October Fun

For most of October, Dale and I were on a long car trip. He had conferences for work in Las Vegas, Nevada and La Jolla, California. He invited me along this year. While he was working, I got to spend some time with my daughter Jeanne and some good friends from high school days.

I also got cozy with my 35mm DSLR camera. True, the photos I took were all using "auto" settings, but I finally got used to carrying a bigger camera around and trying out a few functions. So over the next weeks, I'll hope to share some of the photos I took.

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

This is us having some fun at the San Diego Zoo, taken by zoo staff.

Pokey Little Birthday Card

My brother-from-another-mother had a birthday last week.

I had so much fun with the pin poke technique with my Heart Cards, that I decided to use the same method to create his birthday card. It gives such a fun 3-D effect.

This is what it looks like with light shining through from the back.

On the inside, I composed a short message using an inside joke, and made slits to insert a gift card.

 

I got the word that the card arrived safe and sound, so now I get to share!

.

Fall Haze

At the last full moon, at the end of September, I took Dale up to the top of a hill where he'd never been before. On a clear day, there is a great view of Post Falls, the surrounding farm land, and the Spokane River rimmed by mountains.

Smokey Evening, Full Moon

 But that week, the entire valley had been very smokey from the fires burning in central Washington. The view from the top was not so far-reaching ... but beautiful in its own way.


.

Recipe

One plant

Window

Open blinds

Add light

 
Autumn Morning

Changing Light

I looked out the window to the back yard. 

The sun, setting in the west, 

 was reflecting on the leaves of Ashley the ash tree. 

 
The Sun Sets on Ashley

Jeanne, my 27 year old daughter, planted this tree
when she was in elementary school.

Ashley struggles to get enough sunlight 

amid the tall pines and the maple that surround her.

But this evening, she is the star.

Her changing colors caught the sunlight

and her beauty shone.

Jeannie, this one's for you!

Bread Experiment

Know what this is? 

An experiment in "baking" bread.

Or, in this case, rolls made from frozen dough.

I learned from the LifeHacker website

that it's possible to cook bread dough in a crock pot.

So I tried.

I had some rather old dinner roll dough in my freezer. 

So old that I wasn't sure it would rise.

[It barely did]

But it was enough to try in our small crock pot.

I had it in the crock pot on the high setting for a bit over an hour. Too long ... but I got distracted and forgot about it until I could smell it.

Yum.

I wanted the top browner, so instead of putting it under the broiler as suggested, I just flipped the rolls over and let them brown in the crock pot.

They tasted pretty good! Fun little experiment.

I'll probably try a full loaf in my big crock pot later.

-----