Turtles and Cardinals and Deer, Oh My!

I love where I live. It’s a bit of a haven for the few remaining wildlife.

Hubby, coming home from his work, spotted this on our driveway. He picked him up and brought him in so I could see him. We then let him loose in the backyard to mingle with the other creatures. Isn’t he a beaut?

We have a big picture window on either side of the area in the one part of the house—they mirror one another, so I imagine if you’re a bird, you’d think you could fly on through. BOINK. We’ll hear this loud thud on the glass. Sometimes we’ll look and the poor fella will be knocked out silly—still alive. We do what we can to restore them to health. I usually sing HU and that does the trick. The are stunned to the point of letting us help. Just like this sweetie…

I’m always excited to see new borns. And this little fawn frolicks with its mother every day. Some people I hear get aggravated that deer eat their garden, and I get it. I’d rather admire the deer than admire my hosta. That is evident when you see my garden.

One day I spotted the little fawn by herself. No momma. She planted her tiny body on the rocks near the pond—foliage hid her, but since I watched her go there, I kept my eye on her waiting for her to get up. I had things to do and left. Later, I observed she was still there. I had hoped nothing happened to momma as deer are always getting hit by cars around here. Then I decided momma was training her little one. “Go and hide and I’ll find you.” or “See if you can make it on your own today, but don’t go too far.” Now how could you want to see a pretty hosta over this lovely creature?

Another day, I was in my car going down the drive and I saw something waddling down the driveway. It was hurrying as it heard my vehicle. I finally figured it was a wild turkey, but by the time I got out my phone to snap a picture, he was well hidden in the woods.

 Wonder what I’ll see next? I’m always easily entertained.

Do You Share Recipes?

Dear Mom,

I’ve had a hard time writing anything worthwhile—even to blog. I’ve written every day—mostly journaling, and well, who really cares how much time I spend writing on any given day? I know I write. Some days more than others. I also know I can’t NOT write… otherwise they’ll haul me away and throw away the key.

While cooking for Thanksgiving I’m reminded of how I tell this story at the feast I prepare each year… the one where I’m trying to perfect sweet potatoes—the sweet potatoes that I had one year at a friend’s house. Not really sure if he was my friend because he wouldn’t give me the recipe. He stated, “Oh, I just add a little of this, and a little of that.” I can still picture him waving his arms, prancing, all giddy. He knew these sweet potatoes were, well, sweeeeeet. He wouldn’t even say what was “this” and “that” but since I’m not the dumbest rock in the box, I figured butter and brown sugar were key.

These sweet potatoes haunt me every year, and this was BC – Before Children. I was dating the soon-to-be dad of my three children. He was living with this friend—the same friend who made the yummiest sweet potatoes I’ve ever tasted. The same friend who wanted to date me after I got divorced. Had I been thinking… maybe had I dated him I’d have that sweet potato recipe.

However, 30 years later and I’m still at it. Still trying to make the sweet potatoes the way he did. Who says I’m a quitter?

At my own Thanksgiving dinner, I hear, “These are the best sweet potatoes.” or “I don’t really like sweet potatoes, but these are good!” That’s when I step on my soapbox and rant about my saga of the sweet potatoes. I look up and curse Billy Bob (made up name) because bless his soul, he’s deceased and he took the recipe to his grave. Think of the pleasure he could have given many and the honors he’d receive in his name. When I’ve mastered it, I will share it with the entire world! But it will be my recipe, not Billy Bob’s.

That got me thinking about recipes… do you share recipes? I mean, I get how certain businesses can’t share, but what about just an ordinary person? Take for instance when my niece was married—her husband's grandmother was Italian whom supposedly had the best tiramisu. I wanted an authentic recipe to enter a work-related dessert contest. I had to swear on my life that I wouldn’t share the recipe with anyone. Not a soul. I’m sure my niece did lots of begging just in order for me to have it. Seriously, he almost did not share it. And no, his grandmother didn’t own some sort of bakery.

I don’t know what all the fuss was about because the recipe wasn’t all that great. (Sorry Grandma Whatsyourname.) I lost out to a cheesecake, and I haven’t made tiramisu since. And no, I won’t share the recipe because I promised I wouldn’t. I will share any of my recipes, but mostly they’re from someone else or a cookbook.

Oh, but you can bet I’ll share the candied sweet potatoes once it’s mastered. Hopefully that’ll be some time in the next 30 years.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and may you walk away with recipes that you love!

NaNoWriMo Day 23

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and sending love your way! Words can't express my gratefulness.

I managed to squeeze in some words today: 1518, bringing my total word count to: 45,829.

Now on to make pies, dressing, and all that stuff one gobbles up on Turkey Day.

NaNoWriMo Day 22

I've been cleaning today--figured I'd better do something about those dust bunnies so they don't eat all the turkey come Thursday. But I wanted to get some NaNo writing in as tomorrow and Thursday I'll probably have to skip writing... maybe. I figured that in when I was doing the math for my daily word count goal, but because I'm getting so close, I'm wanting to be finished. Last year during NaNo, I had my 50,000 words before I sat down and gobbled up turkey. I don't think it's going to happen this year, but I could try.

Today's count: 1,71
Grand total: 44,311
Words to go: 5,689