Big Foot – Mondays Finish the Story

Today, the start of a work week, is the day that I devote to hosting the Mondays Finish the Story flash fiction challenge. In the challenge, I ask that you use between 100-150 words that uses the opening line and the photo prompt to create your story. Here is today’s photo and the opening line is in bold and italics. I hope that you enjoy my story.

© 2015, Barbara W. Beacham

“The petroglyphs told the story of an unusual event.” Now most would look at all the symbols that cover the rock in this photo. What they should be looking at is the area on the upper left.

Do you see the two figures at the left? The one on top is a dog. The one below it is Stands Tall and Points. The two of them used to travel together. The art depicts a story he told the Anasazi.

He tells them that not only would there be a migration of big horned goats, but also snakes. Hunting will be good.  He says the rain is coming. He lets them know to secure the ladder to the cliff dwelling. They were all good signs.

The grandfather looks at his sleeping grandson. He is now asleep. Too bad the grandfather thought. I was just getting to the part where Big Foot comes in. Few paid attention to that symbol.

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Mondays Finish the Story

You too can take part in this challenge. To get there just click HERE!

Enjoy the day and sorry for the late post today. A bit under the weather… Dear reader, be well… ^..^

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Random Views of Insects

I was thinking about what to post today, and decided I would share with you some random views that I took of insects. I hope that you enjoy the photos today.

A cricket.

A green cricket

A flame skimmer dragonfly.

Loaded with details

Green comma butterfly.

The Green Comma

A swallowtail butterfly.

A White Swallowtail Butterfly

EB’s mothra.

Female Ceanothus Silk Moth

Check out the eye on this wasp! Click twice on this photo to see the detail!

The eye of a wasp

A bumblebee.

The Bumblebee

A Sierra Foothills native. The tarantula!

Coming at you!

I hope that you enjoyed the photos today, and thank you for taking the time to drop on by. Be well… ^..^

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Half and Half – A WordPress Photo Challenge

Ben Huberman over at WordPress has chosen the topic “Half and Half” for this week’s photo challenge. He says, “…share an image that has two clear halves, literally or figuratively. You could focus on composition, like me, and take a photo with an explicit dividing line (either vertical, horizontal, or diagonal). Or take the theme in other directions: zoom in on a pair of objects that together form a whole. Show two people whose demeanor or personality complement each other. Or bring into balance two opposing visual elements — light and dark, color and its absence, sharp focus juxtaposed with blurriness.”

Here is my world of half and half.

Half smooth, half rough.

Sea foam

Two halves of a wine barrel.

Pulling the barrel apart

Acorn squash cut in half.

Cut the acorn squash in half

Split image in a reflection.

One lovely reflection

Half on, half off.

I was so tired after flying that I fell asleep on the stairs!

The top half and bottom half.

Yellow cone up close

There you have it! A world of halves. Thank you for stopping by today! Be well… ^..^

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Bee Magnet

A couple of years ago I planted a Russian sage in my garden. This is the first year that the plant has topped 6 feet. The lovely lavender blossoms are a magnet for not only honeybees but bumblers too. I took some time the other day trying to capture some of these bees. So, today I share with you what I caught.

Russian sage attracts the bees

Heading to a blossom

Some sweet nectar

Seeing all parts

Harvesting

I wish you could smell the aroma of the plant. It is heady! Thanks for stopping by today and be well… ^..^

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Ginger Orange Short Ribs – Tasty Tuesday

I love cooking in my crock pot and today’s recipe adds another one to the list of crock pot recipes that I have shared with you. Today I feature another tasty beef short rib recipe that is rich and flavorful! Let’s stop for a preview.

Short Rib Preview

For this easy recipe, plan on a half hour of prep time and 10 hours of cooking. This recipe serves 8. Are you ready to head into the kitchen? Let’s go!

Ingredients
2 packages of short ribs, there will be 7-8 ribs
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper
3 small leeks, greens trimmed off and discarded
5 large cloves of garlic
1 1/4″ slice of fresh garlic, skin peeled off
1 star anise
2 chile de arbol
even mix of sherry and brandy, poured to 1/3 cup total
2 oranges, juiced, and skins cut into strips
1/4 cup of light brown sugar, packed tight
fresh cilantro
4 oranges to serve with the dish

Rub the ribs with the salt and pepper.

Ribs are ready to brown

Pre-cook them under the broiler until brown on all sides. While these are browning, let’s get the remaining ingredients ready. Take the leeks and cut into thick slices. Remove the papery skin off the garlic and slice thinly. Set aside the star anise and the chiles. Pour out the sherry and brandy. Juice the oranges and cut the skin into strips and measure out the soy sauce and brown sugar.

Now put the leeks into the crock pot.

Leeks are added to the crock pot

Place the browned short ribs over the leeks.

Browned ribs are added to the crock pot

Now add the garlic and ginger slices and the chiles. Break up the star anise as you add it.

Add in the garlic, ginger, chiles and star anise

In a bowl combine the sherry, brandy, orange juice, orange rind (give these a bit of a twist so that the essential oils get added), soy sauce and brown sugar. Stir well to combine. Then pour this over the ribs.

Mix the sherry, brandy, orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and orange rinds together

Pour the mixture over the ribs

These are now ready to cook! Set the crock pot on low heat, set the timer for 10 hours, cover it and let it do its thing.

When the timer goes off, remove the lid, remove the ribs from the crock pot. The bones should slide right out of the meat. Set the meat aside. Toss the chiles, orange peels, and skim the fat. Slice up the oranges. Wash and chop up a good fistful of cilantro. Serve the ribs over rice, spoon a little juice over the meat then top with cilantro and serve with some sliced orange.

Serve the short ribs over rice

I think that you will enjoy the amazing flavors of this dish. Please let me know if you try this dish.

Thanks for stopping by today and stay tuned for another amazing recipe coming to you next week! Be well… ^..^

Now place the

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Delphine Takes Flight – Mondays Finish the Story

Today, the start of a work week, is the day that I devote to hosting the Mondays Finish the Story flash fiction challenge. In the challenge, I ask that you use between 100-150 words that uses the opening line and the photo prompt to create your story. Today’s post features fellow writer Martin Furman who came up with this week’s opening line. Here is today’s photo and the opening line is in bold and italics. I hope that you enjoy my story.

© 2015, Barbara W. Beacham

“Delphine always wanted to pilot her father’s plane and when he forgot his keys on her tenth birthday, she knew that taking off would be easy.” She certainly had watched him often enough. Heading out of the house through the hangar, she opened the door to the cockpit. Climbing inside, she buckled in.

The key slid into the ignition. She pushed in the mixture knob in to send fuel to the engine. She followed this by pushing in the carburetor knob. She flipped the master switch up. Then she primed the engine. She then opened the throttle. Turning the keys, she heard to engine fire up.

Delphine headed onto the runway, excited as she took off. She saw the world below her get smaller. There was her house and the orchards. When flying with her dad, he always pulled on the little yellow button. She pulled it and heard a whoosh. Fluid sprayed out behind her.

Circling back, she flew over the house. There was her Dad in the driveway waving his arms wildly. “Uh-oh,” she thought.

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Mondays Finish the Story

You too can join in on this fun challenge! To get to the Mondays post, click HERE!

A huge thanks to Martin for taking on the challenge of coming up with an opening line!

I hope that you enjoyed my bit of flash, and I would like to thank you for taking the time to drop on by. Have a magnificent Monday and be well… ^..^

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Pretty Feet Contest 2015!

It is past time that I feature, as I do every year, the pretty feet contest! This year we have a number of exciting contenders! You get to vote on whose feet you like the best and in a couple of weeks I will announce the winner! Are you ready to check out some really pretty feet? Let’s go!

Contestant #1 – Buffalo

Buffalo

Contestant #2 – Cougar

Cougar

Contestant #3 – Elephant

Elephant

Contestant #4 – Flamingo

Flamingo

Contestant #5 – Frog

Frog

Contestant #6 – Koala

Koala

Contestant #7 – Meerkat

Meerkat

Contestant #8 – Wallaby

Wallaby

There are the contestants for 2015, and now you get to vote! Just click on the button to register your vote.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! Be well… ^..^

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Symbols – A WordPress Photo Challenge

This week Jen H. over at WordPress Photo Challenge has chosen the subject “symbol” for this week’s photo challenge. I kept thinking of the symbols that I have seen throughout my travels. Here we go!

An Alaskan native art symbol…

Native art

The lines shapes and designs in this glass roof, painted by Native Americans, are were found in the desert of AZ.

Lines, shapes, designs – Geometry!

Petroglyphs certainly tell a story! Click on this photo twice to get a close up of something that is thousands of years old.

Petroglyphs

Stained glass created to re-create a symbol.

Stained Glass – 2

Symbolic art…

Another piece of art on the outside of the building

There you have it! A variety of symbols…Have a terrific Friday and be well!

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Lemon Pepper Scallops – Tasty Tuesday!

Welcome back for another edition of Tasty Tuesday. This is the day that I devote to sharing an easy to prepare recipe that is chock full of flavor. Today is no exception. The secret ingredient to this recipe is fresh cilantro. Are you ready to head into the kitchen? Let’s go!

Ingredients
8 large fresh scallops
1 TBS lemon pepper
1 1/2 TBS butter
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
handful of fresh cilantro

Let’s start with the scallops. Looking at them you will notice that on one side there is lighter colored piece that runs from top to bottom. This is this is a ligament. You need to remove this. It actually peels off fairly easily. If you leave this on, that area of the scallop will be very tough to chew. The actual scallop that you eat is called the abductor muscle.

Now let’s get the rest of the ingredients ready. Add the butter to you fry pan. Chop up the garlic, measure out the wine and the lemon pepper. Wash the cilantro very well. They grow this in a sandy soil, and you need to get that off the cilantro before using it in any dish.

Now turn the heat up on your skillet to medium heat and let’s get that butter melted.

Melt the butter

When it has melted, add the garlic.

Add the garlic

As the aroma of the garlic rises, take a deep breath in and enjoy that amazing fragrance. Let this cook for about 2 minutes. Then add in the wine.

Add in the wine and reduce

Bring the heat up to medium high and reduce until the fluid to half. Turn the heat back to medium and then add the scallops.

Add the scallops

Let this cook without disturbing them for about 4 minutes. Watch the scallops as they cook. You will notice that from the bottom the color of the scallops changes from a fluid white to a bright white. When that color hits the middle of the scallops, turn them.

Ready to turn

Turn the scallops

Now turn off the heat and cover the pan. Let this sit for 5 minutes. While they sit, get out your plate and cover the middle with the chopped cilantro. After the scallops have sat for the 5 minutes, they are ready to serve. Center them over the cilantro, and spoon some of the pan juices over the scallops.

Serve them up on a bed of cilantro

Serve some french bread with this dish and use the bread to dip into the sauce. You can serve this as an appetizer or as a main dish. The flavors of this dish are amazing, and your guests will think that you worked hard making this dish.

I hope that you enjoyed being in the kitchen with me today, and that you try this easy and flavorful dish. Stay tuned for another exciting recipe coming up next week. Be well… ^..^

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They’re Back!

In the late summer, early fall, the praying mantis lay their eggs. Over the winter to late spring, they do their thing inside the hard casing and finally emerge. They grace my garden and eat the pesky bugs no one wants on their plants.

Let’s start by checking out a praying mantis egg casing.

Praying mantis egg case

Weird looking isn’t it? This casing was on the bottom side of one of the branches on my liquid amber tree.

Here is the praying mantis that I discovered, which let me know that they are back!

The praying mantis is back!

This is a baby and is about the size of a quarter. It will grow to a length of 3-3 1/2 inches long.

This is a baby

Now about the size of a quarter

If you look closely at the photos you will see lots of detail. This little guy is watching me. Click on the photo so you can see the pupils in his eyes.

It watches me

This one looks funny with its butt up in the air.

Sticking its butt up in the air

Because this is just a baby, it has not yet developed its wings.

You can tell the sex of the mantis by the wings. This next photo shows the typical stance of the praying mantis.

Typical stance of a mantis

It has been watching me the entire time I took these photos, and as I try to get closer, it moves away from me.

It moves away

I hope that you enjoyed today’s photos. Thanks for dropping by, and have a splendid Saturday. Be well… ^..^

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