The Duckling Video!

He's a pretty wicked bug hunter.

Biking and a Bug

Today was a gorgeous, sunny day in the last frontier. After a lazy morning filled with toast and tea, I procrastinated about the back yard until about 2:30. It's a rather good thing I did too. While I was supposed to be watching for falling tree limbs as a neighbor chopped them down, I was instead distracted by the sight of this sleek dragonfly in a pile of construction rubble.

My inattention did result in a couple of scratches, but it was very much worth it for pictures of this handsome boy. Or girl. If you know how to tell the difference, please, tell me. I then managed to get myself suited up and on my bicycle. The weather the last week has been somewhat drizzle filled and depressing, so it had been a while since my last ride. And now for something completely different, check out my awesome new bike gloves below! You really don't need much gear (besides a helmet) to bike, but it makes it way more fun.
The Coastal Trail was lush and busy on a Sunday afternoon and brought both sea and land to view. However, best part of the whole ride was when I stopped to take a peanut butter cracker break and found a clutch of eleven ducklings in a pond. They were leaping across the water, scavenging for bugs to eat. After a sedate, well, a grueling, grocery-laden, uphill ride back, I was a block from home when a woodpecker flew in front of my front tire and landed in a 3 ft tree next to the sidewalk. He had a red mop of feathers on his head and hippity-hopped his way around the trunk twice before I rode past. With plenty of exertion and nature, I think I had a perfect Sunday.

Potato and Chicken Salad

Today I got up thinking, should I go for a bike ride? I grabbed a hot tea, sat down to look out the window and flipped on the cooking channel. The sky became grey, wind blew and the answer was clear. Instead I watched a couple of half hour season specials and found a recipe for a Potato and Chicken Salad. Am I one to follow a recipe? Never! So, the original recipe is by Sunny Anderson on Food Network's Cooking for Real, from the episode Sunday in the Park with Sunny. Until I figure out how to make links, you get the web address, which is http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/picnic-potato-and-chicken-salad-recipe/index.html

My adapted recipe is as follows:
9 red potatoes quartered and baked in olive oil until tender
6 leftover BBQ red potatoes quartered
1 poached chicken breast
2 pancetta slices, 30 seconds in the microwave (like with bacon and yes, it's totally cheating but way less greasy)
1/2 cup celery, rough chopped
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed and minced


Sauce:
1/2 cup fake mayo (I use Vegenaise, it's tasty and I don't feel bad about eating it)
3 TBS Anne's Naturals Goddess Dressing (Like a Lemon Tahini dressing)
Small hand full chopped parsley
2 tsp chili powder
pepper
salt

2 heads butter leaf lettuce

I'd definitely put your salad on a bed of lettuce and drizzle some extra dressing over the top to up the flavor if you can't let it sit over night. Also, don't try to eat it as a lettuce wrap. I cannot convey to you how much that does not work. Over all, quite quick if I hadn't forgotten to thaw out the chicken first, and a great way to use up leftover chicken and potatoes. Another idea I didn't have supplies for: put a dollop of pesto on top of individual servings. Yummm!

Centralia #1

I just recently, say 2 days ago, came back from a trip to Centralia Washington. I have family there and since I'm still waiting to hear if I have a job for the summer, a visit was in order. I am quite familiar with Centralia, but in all the years I've been traveling through I have never managed to go antiquing through it's many antique shops. One notable shop, of many I might add, was the Shady Lady. After a short chat with the owner I had a whole new perspective on the large, sweeping staircase that led upstairs. A former bordello, the Shady Lady shop was a newly remodeled, two story space with the second floor full of antique and retro looking clothing, jewelry and shoes, etc. I wish I had a picture of the shop and the 'back room' that was meant to look like a room of old. I made several purchases that day at various stores. Jewelry purchases included the above picture. In my defence, they were all quite affordable. On the right, the bouquet looking one with jade drops is definitely mine. It's a little tarnished and I need to make something that with cover the half inch pin point that emerges like a dagger from the top. I've already stabbed myself twice. The green bee on the bottom left I'm giving to a friend that, as far as I know, does not wear pins. She always complements me on mine though, so we'll see if she likes it. I thought it was super cute! The top right is kind of crown looking, but I really like it and am still planning on squirreling it away unless the guilt overwhelms me. The crystal drop in the middle pin dangles and it is by far the youngest of my new acquisitions. Unfortunately, it can also be described as super cute and would look great on a coat or sweater, so I may not be able to part with it either. I see many jewelry boxes in my future... I'm off to make toast, so I'll see about adding more or editing later!

Overhaul and a Question

Well, seeing as my first foray into blogging failed with epic proportion, I'll be changing the theme. I'm not sure if there was one to begin with, but in a effort to get myself back on track, we're changing to a hobbies and crafts kind of thing. Maybe article or book reviews? Let's see where it actually goes, but hopefully this will disperse any lingering 'WhAt ShOuLd I wRiTe???' blocks.
In the beginning I sat thinking, 'no, I'll soon find something more interesting to write about." Unfortunately, as time progressed i was left with "I haven't written anything!!! What I do write now has to be epic because I waited so long!' I've decided that after procrastinating for a solid year, it's time to get over myself and just blog something. I'll now be seeing if I can create a poll or two to ask about other blogger's blocks, but if anyone wants to reply, please do so. I wonder if anyone else has ended up afraid of their blog?

My life feels like a Carnival

Between the constant changes, stress and contradictions that now occupy the majority of my existence, I find that I'm spending more time either sitting and collecting myself, or out and about trying to find distraction.  Being successful in both of late, I alternate between reading novels while trying to wrestle my new cat off the blankets and attending the numerous events sponsored by the sorority I'm rushing for spring term.  Both are equally enjoyable, but some days one will seem completely unreasonable and repulsive.  Either I want to lock myself in my apartment and never come out, or I can't sit still and will wander downtown Eugene because I need to be out and about.  Thankfully, the cat pays me no mind and entertains herself.  I'll admit she's more ingenious than I when it comes to such things.  For example, the table lamp she's currently engaged in battle has refused to give up the small dusty moth under the shade, which, of course, is absolutely infuriating.  She often falls off the table, but she appears to be enjoying that to.  I'm certain that if I only broadened my idea of fun, I'd never be at a loss for what to do again.  Unfortunately, I'm trying not to become any stranger than my genetics demand, and thus, I'll be staying on the mainstream for a while longer.  Listening to the rap pouring from a car's speakers on the road below me, I wish the 'artist' would stop referring to women as,coincidentally, a type of gardening tool and realize that, yet again, it's nine at night and I really haven't eaten anything to speak of.  Thankfully, I cook in batches, so I only need to heat up goulash, not make it.  I'll even coax the cat to come with me and leave the lamp in peace, as she'll no doubt find it again at three this morning.  I really do think my life is a carnival.  It's fun to look at, with it's colors and patterns, there are surprises and always something to entertain.  Yet, if you spend to much time in a carnival, you're bound to notice that it's just a bit too elaborate to be genuine.  There are a few things that are slightly off, and a few more that are just plain odd.  My life, is so a carnival.