From Voodoo to Christ

I am posting the YouTube video from Loving Hands Ministry of their coverage of Haitian President René Préval's call to fasting and prayer in Port Au Prince on February 12th. If you have ever been to Haiti, you will appreciate how incredulous was the of canceling the annual Mardi Gras celebration, which actually lasts for weeks on end, starting during January of every year, and stretching out until March. I have been in Haiti twice during the month of January and have witnessed some of these 'celebrations'. They are headed by painted witch doctors and voodoo priests, and are nothing more than drunkenness, drug and sexual orgies. Crowds chant and dance down the streets, and like a rolling snowball picking up more snow, more crazed people press into the moving crowd and join in. I was once caught in one of these crowds with 4 others in a car. That's another story....... but boy was it an hair raising adventure! I could literally hear and feel the oppressive evilness crackling through the air. To have the president make such an overt call to the true God is nothing short of phenomenal. Hit the 'pause' button on the Tinker Tunes music player to the right, and enjoy this video..............

California Sunrise

My kindred spirit that lives out of the California Bay Area took some mighty awesome foggy sunrise pictures recently. With her permission, I am posting my favorite one here, though I took the original photograph and put a mirror frame on the first one, and a reflection frame on the second one.

What do you think? Is she a budding professional photographer, or what?

Weekend Blitz

My talented friend Elisabeth flew up from Colorado this weekend for a stamping fest with me!

She created many fun cards, while I bumbled around and made a grand total of seven cards, but we had a wonderful time visiting and stamping together!

The willing chef for the weekend was, of course, none other than mi espouso. So relaxing to have him feed us like royalty while we did our 'thing'.

I did make one thing...... the buttered potato rosemary rolls again (but I ate fewer this round). Darrell made ebelskivers with raspberries, chocolate and almonds inside for Saturday breakfast, along with creamy scrambled eggs, bacon and fresh fruit.... YUM! A total surprise, he made cute little chocolate cream puffs for snacking on! Can you believe that guy?!?!?!

This morning we wound our way up to Snoqualamie Falls for breakfast and to deliver Elisabeth to her friend for her final days in the Northwest before she flies back to Fort Collins. It was a beautiful and sunny day! Perfect for a trip to see the falls once again.

We even saw a rainbow in the mist from the falls. A double rainbow popped out occasionally, too! So pretty!

We ate the Snoqualamie Falls pancakes with real maple syrup that they are famous for, as well as eggs Benedict! A first for me on the eggs.......... never even knew what eggs Benedict were (a delightful poached egg on Canadian bacon and an English muffin with a tasty Hollandaise sauce poured over all). Totally loved it!

Alas our time came to an end, as all good things eventually do. Thank you, dear Elisabeth, for coming clear up here for a great visit :o)

A Day in the Life.....

I really enjoy my ducks. They are such characters!

They spend part of their day swimming in the pond........

Notice in the second photo that the 2 male Mallards swim around the male Swedish Blue, hedging him in to keep him away now from the expectant Ma Mallard. She is their territory!

They spend some time lazing by the pond bench; then they start their meandering around the yard........

.....creating mud puddles wherever they find standing water. Our grass area is trashed!

Here they are up at our front door, wondering if they might be invited inside. Or one might find them browsing through the flower beds on their way to the driveway. They wander up and down the driveway, looking for what, I know not.

Lately, we have found them peeking through our entryway window, trying to steal a glance at what they are missing inside the house.

We have found them up and down the road, gabbing away as if there is no danger lurking, awaiting to make a nice, hearty dinner out of them.

In the second photo, the Indian Runner is wondering if anyone would care for a rousing game of soccer.

And walking her own beat around the yard is Bagheera, keeping an ever watchful eye on the wayward water fowl. Such a good kitty :o}

Oh, and guess what? Ma Mallard started incubating her eggs today! She won't budge off of her nest. I wanted to check how many eggs she still has, as I caught our dog with an eggshell this morning. I was so upset! Ma won't let me look, but I can see several eggs poking out from underneath her, so I am sure she still has a large number left. I even managed to slide 4 eggs from the 2 remaining female ducks (one Indian Runner and one Swedish Blue) towards her, and she incorporated them into her clutch, too! I have no idea if some animal will quickly end this whole adventure, but I will hope for the best.

Egg Nest

Our female Mallard has been disappearing for part of the days lately, and though I had seen her running into a particular bushy area, I had not spied any nest. I figured she surely must be laying eggs though.

Darrell, with his beady eyes and ability to spot details, saw her Monday in her nest. I had the hardest time finding her even though he was pointing to her. I was finally able to see her through the zoom lens on my camera, and snap a photo.

About 15 minutes later, she came scurrying out to join the other ducks in their foraging around the property, so I went back to the nest to see if something had been eating all the eggs when she was not on it. She has them covered with leaves, and though they are hard to count in a small picture, when I blew this up, I could count at least seven so far.

Here is the proud papa keeping an eye out while the female was on the nest.

Here he is again, showing off his beautiful plumage and male ego.

Darrell wanted to buy me an incubator to try to hatch her eggs, as she is not sitting on them for very long each day. I just didn't think I wanted to go through that step, just in case nature really could do its thing without me. So yesterday I googled "mallard eggs" and came up with a site where many others asked my same questions: why doesn't the female sit on her eggs, and what can I do to insure they will still hatch? Finally some helpful soul responded with a website (Northern Prairie Wildlife Research) with interesting information. This is what it had to say about the egg laying process:

During the laying period, Ma visits the nest for only about one hour per day. While there she lays an egg and works on nest construction. Don't be concerned if she skips a day. She does not incubate the eggs during the laying stage. Because no embryo development has occurred, weather conditions in her absence generally have very little effect on the clutch. An exception is a hard freeze, which may kill the embryos if it occurs before the hen has insulated the nest. Once she has constructed a nest bowl, she will cover the eggs with nest material whenever she voluntarily leaves the nest. This behavior makes the nest less obvious to predators, and protects the eggs from temperature extremes. Incubation begins after the clutch is complete, and typically lasts for about 25-29 days. During this period she will usually cover the nest and go off to feed for about an hour each morning and afternoon. As hatch date approaches, she will begin to feign injury if she is disturbed. This behavior evolved to lead predators away from the nest...once she is a safe distance from the nest, her "broken wing" will miraculously mend, and she will return to the nest as soon as the danger has passed. This behavior is fun to watch, but be aware that she is risking real injury in the process. Because no incubation occurred during the laying stage, all viable eggs will hatch within 12-24 hours of one another.

Now I am pretty excited that maybe, just maybe we will have a brood of baby ducklings on our own this year! If so, it will be a first for us :o}

Valentine FOOD, What Else?

A friend of mine so aptly commented that my blogs were all about FOOD!!! Karen, here's another foodie one for ya'!

We had Italian Swiss Steak, Roasted Asparagus and Buttered Rosemary Potato Rolls for Valentine's Day Dinner, and it was scrumptious!

The absolute BEST rolls I have ever baked......... stole the recipe from Pioneer Woman, and let me tell you........ they were out of this world! Instead of using frozen dinner rolls as she did, I made my Potato Dinner Roll recipe for the dough. Darrell ate 2 of the seven rolls. They were ALL gone when dinner was over. You know what that means. It was only Darrell and I for dinner. So much for all the exercising I've done the last 2 weeks........ dang!

Again, from Pioneer Woman, came this recipe for Baked Fudge. Oh man........ I mean OH MAN!!! Very easy to make, yet so wonderfully, decadently chocolaty. I confined myself to only 1, though, to make up for all those rolls I ate. Hey, I know another story about somebody who ate a lot of rolls here once :o} It's okay, Sis......... no harm done!

My Valentine made me heart sugar cookies frosted with cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar and topped with candies........ whoo-eee! Talk about rich, but so gooood!!! Thanks!

I made him a crafted heart and filled it with Jelly Bellys..... who doesn't like those?!?!

Happy Valentine's Day to YOU!!!

Winter Hike

Friday morning my son, Ryan, and I took a hike up to Wallace Falls. Well, more accurately, I took a rather strenuous hike while Ryan took a leisurely walk, or so it seemed. I thought is was pretty steep. He was never winded, as was I. He was a good sport about waiting up for his old mama :o}

The lower falls

Middle Falls shot from Lower Falls

Middle Falls shot on site

And no, I did not make it to the Upper Falls, though Ryan went up a bit more without me.

Mt Baring

At the base of this mountain sits Barclay Lake.

Middle mountain is Mt Index

Lake Serene nestles by Mt. Index

Bouquet Variations

Last night my thoughtful husband brought me a pretty bouquet of flowers. Being inspired by my daughter-in-law Bethany's amazing blog header, I played around today with different effects on this original photo:

Wild Effects!

Black & White


?

Odd Assortment

Brights

My personal favorite!

Which do you like the best?

Happy Valentine's, Sisterhood!

Due to a personal tragedy in the life of one of the sisterhood, we have not met together since early December. Last night, though, we had a wonderful Valentine dinner while we caught up on each others' lives.

There was a yummy chocolate fondue with all sorts of dipping goodies!

We never know what turns can happen in our lives from moment to moment. When those difficult times come, it is good to have friends who care.....

New House

The past 3 days we have been having fun helping Scott and Bethany with this.

Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr