Angry Birds, Aging, Recipes, and More!

 Angry Birds: Birds in the front of me. Birds in back of me…..all charging! I guess it’s the result of nesting season. I checked my birdbox because I had not seen birds around for a while. I was surprised to see the mama bluebird was nesting inside! I was so surprised and pleased; however, now when I sit outside or take Rosie out back, we get zoomed by one of the couple. The bird in the front of the house is larger than a bluebird and even more aggressive. Their nest is in the bush surrounding my mailbox and he keeps careful guard of it. He has a curt chirp and Rosie has been grazed by him twice and me once… and that goes on all up the driveway!

Aging Quirks:

This is my avatar, which has also conveniently
filled in the creases and glammed up the photo.

Well, I showered Saturday   (6/19) night and as I was putting on face cream, I noticed that the left side of my face felt different. When I looked in the mirror, sure enough, it was swollen! It looked and felt different from the right side but there was no pain or discomfort. Happening on the left side of my face, it immediately rang an alarm. So what did I do? I Googled it! Everything indicating a stroke or bells palsy mentioned sagging skin/muscle rather than swollen. Tippy and I got met for brunch on Sunday morning and I asked her if my face looked funny – funnier than usual! She asked me to smile, etc. and everything seemed normal except the swelling. So, we had a nice meal and went our separate ways. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted a professional opinion, so l looked online for Doctor’s Care, a drop-in facility very near me. To my surprise, they offered a virtual visit, which is what I did. It took longer to fill in all of the required information than to meet the doctor. There was no wait time and he was professional. and knowledgeable. He felt it was not an indicator of anything more serious and more likely an infected tooth, which I had considered but felt no pain or bleeding. He said that if the tooth had a root canal, there would be no pain! He prescribed an antibiotic, which I picked up that day and began taking. Everything is fine now but I do miss that botox effect of the swelling filling in the crease by my mouth! It was a good look!!

Poor Rosie had a bad day, too. On Monday (6/21) morning, we were up and out at the crack of dawn – literally, and you know that isn't like us! We were just waiting for it to be light enough to see where we were going. She was up and down all night and I could hear her tummy rumbling from the bottom of the bed!! She ate a load of grass, which I always hate because I don’t know what chemicals are on it, but I couldn’t stop her. Promptly after entering the house, she threw it all up encased in lots of white foam. I immediately headed to the grocery store for yogurt, pumpkin, and banana and spent the rest of the morning making healthy doggie treats, which we shared with The Adorable Felix across the street. Rosie was not particularly impressed but Felix seemed to like them.

Chris, Lynn, and I went to our first in-person Liberal Ladies' gathering at the Port Royal clubhouse. It accommodated about 50 ladies, all of whom seemed very happy to be together again. Our speaker was the archaeologist from the Mitchellville Project, who was very informative and entertaining. The plan at this time is to resume general meetings in September if all continues to go well. 

Our Drinking Liberally group continues to grow and we are fortunate to still be able to eat outside due to the mild weather. It is hard to believe our mornings are still nice as we move into July!

Recipes: I’ve added new recipes to the Meatless Recipes page. They include –

Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder in process.
I used fresh corn rather than frozen and
it was delicious!

• ·        Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder – this was so tasty that I made another pot as soon as I had finished the first. There’s a lot of prep but it’s worth it.
• ·        Sweet Potato, Black Bean, and Kale Quesadilla – I wind up adding everything but the kitchen sink!
• ·        Red Thai Curry with Tofu – close to when I order at Thai restaurants.
• ·        Sweet n’ Sour Chickpea Stew and Mexican Rice Bake from Sandi. I haven’t made the rice dish yet but it looks tasty, with all the good Mexican flavors.
• ·        Black-Eyed Peas Curry and Savory Vegan Collards. This is an instant pot recipe but easily adaptable to the stovetop.
• ·        Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf – a stand-by!
• ·        Stacked Roasted Enchiladas - my preference of the 2 enchilada recipes shown.
• ·        Spicy Vegetarian Lentil Samosas

Thanks, Sandi, for sharing your meatless recipes and I hope everyone will feel free to do so....and if you try any of those shown, let me know.

I’m reading/listening to Cicely Tyson’s autobiography, Just as I Am, which I highly recommend. She is a wonderful writer with a memory for detail. The reader of an audiobook makes all the difference and this one sounds like Ms. Tyson is telling her own story. Really enjoying it.

I hope everyone is well and able to enjoy the summer (or winter!) safely. Take care and let me know what you're doing.

Rosie and Other Things

I’m writing this the day after my last post (5/31) only because our weather continues to be fantastic! We had about 4-5 days in the 90s, but again the temperatures have dropped a bit at night and this morning when I walked Rosie it was about 70 with a gentle breeze. It is only getting into the 80s most of this week, which is just about perfect.  And thus far, the humidity hasn’t kicked in! It feels like we have had a nice, long spring. Sometimes we have about 2 weeks of spring and then one morning we wake up and it’s 95 degrees and 95 % humidity. It’s nice to avoid that as long as possible.

Rosie & her bed for burrowers. There is no
longer a lot of cover on the bed for her to
scoot under.

I don’t remember whether I told you, but there is a little wooden bridge before my house and Rosie and I have walked over it for years as part of our daily walk. About a month or so ago, Rosie just stopped going over. It was like she wanted to – she would look at it and size it up, and even begin the walk over, but a little way in she would stop and slowly turn around. This morning I carried her across in hopes she would walk over coming back.  She was very happy to have all of the fresh scents on the other side as well as the people we ran into around the pool area. As we walked back, she approached it very slowly and was down low and tentative, but she made it across. Her buddy Buster and Dave were behind us and encouraged her along. Even though she did it once, she still remains reticent.

You can see that my little Rosie's
muzzle is turning white!

Well, Rosie and I had a traumatic incident during our afternoon walk (6/1). Tuesday is my day
to take my garbage to the dump/recycle center and the weather was so mild that I decided to do it in the afternoon and take Rosie to the park afterward.  On this day, I changed it up a bit and stopped at the public, sports field that is closer. It’s in an open area and at that time it was vacant (except for two cars, probably with people checking their phones!), so I decided to take our walk there. I knew it would be a whole new sniffing experience for Rosie. We had just started our walk when we were charged by a dog four times Rosie’s size! He didn’t bark or growl and was on us before either of us knew It. I screamed twice and yanked Rosie away. By the second time I screamed, I looked around and he was already across the street running for home. I really don’t think he was hostile because he could have had Rosie by the neck before I knew he was there, and he fled with my screaming. Even so, it scared the hell out of both of us!! Needless to say, we packed up and finished our walk at the park! While it was a public area. I will certainly stick with the park we know!

While I’m not taking a trip this year, I do have some fun things to anticipate. Pamela has booked her visit from August 26 thru September 8. She will be dividing her time between me and another friend on the island. Melodee’s trip is still on though no dates decided yet. She was thinking of coming in the fall which would mean nicer weather. Just last week, Sandi (from Atlanta and a friend from our last Africa trip) expressed an interest in visiting sometime this year, which delights both Tippy and me! And, of course, Eileen had planned a visit in April of last year which had to be canceled due to Covid. Once things have opened up a bit, I hope she will reschedule. It will be wonderful to see friends and catch up, so book your dates at Casa Rosie early!!

Well, I recently went on a spending spree. Those who know me are aware that I’m not into shopping, updating for the sake of having something new, etc. You do know that I got a new computer, which I really like (unlike the Dell I had). So, it only seemed natural to also update my phone as my old one was not even holding a charge through the day. I traded mine in (online) for a Samsung S7. Like the computer, setting it up kept me out of trouble for a few days, and I am happy with it. Both of those should last me for years. The spree seemed over until one morning when I decided to have a fruit smoothie for breakfast. I went for my blender and it wasn’t there. Then I remembered that I had loaned it to Reyna when hers died in the middle of cooking. The thought crossed my mind to call her but suddenly I decided to check out newer ones online. Well, I wound up with a new blended and food processor! I’m not feeling guilty because both of my old ones came with me from Saudi in 1997! Both were 25-30 years old so I’d certainly made good use of them. Reyna just stopped by and I had the food processor on the table along with a carton belonging to her. I asked her if she wanted it if she didn’t already have one – that I had gotten a new one.....AND, that I was blaming it all of her because of the blender!

Not a lot else to report, but I am thinking of friends:

• Sandi, who is having knee surgery this week. I hope all goes well and painlessly. Keep me posted.
• Still thinking of Rhonda and Brian. I know how much they miss Olivia and hope they are doing well.
• Here's hoping everyone is healthy, happy, and beginning to come out of the pandemic.