Amateur sand sculptors at work but we are getting better at hand stacking and compaction–two well documented tips on building a great sandcastle!  If you are looking for your 30 seconds of fame, build a sandcastle the next time you go to the beach.  We were amazed by the beachgoers (all ages and sizes) that came by to inquire and photograph our work.  There is something very gratifying about creating something others enjoy.

I built a sand castle,
I thought it would stand.
Because after all,
It was built from the land.

From all of it’s windows,
For miles I could see.
Each day a new vision,
From there was for me.

Jeannie B. Cook

There is lots of laughter going on in my backyard!

I watched Food, Inc and finally read the book and particularly enjoyed the chapter by Joel Salatin on Declaring Your Independence– “How can we help and what can we do to  impact the problem? ” 

As Michael Pollan so succinctly states in his chapter Why Bother? “We can …turn (our) lives upside down, start biking to work, plant a big garden, turn down the thermostat….forsake the clothes dryer… (get) a hybrid, get off beef, and go completely local……when (we) know fully well half way around the world there lives (our) same evil twin, (our) carbon foot doppelgänger in Shangai…who just bought (his/her) first car and eager to swallow every bit of meal (we) forswore….so why all the trouble?”. 

It is simple–better intelligence. There is a reason we need to opt out.  When you buy local or plant a garden, you gain a better understanding of food and the life cycle.  The USDA approved, industrial produced foodstuffs laced with preservatives, dyes and high fructose sugar syrup are problematic.

Buy organic, local or better yet plant a garden. 

It has been an eye-opening experience for me when I pick a strawberry in my backyard.  Although I have always been conscious about where I buy and what I eat, I have learned so much more about life this year from my garden. I eat what I grow.  You have never tasted a better green pepper!

It is my darling’s 50th birthday. Celebrate!  We started early with a sampling from Cupcake Couture including Cocoa Channel, Mond olo Blahnik, Coconut Klein and Red Valentino.  The decadent butter cream and cream cheese frostings have your sweet tooth begging for more!

You do not have to go the workplace to see this productivity.  It is happening right in my backyard.  

There is one queen in a hive and her main goal is to make more bees.  She can lay over 1,500 eggs per day and can live 2-8 years.  The drones are males and have no stinger.  They live about eight weeks and their function is to mate with a new queen.

The Worker bees do all the different tasks needed to maintain and operate the hive.  They are all sterile females.  When young, they are called house bees and work in the hive doing comb construction,  tending the queen and drones, cleaning, temperature regulation and defending the hive.  The older workers are called field bees.  They forage outside the hive to gather nectar, pollen, water and certain sticky plant resins used for hive construction.  My yard is full of the field bees. 

As the field bees forage for nectar, pollen sticks to the fuzzy hairs which cover their bodies.  Some of this pollen rubs off on the next flower they visit, fertilizing the flower and resulting in better fruit production which is one of the reasons for my bumper tomato crop!  Although the tomato plant is considered a self-pollinator, they benefit from the bee’s activity.

When a bee works a tomato plant, it pulls the flowers down into a vertical position and puts its fat belly against the stigma and buzzes.  Pollen is released.  It falls by gravity (since the flower is now tilting down) directly to the bee’s fuzzy (and statically charged) belly.  The bee’s work below on a tomato blossom.

Love:

Today, I will renew myself by letting go of all expectations.

Today, I will consider the priorities in my life.

Today, I will know that love is the only reality.

Love is the most important priority.

When the truth takes root in my heart, I will not be tempted to waste so much time on trivialities.  When this truth takes root in my heart, I will not be tempted to waste time on the trivial and banal.  Today, I will stake my life in what is timeless.

Today, I will be redeemed through love.

 Deepak Chopra

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In 1872, Claude Monet’s aim was not to create an accurate landscape, but to record the impressions or feelings formed while looking at the Le Havre harbor in France.  Monet named the piece Impression Sunrise (an oil on canvas).  The painting is signficant because it was shown in the 1874 Exhibit.  Other artists, like himself,  who exhibited their work at the show (such as Degas and Renoir) were later referred to as Impressionists, hence, the birth of the movement.  

They say Impressionist Art is concerned with capturing light and color of a fleeting moment on canvas, usually with brilliant colors painted in small strokes, side by side, rather than blended together.  

Since there are no gifted painters in my household, the digital camera has become our artistic eye to the world.  These photos represent rising sunlight with its own significance and majestic beauty.  Sunrise photography poses it own challenges and results but it can capture the dramatic effects of nature. Each photograph is taken within five minutes apart but at different shutter speed/aperture combinations and ISO at 100.

Shutter speed/aperture combination at 1/125 8.0   

Shutter speed/aperture combination at 1/4000 5.0 with a telephoto zoom lens

It was scheduled as a Kiteboarding Contest but with no wind, there was a quick improvisation and the paddleboarders and “yakers” surfaced.  While the arctic front was blasting the rest of the country with severe weather, the riders arrived in Jupiter this past weekend for the turquoise-blue tropical water and a Kiteboarding Competition that hosts a crew of friendly local kiteboarders and riders from across the state.  Everyone arrived in hopes of shore break and the fairly consistent onshore and sideshore winds unique to the area.  The wind did not cooperate but there was not a beat missed. Under Tiffany blue skies, the kiteboarders hung their sails on the beach and transformed into paddlers and surfers. 

We were at peace reveling in the fun and enjoyed the simplicity of the wave and the sea.

Honestly, how many other people do you know can say they have eight siblings? Not very many I bet.  Growing up in a large family is a unique thing and the experiences that come with it are not at all common. They say it builds tolerance (“she or he did it” or you get blamed), creativity (you tend to “make up or create fun”), negotiation skills (“it is hers, yours or mine” or somewhere in between) and responsibility (you worry about the safety of your brothers and sisters). It is an amazing experience that you never forget or regret.  

But like everything in life, good and bad things happen.  So my motto for 2011 is ” Go out on a Limb”.  I encourage you to do the same.  Life races by— we need to challenge ourselves, take risks, be present for the journey, embrace gratitude and spend quality time with the ones we love.   We owe it to ourselves.

Wishing everyone a healthy, happy and peaceful new year!

The pomegranate is one of the oldest fruits and has deep roots in both biblical and Judaic history. In fact, many scholars debate whether the apple in the Garden of Eden was in fact a pomegranate.  They are a fascinating fruit since every pomegranate is composed of exactly 840 seeds. Each seed is surrounded by a sac of sweet-tart juice contained by a thin skin. The seeds (arils) are compacted in a layer resembling a honeycomb around the core.

The challenge is to de-seed them. Here is the trick.  First, you cut off the ends of the crown and discard them.  Second, you score the outside red membrane in quarters.  You want to make sure you do not penetrate the core when you are scoring because you will break open the seeds and lose the juice which can be very messy.  Third, you submerge the pomegranate in water and start to break loose the honeycomb membrane with your fingers.  The seeds will naturally fall to the bottom of the bowl.  They seeds are a great accent for a green or berry salad and they are full of antioxidants so eat up! 

Thank you, Karen, for the introduction to this exotic fruit.  Pomegranates originated in tropical Asia and they are grown throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East. In the United States, commercial producers grow pomegranates in the San Joaquin Valley of California and their peak season is November and December.