Sometimes there’s nothing better than an old-fashioned, tried and true side dish like these green beans. When our kids were still at home I could always count on this dish to be eaten without any complaints. I still make them whenever they come over for […]
For many years we rarely got more than a handful of American Goldfinches in our garden. I’d buy some thistle seed, fill the feeder and wait … … until the thistle seeds finally got moldy. Since just about all birds love black oil sunflower seeds […]
Winter has finally left and the sun’s been shining just about every single day. The temperatures are warming up and whenever the cold east wind stops blowing for a few moments I feel like I am on a tropical island. Oregon has a fairly mild […]
Hard to believe that it’s been well over one year now since the onset of the pandemic. Life changed in ways most of us could have never imagined. Well, at least not I. Through all the ups and downs of Covid19, it was often difficult […]
Hummers are resourceful when procuring their nectar. They are very agile and can fly in any direction, including upside! They weigh about 3 grams or approximately the weight of a penny. Look at her standing on the Rose of Sharon blossom! It’s just so much […]
This beautiful little rose garden is tucked into a corner of my favorite park, the North Clackamas Park in Milwaukie, Oregon. Over the past year I walked through here many times to keep track of the roses blooming and to sometimes sit down and […]
Here’s a quick, easy and healthy stir-fry you can whip up in no time at all. It’s probably faster than picking up to-go food or waiting for a delivery to arrive on your doorstep. Just remember to put on the rice before you heat up […]
Some days, more’s happening above my head that at eye level. There almost always are a few crows in the trees across the creek. They are a noisy bunch and can be heard long before they come into one’s field of vision. This resident red-tailed […]
Much of yesterday I spent in the garden, where I cut back shrubs and bushes, raked up an incredible amount of fir branches which had come down during the ice storm and stuffed our green cans fuller than my suitcase for a trip. There’s only […]
One sign that spring is springing in my garden is when the daffodils start blooming. The sun has been shining a little more, but it’s still quite cold some days. I look forward to spending more time outside in the sun. 🙂
During the fall, as the various berries started to ripen, I spotted quite a few birds feasting on them! This hermit thrush was huge surprise when I noticed it at the Justin Bieber Lookout Point! Hermit thrushes are usually quite shy around humans, but not […]
If hummingbirds could talk, they’d probably say that they love salvias. This black and blue salvia is another hummingbird favorite. I love how the hummers never miss the flower openings, no matter how tiny or oddly shaped. My garden and the visiting creature always have […]
Hummingbirds, just like butterflies, love Alstroemeria flowers! When these flowers start to bloom, this invasive patch of blossoms gets quite busy. My alstroemeria started out in a two inch pot and that has taken over a large flower bed. In moments I wish I hadn’t […]
Last summer I spotted a tiny gray bird sitting way up in a tree. I tried to get closer but blackberry brambles along the trail made that impossible. So I extended my telephoto lens instead and zoomed in on this little guy. Turns out that the […]
Buffleheads belong to the duck family. They are commonly spotted in woodland lakes, ponds and in sheltered coastal areas. Male buffleheads are easily identified by their dark black heads with large, white patches that reach from their eyes to the back of the crowns. White […]
Like in much of the country, last weekend was a weather mess here in Oregon. It’s been about ten days since the ice storm decended on us and unfortunately there are still thousands of homes without power. We had lost power a couple of times, […]
If you’ve ever been to Bali or any of the other Indonesian islands, you probably noticed tempeh on most of their restaurant menus. Tempeh, a traditional Indonesian food is made from fermented soybeans. It’s made using a special fungus to begin a natural culturing process […]
When I looked out the window today I saw red! Brilliant, bright, shiny red! He looked like a red traffic signal! So I stopped what I was doing and ran outside with my camera. This male Anna’s hummingbird (and several others) have taken a liking […]
in cahoots with muddy boots 