Strawberries and Cream

I used to think that my skin could count as having a 'peaches and cream' complexion. My thought being that freckles are kind of the color of peaches, and the rest of my skin is pale much like cream. I was wrong. But I still think I have a point. Mom sugared the strawberries her friend gave us and whipped up cream one evening. Or maybe this was a different batch altogether. No matter. All you really need to know is how delicious they were: they were very delicious.

More Walk

So, I learned over the weekend that at least one of my readers is over all the nature photographs, while the other doesn't read any post that doesn't have photographs. One of you will be happy, the other less so. I was vigilant in my search of low-to-the-ground sassafras, as it has long been one of my favorite leaves to crush up with my fingers then bring to my nose and take deep appreciative sniffs. Unfortunately I could only find big strong trees, no early saplings at ground level, which is pretty weird, really, because I have always been able to do so in the past. For a moment I wondered if I had lost my ability to identify the plant. But I don't think so.



A hazy Morgan's Steep around sundown evening time.
The house from the road. Looks a little bunker-like. Bluebird house in the foreground.
Also: my mother says that cardinal bush thing from an earlier post is an Oregon Grape, or Mahonia. Same plant, two different names. Crazy!

Birds and Tomatoes

Sapsuckers are cool birds, but really annoying to photograph. Ha ha. It's not the bird. It's me.


Mom ordered green tomatoes and picked them up on a Tuesday and Dad fried them up. So nice and tart.

Pretty Walks and Whatnot

Pretty sure this is Mountain Laurel.
I like the sound of morning doves.

Snail

I have hazy but clear memories of snails in Sewanee when I was a kid. My grandmother kept a few brain corals outside the house, and the snails hung out nearby them...not on them, but nearby. Pointless memory. Anyways, this snail was a good four feet above the ground on one of the living room's windows. Wish I could have gotten a better shot.

Artichoke and Chicken Grilled Cheese

Mom taught me that the trick really is butter on the outside of the bread. Revolutionary. I don't know how I managed to forget to take a photograph of the chicken I grilled, leftovers of which are in the sandwich. There is nothing quite like ooey gooey American cheese classed up with flavorful chicken and artichokes. Nothing.

Preakness, Strawberries and Visit

Dad went to Preakness but Mom and I stayed home. I looked up the Preakness Drink and concocted them for us. Ingredients included vodka, rum, orange juice and pineapple juice. I liked First Dude's name, but made most of my bets with the assumption that Super Saver wasn't over-hyped. He was over-hyped. Alas.
After the race (which was disrupted by satellite tomfoolery, thus causing my mother and I to miss the actual finish of the race in real time) we went to my mother's friend M.'s house. She and her husband recently completed a home improvement that allows them a wonderful screened in porch by their frog pond.
The strawberries were grown by M. and were delicious. The older I get the more I realize that I should just break down and grow my own produce, so envious I am of others'.

Birds

Birds. I like them. I wish I could track down some really cool ones. But this is what I got from an hour or so of sitting outside near the bird feeder (my mother's idea).
This is two birds.
This is a bird.
This is a different bird.
This is a bird flying away.
You will win a prize if you find the thing in this photograph that is disturbing.
This is a cardinal. They are red. And common. But pretty.
This was actually later in the day, or another day altogether. Blue bird! I like the way they fly: one two three flap dip and up.
I couldn't get any photographs of the red skinks I had seen earlier in the month. But they were not my imagination. Here is a skink with a stubby tail (they can release their tale from their skeleton when afraid, and the tail keeps moving even after in an effort to give the skink time to high-tail it out of there...see what I just did there?)

After a month in the hospital and then a few more weeks in Nashville, it was determined that my mother's health was going in a better direction than had been initially assumed upon her release. The diagnosis/prognosis had been quite shitty, but then she and her body went and did the opposite of what was expected, which was, and is, good. So, she and my father returned to Sewanee. I had come down the day before. A friend prepared a dinner for us, which we shared with cousin H. and his wife C. Delicious and much appreciated.
This is what my father looks like when he is trying to be dainty.
While none of us are quite sure that we are really and truly 'out of the woods' I think both my parents were glad to be home, and that some of the stress and craziness of the situation could be lessened. I have found that just taking it one day at a time can work up to a point, and I think that's all we can do in this particular situation.

Abbo's Alley

Another day I walked around Abbo's Alley. This deer and I made friends.

Pretty.

Driving

I dislike passing oversized vehicles with houses on them.
I also dislike being stuck behind such vehicles.
I did not take this photograph.

The Eyes of Apocalypse Dog

Well, you can't really see them. But if you were to look into them as it began to rain heavily outside the Piggly Wiggly, you would see the shape of the apocalypse.
Just so we're clear, this is a different day from my last sighting.

Oh Woodpecker

It doesn't really matter how many times I see a Pileated Woodpecker, I still think they are awesome.
There's a dead log at the end of the rock that seems to be a particularly good place to look for grubs and insects and the like. So, when this guy came for his meal, I was relatively ready with my zoomy lensed camera. Better than past attempts, though I still have a few things to learn about the best settings for bird pictures (as you will see later, and now too).

So big.

Flowers and Panini

Flowers on the rock, complete with spider web. Technically they might be considered a weed?
Julia's Fine Foods doesn't have a website but does have a Twitter account, which I find a strange choice, but what can I say? Nothing. Just that the only way for me to know what they offered was to go into the place, and it's a nice place. Very bright and airy, with a nice number of menu options and a really large ever-rotating list of specials (they plan it out for the month). What is my point? My point is that I went there to pick up lunch for the fam one day and decided on three varieties of panini: the artichoke/pesto/eggplant/goat cheese, the chicken and red peppers and I don't know what, and the ham and gruyere. The photograph isn't great, but each was tasty in its own way. My fave was the veggie/goat cheese combo, with the ham and gruyere close behind it.
I would go back.