A Day In The Life...

 Things are a bit quiet right now, with winter and recovering and all.

I am feeling so much better but I have not been out much.

My little brain has started to swirl some ideas around, bucket list items that are winter appropriate.

I want to get out and take some pictures and I want to have some fun.

I have a few ideas...nothing big, just a small step in the wellness, back to normal direction.

In the meantime, I pitter patter around the house, cooking, cleaning, knitting....

I have organized a few areas of the house which I enjoy and at night I knit.

In the morning,

after finishing my "self care" and checking the computer, I usually put together an online puzzle.

Jigsaw Explorer

New everyday, they hold just the right amount of challenge, and only take a few minutes.

The hubs and I play Wordle together almost every day.

Then it is down to work, 

yes, I do some work from our home office, we own a bit of real estate and I help the hubs manage it. 
Yesterday, during a break from my desk, I took a little shuffle outside.

It was sunny and 60 degrees, a beautiful day.

My spring bulbs are starting to make an appearance.

The hubs plants all of them, 500 in total, tulips and daffodils...

I don't know the colors or placement so I am always surprised when they pop up and bloom.

I started my next knitting project...

The "Simple Yet Effective" Cowl

I am knitting with hand dyed Alpaca yarn, the color is Paisley.

The yarn was dyed by my good friend Liz.

I generally only knit at night, but because I have not been out, I am sneaking in a little daytime knitting.

I wonder around this big ole' house, I don't mind cleaning it, but it can be a daunting task. 

I like to organize "spots", organizing is my jam.

I tend to my little indoor garden, watering and cleaning up any dead foliage.

I think my Christmas Cactus is a little confused, it is getting flowers again.

Or maybe it is just a cactus.

My other cactus is having babies...this has never happened before.

Do any of you still get magazines?

I get these 2 magazines every month, but I did not subscribe to them.

I have not ever paid for them and the delivery name and address is mine!

I enjoy reading them, there are a lot of advertisements.

The food and Wine recipes are way over my head, and use way too many ingredients.

I cook most nights but have not been taking pictures.

This was so good and all you need is a hunk of bread to go with it.

 Zuppa Toscana

I have made this twice and it is so good.

It is the Olive Garden copycat recipe, the only change I made was I used sweet sausage.

We are spice adverse.

The recipe calls for spinach and I use spinach, the restaurant uses kale, either would be fine.

Life At The Jersey Shore

Do you long to see the ocean during the winter like I do??

Periodically checking on it...to be sure it is still there...

I am lucky enough to live at the Jersey shore, 10 minutes from the ocean

and a drive by the beach is almost always included when out for a "ride in the car".

On this day, the concrete wall was filled with Gulls.

We watched this "interesting" boat ride by.

I saw several Loons...

and this one lonely Male Red Breasted Merganser at the inlet.

We only see Mergansers and Loons during the winter.

And here is our beautiful beach.

Driving through Manasquan, I noticed this cool sign.

I see them occasionally around here and 

always enjoy studying them.

Let's Knit

 Most of you know I have an unhealthy obsession with knitting.

The act of bringing yarn together with two needles, and creating something, 

there is nothing more thrilling or rewarding. 

I have had many hobbies over the years, this is, without doubt, my favorite.

Knit with all hand dyed yarn from Arrow Acres Farm

Liz created this beautiful yarn dying it by hand.

 I started January 20th and finished on February 18th.

Knit in the round to form a "tube like shape", there is no front or back.

I love how it turned out and it is so warm...

Colorblock Party Scarf

I will need a snow day to wear it!

Wise Words On Sunday

 

Saturday Critters #584

I am feeling pretty good for those that may be wondering.

 The stones are gone, I am having a lot of pain but I am happy to be home and sharing here.

I only have a few pictures today, that were taken maybe 2 months ago, 

I never shared them here.

These were taken with my cell phone.

I had my camera but the battery had gone dead, I did not want to miss capturing this, 

I was pretty sure this was a once in a lifetime sighting for me.

I have read and studied pictures and I think this may be a 

Trumpeter Swan

although they are not usually found in this area.

Could be a Tundra Swan, they are seen in this area. 

The Trumpeter is larger than the Tundra if you are lucky enough to see them side by side, 

that would help distinguish some of the features.

They are both large, wetland water birds, with a long neck, short legs and white adult plumage.

The swan in question has an all black bill, the mute swans bills are primarily orange.

Sharing today's images with Eileen at 

Viewing Nature With Eileen 

for Saturday Critters

 

Cream Of Potato Soup

 Today, I am having 11 kidney stones removed from my right kidney.

So yesterday, in preparation for today, I made a huge pot of Cream of Potato Soup.

I have posted this recipe before, it sounded gross to me the first time I heard it, but believe me, 

it is so easy, and even more delicious.

I hope to be able to come home tonight, and this will be waiting for me.

Fry 6 strips of bacon in a large soup pot.

Remove cooked bacon to the side and saute' one diced sweet onion in the bacon fat.

This is the size of the diced potatoes.

Potatoes go in with the onion and enough water to cover, I cook these for 7 minutes.

Add both cans of soup and I use 1 pint of heavy cream which is different than the recipe.

When it all comes together it looks like this.

The last time we had it, it looked like this.

I served it with crumbled bacon and scallions from my garden.

I have crusty bread to serve it with tonight!

And the 11 kidney stones, true story...but if you don't believe it, I don't blame you.

My stones have been tested many times and they are not a product of the foods I eat.

So there is no way to stop them from coming.

If you love potatoes like we do, make this soup on a cold winter evening, you will be glad you did!

The Sunset, Shrimp and Flowers

Our sunsets this winter have been spectacular.

Most nights the sky puts on quite a show of colors, pinks, blue and fiery orange.

The colors are radiant and warm.

I text my fellow sunset lovers to be sure they look outside...

and send them a picture just in case they missed it!

Here are 4 different sunsets, all of the pictures were taken from the same spot.

Soon I will venture out to the marina and photograph the sunsets there like I used to.

- every sunset is an opportunity to reset -

We ventured out for dinner last night, Shore Fresh, it was the first time in a while.

We ordered fried shrimp so any germs it "may" have would die off in the cooking process.

We used plasticware instead of silverware.

The Paperwhites are showing off their clusters of small white flowers,

with their dotted yellow centers.

These easy to grow, fragrant blooms symbolize renewal, hope, light and new beginnings.

They are about 18" tall,

filling the house with their beautiful scent.

Is there anything better than flowers, good food,

and the sunset!

Homemade Pizza

 This story is about homemade pizza but first I must give the backdrop details.

I sent the hubs to Costco, to get a chicken, and he came home with a chicken and a box of 4 "pizzas".

He said he had sampled the pizza in Costco and it was amazing.

He always falls for the ole' sample trick...

before he left I told him no samples, people are sick...

don't go and look like you are there to have samples for lunch. 

- he made false promises -

Back to the pizza, what the nice woman handing 

out the pizza samples did not tell him was that you only get the pizza dough, no toppings or sauce.

Next stop, our local food store to get the rest of the ingredients.

Chopped and diced...

I cooked the sausage first and I probably did not have to.

Time for assembly...


the hubs was all in, and very serious I might add.

When he was done, it looked like a work of art.

Topped with cheese...and ready for the oven.

You have to bake it on parchment paper, which we did.

It came out looking like this...

It was delicious!