Midwinter Sun

This time of year, sunshine is in very short supply. But then, there's a day when the sun peeks through the clouds (usually as it dips toward the horizon) and the sunset is glorious. I thought I would share a couple recent examples.

The above two pictures were taken as I was walking by the bay on a day when the clouds opened up at the horizon just as the sun was going down. The sudden burst of color was simply delightful. 

The second pair of pictures was taken as I was walking across Baloo's big field on a night when the light show took on some spectacular colors. Yes, it really was that intense. I met a couple other people on the trail and they were just as stunned by the colors as I was. Seriously, I didn't doctor the pictures at all - if anything, they don't do the brilliance justice. 

Baloo used to love taking sunset walks, so I have been keeping up the tradition in his honor - there are definitely rewards along the way!

Chimp Boy Gravel Pizza

I haven't done a flagrant foodie entry on the blog for quite some time, so brace yourself for a homemade pizza post.

In case you're wondering about the title, there's a deli in town that makes a sandwich called the Chimp Boy Gravel Pants and this pizza is inspired by that sandwich.  They differ in a number of very important points, but I will not claim it as an original - I was challenged by my family to come up with something like it and this seems to do the trick. 

How to make it? First, you need a nice homemade sourdough crust par baked to make it extra crispy. This one was made down at the family homestead, so the crust got put on the stone on the grill at about 500 degrees for about 4 minutes before it came back into the kitchen be covered in goodies. When I'm at home, I use the oven with a pizza stone in it at 475 - 500 degrees. (If you don't have a stone, use a cookie sheet.)

The toppings include some of the pesto that I made and highlighted on the blog at the height of basil season, partially cooked pheasant breast (to give it a nice sear on the outside, but keep the inside nearly raw so that it doesn't dry out in the baking process), sliced sun-dried tomatoes, crumbled buttermilk blue cheese and a drizzle of Italian salad dressing. If you're going to make this, don't overdo the blue cheese, tempting though it might be. You don't want to overpower the rest of the flavors. 

Put it back on the stone and cook it for another 7-8 minutes, until the cheese starts to get little golden spots on it and the crust starts to brown on the edges. 

All you need to go with it is a crisp salad and the beverage of your choice. 

But I don't have any pheasant in my freezer, you cry! No fears. Some smoked turkey breast will work quite nicely. 

(Also, if you don't have sourdough starter, any nice pizza dough will do - it will just have a little less tang.)

See? I anticipated the requests for the recipe! Let me know if you try it and how you like it.  :)

January Blues

Birds, that is...

Bluebirds usually have the good sense to fly south for the winter, but there are exceptions to the rule. These birds were obviously flying (or, rather, sitting) in the face of the conventional wisdom of their kind by hanging around in Baloo's big field in January.

 

I thought they were quite picturesque bravely perched with snow falling all around them. They seemed pretty unperturbed by both the weather and my presence.  I wondered what they might be finding to eat, since they tend to prefer bugs to other forms of nourishment.

Here is madam, with her more muted blue-gray wings and softer orange breast.

She curiously watched my progress along the trail.

I caught one picture with both of them in it, but it isn't the best - madam is hiding behind a branch and the sun, while hidden by clouds, is still backlighting them, making the picture too bright and exposed. 

When I was in Missouri, bluebirds would stay in the woods near my house all year. I have homemade hickory log feeders that I fill with a concoction of peanut butter, cornmeal and bird seeds and the bluebirds in Missouri loved that stuff. The ones in this area have yet to discover these feeding stations - the chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers make good use of them, though.
 

New Year's Resolutions

 Let's see how well I do! 

Something I have been wanting to do on the new Stampeaz site is publish some tutorials, tips and tricks for carving and printing. I just published the first one, so we'll see how well I keep my resolution and whether people find it at all useful.  I have plans for several more already and we'll see where I go from there.  

The first installment is a quick tutorial on how I prepare a block before transferring an image or carving. I like to use the sanding method and it's really, really easy to do. So, if you're interested, the post is on the Stampeaz site in the blog section here.

Here's the before and after picture to try and entice you... :)

 

Doves on Candid Camera

While snowed in at the family homestead around Christmastime, we enjoyed digging out spots for the birds (and bunnies) to come and get a snack. We also took advantage of an available trail camera to get some candid shots (and especially to see how many bunnies came during the night). 

Here are a few pictures of the doves that enjoyed partaking of the daily feast - the photos are a little dark because it's early morning - well, early for winter hours, since the sun is so lazy about rising these days. 

There's a pretty large group that parachutes in to snack together. I love the fact that the trail camera catches the flight action. In the picture above, there's a dove flying in just about in the exact center of the picture.
 

Here's another picture with a dove coming in for a landing, along with a cardinal right behind him.

 

This was my favorite dove action picture, though. I love the way its wings are twisted in what looks like an impossible position for flight. There's also an evening grosbeak taking to the air toward the middle of the picture. 

We'd go out and retrieve the card from the camera every morning and looked to see what it had captured as we drank our caffeinated brew. There were always a couple of fun pictures in the mix.  

Oh, and the answer is five, if you were wondering how many bunnies came in during the night. Five was the largest number caught in a picture at one time. Usually we'd get three of four at a time.

The Sock Drawer

Well, just wow! There was an amazing amount of interest in the socks! Who knew? So, I thought I should maybe post a picture of the whole hand-knit sock drawer.

The first socks I knit were made for my brother as a Christmas present a number of years ago when we had a family challenge to only spend $20.00 on each person for the holiday. Happily, back then, one could get a really outstanding hand-dyed sock yarn for that price. He only uses those socks when he's camping to keep his feet warm in his sleeping bag - he tells me they've never seen the inside of a pair of boots! 

After that, I started knitting socks because there are only so many shawls, sweaters, hats and mittens that a person can use or foist off on family and friends. I figured that I could have fun, keep knitting and enjoy wearing outrageously decadent socks. They have a lot going for them as a handy and portable project - they are made of tiny little stitches and take a long time to make, they have the advantage of needing very little storage space, they usually only use one skein of yarn, and they feel fantastic on my feet! 

People wonder if I actually wear them. Well, I haven't worn any of the 2022 socks yet, since I wanted to take a picture of the lineup before I put them into my boots and started giving them a workout, and so far, I've mostly used the two rows on the right for everyday use, but others will soon be joining the rotation. The pink and brown ones are a perfect match for a flannel shirt in my wardrobe and the gray, brown and blue ones are excellent all-around general use socks. Otherwise, I'll just go with what I'm wearing and how flashy I want my feet to feel. 

You already knew I was a bit odd, so this shouldn't surprise you too much, right??

The Socks of 2022

One of my (many) goals of 2022 (and, amazingly enough, one that I actually managed to accomplish) was to knit a pair of socks for every month of the year. I thought it might be fun to share the lineup as a colorful beginning to 2023. 

January actually had a head start, since I started a pair after my Advent socks were finished. 

January through April included one pair of thicker boot socks, rainbows and a pair of very utilitarian brown socks. 

Then I did a couple of socks with stranded colorwork patterns and a couple more plain, everyday socks - one in blue and one in gray. One of the things I also tried to do was experiment with different construction techniques and that was fun - eye of partridge heels, toe up, cuff down, instep gussets and no instep gussets. I dabbled in creating some patterns of my own and that was fun, too.

The next batch had a blue and gold that reminded me of Van Gogh's Starry Night, another plain gray and then some that the dyers gave interesting skein names. The striped one was called "It Takes a Village", the green and brown "Dobby, the House Elf" and the green, black and orange was called "Friday the Thirteenth". 

 

Here's the full lineup. I didn't manage to make an Advent pair for 2022, but maybe this year. Although, now that I have a drawer full of hand knit socks, I think I will be knitting something other than footwear. We'll see what I come up with. And yes, there's an extra pair - since January had a head start, I thought it only fair.... Oddly, number thirteen was the "Friday the Thirteenth" pair. I didn't realize that until just now.

Happy New Year!! All the very best wishes for 2023!!