tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33736974684404134262024-03-06T01:35:35.145-05:00greenpixiebluepixie goes domestic : adventures in surviving the home and gardenAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.comBlogger129125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-76803535099870226302013-02-10T20:50:00.002-05:002013-02-10T20:50:49.377-05:00winter wonderland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9bkrFbjWGnyaNZnKs91MMFNGfoKL7E1Ckk-WhAxU4U1e10e1jMpoLyI58QrZN_9xkOW_Ps0bMrZM53OB_EaSTBjKoa7lCE-Xjt2Ap8VH5ijgpqSESWwsTrDx_3kMRoPNoOr658FygqVhZ/s1600/DSC_0045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9bkrFbjWGnyaNZnKs91MMFNGfoKL7E1Ckk-WhAxU4U1e10e1jMpoLyI58QrZN_9xkOW_Ps0bMrZM53OB_EaSTBjKoa7lCE-Xjt2Ap8VH5ijgpqSESWwsTrDx_3kMRoPNoOr658FygqVhZ/s320/DSC_0045.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I love winter, and the sad fact is that we don't see as much of it as I would like. <div>
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We had a major snowstorm, the first one in a couple of years, this past week... and when we woke up today, the mist had crystalized on every available surface. <div>
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Spectacular, and of course the photos (taken by a combination of fishy and myself) don't quite do it justice. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-2964140761062425302012-05-05T15:41:00.000-04:002012-05-05T15:41:10.917-04:00Pelee 2012, and, beware birding hubrisOh, spring migration. My favourite, bar none, time of year. I mean, I love fall, and I'm a winter fan, and I can even find things to like about the sticky summer days, but spring, with its warblers and its butterflies... there is nothing like it.<br />
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I haven't been out as much in this area as I'd perhaps like, but wonder of wonders, we made it to Pelee. It was quite different for us this year; we normally go and go hard for three to five days, with multiple stops at Hillman Marsh, a night at Wheatley Provincial Park, a day or a day and a bit at Pelee, and then two or three days in Rondeau. This year we hit Hillman on our way down, stayed at a little cottage just outside Point Pelee National Park, birded the park for a day and a half and then made our way back home. We have a small appendage, you see, who to her credit does very, very well with hours in a carrier or a stroller outside while her parents see as many birds as they can -- but even her best is somewhat less than my preferred seven to ten hours of hiking and birdwatching.<br />
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So it meant that we were a lot more circumspect. We all went home for a nap in the afternoon. We kept moving, as smallfry does not like to be kept standing still. We were careful about taking her where there were lots of other people, so as not to disturb them -- she's not a noisy or fussy baby, but she does like to talk. Sometimes talking is actually yelling. fishy was wonderful, allowing me to take off and get serious while he walked circles around the Tip.<br />
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Sleep deprivation takes its toll, too. I'm known to be a bit quick off the mark with my identifications sometimes; I can be a bit overconfident. This admission does not come easily. It's embarrassing. Let's call this next part therapy, because I made two really bad mistakes this time around -- the first one IDing a calling bird as a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Olive-sided_Flycatcher/id">Olive-Sided Flycatcher</a> (which I <i>know</i> I am not good with, call-wise, despite the fact that its call is very distinct) when it was really a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-eyed_Vireo/id">White-Eyed Vireo</a> -- a nice sighting, to be sure, but definitely not an Olive-Sided Flycatcher. Here, though, I knew something was wrong with my ID, so I spent the time hanging around until I finally saw the little blighter. The second was worse, and it pains me to admit this one. We saw a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-headed_Woodpecker/id">Red-Headed Woodpecker</a> -- first one reported on the Woodland Trail in the sightings book, so I was excited. Too excited, because I identified it, in the sightings book, as <i>male</i>.<br />
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Even though I know, I really honestly do know, one does not identify Red-Headed Woodpeckers as male or female by sight, because it is not possible to do so. fishy kindly told me, once I'd realized what I'd done, that we did watch it for a while and it didn't lay any eggs, so it definitely could have been male.<br />
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Definitely.<br />
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Anyway, now that's out of my system. Lesson learned: especially when going on less than six hours of good solid sleep, be careful. And do not write anything down where other people can see it.<br />
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Overall we were lucky. We came home about thirty species lighter than last year, missing some odd things like chickadees (really) and <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-eyed_Vireo/id">Red-Eyed Vireos</a>, and we just barely got a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Thrasher/id">Brown Thrasher</a>. But we hit a couple of waves of small migrants down at the Tip, and both of us came away with lifers -- for fishy, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Pipit/id">American Pipit</a>, and for both of us, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eared_Grebe/id">Eared Grebe</a>. Each of us got excellent looks at those species, too. Other notables, especially given that we were also in the park about two weeks earlier than we normally are: <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blue-winged_Warbler/id">Blue-Winged Warblers</a>, a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Willet/id">Willet</a> (at Hillman), and a metric tonne of <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Nashville_Warbler/id">Nashville Warblers</a>, to go along with the metric tonne of <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-rumped_Warbler/id">Yellow-Rumps</a>. Thanks to our timing, we also managed to see a lot more <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gadwall/id">Gadwalls</a> and <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Shoveler/id">Shovelers</a> at Hillman than we ever have before, and an enormous flock (relative to the single individuals we usually see) of <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rusty_Blackbird/id">Rusty Blackbirds</a> on the Woodland Trail.<br />
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It was a success, if a different sort of success we're used to. Next year we'll go just the two of us again; it will be years before smallfry is ready for a Pelee experience she will actually remember. I'm already looking forward to next year. I am going to bird until it's too dark to see, or until my feet fall off, or until I get serious warbler-neck. And then I'll get up at 8am the next morning and do it again.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-19355014156979113662012-03-17T12:17:00.002-04:002012-03-17T12:17:16.477-04:00lazy birder no moreI've been watching birds for a long time now (as a kid I used to sleep with the full-sized Eastern Peterson's beside my bed -- okay, who am I kidding, <i>in</i> my bed) and I think I'm a pretty decent birdwatcher. That said, there are some pretty glaring holes in my repertoire. I've never met a small sandpiper ("peep") I could happily identify with complete certainty, for example, aside from the very small <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sanderling/id/ac">Sanderlings</a> and <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Dunlin/id/ac">Dunlin</a>. Sparrows used to be a thorn in my side, except for a few very common and distinctive species. And gulls? There are only two gulls, right? <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-billed_Gull/id/ac">Ring-Billed</a> and <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Herring_Gull/id/ac">Herring</a>?<br />
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It's very easy to just dismiss these groups as being ridiculously hard to tell apart, and just be satisfied with my ability to ID the rest quickly and efficiently by sight and/or sound. But if I want to continue to consider myself a serious birder -- and I most emphatically do -- I can't keep being lazy about the groups I find hard.<br />
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So finally, over the past few years, I've started taking on these groups. Sparrows are actually pretty easy, now that I know where to look for the distinguishing characteristics. They're still the same small, brown, stripy birds, but I've worked on figuring out it over the years and rather than seeing a small, browns, stripy bird and going "Ugh, sparrow sp." I can look at it and say -- "Okay, it has a bright pink beak, and it's kind of grayish and boring on the face, huh, that must be a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Field_Sparrow/id/ac">Field Sparrow</a>." That was almost my exact line of thought when one turned up at the feeder last fall. I had to get out the book to confirm the pink beak diagnosis, but I was correct, and it felt great.<br />
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See, this is the thing. There's a certain amount of satisfaction in being able to see something flying by in a blur and say what it is immediately. But there's also a great amount of satisfaction in working at an ID and getting it right. Another case in point: gulls.<br />
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This past week someone tipped me off to the fact that someone we both know had identified <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Glaucous_Gull/id/ac">Glaucous Gulls</a> at a reservoir I regularly frequent for birdwatching purposes. Previously I'd just been looking at the mass of white and grey and black birds, catching the size difference, and being all "Ring-Billed and Herring, check" then moving on to look for ducks, which I have no trouble IDing and which I quite enjoy looking for. I told my friend that I wouldn't know a Glaucous Gull from a hole in the ground, and he said "Well, apparently there's no black on the wing."<br />
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<i>Huh</i>, I thought, <i>that seems easy enough</i>.<br />
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And it <i>was</i>. The lack of black combined with their size, there was nothing else those three big pale gulls could have been. I wouldn't have even looked for them if someone hadn't mentioned they were there and what their key field marking is. Gulls have a couple of things to differentiate them -- their wingtips, the colouration under their wing, their head colour, and, critically, their beak and leg colour. I have enough practice identifying that sort of marking in other groups of birds, it's just a matter of not being lazy and applying my skills to this group that I've previously deemed too frustrating to bother with.<br />
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It's satisfying on several levels -- puzzling it out and IDing to a level of certainty I'm happy with, adding birds to my life list, and feeling like I'm growing as a birdwatcher and expanding my skill set.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-55844611358048776272012-03-09T10:26:00.000-05:002012-03-09T10:26:44.564-05:00butterflies in early March<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL9JnqdtU2uFfIPS-ZveXhcePXLRgDeUD_Pe8NTA-QhLhmA7l3dw69w6QGouCVW-jWrmmxiLGPdYEMGLcirjWWFIs7nDDpABAqccogX4bhci9LKdZ7Ap-DrncUGHIly3Hi-T-M2a7PgHss/s1600/DSC_0132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL9JnqdtU2uFfIPS-ZveXhcePXLRgDeUD_Pe8NTA-QhLhmA7l3dw69w6QGouCVW-jWrmmxiLGPdYEMGLcirjWWFIs7nDDpABAqccogX4bhci9LKdZ7Ap-DrncUGHIly3Hi-T-M2a7PgHss/s320/DSC_0132.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">zebra longwing</span></div>
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Yesterday was gross and rainy -- not good hiking weather. So we went for a walk indoors instead. There's something to be said for warmth, light and green at this time of year. I hadn't been to the <a href="http://www.cambridgebutterfly.com/">Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory</a> in years, so I thought it might be time for a revisit.<br />
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It's not a big place, but it's very pleasant. Outside the glasshouse there's a couple of spaces for exhibits; the permanent exhibit is about Insects of the World and there's a space for rotating exhibits. This one was on bats (woot!) and though not very large it was quite informative. My only complaint about their interpretation in both the galleries is that there's an awful lot of verbiage and it's often very small font. smallfry liked looking at the colourful insects under glass, though. She particularly liked looking at the live honeybees in the honeybee exhibit.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYF-kDKZEAaRjzyjwjAo-0QeHGcm1YP7g9yjQsvWYJKC3wyegtVIe9NUqsU7h4BAgG6NTFJZKyeY8WPndsgGUkt2LRgATeICpJ7PQIuTlLszv7pTsHv4z7zABILOe2RE84_W5yRHd-Ll9/s1600/DSC_0127.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYF-kDKZEAaRjzyjwjAo-0QeHGcm1YP7g9yjQsvWYJKC3wyegtVIe9NUqsU7h4BAgG6NTFJZKyeY8WPndsgGUkt2LRgATeICpJ7PQIuTlLszv7pTsHv4z7zABILOe2RE84_W5yRHd-Ll9/s320/DSC_0127.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">green!</span></div>
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The glasshouse is really pleasant. Lots of green, a comfortable humidity and a slightly tropical heat (around 24C). There's the constant sound of water running, thanks to two waterfalls and a little stream that runs around the entire place. There were others there, but it wasn't terribly crowded on a Thursday morning.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBtn9dRyt2gfZ-BxDFo3_fw4e7rW0L_q-_0w67G92YbFPXR0Acw805gASINjHOopT58bntj6wTnY4_Ydsa7q9U3_SAhisUKww1Da2ALgYMlcxQEQ0A7RQA21qpaSorRQbJfplicuuukTNX/s1600/DSC_0148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBtn9dRyt2gfZ-BxDFo3_fw4e7rW0L_q-_0w67G92YbFPXR0Acw805gASINjHOopT58bntj6wTnY4_Ydsa7q9U3_SAhisUKww1Da2ALgYMlcxQEQ0A7RQA21qpaSorRQbJfplicuuukTNX/s320/DSC_0148.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">owl butterfly</span></div>
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There are butterflies everywhere. When we got there, sort of mid-morning, there weren't a lot flying around; don't know if the light wasn't right, or they're perhaps late risers? but by the time I left after the lunch hour, there were butterflies flying everywhere. It's a very pretty effect.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVwzWmp0G3IdFZ1Wj7YeQdy9M27GaC0LSmycuzXg2scFn7TgFiRVwXDbVM0MnHscOOUQhKx7c5DdwRXPvF9ZTLWX5K9sVKzcI3uD8UcavXf2r6dXAlwV4cukpfsa-5QzcZMWY9Z4kFdeUM/s1600/DSC_0154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVwzWmp0G3IdFZ1Wj7YeQdy9M27GaC0LSmycuzXg2scFn7TgFiRVwXDbVM0MnHscOOUQhKx7c5DdwRXPvF9ZTLWX5K9sVKzcI3uD8UcavXf2r6dXAlwV4cukpfsa-5QzcZMWY9Z4kFdeUM/s320/DSC_0154.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">can't remember what this one is called, but they're one of my favourites</span></div>
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There are also many, many birds. They have ornamental finches in spades (who were collecting nesting material as I was there, so one expects there will be more ornamental finches at some point in the near future, unless staff find the nests) and there are a couple of quails, and new to me this time was a green-cheeked conure hanging out across from the hatching station.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj3CUnej_S8aRFefy5JrSscUgqy_5y60kySGnFKo6fJDm0bM9wbk-kSM9RB6tTax-uz3doLAMuqJd1Yww12s_nX7TK1S0b1cY3iKOQpCOUg5TKOGkxUOisRVv6yyIDB1jSSJmPyIA1psoq/s1600/DSC_0150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj3CUnej_S8aRFefy5JrSscUgqy_5y60kySGnFKo6fJDm0bM9wbk-kSM9RB6tTax-uz3doLAMuqJd1Yww12s_nX7TK1S0b1cY3iKOQpCOUg5TKOGkxUOisRVv6yyIDB1jSSJmPyIA1psoq/s320/DSC_0150.JPG" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">his name, poor thing, is "Cheecho"</span></div>
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The hatching station is where the butterfly chrysalides are hung to hatch. The Conservatory gets all their chrysalides from farms in the tropics; I'm not sure whether any of the butterflies they already have ever lay eggs, and I didn't ask. One suspects that though the finches leave the [live, healthy] butterflies alone that caterpillars might not be so lucky. Not sure they have the right food plants for the butterfly species they have either. At any rate, they hatch from their well-travelled chrysalides in a special area open to the rest of the conservatory, where the staff have the chrysalides all labelled carefully and where you can watch the butterflies chilling out, pumping their wings full and resting before they flutter off into the wider conservatory.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">the chrysalides hang from sticks in the middle panel</span></div>
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I didn't spend time talking to anyone; smallfry and I did a couple of circuits, I practiced with the camera (still need a lot more practice, I think) and then we sat for a while. A very nice way to spend a couple of hours on a rainy, windy March day.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-53546327354241544432012-03-08T16:57:00.000-05:002012-03-08T17:07:11.553-05:00my favourite muffins (currently)When the going gets tough, I tend to get baking. Unfortunately, that means that two of us often end up eating enough baked goods to kill a small horse. When the baking is things like cookies or these awesome <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-cinnamon-rolls-recipe/index.html">Overnight Cinnamon Rolls</a> this is a problem, because the small horse would have died of heart disease, probably.<br />
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So I have been on a quest to find healthier things to bake, and thought I'd share my current favourite muffin recipe. I know it says "bran" in the recipe there, but these are light muffins, not the dense, chewy, cardboardy pucks that can sometimes result from heightened fibre content. It's a modified Canadian Living recipe, from the "Honey Bran Muffins" recipe in their <i>Complete Canadian Living Cookbook</i> (an excellent cookbook that I use regularly for all sorts of things.)</div>
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<u>Wet ingredients:</u></div>
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2 eggs</div>
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1 cup plain yoghurt</div>
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1/3 cup milk</div>
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1/3 cup canola oil (although I often use slightly less)</div>
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1/4 cup liquid honey</div>
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2 tsp vanilla</div>
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1 1/2 cups 100% or all- bran cereal </div>
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<u>Dry ingredients:</u></div>
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1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour</div>
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1/2 cup packed brown sugar</div>
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1 1/2 tsp baking soda</div>
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1/2 tsp cinnamon</div>
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1/2 tsp salt</div>
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1 1/2 cups raisins (or chopped prunes work really nicely too)</div>
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Preheat the oven to 375F (190C).</div>
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In a medium bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients. Stir in the bran cereal and let stand for at least five minutes.</div>
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In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Pour the bran mixture over the dry ingredients, add raisins, and mix just to combine.</div>
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Spoon into muffin cups and cook for 25 minutes or until golden brown and tester comes out of centre clean.</div>
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Makes ~12 muffins.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-60105998032124055072012-03-06T10:12:00.000-05:002012-03-06T10:12:51.040-05:00hiking on cameraMy stay-sane-and-happy plans appear to be mostly working, though I'll slip up every once in a while (like yesterday) and stay inside on a glorious day just because getting out is too much damn work. But generally I've been hiking someplace most days when it's not too windy or precipitating. I take the baby and the binoculars and off we go. We've seen some great new trails, and I'm birding up a storm.<br />
<br />
The problem is I don't generally take the camera. I recently picked up a new (used) lens for our DSLR on kijiji -- it's a great lens for the price, and aside from being a little heavier than the old lens and not doing macro at all, it's fabulous. The key use I saw for it was taking photos of birds in the backyard, particularly the feeders, but it's always very tempting to take it walking too. Only it's heavy, and a little awkward, and I generally have the maximum number of things strapped to me that I can comfortably handle.<br />
<br />
As is the general law of cameras, though, every time I go out without it I see something that would make a great photo. The walk last week where my friend Lorax and I were surrounded by <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/id/ac">Cedar Waxwings</a> at eye-level and five feet away? Would have been nice to have the camera for that. The walk before where Mom and I had great looks at some <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Creeper/id/ac">Brown Creepers</a> less than ten feet away? Also would have been nice. I don't pretend to be excellent with the camera; I am at best a somewhat enthusiastic novice. But something like the waxwings would have been hard to miss.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-48095835766643602162012-02-10T18:34:00.000-05:002012-02-10T18:34:54.194-05:00these binoculars were made for walkingThere has been a confluence of forces in my life that has conspired to turn me into someone who searches out new trails in the area on a nearly daily basis. First, I am now officially home <i>alone</i> with a baby during the weekdays (lucky me, I wasn't until very recently) and second, <a href="http://www.ebird.ca/">eBird</a>.<br />
<br />
The first reason for my almost pathological need to get out of the house should be self-evident. The added challenge that smallfry is still not supposed to be exposed to respiratory infections if we can avoid it at all means that I'm cut off from the traditional activities parents on leave might do with their little people. So I need to find ways to get out safely, otherwise I start to go crazy with only my own thoughts to occupy me. It's amazing what an anxious, fearful, sad bent they can take. smallfry is good company, but not always the most stimulating or even distracting companion. Hiking is perfect -- it bites a chunk out of my day doing something worthwhile that doesn't involve me stewing.<br />
<br />
The second reason I've been on a hiking kick is eBird. Now, I've always been a birdwatcher, sometimes more casual and sometimes pretty hard-core, though I'm not what one might call a "twitcher." It's just not how I roll, though I see the appeal. I am not going to go out of my way to see something unusual, even if it's only half an hour away; I'm happy to see it if I stumble upon it, but I'm happiest just hiking along and watching whatever comes my way. Although... well, I'll admit to twitching the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-throated_Warbler/id/ac">Yellow-Throated Warbler</a> at Rondeau in spring 2011 since we were there anyway. And... I twitched the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/summer_tanager/id/ac">Summer Tanager</a> at Pelee in 2010, but again, we were right there. And... well, let's just say that if there was a reliable report of a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Kirtlands_Warbler/id/ac">Kirtland's Warbler</a> within half an hour of my current location, I would probably drop what I was doing and twitch that pretty hard. ANYWAY.<br />
<br />
What I do like is data entry. I ... I really love data entry. Even more, I love to watch masses of data I've entered gradually growing into a statistical picture that reflects my experience. Something like eBird is like candy to me. Delicious, easily-accessible, free candy that <i>almost</i> might be good for you. In that reporting to eBird is good for science!<br />
<br />
What I've realized through entering my backlists into eBird are a couple of things: first, for someone who likes data so much, I've been pretty pathetic about keeping it. I've seen a lot more birds than I've ever written down on a list; I've done a lot of birdwatching list-free. This is not necessarily because birdwatching is more fun list-free, it's more because I am lazy and/or disorganized. I really like keeping lists when I can be arsed to find a pen and paper.<br />
<br />
The second thing I've realized is that I've not done a lot of birdwatching in my own backyard. We go places to birdwatch; Panama, Cuba, Bruce County, Point Pelee, Rondeau... but I don't really do a lot of birding around here, and that's a shame.<br />
<br />
So that dovetails nicely with my need to get out. Turns out smallfry is a pretty excellent birding companion. She sleeps in her stroller, as long as we keep moving at reasonable intervals. She really, really enjoys her new carrier, in which she can be strapped to my front facing outwards (leaves my hands free, and we can hike on less-smooth trails, and she can see what is going on, which is <i>paramount</i>.) In the past week we've birded three different locations in the region, only one of which I'd ever been to before (and even there we walked much further than I've walked there before.) The fruits of our labours have included a juvenile <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bald_eagle/id/ac">Bald Eagle</a> seen flying over the river today and many more <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Merganser/id/ac">Common Mergansers</a> than I customarily see, since I like my warm and comfy house at this time of year. (Don't get me started about the weather, though; as much as I like getting out in the warm sun in early February, it's creeping me the hell out.)<br />
<br />
The payoff? Lots of birds, meaning lots of data to add to eBird, and smallfry is sleeping well at nights thanks to all the fresh air, and I am getting that last little bit of pregnancy weight off, but most importantly I am feeling good. I've got a list of places I'm looking forward to hiking, and a growing list of places I'm looking forward to revisiting at regular intervals throughout the year. I suppose the exercise is its own reward, though that's never been enough for me. But hiking to watch for birds -- there's always <i>something</i> interesting to see.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-21318478528209997222012-01-29T16:02:00.002-05:002012-01-29T16:02:35.478-05:00she bakes, she bakesMore baking adventures. It appears that I have... well, not perfected, and not even mastered, but accomplished the art of a reasonable flatbread. First there was pizza dough, which I have made using <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pizza-pizzas-recipe/index.html">Alton Brown's recipe</a> (you may detect a theme here) and that has generally turned out. We've eaten a lot of pizza; each time I make the dough it gets better. So practice is clearly a component. Next up with pizza adventures: I'm going to try Alton's grilled flatbread pizza recipe. You know, because winter's such a great time for grilling.<br />
<br />
I have also accomplished a reasonable facimile of a sort of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manakish">mana'eesh</a>, a Middle Eastern flatbread that is essentially a pizza with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaatar">za'atar</a> on it instead of tomato sauce and pepperoni. I'll make this one again, I think, and up the oven temperature from the 400 F the recipe called for; my mana'eesh didn't really brown, though they were quite tasty all the same. And very, very easy, except for the part where my pizza stone can only support two at a time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcwvHW1C3_L_VG89eHTdeoINFyztY1xdjJaUgwtw8mk0-JUR_kCr8CoYqOamRBM4MyJVowUzGnYSv27ainMuHQ2sI_qUwcMxhnriboSJDCGKPJzLgDhGv-W4QqC703uaGpXSTFm9h_p2Mb/s1600/2012+jan29+manaeesh+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcwvHW1C3_L_VG89eHTdeoINFyztY1xdjJaUgwtw8mk0-JUR_kCr8CoYqOamRBM4MyJVowUzGnYSv27ainMuHQ2sI_qUwcMxhnriboSJDCGKPJzLgDhGv-W4QqC703uaGpXSTFm9h_p2Mb/s320/2012+jan29+manaeesh+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">also, za'atar is extremely delicious</span></div>
<br />
Finally, today I accomplished homemade bagels. They're not beautiful, but wow are they tasty. I did them the traditional way, poaching them in boiling water with baking soda and malt syrup before baking. They weren't blatantly flavourful the way, say, a store-bought bagel is; they were better. The texture was flat-out awesome. They had a subtle flavour; something not quite sweet, not quite savoury. They were a fair bit of work; a pre-ferment, then mixing and kneading the dough, then another rise, then shaping them and leaving them in the fridge overnight, then poaching (which I could only do two at a time) and then baking (which I could only do four at a time.) And things are a little time-sensitive when it comes to the poaching-draining-baking thing, so I'm not sure I'll be doing much of them when I'm home alone with smallfry. But as a weekend baking activity I'll definitely pull this recipe out again. I may have been ruined by these bagels; I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to go back to store-bought.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, for those looking for a good mana'eesh or bagel recipe, I got both from Daniel Leader's <i>Simply Great Breads</i> book. My current copy is the library's but I'm pretty sure I'll be buying one. The failed bialys were from this book too, so my record with it is not perfect, but there are at least two recipes there that worked out well, and several more that I'd like to try (cider doughnuts being first on the list.)<br />
<br />
I just ate another half-bagel, just to confirm that they really are that tasty. So. Good.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-42811166046936419202012-01-21T20:28:00.002-05:002012-02-10T18:37:27.830-05:00turkey tracks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoNTEnGUMtsv_29ZZDeN95pR5zKMtBRyFbrTiV_2zmQQw5mxaNVKH2TpMn8ZBUXILvXuxFC3-FxCECITX6v6r7GNFDb0FM8tqA7H2fRx_W74Hz9JdJKSxX7-23XcR7djapBOq4H4Fmo9y6/s1600/2012+jan21+turkey+tracks+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoNTEnGUMtsv_29ZZDeN95pR5zKMtBRyFbrTiV_2zmQQw5mxaNVKH2TpMn8ZBUXILvXuxFC3-FxCECITX6v6r7GNFDb0FM8tqA7H2fRx_W74Hz9JdJKSxX7-23XcR7djapBOq4H4Fmo9y6/s320/2012+jan21+turkey+tracks+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Or I think they are.<br />
<br />
Got out for a true winter walk today near my parents' house. They live across the road from a regional forest, and while it's perhaps not the most beautiful place in the world, it's familiar and a good snowfall, like the one we had last night, makes the whole place that much more lovely.<br />
<br />
I quite enjoy poking around looking at tracks in the snow; aside from the usual people and dogs, today we had:<br />
<ul>
<li>voles</li>
<li>deer mice</li>
<li>grey squirrels</li>
<li>red squirrels</li>
<li>red fox </li>
<li>turkeys I think</li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilyvnA-_86CcEnO1GOpieOpcGoWdLUMzM3C4KXH8b08iJQU_FfTAw_YSXTAQzjsMwRiv22f9dTqzSbj9AjknYorkkkjKHHXIvxp7ifBlI28hn_IY_HyrxUgJ2mY2KTgfEv7z3VaeWRppya/s1600/2012+jan21+turkey+tracks+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilyvnA-_86CcEnO1GOpieOpcGoWdLUMzM3C4KXH8b08iJQU_FfTAw_YSXTAQzjsMwRiv22f9dTqzSbj9AjknYorkkkjKHHXIvxp7ifBlI28hn_IY_HyrxUgJ2mY2KTgfEv7z3VaeWRppya/s320/2012+jan21+turkey+tracks+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The turkey tracks are new for me. We haven't always had turkey in those woods, though they definitely are there now, and I was staring at the tracks wondering what bird could possibly be pottering around the wintery woods and leaving tracks like that. They were far too big to be grouse -- but once I had hit on grouse, the thought that they must be turkey hit not far behind. I wondered about a pheasant for a while, as those have been known to be there too, but... I am not sure. I am really leaning towards turkey. The toes seem a bit more splayed than pheasant toes apparently are.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJaXHbLdm88OvfVszL2VUEyxlBOyM_hFYQ6Z_MzLtTIG5XOh8WXX1Z_MWR6BcE6T4daMBpxlJwr3V10r01nGV5xjIbuVXtJ0Jo9dhDOaCcqRFWSuzGhrRJXj6iuZZ3d7hQ6TJ1DtK7Xuc/s1600/2012+jan21+turkey+tracks+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJaXHbLdm88OvfVszL2VUEyxlBOyM_hFYQ6Z_MzLtTIG5XOh8WXX1Z_MWR6BcE6T4daMBpxlJwr3V10r01nGV5xjIbuVXtJ0Jo9dhDOaCcqRFWSuzGhrRJXj6iuZZ3d7hQ6TJ1DtK7Xuc/s320/2012+jan21+turkey+tracks+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The photos are taken with my dad's Blackberry, which I must say rather impressed me. We had it in case of smallfry meltdown; she has started making strange, so we left the house only when she was asleep and planned to return at speed if she woke up before we got back. She didn't.<br />
<br />
We heard chickadees and a red-breasted nuthatch. Well, I am extrapolating a little here, as I'm good but I'm not good enough to tell red-breasted from white-breasted nuthatch songs in absense of both -- but white-breasted nuthatches are an exception there, where red-breasted are common as nails. Also had a pretty excellent look at a pair of golden-crowned kinglets.<br />
<br />
All in all, a very pleasant saunter. If anyone thinks I've misidentified these tracks, drop me a comment. Otherwise I'll spend the rest of my life thinking they're turkey tracks.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-75348529486489114732012-01-14T10:21:00.000-05:002012-01-14T12:51:14.291-05:00teach a girl to bakeI have a problem.<br />
<br />
I am a compulsive follower of recipes. I cannot not follow a recipe. And I'm not very good at cooking if I don't have a recipe to follow. This makes me a rather poor cook, but a pretty decent baker. I like baking and baking is a precise art. It's not so precise that a little slip-up here or there can't be recovered from, but it's precise enough that one should have a recipe and one should follow it. Usually a followed recipe when baking means a reasonably delicious outcome.<br />
<br />
Unless, I am learning, the baked good is yeast breads. There is magic to yeast breads, and I haven't quite mastered it yet. My suspicion is that the problem has to do with my blind recipe-following and the fact that I'm not entirely sure of the reasons behind the recipe.<br />
<br />
Take, for example, these attempted bialys.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">we both think they look like onion-topped nipples; the resemblance is disturbing</span></div>
<br />
<br />
I followed the recipe exactly, including the careful pricking of the centres so that they wouldn't do exactly what they did. They taste fine, but the experience of eating them is somewhat less than satisfying.<br />
<br />
The thing I am realizing is that I need a little more understanding of the science behind baking. Chemistry was not my favourite subject in university, to say the least, but this is chemistry I can eat. And when it's taught to me by people like Alton Brown on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_eats"><i>Good Eats</i></a>, well, I can get in to chemistry. Once I learn a bit more about why yeast breads do the magical things they do, I think I can follow -- or adapt, or embellish -- recipes with more confidence.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-189329519704072442012-01-06T11:10:00.000-05:002012-01-06T14:20:35.707-05:00Project FeederWatch and Battle of the SquirrelsBookwyrme (who has a <a href="http://spiderwatch.blogspot.com/">fun spidery blog</a>, btw) asks an excellent question: What is Project FeederWatch?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/">PFW is a citizen science program</a> run jointly by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (when I was a kid, my dream workplace, until I realized I wasn't really cut out for either academia or emigrating) and Bird Studies Canada. For a small fee (which goes towards program upkeep) anyone with bird feeders can pick two days/week to identify and count the bird species and individuals that show up to eat, then report their findings. It runs from November - April every year. I've been wanting to participate since I was a kid. Now that I'm off for the winter and spend a lot of time nursing a baby, I figured I could do most of my nursing in front of the window and thus count birds while I do it.<br />
<br />
So far it's been a lot of fun. I <i>like</i> counting things. I especially like reporting things I've counted and watching the statistics pile up. I have always kept half-assed track of the birds I see in the backyard, but it's interesting to keep a detailed record and see what's really going on.<br />
<br />
Thus far this year I've seen ten species at the feeder during count days. I've actually seen thirteen, but none of the the white-throated sparrow, field sparrow, or my favourite red-breasted nuthatches have shown up on a count day so I can't report them (actually, all three disappeared right around the time the program started, perversely). Weekly we average about eight species and roughly twenty-three individuals. Juncos used to be the most numerous species, but they've really dropped over the past few weeks (this week I only saw three at one time) and goldfinches have picked up the slack, with a record nine individuals at one time yesterday. I have some regulars -- a trio of chickadees, a pair of cardinals, a downey woodpecker -- and some birds who I know are there but don't always show up on count days, like the white-breasted nuthatches and the blue jays.<br />
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<br />
The worst trouble I have is an escalating battle with the squirrels. On a bad day, the squirrels go through most of my seed and keep the birds away, and on a really bad day they can break feeders. The feeder in the foreground of the photo has been the most resilient -- the only feeder I've owned for more than three years that hasn't been busted by squirrels in one way or another. Last year's new, expensive feeder was broken and useless in a week. That was purchased after my "squirrel proof" feeder (which actually really was squirrel proof for most of the time it was up) finally bit it when they broke the roof to get in to the seed.<br />
<br />
I don't dislike squirrels, exactly, destructive little bastards though they are. They're cute and fascinating to watch, and watching them trying to figure out the latest baffle system is really interesting. But I don't like that they fatten up on our seed while the birds, whom we buy the seed for, go hungry waiting for the squirrels to finish stuffing themselves.<br />
<br />
Thus the escalation in tactics -- the suet feeder is benefitting from the latest baffle design, with a long chain covered by a PVC pipe on top of a Swiss Chalet take-out lid. The PVC is to prevent the squirrels from hanging on their hind feet on the chain, pulling the baffle up and snorfing down the suet by hunks. The feeder in the foreground will shortly benefit from the same treatment, though that won't stop the squirrels from leaping from the trellis onto the feeder from the side (this is truly amazing to watch). It's not about making the feeders completely squirrel proof, because I honestly don't believe there's such a thing. What we are trying to do is make the cost of getting the seed directly from the feeder higher than the cost of sitting under the feeders eating what falls when the birds eat. I'll let you know how that goes.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-85944662099971222762012-01-03T15:01:00.004-05:002012-01-03T15:01:55.947-05:00my annual blog entryOkay, let's talk about this. Let's talk about the fact that I have not done anything with this blog for <i>over a year</i>. Let's talk about the fact that apparently there is still a third entry about Panama coming (look, I promise nothing. It might show up, it might not. I've forgotten stuff, although lots of it is still pretty clear.)<br />
<br />
The thing is, a lot has changed. I got comfortable in my new position at work. I had a baby (that was kind of a big thing.) I worked hard on the garden, which didn't make too much of a difference; fishy's done a bunch of renovations around the house, which has made a lot of difference, and lots of books got read and lots of birds got seen and a little bit of writing got done.<br />
<br />
It's funny, because it doesn't feel like I've neglected this blog so totally. I still feel quite attached to it. So I think I will keep trying to update it, perhaps a bit more now that I'm home for a while. I'll keep using it for home and garden stuff; I'm doing Project FeederWatch this year, so we may hear some about that. I've got big plans for the garden (when do I not?) and I'm trying to be more faithful about uploading photos from my camera.<br />
<br />
What this blog is not going to be is a "mommy blog." Nothing against them, and I'm sure things related to smallfry will show up every once in a while -- our first birding adventure, our first gardening adventure, that sort of thing -- but I don't feel the need to discuss everything, or really anything, about my daughter online. Suffice to say that being a mother is a hell of a lot of work, but it's also exceedingly fascinating and fun and getting more so; so I'll write about it sometimes but the focus is still going to be on my nature, gardening, cooking, and various attempts at crafting interests.<br />
<br />
And now, if you'll excuse me, I hear the siren song of the naptime. Hopefully I'll be back here sometime before next January...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-34223043186962319112010-12-15T08:25:00.000-05:002010-12-15T08:26:01.581-05:00Panama Trip 2: The Canal<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjkbp9Ciye5YhI7tmya718bomKmrMXpINrHt0ZEjQrxwi6JlEZ-RhqJK4BB2tiYN4a1x4vxAFQIr3o9HBV49ehDbq29G_Zy-PXdV9nc7AxgewiS4ggX9Boyfkm7c1VndSVwJH3cg4vG5L/s1600/DSC_0216.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjkbp9Ciye5YhI7tmya718bomKmrMXpINrHt0ZEjQrxwi6JlEZ-RhqJK4BB2tiYN4a1x4vxAFQIr3o9HBV49ehDbq29G_Zy-PXdV9nc7AxgewiS4ggX9Boyfkm7c1VndSVwJH3cg4vG5L/s320/DSC_0216.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530480230131518946" border="0" /></a><br />Better late than never, right? At this rate, I'll get the third and final part of this recap up by September of next year. <div><br /></div><div>Aaaanyway. After our four nights at Coral Lodge, it was time to head back to the city. For the first time since the night we arrived, it rained. The trip back took us along the coast by boat for 50 minutes or so to the Portobelo area, and then we hopped in a minibus and took the long trip along the canal back to Panama City and <a href="http://www.bedandbreakfastpanama.com/">La Estancia</a>, the bed and breakfast that was to be our base of operations for the rest of the trip.<div><br /></div><div>Panoramic Panama is a tour agency that runs out of La Estancia, owned by the same people. So when we booked our room, we also booked two tours: a canal half-transit, and a birdwatching tour. In fact, when figuring out lodgings and so on, we arranged our trip around the canal transit, since they only happen on Saturdays, and it seemed somewhat ludicrous to go to Panama and not spend time on the Canal. Unfortunately, they only do full transits once a month, and the week we were there was not the full transit one. But that turns out to have been all right; the half-day trip was fascinating, and it left us time to visit Casco Viejo (old Panama City) in the evening and have our nicest dining experience of the trip.</div><div><br /></div><div>But the Canal. Doing a half-transit allowed us to see some of the most interesting parts, go through a couple locks, and learn a rather insane number of statistics.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9FLYWaiETf-4mQc-vD9mmZJ2mx00-xrULZLDZ9wqtdkeVZTLhdgFAb61KazE2jzKFZkXHjKjcM1Zv_vOsDsAdg2bxgU8y6qujlRSInOG70eZKqaA1kGCPsdvcz7N1AZQKcTvD1ipG7_A/s1600/DSC_0228.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9FLYWaiETf-4mQc-vD9mmZJ2mx00-xrULZLDZ9wqtdkeVZTLhdgFAb61KazE2jzKFZkXHjKjcM1Zv_vOsDsAdg2bxgU8y6qujlRSInOG70eZKqaA1kGCPsdvcz7N1AZQKcTvD1ipG7_A/s320/DSC_0228.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531964850583106978" border="0" /></a><br />The day was somewhat rainy. The driver from La Estancia dropped us off at Isla Flamenco, one of the three islands connected by the Amador Causeway. From there, a bus took us to Gamboa, on the south shore of Lake Gatun, where we met our tour boat, the Pacific Queen. The tour guide spoke both English and Spanish, and kept up a running commentary throughout the trip.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVGTu3KUXmN9grvHZhb-2drgriyKrHd6MnlJSIoSO6eTRuo_5DNEGhx8_qVxS0tpCKV2A6gN08iEqpiwPc0u2sve6qm3wRS1qQGXQcZ0hUCHtZA97ZU65ibDT8U_tSzfBXsjzTsLDksUnm/s1600/DSC_0247.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVGTu3KUXmN9grvHZhb-2drgriyKrHd6MnlJSIoSO6eTRuo_5DNEGhx8_qVxS0tpCKV2A6gN08iEqpiwPc0u2sve6qm3wRS1qQGXQcZ0hUCHtZA97ZU65ibDT8U_tSzfBXsjzTsLDksUnm/s320/DSC_0247.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531966356403818082" border="0" /></a><br />Each ship that passes through the canal, be it our tiny tour boat <i>Pacific Queen</i>, a Panamax freighter, or a luxury yacht like the one above, has to pay a toll. The toll is determined by several factors, including what the cargo is; the largest toll ever paid was paid by a cruise ship, at over $417 000 for the full transit, as humans are considered the "most precious cargo." Most ships going through the canal, the big Panamax freighters, only pay around $100 000 per trip. This toll doesn't include incidental costs, such as the mandatory nanny tug or the mandatory canal pilot, who captains the ship for the duration of its trip through the canal. Even our little tour boat had a canal pilot.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpfPefbiG5419hpiJHwme4jUoYYbzb1HufSiN9XrD6rkxvjiWVBm4y4Z4w7HSnkKZzsCgMlaVFB7MsnfRcyzMachZyoIfTuZnB9mxtFl9AW6FSIbXaXLmyrDAPKHbHaYO5q7hFobjx2wK1/s1600/DSC_0275.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpfPefbiG5419hpiJHwme4jUoYYbzb1HufSiN9XrD6rkxvjiWVBm4y4Z4w7HSnkKZzsCgMlaVFB7MsnfRcyzMachZyoIfTuZnB9mxtFl9AW6FSIbXaXLmyrDAPKHbHaYO5q7hFobjx2wK1/s320/DSC_0275.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550737115186542434" /></a><br />We saw a couple of these creatures on the canal; I believe there are four in operation at all times. This barge drills holes in the bottom of the canal, which is hard-packed silt and rock. Once the holes are drilled, they're packed with explosives. The explosives are detonated and another giant machine comes in to dredge the canal bottom, to keep it deep enough for Panamax ships, and one assumes, eventually post-Panamax ships. The ship below is one of the dredgers, a little further down the canal:</div></div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHdnlNZxuhpL0ZxOTnzkAaO0KkGB3tnVbYR2rbxbXv7-LarYIYbaKsl4gMC3Fac7ypHx9JCRsXb6ivEXkKD_w-V7I12YzfVsSFA2hYmodzHBc1x9OPoyOoiY8MS1qImHmQhg3YocOHrgI/s1600/DSC_0428.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHdnlNZxuhpL0ZxOTnzkAaO0KkGB3tnVbYR2rbxbXv7-LarYIYbaKsl4gMC3Fac7ypHx9JCRsXb6ivEXkKD_w-V7I12YzfVsSFA2hYmodzHBc1x9OPoyOoiY8MS1qImHmQhg3YocOHrgI/s320/DSC_0428.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550738554861809330" /></a><br /></div><div>So, all of this constructiony activity explains the muddy condition of the water, as does the fact that it's all freshwater constantly being stirred by enormous amounts of shipping traffic. It also explains why the corporation that owns the Canal charges so much for a transit; maintenance costs must be insane. Consider the amount of money just one of those drills or dredgers must cost, when something like the little locomotives that guide large ships through the locks cost over $2 million apiece. </div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYgO_tfxaQEpoZ9hyphenhyphenF7oreKMXLHNrPA1eheD_dde63tKrFvkZ7PipCgzqfPyYaZmUpd1ffFTlYkYFYjwXQkouvaHhTFeYi9awaTpuXMNDrbTShdXJu8Hivy2o22gEcASKt58fkhbRj7CK/s1600/DSC_0336.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYgO_tfxaQEpoZ9hyphenhyphenF7oreKMXLHNrPA1eheD_dde63tKrFvkZ7PipCgzqfPyYaZmUpd1ffFTlYkYFYjwXQkouvaHhTFeYi9awaTpuXMNDrbTShdXJu8Hivy2o22gEcASKt58fkhbRj7CK/s320/DSC_0336.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550740186537985394" /></a><div><br /></div><div>Our little tour boat didn't need these locomotives, which are attached to ships by linesmen whose sole job it is to attach lines from big ships to the locomotives so that the ships don't bash the walls of the locks to pieces when entering, exiting, or sitting in the lock -- the tension has to be just right on each of the lines. I believe it also helps prevent the ships from running into the lock doors, though the doors we saw had dents in them. That was only the inner set, though, as all the locks have two sets. We didn't stand much of a chance of bashing the walls or the doors too badly, so the locomotives and the linesmen didn't bother with us.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Panama Canal locks, when they were built in the early 1900s, were the first major structure to make use of the new building material concrete. Nothing on the scale of the Canal had ever been done, and engineers weren't sure how much concrete would be needed -- there's a lot of pressure on the middle wall when the lock on one side of the wall is full, and the other is empty. So they decided to play it safe, and the concrete wall separating the locks from each other is 50 feet thick. Which is massive.</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3FFpbd6ru5w7nupBW1CvYFfPjke-y2Yd46AoiP7DvLIsPB7AyyfLgNhltGXDYwEiXxn_LjfSolGam1IBZhNcHe85sBK8F3rulN7dlyYcyN1DmRgpXcVb0OT-bIMtGkacRrGTgManApuH/s1600/DSC_0382.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3FFpbd6ru5w7nupBW1CvYFfPjke-y2Yd46AoiP7DvLIsPB7AyyfLgNhltGXDYwEiXxn_LjfSolGam1IBZhNcHe85sBK8F3rulN7dlyYcyN1DmRgpXcVb0OT-bIMtGkacRrGTgManApuH/s320/DSC_0382.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550743500768535378" /></a><br />Now, having spent some time in Thorold, living close enough to the Welland Canal to be able to see the lakers from the top of the hill on our street, the experience of going down the locks wasn't terribly novel for me. But the scale of these structures is something, and the amount of fresh water used every time the lock steps up or down a level is staggering. I was there, and I still couldn't really grasp the real, tangible amount. Luckily, Panama gets enough rainfall that they need to actually let it drain elsewhere, rather than jealously guard it to make sure that the Canal can keep running -- but they track their water usage very carefully, and we were lucky to not have to wait for a bunch of other smaller ships to join us in the locks.</div><div><br /></div><div>The little boat behind us was the <i>Isla Morada</i>, the oldest continuously-running ship on the Canal. Apparently possibly owned by Al Capone at one point, currently used for ferrying tourists like us up and down the Panama Canal. It was a rather pretty little wooden boat. Behind the <i>Isla Morada</i> you can just see the bridge of a Panamax ship going the other direction, up a level as we were going down.</div><div><br /></div><div>The shipyard in Panama City at the mouth of the Canal is huge. One thing I thought was pretty cool was that when the Canal was built, each lock could hold six of the largest ocean-faring ships at a time. Currently, about 20% of the world's shipping fleet is too large to fit in these locks. They're building a whole new set parallel to the current system. </div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioBQXHNoPwLTLnX2sZnO_7cKFQKvJAAQuG9ase7_gLrstzxZy8eoIrhxfTKNwXmNaF9CMw0eDfpWEyoS44AwMGk6o08llTSrtmuy-YwLbDnDOcVZalmKD-hib-WtifmGdLwRHz20ek-ibv/s1600/DSC_0439.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioBQXHNoPwLTLnX2sZnO_7cKFQKvJAAQuG9ase7_gLrstzxZy8eoIrhxfTKNwXmNaF9CMw0eDfpWEyoS44AwMGk6o08llTSrtmuy-YwLbDnDOcVZalmKD-hib-WtifmGdLwRHz20ek-ibv/s320/DSC_0439.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550745735361215282" /></a><br /></div><div>Shipping companies can get around the Canal by offloading the cargo that needs to go through the Canal at either mouth, transferring it to the Panama Canal Company's dedicated railway, and picking it up with another ship at the other end. The equipment at this transfer point is pretty impressive and astonishing in its scale, too. There is so. much. stuff. in those containers. From all over the world.</div><div><br /></div><div>Upon ending our transit, our canal pilot left via launch pulling itself alongside our tour boat (the leap from one to the other was a crowd-pleaser; everyone applauded), and we made our way back to harbour, then back to La Estancia.</div><div><br /></div><div>From there we took a cab to the old city, of which we unfortunately have no photos; we didn't feel like taking the camera and being singled out as tourists, though I'm sure my perpetual trying-to-understand-Spanish-without-its-"s"s squint was a bit of a giveaway. We ended up at a lovely little restaurant called Ego on one of the squares, where we ate waaaay too much food and drank at least a little too much sangria, and felt very provincial and sophisticated sitting outside in the warm Panama evening. It was lovely, and I wish I'd gotten up the energy and courage to do it again, though we only had one more night left.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you're curious about the canal, the Canal Authority's website is pretty good, and there are even <a href="http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html">real-time webcams</a> trained on the locks. We waved at them when we were going through the Miraflores locks.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj36LN8oR3vKQHj8QkgQrvfT1MQ2kZCRnLnBDrD14T_RvZ-Qc_mEIxu_OH0hLlHaEWeatvnbJeOlfPWRAEUDc3BfL6LNCDkCf0kSduunnaozmEXKXIOi7aWEJrzL7wxnd_GfbNx4QpnpI2h/s1600/DSC_0480.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj36LN8oR3vKQHj8QkgQrvfT1MQ2kZCRnLnBDrD14T_RvZ-Qc_mEIxu_OH0hLlHaEWeatvnbJeOlfPWRAEUDc3BfL6LNCDkCf0kSduunnaozmEXKXIOi7aWEJrzL7wxnd_GfbNx4QpnpI2h/s320/DSC_0480.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550748665368650098" /></a><br /></div><div>Next: La Estancia, birdwatching, and a final walk. Coming sometime in the new year, I swear.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-7707490150522890992010-11-01T09:19:00.003-04:002010-11-01T09:27:51.311-04:00this is what became of the single, tiny pumpkin i grew this year<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs58NFZYRqeaCRR4v5-Vze14rGRA2Mvi1c-jlSWt4jMG0hSoxS7cII4Y3KlXDTLhV_lp242PONuaUxqApeEMF5lC1FOE588M4yihbz_bSLWSyeAPrvvlTGBNXvRJpWG-ZtQuWrdrZ3IQkR/s1600/DSC_0498.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs58NFZYRqeaCRR4v5-Vze14rGRA2Mvi1c-jlSWt4jMG0hSoxS7cII4Y3KlXDTLhV_lp242PONuaUxqApeEMF5lC1FOE588M4yihbz_bSLWSyeAPrvvlTGBNXvRJpWG-ZtQuWrdrZ3IQkR/s320/DSC_0498.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534572007274209778" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2zc0BV4d08h9I6kfRa_7E3JWQwIP1kEEqhkMd_OoOIdOq0HjK2FMF9fCPJ6v4bP8KhrLLazj7Izcx-YyWCptzQGXFR-1COUCZQZNFHawL_WO6mSwopaOBLqApfowKJDKNT7tocUvH0PCU/s1600/DSC_0497.JPG"><br /></a>Hope everyone had a happy Hallowe'en!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-46413616067185602672010-10-11T09:01:00.017-04:002010-10-11T10:29:55.035-04:00Panama Trip 1: Coral Lodge<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDp-OqEQBjk0guYosGQdf5j4Sjd9aScf750R4Mgi47zGfKEU-QLB8wXVxskcdY4J2EeL1o_SGuloZJS6vSFEiIrR9z652Xk-NUa21UTF_9RDSuN3P6MTE2pFY79OZt7JojSJt2Ahc_J7rj/s1600/DSC_0109.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDp-OqEQBjk0guYosGQdf5j4Sjd9aScf750R4Mgi47zGfKEU-QLB8wXVxskcdY4J2EeL1o_SGuloZJS6vSFEiIrR9z652Xk-NUa21UTF_9RDSuN3P6MTE2pFY79OZt7JojSJt2Ahc_J7rj/s320/DSC_0109.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526789054591901538" border="0" /></a><br />We started talking about this trip six months ago. The idea was to try to combine our love of complete relaxation and lying on the beach with a book, and our love of birdwatching. At this time of year, birdwatching is fine in Canada, but the beach-reading, not so much, so we figured we'd have to go elsewhere.<br /><br />I was inspired to investigate Panama as an option by <a href="http://www.birdchick.com/wp/category/panama/">Birdchick</a>, who spent time at the absolutely incredible Canopy Tower, the premiere birding ecolodge in Panama. Her photographs, plus her enthusiastic commentary on how awesome her trip was, convinced me I had to check it out. Unfortunately, there was a stumbling block: being an old US Army radar tower mostly made out of metal, Canopy Tower isn't so much on the relaxing privacy. It's more on the "you will need earplugs to sleep at night and the howler monkeys start at 5am" side of the spectrum. Someday we may still go, but it wasn't quite what we needed right now. So, we started widening the field.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZYH512M7RyXXUkppy0aCGrAcSA6w0hpLn997GvW9OrYy65Fdd-R9EetqvL1K9S2vifHDm9bhouR323Z6bHOW9ABXqYFHwJnzmVRbGm_iQrOD0NdnT4XE-VFNSxdiopaMG5-9ZWIAaKJ0t/s1600/DSC_0049.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZYH512M7RyXXUkppy0aCGrAcSA6w0hpLn997GvW9OrYy65Fdd-R9EetqvL1K9S2vifHDm9bhouR323Z6bHOW9ABXqYFHwJnzmVRbGm_iQrOD0NdnT4XE-VFNSxdiopaMG5-9ZWIAaKJ0t/s320/DSC_0049.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526780509061126562" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DYPzzR4Yic9gdfCOcU7pdrpm2f2arRPDMC0_Q87z_ADYT8eqTDfNfX7cH9qFbIUPmyXxnQBhzjlGIboteCzqIvJ2elFrn0Du5o1nhyPP98qdrppG5NCR1VgpSAwbuY339x1CeRZEvqyC/s1600/DSC_0043.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DYPzzR4Yic9gdfCOcU7pdrpm2f2arRPDMC0_Q87z_ADYT8eqTDfNfX7cH9qFbIUPmyXxnQBhzjlGIboteCzqIvJ2elFrn0Du5o1nhyPP98qdrppG5NCR1VgpSAwbuY339x1CeRZEvqyC/s320/DSC_0043.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526780117705263154" border="0" /></a><br />Our first four nights of the week were spent at <a href="http://www.corallodge.com/">Coral Lodge</a>, a very remote little ecolodge at the north end of Panama, along the Caribbean. Remote means a 2.5 hour drive and 45 minute boat ride to and from the place. It's right on the very edge, on the Panama side, of Comarca Kuna Yala, which is essentially a separate nation run by the indigenous Kuna people. There's not a lot around, and the lodge itself is pretty tiny. Because of its remoteness and tininess, the new owners are having to do a fair bit of work to make it economically sustainable, including adding more rooms. Right now there are only six.<br /><br />But they are awesome.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQAVHpEqdgjHx9h3trc-2dklKQsd9Yc5ZEo5IFQ6KqDxE6R-9uzEKK45bg626ufoWxvbNSoyRtOuliBlTSNxW-CMs7ZSTI3qd43yZZzqaG_-YecZaix5CSsb67ccgZFkK_Y3uZcSK5psZE/s1600/DSC_0122.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQAVHpEqdgjHx9h3trc-2dklKQsd9Yc5ZEo5IFQ6KqDxE6R-9uzEKK45bg626ufoWxvbNSoyRtOuliBlTSNxW-CMs7ZSTI3qd43yZZzqaG_-YecZaix5CSsb67ccgZFkK_Y3uZcSK5psZE/s320/DSC_0122.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526782327122575330" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3k6vN7aLTIYyyZhf8MTNU89LQ_8HxOP952GR8zpCe2144Xw-6IiP69hyeF2Rb8MpH0aeLPXQW20f09Z_1TYdvcmjd0o_2P4pm3MyDGNyGzOzGKh_Wf1VbEdneieSFF1gYpI7lL2QNWUmL/s1600/DSC_0205.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3k6vN7aLTIYyyZhf8MTNU89LQ_8HxOP952GR8zpCe2144Xw-6IiP69hyeF2Rb8MpH0aeLPXQW20f09Z_1TYdvcmjd0o_2P4pm3MyDGNyGzOzGKh_Wf1VbEdneieSFF1gYpI7lL2QNWUmL/s320/DSC_0205.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526781415172395906" border="0" /></a><br />And as advertised, the coral is also awesome. We did a lot of swimming and snorkling. There were sea turtles, stingrays, puffer fish, young barraccuda, lionfish (a long way away -- they're gorgeous, and exceedingly poisonous) and many, many, many gorgeous reef fish of all sizes and colours, right off our own little deck. The water was generally quite clear, though less so when things were windy. But I expect the diving here is spectacular, though I am too claustrophobic to try.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEn30J-0QN_9Eem9o9vygcrGCv9BHEynrYjKNLYrTEOYkGWiaUDAvqSJdrEj_LxnFBmlRHNqiQ7hxBNgEpUBZ8-6acnYBbLwbszZ8VbtzbYreBVHdJlF6OIQg2pGREukODO3BcZZRrgXV2/s1600/DSC_0115.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEn30J-0QN_9Eem9o9vygcrGCv9BHEynrYjKNLYrTEOYkGWiaUDAvqSJdrEj_LxnFBmlRHNqiQ7hxBNgEpUBZ8-6acnYBbLwbszZ8VbtzbYreBVHdJlF6OIQg2pGREukODO3BcZZRrgXV2/s320/DSC_0115.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526783834974631330" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtfZZdwREu-QePuybep4bU19xagGvDOdArwdhw0w2SCBsY95cktUzYN1Anwe4XR-x-hTg35UlOrIvi0IfWag8JiCDkiN_79FVxPSkQyMHebpF8YA9sWNANmqWiAigFuJhcISBai886JE93/s1600/DSC_0203.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtfZZdwREu-QePuybep4bU19xagGvDOdArwdhw0w2SCBsY95cktUzYN1Anwe4XR-x-hTg35UlOrIvi0IfWag8JiCDkiN_79FVxPSkQyMHebpF8YA9sWNANmqWiAigFuJhcISBai886JE93/s320/DSC_0203.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526784227068801234" border="0" /></a><br />We went for a rainforest walk that ended with fresh coconut right off the tree. AND we saw monkeys! My first time ever seeing them in the wild. They're pretty darn charming, howler monkeys, even at 5:30am when they're booming away. The ones we saw were pretty high, so there was no way to get a good photo. So instead, me on the beach with my coconut, gazing out at a trio of <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Whimbrel/id">whimbrels</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8jGlPMIvL5F6WkPxWWFWnGF8XwAdAWXBt-3rr8vHziywF2dUy3h2EB0xYEGqt90zfZXni0j4SJSCQ3R9MSKHuFm8uNzOXzW1LsQGD2ugizzQsKC9BcZu7PSvz0tFHDToGtjrCZs2bokw/s1600/DSC_0065.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8jGlPMIvL5F6WkPxWWFWnGF8XwAdAWXBt-3rr8vHziywF2dUy3h2EB0xYEGqt90zfZXni0j4SJSCQ3R9MSKHuFm8uNzOXzW1LsQGD2ugizzQsKC9BcZu7PSvz0tFHDToGtjrCZs2bokw/s320/DSC_0065.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526789441476141714" border="0" /></a><br />The food was very good, and service very attentive. The weather was absolutely stunning, with most of the time as you see above; it was raining just a little bit as we left. Not bad for the rainy season. As one of only two couples there, we did feel a little exposed at times. And there were fewer birds than we might have expected, although we picked up about 40 species between the airport, lodge, and our return to Panama City. Overall, it was a really lovely start to our trip.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-28208557427724636902010-04-04T15:35:00.002-04:002010-04-04T15:49:46.201-04:00summer, anyone?If you're anywhere in the northeastern States or Southern Ontario, you're almost certainly experiencing one heck of a nice holiday weekend. I cannot believe the weather we're having. It feels slightly wrong, even -- temperatures in the high twenties, gorgeous sun, and it's not even close to May yet. I recall snowstorms on the Victoria Day weekend in May, and I'm not old enough to be saying that sort of thing yet. Cold, wet, unpredictable springs are more the norm here than gorgeous, sunny, dry ones.<br /><br />But I've been taking advantage. The raised bed is ready for its plants, and I intend to put the first round of beets and lettuce in tomorrow. I've planted the peas. I have no idea what is going to happen with the peas, because everything I've seen about planting peas suggests different things. Soak them, don't soak them. Plant them in dry soil. Plant them in moist soil. Plant them early. Plant them just before the last frost date. The only thing people seem to agree on is that peas are cool-weather crops -- but just what that means, they can't agree on.<br /><br />Whatever. I had no luck with peas last year, period. I have planted 10 pea seeds, and I'm hoping for at least three plants. They're all sugar snaps and I'm really looking forward to snacking on them. We've been trying to cultivate a habit of eating veggies for snacks.<br /><br />We're attempting a new method of mulching this year, involving newspaper covered in natural cedar mulch around the flower beds. The weather's caused the weeds to go nuts already, although there is this year a corresponding amount of nuttiness from the rest of the plants. When it cools off later this week (frost, even!) there's going to be some frantic running around covering things, I'm afraid.<br /><br />Meanwhile, upstairs in the sunroom there are little basil plants and little tomato plants making themselves happy. The tomatoes are even growing their first set of true leaves. It looks, however, like I'm going to have to purchase pepper plants this year -- the peppers I started over a month ago have yet to germinate.<br /><br />But, having seen a phoebe in the backyard this afternoon, I will not complain about recalcitrant peppers; I am very, very glad it is spring.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-15254895257056762002010-03-07T11:04:00.002-05:002010-03-07T11:11:36.231-05:00Trail, Gayla. You grow girl. Simon & Schuster: 2005.This gorgeous weather we've been having is going to spawn a spate of reviews of gardening and/or garden-related books. Just a forewarning. The first of the onslaught is <a href="http://weeklybookpixie.blogspot.com/2010/03/you-grow-girl-by-gayla-trail.html">Gayla Trail's <span style="font-style: italic;">You Grow Girl</span></a>, which is named after <a href="http://www.yougrowgirl.com">her blog</a>. Good stuff on that blog, if you're interested in all things gardening, including her personal journey to/through gardening.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-9121179862756521672010-03-05T12:17:00.002-05:002010-03-05T12:49:50.878-05:00feeling passionate about pruningI've caught garden fever good. It is March 5th. There is still significant snow on all the garden beds (and good -- I don't want anyone getting themselves frozen). And I am sitting here fantasizing about pruning. I don't even like pruning.<br /><br />This year I really should prune the clematis at the side of the house. It's getting a little wild and a lot too big. Now, I could probably just add to the trellis -- the little white clematis, whatever the heck it is, would like that because it's heading its way up there anyways. The big pink one would probably appreciate having a little more space down lower to do its thing. The clematis out there was one of the success stories of my garden last year, one of the few. It just bloomed and bloomed and looked lovely, even when it was flopping over to take over the driveway.<br /><br />I'm scared to prune it because I don't want to hurt it. But I think it's got to be done. There's dead wood in there, and if it was starting to get unruly last year it's definitely going to be unmanageable this year.<br /><br />And then there's the forsythia. It's a monster in the back yard, this forsythia. I have slowly come to the conclusion that no matter what we do it will grow back. So all the old stems are going this year. We'll leave last year's new stems, and maybe a few from the year before. But everything else is getting pulled. The old 1/3 rule, but even more ruthless than I've ever been with a shrub. Then perhaps I will be able to see the campanula and the ferns and the phlox without having my eye poked out.<br /><br />The dogwood, planted two springs ago, which came down from Ottawa with me when I returned home, needs tidying. It did super-well last year, so I'm going to hack it back into a nicer shape. I'll be much more gentle with it than I will be with the forsythia; it's not overgrowing its welcome. But the younger shoots are the reddest shoots, and so a little gentle pruning right about now should be good.<br /><br />The rose in the front is getting transplanted this year. I've been saying that for years, but this time I <span style="font-style: italic;">really mean it</span>. But first it will have to be chopped back to something I can actually move. And I need to clear a place for it. (Getting rid of some daylilies, they're overgrowing their welcome, too, along with the forsythia.) I will try to move the rose as soon as the ground is unfrozen. I have tried to kill this rose for three years now, and it's not dying, so I suspect it will handle my abusive transplantation.<br /><br />There's a pair of wigelia, one of which seems to ignore everything and just does its thing, and another which seems to ignore everything and looks pathetic all the time. Sadly, the one I like is the pathetic one. I need to do a good trimming of it this year, just after it blooms. The other one could probably use a bit of a whack-back, too.<br /><br />Oh, and the raspberries. I need to get armed with heavy leather gloves (and probably a jacket and a neck-protector, frankly) and some hefty shears and go after those as soon as they start to leaf out. They are out of control. And vicious.<br /><br />And then there's the spirea in the front which I <span style="font-style: italic;">hate</span> but haven't gotten rid of yet, and it's not just out of control, it's so ugly it makes me cross-eyed each time I look at it. Except when it blooms. And its little leaves are rather attractive. I might be convinced to keep it, but I can't let it go another year without hacking it all the way back, digging out its vicious little suckers, and probably digging out at least half of it. Which I'm sure the periwinkle will thank me for, grr.<br /><br />Oh, and while we're speaking of the front, I think I've maybe let the sandcherry go on too long without pruning. That I'll do after it flowers.<br /><br />Um. I think I've maybe got my hands full. This weekend I'm taking some flagging tape out there to decorate the branches that will have to go. The upside of my pruning enthusiasm? I now actually want to take the compost out so that I can go and inspect the shrubs without their leaves.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-77857554239214166572010-02-24T15:34:00.003-05:002010-02-24T15:53:02.950-05:00not dead yet!*pokes a little at the blog*<br /><br />Oooh, it is still alive!<br /><br />Okay, so yes. If you follow this blog and not my other, you can be forgiven for thinking I might be dead. The truth is, I have been hibernating a bit this winter as far as birdwatching and gardening sorts of things go. I have been cooking a little bit, but there hasn't been anything newsworthy (other than my decision, based on one mostly successful experiment, that the slow cooker is probably the way to go ALWAYS). I haven't even really been reading much that would be relevant here, although I should report that I am in love with <a href="http://lucywaverman.com/lucy-s-cookbooks/index.php">Lucy Waverman</a>'s new cookbook, <span style="font-style: italic;">A Year in Lucy's Kitchen</span>. I have not yet tried a recipe by her that hasn't turned out, even the ones that are a little tricky.<br /><br />But we are closing in on the end of February, and my little calendar is telling me that this weekend is the time to plant my hot peppers. We had a day last week that even smelled a little bit like spring. Then we had a snowstorm, but I am watching the buckets of snow melting in a steady drip out the window right now. In a couple of weeks no doubt the Dutch iris will be peeking up, and the snowdrops. I will be able to find out if my new redbud and the two-year-old Kentucky coffee tree made it through the winter. Two and a half weeks from now I'll be looking at planting tomatoes and basil. We have a new wheelbarrow, lots of mulch waiting, and I have plans starting to take shape in my head. Bring it on, March!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-39931922840985940382009-09-10T09:09:00.005-04:002009-09-10T10:45:04.119-04:00condiment experiment: Mangoes and Curry Leaves by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi DuguidLast night I attempted a couple of recipes in my new, beautiful cookbook (it's more of a coffee table book, really, so pretty and unweildy) <span style="font-style: italic;">Mangoes and Curry Leaves</span> by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. I made three condiment sauces to go along with fishy's [superdelicious] chicken curry. There were two hits and one miss. The hits were lovely. The miss was... spectacular.<br /><br />I did the Hot Sweet Date-Onion Chutney and the Fresh Coriander-Peanut Chutney, both from page 28, and then the Mint Sambol from page 32.<br /><br />The chutneys were lovely, and I can see the date chutney becoming a favourite. It is indeed sweet, and it has a lovely hot kick that's not painful; very pleasant. The cooked onions give the whole thing a very roasty, tasty flavour, cooked as they were in sesame oil. I was a bit concerned that the sesame oil might be too strongly flavoured, but I think it was perfect. Given the few ingredients and the simplicity of it, I'm really impressed with the complexity of the flavours. Makes a nice dip, and I think would also be really good with samosas or veggie pakora.<br /><br />The cilantro chutney was really nice paired with the curry because it has a very fresh, tangy zip that cuts through the richness and spice of a curry. We couldn't find cayennes or serranos, so we made it with jalapenos. It worked out fine, but I'd definitely be interested in testing out other types of peppers in that recipe.<br /><br />And then there was the mint sambol. I did this is with the mortar and pestle, which in itself is a fair bit of work. Which would have been fine if it had turned out.<br /><br />I don't know what I did. I thought I'd followed the recipe (except for the hot pepper types, again) but the resulting dish was so unbelievably salty it was inedible. I don't know if I didn't have enough mint, or enough lime juice, or if the difference in the pepper types would have solved the problem, but fishy and I each tasted it (him despite my dire warnings that his arteries would immediately solidify into solid columns of salt) and then we threw out the rest. I really liked the idea of the mint sambol, so it was definitely disappointing. And unpleasant.<br /><br />However, I'm certainly going to keep trying recipes from this book. There's another sambol mentioned, spicy and sweet, that I might attempt next, keeping a close eye on the amount of salt I use, of course.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hot Sweet Date-Onion Chutney</span><br />pg. 28 of <span style="font-style: italic;">Mangoes and Curry Leaves</span> by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid<br /><ul><li>3 dried red chiles, stemmed</li><li>2 tablespoons raw sesame oil, or vegetable oil, or ghee</li><li>1 large white onion (about 1/2 pound), coarsely chopped</li><li>1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste</li><li>1/2 cup chopped pitted dates</li></ul>"Put the chiles in a small bowl, add 1 cup hot water, and set aside to soak for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok or karhai (see Glossary) or a wide heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and salt and cook until the onion is well touched with brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.<br /><br />"Drain the chiles, place them in a food processor, add the chopped dates, and process for 30 seconds to finely chop. Add the onion mixture and process for about 15 seconds to chop and blend the ingredients. <span style="font-style: italic;">Alternatively</span>, place the drained chiles on a flaat stone mortar and grind to a paste with the pestle, add the dates and grind, and finally, add the cooked onion mixture and coarsely grind, leaving some small chunks.<br /><br />"Taste the chutney for salt, and adjust if necessary. Serve in a condiment dish. (Store leftovers in a well-sealed glass jar in the refridgerator for up to several weeks). Makes 1 cup; serves 6."<br /><br />For more recipes and commentary on the above recipe (or to see the Glossary) please check out the cookbook! Especially recommended for food culture junkies and food p**n addicts like me.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-73831014288570616682009-09-05T07:38:00.006-04:002009-09-05T10:52:27.994-04:00my favourite scavengers: blogging for vultures<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ivad09.org/wp/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 195px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJXT-1l_6T-3bL-XKTTVaN9eL_mho4Pmxm8vptIVAwFKrG5mONhfFfpV68TmBCFXI4DowmuzEf3-3BS4F-njmgmXuE-kOQzlD_XILK6KfuC2NnuMah9vl-0zFjbylDpderaOhNu2YF7I9N/s200/blog+for+vultures+09.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377953142926847890" border="0" /></a>I had no idea that today was <a href="http://www.ivad09.org/">International Vulture Awareness Day</a> until yesterday, when posts and tweets started cropping up. To be honest, I had no idea it existed at all. But I thought, why not? These poor maligned creatures need some love, and I'm happy to join in the chorus of people who want to raise the profile of this unique group of birds, which contains several species around the world. I've always been rather fond of them, and I'm glad to note that there's an entire community of people out there who are just as if not more fond of them than I.<br /><br />Vultures are possibly so maligned because they eat carrion, and are therefore reviled with the same strength that other carrion eaters (ie. crows) tend to be. But that's ridiculous. If we didn't have vultures we'd be up to our necks in rotting roadkill, and I, for one, am grateful that someone will eat that stuff. They're an integral part of the world's ecosystems and they are often completely overlooked if not outright discriminated against. The major issue that is being raised by IVAD today is the plight of vultures in Asia, which are being poisoned by the vetrinary drug Diclofenac, which is used to treat cattle -- if the cattle die in the fields, the vultures eat them (as they are wont to do) but the drug builds up in the vulture's system and eventually causes death.<br /><br />Here in Canada we have one regularly occurring species, the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture/id">turkey vulture.</a> We also occasionally get black vultures popping up as far north as Point Pelee, or Toronto -- but that's a rarity and excuse for celebration and frantic scrabbling among Ontarian twitchers. We're lucky (and the vultures are lucky) because turkey vultures are doing quite well here, even expanding their range further into Canada.<br /><br />Turkey vultures were one of the very first birds that I was able to reliably recognize, and so even if I didn't think they were cool, I would love them just for that. I also find them to be one of the easier birds to help kids identify. Turkey vultures make a "v" with their wings when they're soaring: "v" for vulture. Big and black, hardly ever flapping, with silvery primaries and a bald red head. A lot of people think they're ugly, but I think they have a wonderful if unique beauty about them. Their little nekkid heads with their big eyes are quite compelling.<br /><br />I'm told, <a href="http://www.hrca.on.ca/ShowCategory.cfm?subCatID=1455">by people who will know</a>, that turkey vultures are one of the brighter species of large birds and we can tell this because they are social creatures. They like to hang out with other vultures. One of the coolest things I've ever seen was a group of turkey vultures hiding from a rainstorm underneath the awning of a little hydro building out in the middle of a field. They were all hunched over, and clearly vying for the best and driest spots. I'm also told that turkey vultures are exceedingly tidy birds, very vain, constantly preening. Which is counterintuitive for a lot of people, given the vulture's diet.<br /><br />Other cool turkey vulture facts:<br /><ul><li>they are one of the very few birds with a sense of smell, and it's quite acute in the area of rotting meat</li><li>their head is "bald" (actually, turkey vultures have a very fine downy layer over their heads, nearly impossible to see unless very close to them) because vultures like to get their heads right into their meals, and feathers would a) get in the way and b) get stinky and likely full of germs and parasites</li><li>they are related to herons</li><li>they migrate, but are one of the first birds back here in Ontario in the spring, and one of the later ones to leave</li></ul><br />I'd love to meet a turkey vulture some day. We've attempted to see them closer once, by throwing a raw hamburger on the lawn at the cottage just to see if the vultures circling over would come down to investigate. I think the hamburger was too fresh, though, although it had gone off by our standards. Or perhaps there wasn't <span style="font-style: italic;">enough</span> hamburger. Vultures are big birds. Um. So, yes. There's your weird fact about me for the day: I tried unsuccessfully to set up a vulture feeder.<br /><br />Spread the vulture love, everyone, and happy International Vulture Awareness Day!<br /><br />Other people I follow who love vultures around the world:<br /><a href="http://stevecreek.com/blog-for-vultures/">Steve Creek</a><br /><a href="http://bogbumper.blogspot.com/2009/09/photo-taken-with-canon-eos-30d-ef-300mm.html">bogbumper</a><br /><a href="http://www.birdcanada.com/?p=731">Bird Canada</a><br /><a href="http://behindthebins.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/international-vulture-awareness-day-09/">Behind the Bins</a><br /><a href="http://www.birdorable.com/blog/birdorables-fourteen-favorite-facts-about-vultures/">Birdorable</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-44721103247851788072009-08-18T12:06:00.006-04:002009-08-18T12:49:19.443-04:00Curried PotatoesThis recipe is particularly delicious at this time of year through early fall, when there are fresh potatoes and fresh hot peppers to be found, but it's good at any time. I can't remember what book I got the inspiration from, but I've been making this dish since before I moved out of my parents' house. It was a standard at university, and it continues to be my favourite way to eat potatoes. I'm including some standard measurements, but I'm pretty lackadaisical when it comes to adding ingredients. It changes every time. I've been very specific about the slicing of the jalapenos because this way they add the best texture, but the jalapenos are optional if you're not a fan, as is the coriander. The lemon juice, by the way, makes the whole dish. It really brings out all the other flavours. So while many of the other ingredients are fungible, the lemon juice really isn't.<br /><br />I cook this dish in our wok, which is big enough for vigorous stirring and transfers heat very nicely, but a good big frying pan does the trick too.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Curried Potatoes</span><br /><br />4-6 potatoes (I prefer russets, but any boiling potato will do)<br />1/3 cup oil<br />1/2 tsp. mustard seed<br />a few curry leaves (or 1/4 tsp. curry powder and pinch turmeric for Very Yellow Colour)<br />1-2 jalapeno peppers, sliced lengthwise in eighths and then sliced crossways in 3mm chunks<br />1 tbsp. ketchup<br />1/2 tsp. salt<br />1/2 tsp. chile powder<br />1/2 tsp. cumin powder<br />lemon juice<br />chopped fresh coriander<br /><br />Cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes, leaving the skins on (they're delicious in this dish), boil until tender, and drain well.<br /><br />While potatoes are draining, heat the oil over medium heat. Add mustard seed, curry, jalapenos, ketchup, salt, chile powder, and cumin. Sautee for 1 minute or until spices are fragrant. <span style="font-style: italic;">Be careful not to overcook/burn the spices</span>. 1 minute is really all it takes.<br /><br />Add the potatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring. Add lemon juice to taste (I wouldn't go higher than 1 tbsp. to start), stir until well combined. Add coriander to taste, stir and serve.<br /><br />Makes 3-6 servings, depending on how hungry people are, and stores well in the fridge for next-day reheated leftovers. Some people might suggest this is only a side (ie., we had this with hamburgers last night) but they would be wrong. This was my full lunch today and it was perfection.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-54242070443427857712009-07-25T08:02:00.002-04:002009-07-25T08:09:52.221-04:00progress update: bad news, good newsAll right. The morning rounds in the garden provided me some good news, and some bad news. Let's get to the bad news first.<br /><br />SOMEBODY HAS EATEN MY 'PATIO PICKLE' CUCUMBER PLANTS.<br /><br />I don't know who you are, but they were just finally blooming and maybe going to give me some pickling cukes. Oh, the blossoms are still left. BUT NO LEAVES. There were leaves yesterday. There were lots of leaves yesterday. There are NONE this morning. Mystery animal that eats cucumber plant leaves, you are on notice. If I find you, you will be sorry. I have the feeling you are not sorry now.<br /><br />Also, my tomatoes seem to be taking this cold, wet weather particularly hard, and don't even get me started on the single pepper plant that has managed to make it out of seedlinghood. It seems to have stalled just past that stage.<br /><br />Good news, though!<br /><br />I am going to have more tomatillos than I know what to do with. And the beans are growing! I may even have a few to take with me for lunch today. And the pumpkins! I'm going to have pumpkins, even with this bizarre weather. The pumpkin plants are going nuts, and there are two healthy looking pumpkins so far, and tonnes of blossoms. The buttercup squash seems less enthusiastic, but it's still trucking along. I noticed two honeybees doing their thing in the flowers this morning, and it was fun to watch.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-47275481589859307332009-07-09T08:31:00.005-04:002009-07-09T18:35:43.255-04:00squash blossom<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMXACve7Grld3Y2ZdIiwuks6guA58A4GQ3nHiV_sGBt9ezl1ntdnF8PL424QABH6l0bOufkuzcUJN25Jw5wQj_Oi7Os0pj6S7D-KaKQBaqkKtSMV8SwAnDVWjShPUw58_ly8Um8EKBZutU/s1600-h/DSC_0520.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMXACve7Grld3Y2ZdIiwuks6guA58A4GQ3nHiV_sGBt9ezl1ntdnF8PL424QABH6l0bOufkuzcUJN25Jw5wQj_Oi7Os0pj6S7D-KaKQBaqkKtSMV8SwAnDVWjShPUw58_ly8Um8EKBZutU/s320/DSC_0520.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356592250265986498" border="0" /></a><br />I was doing the morning rounds in the garden -- I tend to do this while my tea is steeping, before I come up here to the computer to check email -- and discovered that the squash has started to bloom. It's a perfect blossom, bright yellow, and unexpected. I thought I might expect blossoms this weekend, not as early as today.<br /><br />If I had to pick a favourite plant for the vegetable garden, it might be squash. I love tomatoes, and always feel good about my herbs and the garlic. But it's squash that has a special place in my heart. It's the treasure hunt. I love the great, curly, crazy vines, and the hidden little squash plants at the base of the flowers; I love watching them grow over the course of the summer from flower to itty bitty squash to full-blown-keep-me-in-the-cold-cellar-for-the-winter big squashes. This is the first time since I was a kid that I've grown squash in my own garden, and I am absolutely thrilled with it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3373697468440413426.post-88560111237461148872009-07-01T13:40:00.003-04:002009-07-01T13:55:10.980-04:00mulchy dilemmaIn preparation for a wedding shower to be hosted here this Saturday, we've been working on the garden. It has just occurred to me that I should have taken before-and-after shots; maybe I'll do that for the front yard, despite the embarrassment of the before shots. Guys, our garden is big. It's really big. And when you get lackadaisical about mulching, like we have been for the past two years, the weeding is... challenging. Daunting, even.<br /><br />We've done the first pass on everything in the back yard, and a couple of the beds (the one around the oak tree, the middle bed, the small bed at the entrance to the yard) are shower-ready. The rest needs another go-over. This is most of it, by the way. Luckily, I have cousins coming to help tomorrow morning, for which they will be both paid in cash and paid in strawberry shortcake. Because it will be a huge help.<br /><br />My problem with mulching is that I have to get the mulch. I have to either purchase it, which can get very expensive for the number of beds we have, or I have to get it from the landfill, which gives mulch away for free, but you have to shovel it. Also, there's not much left at this time of year. And I would need containers for it -- and two years ago we had containers. I had five large Rubbermaid containers full, and that still wasn't enough to cover the gardens, and that is two trips in the car to the landfill, besides. Thus you can also see the problem with producing enough compost ourselves to mulch, although fishy's gone a long way to helping that with the creation of a 4'x4'x4' yardwaste cage in the back yard, which is currently full to the top of weeds (and likely weed seed, sigh.)<br /><br />And I know that mulching is better for the garden. I know the plants could use the nutrients provided by a good compost mulch. We did purchase mushroom compost for the garlic bed, which I'll be putting out tomorrow with the small helpers. But what's a girl to do? Every garden magazine and book talks about the benefits of mulch to the plants, for weed suppression, for wildlife; but I just can't get enough. I guess we'll either have to suck it up and purchase, or make several trips to the landfill, or be more serious about composting, or something. Or maybe just fill in parts of the beds with big stones, which is a hell of a mulch. Or someone could tell me how to make proper leaf mold, which I haven't yet been able to do.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330550798080469047noreply@blogger.com0