singin' the blues

The sky may be blue but it changes from state to state. I took this photo of the contrail filled sky over where Erica's neighborhood in D.C. as we were leaving for Philadelphia after graduation.
This was the Eastern Pennsylvania sky I saw over the carpeted rolling hills near Wilkes Barre after we left Philadelphia for home.

Back home in the Midwest I took this view of the big sky and flat terrain of Illinois on the way north to Minnesota.

See more panoramic views of the 'big blue' at Skyview Friday.

I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.
Maya Angelou

gentle on my mind

This is a photo of my old friend Pashka. I discovered it on a disc of photos I'd saved before the Big Hard drive Crash of '09 and it brought back so many memories of this beautiful Siberian Husky. She passed on two years ago on the last day of winter at age 16. This captured her in one of her typical poses--sniffing the air for anything tantalizing--rabbits, garbage, bacon. And it nicely shows that sweet little mustache she sported. You can read more about her here.

And since Pashka always looked lovely in any color, here's one photo from my trip to D.C. last week where the cherry blossoms were just starting to open around the city. These were in the Bishop's herb garden at the National Cathedral.

Happy Monday, my bloggie friends!

Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
John F. Kennedy

Far from the Midwest I was able to savor this moment in Georgetown last week as the sun set on the campus, reminiscent of a much older and graceful time. The silhouetted building on the left is a portion of historic Healy Hall. Seeing a contrail kept me grounded in the 21st Century for sure.

See more beautiful sky views at Skywatch Friday.

word-less Wednesday

mysterious silver threads and a Finnish recipe

The color du jour for Favourite Things Thursday is silver--which had me wondering: when does gray become silver exactly? There's the silver in everyday utensils, paint brush ferules and palette knives, the bright sun on water, duct tape and so on.





two holiday fruitcakes or

soft sculpture or

the lackluster paint on the doors of my uncle's gray Chevy

Do these gray clouds over the Japanese Embassy have a silver lining? What about the gleaming silver guard hairs on this rabbit hiding in the rain? Rhetorical questions all.
Here's silver for sure--David's hair and beard. He's been sporting gray hair since he was in his 20's and now it has a luminous silver-white hue, inherited from his Irish grandma, Lucille Feagan. This photo was taken on New Year's Day and because we were sad our nest was empty again--and before I was to fall on the ice later in the day--Dave made Ropsua for breakfast. It is a baked pancake his mother always made on holiday and birthday breakfasts. The recipe below is a variation of her recipe and another I found on line. Its really easy and delicious but you have to eat it the minute it comes out of the oven...enjoy with butter and syrup.

Ropsua (pannu kaku)
Makes 1 large pancake

3 eggs, well beaten

3 c. milk (or new milk) Dave's mom uses part evaporated milk+water

1- 1/4 c. flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

couple Tbsp. sugar

Melt about 2-4T butter in 9 x 13 pan and put in hot oven (425 degrees) until butter melts and sizzles. Pour in mixture above not stirring, return to oven for about 30 minutes until set. It will puff up, then fall when taken out. adapted from Mojakka

Thanks to clever Blue and her fun meme, Favourite Things Thursday for giving me an opportunity to share this bit of our family tradition. By the way, only one of our two daughters likes Ropsua. Surprising?

Happy Birthday, big guy!

Two birthdays in one week you're asking?

Yup. . . and today's feature is Dave picking up his new (to us) 1998 Royal Star Tour Classic touring bike on Saturday when there was a break in the weather before the next last snowstorm of the year--an exciting day for him because it has been over two years since he's ridden. Before then he owned a Yamaha Virago that he literally rode into the ground and reluctantly put out to pasture when we moved to Minnesota. He was smitten by motorcycle riding at age 7 when he put his hand on the shiny exhaust pipe of a motorcycle he'd seen in Red Lodge, Montana. He left a little skin behind and kept dreaming of the day when he would ride one himself. He's made several cross country trips, riding and writing, on the Virago, as well as Illinois events--yearly Ride for Kids and Toys for Tots and countless charity and poker runs. He rode with fellow veterans as part of Veterans for Kerry' Tour of Honor in '04 on a speaking trip through Wisconsin. For several years he attended the Rolling Thunder® PoW/MIA Demonstration Ride in Washington, D.C. on Memorial Day--Erica rode once with him when she was in undergrad there. I rode with him on the Trail of Tears Remembrance Ride from Tennessee to Alabama one year. He's active in CMA's yearly Run for the Son and the ministries of that Association, was president his chapter in Illinois for 3 years, and is presently VP of this local chapter, RevElations.

Now that we have a bike to ride we are both planning to join BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse) which requires one year riding with them before starting the membership process. I'm impressed with these bikers who are willing to step out to offer protection and advocacy for abused children. Being a fair-weather rider, I enjoy cruising the winding back roads scouting out antique stores and roadside stands. This bike has an exceptionally comfortable back seat and foot boards instead of pegs, roomy side bags and there's plenty of room for both of us. For now, as long as we can, this will be the next chapter in our empty-nest, apartment, no pets-- life. . .actually how we started out 37 years ago.

So, here we go:

Spring break or bust!. . .or how I found some culture

Hard to believe that the spring break trip I'd been planning since February has come and gone. In spite of our best intentions, it is never a surprise when some drama interferes with our visit whenever we all get together. Usually it involves the hospital--an untimely flareup of Dave's cellulitis, somebody with a bad cold or me with an imagined heart attack. The exact manner of the drama always eludes us until later when we realize we've been had again! This much-anticipated trip included the last days of our dear Pashka on the earth, an event I kept at bay, at least in my mind, by subscribing to the Scarlett O'Hara school of denial: 'I'll just think about that tomorrow.'

'Enough already with the camera!'

More about the trip, however. Audrey and I met Erica in Washington, D.C. where Georgetown was on spring break. We had perfect weather--cool with bright blue skies, some sprinkling of early spring crocus and daffodils as well as the tentative first blush of the famed cherry blossoms. It only rained once, my last day. No need to explain that we ate our way around the city for 4 or 5 days, mostly ethnic choices like Afghan, Indian, Native American, French and really wonderful pizza. Deciding we needed to get our culture not just from yogurt, we visited the new Katzen Art Center on American University campus, Erica's alma mater. We saw an exhibit of Chicago Imagist Roger Brown's work from the late 1960's and a large showing of mixed media of southern artist William Christenberry. The Katzen is a full service venue: dance, art gallery/peformance art space, interesting design, and lots of windows.




William Christenberry 'Untitled', June 11, 2006

Roger Brown, 'Lake Effect,' 1980

Roy Lichtenstein 'Brushstroke' sculpture, Hirshhorn Museum

Ellsworth Kelly, Red White, 1961

Another day we visited the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn art museum. Audrey wanted to see an exhibit of current oil paintings by Brooklyn artist Amy Sillman. These were large, colorful (read: atomic orange, green, turquoise!) with a style that reminded me of Richard Diebenkorn. We also saw small Calder mobiles all in one room, seemingly suspended in air and real life Ellsworth Kelly.

P', 2007 by Amy Sillman

Next installment will include the Native American Museum where I got the 'discount' without even asking!