turkey talk...and beyond

...so, the turkeys are safe now...
'til next year.
just kidding...i'm not trying to be cruel or insensitive to the turkeys.
but...really...the only time of year you can find turkeys in the market
is between thanksgiving and christmas.
so what are turkeys doing the rest of the year?
do they know their time is limited?

after leaving a client's home last tuesday...i saw a family of turkeys
on the side of the road. i felt like yelling "RUN! RUN for your lives!"
but i didn't.
who knows, but one of those turkeys may have been OUR turkey...
since i buy ours from a market that only sells FRESH and LOCAL meats and produce.

our thanksgiving turkey takes the plunge into the deep fryer.
it's a tradition.
for years...the day before thanksgiving,
sam's 'job' at work changes from 'machinist' to 'expert fryer'.
he spends all day frying turkeys
for his boss, coworkers...anyone involved with their company
who wants a deep fried turkey for thanksgiving.

sam's boss buys the (peanut) oil. sam might fry 5 or 6 turkeys on wednesday...
he brings everything back home...and we use the oil again for our turkey on thursday.
yum. fried turkey is the best.
it only takes 3 minutes per pound.
the juices are sealed in...and it's the tenderest...best tasting turkey ever!

at least sam's turkey is the tenderest & best tasting ever!
i'm sure it can be overcooked...or undercooked.
but sam's THE MAN when it comes to deep frying!

for turkey day...my two sons...and the oldest one's girlfriend & her son...and sam's mom...
came over to spend the day!
we gave away ALL the leftover turkey...so sam and i bought another one yesterday...
and we'll use that 'seasoned' oil one last time today!

well...enough turkey talk.

BE SAFE turkeys...
o~o~o~o~o~o

a couple of years ago, i downloaded gimp.

it's an image manipulation program.

it's free.

every now and then i play around with it.

here's one of flower my pic's...

and here's the same picture after 'oilifying' it and adding a border:

here's a picture of a visiting red-shouldered hawk:

and then the same picture after transforming it into a 'tile mosaic':

you can morph...stretch...twirl...blur...distort...enhance...

pretty cool, eh?

there's probably lots of programs out there that do the same thing...

but since 'gimp' is the one i use...that's the one i'll pass along...

o~o~o~o~o~o

our weather here has been really strange. 

we've had 'the hottest day on record'

AND

'the coldest day on record'

within about a week and a half!

one day the little critters and bugs are out and about...foraging for food...

the next day they're gone! no butterflies, frogs and lizards...oh my!

and so...i  leave you with a few pictures i've taken during the past week.

a checkered skipper

the underside of an orb weaver. 

they're nocturnal. 

this one comes out just after dusk...frantically building its web.

then sometime before dawn...she will take down the web, eating most of the silk.

we won't see her again until night time.

for some reason, she left her web up one day!! 

maybe she ate too much during the night...was too stuffed to take it down. 

i don't know...but at least i was able to get a picture of her web!

"The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!

Feels at each thread, and lives along the line."

Alexander Pope

grasshopper

barred owl.

she's like part of the family...

her & her mate hang out in the yard all the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Do not go where the path may lead; 

go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson 

'til next time...

stay cool...travel safe...

laura  :]

sunday's shuffle

gobble-gobble!

looks like everyone's getting ready for the holidays.

o~o~o~o~o~o

i finished that 'wing, feather & pressed flower window hanger' i started a week or so ago.

if you take a look at my previous 2 posts...

you can see the 'step by step'...

from a piece of glass...

to the finished 'window hanger'.

What art offers is space - 

a certain breathing room 

for the spirit.

~John Updike

o~o~o~o~o~o

the nights are getting cooler. we can open up the windows and let the fresh air in...

without the A/C kicking on! yay!!  it's excellent cuddle weather!

and with the cooler weather...much of the underbrush dies out...

which means we can go exploring deeper into the woods out back.

(another YAY!!)

(dead) tree snail in yard

the rest of the year, the only way to get through there

 is with a machete to cut away the vines...

or follow the little critters' paths...on hands and knees. 

NAH, we'd rather wait until everything dies back naturally.

Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.

~John Muir

a woodpecker feather out front...

now in a jar with other found feathers

air fern and fungi on a fallen branch

last week we had one day with pretty strong winds.

when that happens...we always have dead branches falling out of the trees.

at least we hope...it's just branches. 

we've had entire trees fall over!

"Every now and again take a good look 

at something not made with hands--a mountain, a star, the turn of a stream. 

There will come to you wisdom and patience and solace and, above all, 

the assurance that you are not alone in the world."

~Sidney Lovett 

this is resurrection fern. growing on some of the old oak trees in the yard.

it's an air fern...that will look as though it's dead through drought season...

then 'come alive' after a good rain.

o~o~o~o~o~o

OH! i found another 'owl pellet'...

(the regurgitated stuff that the owl can't digest)

more on 'owl pellets'  here: the tiniest bones

see all the tiny bones?!! 

this pellet is NOT a fresh one, 

like the others i've been lucky enough to find.

next step - dissect - clean & sanitize -

and then try to figure out what little critter the owl feasted on.

o~o~o~o~o~o

...and so...i leave you with a few pic's of plants that are still blooming in our yard.

it's nice to see some spring color...hanging in there...

orange-barred sulpher butterfly

                                      

The earth laughs in flowers.  

~e.e. cummings

happy autumn!

'til next time...stay cool...

discover. wander. get lost.

balance.

open your eyes. open your mind. breathe deep.

harmony.

skip. hop. be silly. laugh.

laura  :]

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?"   

~Satchel Paige