Wise Thoughts

One thing about the Christmas season I like and it may seem a little crazy is the Yule log fire on Channel 2 of the Cable TV. You can turn the TV to this station and there it is, your own virtual fire, complete with crackling sounds, hands that put the next log on the fire, showers of sparks and of course none of the mess afterwards that you have to clean up once your fire is out. It is also one of those constants you can count on being there in the holiday season. Every year there it is!!
Now, the strange thing is that we have a wood stove in the house, right in the living room, and when we do use it it is warm and cheery and quite festive as well. The problem with it though in the holiday season is there are so many things around and close to it that it can't be used! It's a fire hazard! So right next to the real wood stove the TV sits on its stand and its virtual fire crackles away. Somehow it just does not seem right but it is dependable. And Festive!!

Macro Monday

At times I have such a hard time not to be so critical of the pictures I take. I swear I am my own worst enemy. I go through stages where I don't see at all the things I see when I am taking the picture. I get onto my computer and I scratch my head in wonder about where the heck this photo came from. I swear I saw something different when I snapped the photo.
I get so that I won't let anyone see the photos I have taken or fight the fight not to just delete the lot and hope for better shots next time.
It comes down in the end though to more than just what I am seeing in the photos. I take a look at where my life is at that moment and see that I have things I need to take care of, areas where I am critical of where my life is at the moment. Take care of those and I do see things in a different manner. Suddenly my photography makes some sense.
So here is a shot of me taking a shot of me, or maybe I should say me taking a shot at me!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wish everyone the best of the New Year.

For more shots of Macro Mondays please visit http://lisaschaos.com/

Friday's Fave Five

I thought because Christmas is just around the corner, I would do some Christmas faves for you all.
1) Christmas Light Displays: I got home from work late tonight and even later than I normally would of because I took a bit of a scenic route to see some of the beautiful Christmas light displays that are up. Some of the displays are amazing! Such talented people out there. A few are set to music as well. It is quite a bit foggy outside tonight and that just added to the magical quality of the light displays I think.

2) Shortbread: It is my favorite cookie of all the year. I love it just plain, no cherries, or dip in chocolate. It has to be made with real butter too. Believe it or not, I know a couple of people who actually use margarine to make their shortbread. That is just wrong!! (I am also one of those strange people that loves fruitcake, the dark kind!)

3) Eggnog: I am glad this only comes out on special holidays. If it was available all year round it might not be so wonderful. I love eggnog in lots of different ways - ice cream, with rum, lattes, straight up, substitute for coffee cream. I like it warmed up as well, in drinks in place of milk. It makes excellent french toast as well.

4) Candy Cane Ice Cream: Another thing that its good it is only out at Christmas. I don't even waste time getting a bowl. I am the only one in this house that thinks this is wonderful. So I can eat it right out of the container with no guilt at all!!

5) Ponsettias, Garlands, Wreaths, Christmas decorations: and here is the wierd part in that I don't like putting them up and especially hate to take them down. I love seeing others decorations and store displays. I just don't like decorating in my own home. Weird huh???

To check out other lists for Friday's Fave Five, please go and visit http://susannesspace.blogspot.com/

Scarf

Its time I think for another batch of pictures. Scarf is growing so fast. If you look back on the first pictures I posted you will really see the difference. She is about 11 weeks old now and has really settled into her new home.

She still has remnants of her shaky beginnings here. She still seems to have a eating disorder. If its not nailed down she will attempt to eat it. Needless to say, I have to make sure the floors and carpets are always clean. As well, we have to keep our older cat's food put away when he is not eating. She will polish off all her food then work on his if given half a chance. He is a nibbler when it comes to eating. He likes to graze all day on his food so he is not liking the fact his food is put away.

She loves to stalk things too. Her favorite things are up on the back of the couch and will attack my hair, especially if it is pulled back. She has sharp little razor blade claws.

She does not tire easily either. She is a going concern most of the time. I bought her a small catnip mouse and she went after it for hours.

She likes her butt pushed up against the pillows of the couch when she finally does stop for a rest. She always seems to have to touch something for comfort I guess to go to sleep. At night she sleeps on the bed with Speed, or between the Bear and I on the bed.

Vaccine shots coming up next week. Another trip to the vet for that!!

I will post more pictures, you can see how she grows!!

Watery Wednesday

Watery it is today, it has been pouring rain most of the day.

I am not too unhappy about it either because it is washing away all the snow that fell last weekend. I would much rather deal with the rain than with the snow. I am all for green Christmas!!!

If you enlarge this photo you can see the trees behind captured in this waterdrop! This was taken on the back of one of the park benches in the park behind our house.

For more Watery Wednesday photos, please go to http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

Today's Flowers

A bit of a shot of a bouquet of 24 long stem roses I recieved for my birthday. Its straight out of the camera shot. I have yet to go onto Photoshop and play with them. A couple of these are going to sacrifice themselves and go outside for some snow shots in a little while!!
For more shots of Today's Flowers, please visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

Watery Wednesday

Here are a couple of images taken out by the Fraser River while I was out searching for eagles.

Unfortunately, the eagles were way on the other side of the river from me, but I did manage to get some good water shots for Watery Wednesday.

For more pictures from Watery Wednesday, please visit http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

Macro Monday

Its just a silly picture of two ornaments we have by our Christmas tree. The duck is my ornament and is my most treasured ornament. I recieved it as a very first Christmas ornament at the ripe old age of three weeks old. Its been with my most of my life!! The evil Santa is my hubby's favorite ornament. It looks like he wants some roast duck for dinner!!
And this duck is the same age as me, because today is my birthday. How about that!!
For more shots of Macro Monday, please go and visit http://lisaschaos.com/

Skywatch Friday

For Skywatch Friday, I took some pictures in the Sports Park just behind my house. It is a brand new park, still closed actually, and it has a walking trail around the entire park that I was standing on when I took these shots. This first picture is actually over my house, its there really it is!! It was also a night of a beautiful full moon. Very cold out and the sky was clear.

I got home from work with just enough time to grab my camera and take all these pictures, hand holding the camera. I didn't have time to drag out the tripod, unfortunately.

Consequently, the moon looks like a light, no definition on the surface. But you can get an idea how huge the moon was in the sky.

It has since clouded over and they are calling for some snow later on tonight and tomorrow morning. I love the cold clear days but snow does nothing for me.....

For more pictures of Skywatch Friday, please go and visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Straight out of the Camera Sunday

My second entry ever into Straight out of the Camera Sunday!!!
Here are some pictures of the Turkeys that escaped Thanksgiving!!

Taken outside of Kilby Historical Museum in the Fraser Valley.

These birds were thankful to not be on a dinner plate!!

For more entries of Straight out of the Camera Sunday please go to http://www.murrieta365.com/

Roasted Tomatoes

My favorite tomato of them all is the Roma Tomato. I like that they are firm fleshed and strong skinned and are amenable to whatever cooking is required without losing thier shape or colour. When roasted they retain thier shape and become sweeter as they cook.
One of my favorite things to do with Roma Tomatoes is to roast them. I like to put spices and before roasting is finished sprinkle a bit of cheese on top that I have on hand. Here I have roasted tomatoes along with my bacon cooking in the oven. The little bit of bacon fat that the tomato sits on adds another layer of flavor to the tomato.

Cut Roma Tomatoes in half, lay out each half on a baking sheet and drizzle with good Olive Oil. Sprinkle with salt and ground pepper and whatever herbs strike your fancy. Here I used a bit of basil and oregano. About ten minutes before roasting is complete, I sprinkled a good pinch of crumbled Blue Cheese over each tomato and finished cooking. The blue cheese retained some of its firmness and a bit of melted creamy cheese as well on each tomato. Serve these with Bacon for a wonderful Sunday breakfast!!

Friday's Fave Five

1) Its my favorite day, or rather evening. I love Friday evenings, its the start of the weekend where I can sleep in, lounge around the house drinking coffee, watch Saturday cartoons with my hubby and not have to get up to go to work until Monday. Its the start of my down time!!

2) I am so glad my older cat Speed is getting along and "embracing" our newest kitten, Scarf. I really had serious doubts that he would accept another cat into his territory but I think because she is such a new kitten, he has taken on the roll of her surrogate and protector. How cute is this, them cuddled up and sleeping on the couch.

3) And not neccessarily in that order, (just the way the pictures downloaded) my Hubby is my favorite! He is my best friend, my calm port in the storms of my life, my breath of fresh air. There is nothing I like better than spending a day with him wherever it takes us!!

4)Greek Salad!! Is there any better combination of vegetables around?? Seriously, I could eat this every day. I buy a home made Greek dressing from one of the greek restaurants here in town. I could not make dressing any better than this stuff. It rocks the salad!!

5) My new Concrete Driveway!! My hubby and one of the Concrete finishers are outside babysitting it as I type this. It is still wet and curing, and they are guarding it so that no one who feels the urge to deface it while it is drying can do that. I might just have to take a picture of it in the morning, it is so wonderful!!

If you have five favorite things to share, please do so on your blog and then go to http://susannesspace.blogspot.com/ and sign into Mr. Linky to share.

Then go and read everyone's entries for the day!!

Skywatch Friday

For Skywatch Friday, a couple of pictures from this last weekend taken at the Eagle Festival in the Fraser Valley. The snowcapped mountains are beautiful, especially on a fairly sunny day such as it was. That is an eagle flying.

For more pictures of Skywatch Friday, please go and visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Watery Wednesday

Every year Salmon come up the Fraser River to spawn. It is an annual migratory event that also brings the eagles out to feast on the salmon.

This salmon is barely alive, swimming sideways and upside down.

The salmon coming up the river are huge. In places the water seems to boil with them.

Part of a stream where salmon are swimming up.

For more pictures of Watery Wednesday, please visit http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

Today's Flowers

For Today's Flowers I have a couple of pictures of the last of the miniature roses. I think these have survived partly due to being planted up against the house, so maybe a bit more warm than out further in the elements. It rains like crazy here so they aren't being drowned by being somewhat protected under the eves. A little bit tattered around the edges, a bit droopy, but then again aren't we all on some days!!!

For more pictures of Today's Flowers please go visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

Macro Monday

I figured it was about time for another Kitten fix, I know I can't get enough of her!!

For all those who did not meet the kitten last week here on Macro Monday, my hubby picked up this kitten after he had witnessed the car in front of him, the person in the car, unroll the window and toss her out of the moving car. He pulled over and found her and brought her home.

It's been a week of getting to know her and her personality and we have finally found a name for her that suits her to a tee!!

Meet Scarf!!! So named because her favorite safe place to be is on my hubby's shoulder stretched out over his neck just like a scarf. And also because she seems to have a bit of a feeding disorder. I think the last place she was at before being tossed out the car window did not feed her much if anything. She is a maniac about her food. She will scarf down a bowl of kitty food in about a minute. We have to limit the amount she gets each meal as she does not seem to have any shut off saying she is full. We have to hide our other cat's food as well as she would scarf that down as well. So Scarf is her name.

For more pictures of Macro Monday, please visit
http://lisaschaos.com/

Today's Flowers.

On a recent walk the other day with my camera, I saw this one remaining yellow rose along the fence line of a house I passed. Now winter is upon us here, and flowers are for the most part gone. It was right after a rain shower and I also managed to capture the raindrop clinging to it as well. For more of Today's Flowers please visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

Cream of Brussel Sprouts Soup

One of my favorite fall vegetables is Brussel spouts. I love them steamed, roasted, even deep fried. My hubby frowns on me deep frying them though, they do tend to stink up the house a bit. So I came up with a soup for them, being that soup is another one of my favorite fall foods. Nothing like a steaming bowl of soup on a cold fall day!!

Cream of Brussels Soup. The cast of ingredients. Forgot to put the real cream out here. Oh, and the real butter!!

Chop up all the ingredients and get ready to cook. It really does not take too long to make this soup.

Saute all the ingredients in butter, add chicken stock and simmer till veggies are soft. Then add your cream.

That shadow is my head ready to eat some soup!!!!

Here is the recipe for you all. You have to try it out.

Cream of Brussel Sprout Soup

2 oz. Butter

1 Onion chopped

2 Potatoes, chopped

Saute this for 10 minutes until onion is soft and starting to brown.

Add to the pot:

1 lb. chopped brussel sprouts

20 oz. chicken broth

Juice and Zest of 1 lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste.

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

1/4 tsp. Cloves

Simmer all this until vegetables are soft and totally cooked through. At this point you could puree the whole thing in a food processor but I like my soups chunky. So I just go ahead and add 4 oz. Cream to the pot. Serve after heating cream through. You can garnish the soup if you like with Toasted Almonds.

Hope you give this a try. I know some people out there like Brussel Sprouts, I can't be the only one!!

Macro Monday

Yesterday we brought home a new kitten to join our family. Hopefully anyways, because our older cat has been an only cat for a long time and is not to thrilled with us for this intrusion.

This little Calico kitten was discovered by my hubby yesterday after witnessing the kitten being thrown out of the window of a moving vehicle. My hubby stopped and picked up the kitten and then brought her home.

How could anyone throw a kitten out of a car?? How could you gaze into these eyes and then do that?

We have not named her yet. We have to find her name. She is beautiful though and today is finding her energy and getting playful.

I'll post more in the days to come!!

For more shots of Macro Monday, please visit http://lisaschaos.com/

Macro Monday

With Fall here and the temperatures getting cooler, one of the things I have noticed around my house is that the spiders have moved thier webs/homes closer in towards the house. I think they are trying to get closer to the warmer parts of the house as the temps get colder.

I haven't a clue what kind of spider this is, but I do like the patterns on her back. She is a well dressed arachnid!!

And as long as she stays outside in her own home, and doesn't try to come in to mine, we can have a live and let live attitude towards each other.

I know that since I bought my camera I would of run screaming off in the opposite direction rather than get this close to it. My camera takes me places I would not normally go to for sure.

For more pictures from Macro Monday please go and visit http://lisaschaos.com/