing at her kitchen counter one morning eating some mushy stuff out of a bowl that looked like oatmeal but wasn’t. When I asked, she told me it was “Fauxtmeal”. Just coming into the last … Continue reading
Posted in Cooking, Diet, Food, Uncategorized, Weight
Tagged breakfast, fake oatmeal, Whole 30
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Adventures in Sourdough
“Why are we paying the price of whole wheat and artisan breads when we could be making it ourselves?” Almost to the day that the Significant Other made this economy-driven announcement, an old bread machine was synchronistically gifted my way. … Continue reading
Posted in baking, Cooking, Diet, Food, Uncategorized
Tagged bread machine, bread making, fermentation, sourdough bread, sourdough starter, the smell of kimchi
5 Comments
Machine Age
You would think I had grown up in the days of my grandmother or possibly my great-grandmother if you saw the kind of appliances I had in my house, right up into the 1990’s. As a twenty-something and even a … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Cooking, Perspective, Uncategorized
Tagged antiques, clutter, gadgets, hippie, kitchen tools, machines, old appliances, too much stuff
4 Comments
The Hamantaschen Fail
Hamentaschen (or Hamentashen, or Hamantashen), the tri-cornered cookies filled with poppy seeds, fruit jelly, nut mixtures, etc. were not part of my childhood holiday experience. Torrone nougat candy, bow-ties covered in powdered sugar, Italian bakery cookies, sesame and pistachio halvah……these … Continue reading
Posted in Cooking, Food, Humor, Uncategorized
Tagged cookies, Hamantashen, Hamentaschen, Hamentashen, holiday cookies, I can't bake, Purim cookies
6 Comments
daeja's view 