Readers, Welcome to my blog (formerly Birds, Blooms, Books, etc). I'm entering a new decade taking on the challenge of moving from Maryland after living there 46 years and learning about my new home here in New England in the Live Free or Die state - New Hampshire. Join me as a write this new chapter of my life.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

UP

 

This is interesting .....

 

An amazing 2 letter English word.

 

     A reminder that one word in the English language that can be a noun, verb, adjective, adverb and preposition.      

 

UP    

 

    Read until the end ...  You'll laugh.    

  

 

    This two-letter word  in English has more meanings than any other  two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.'  It is listed in  the dictionary as an [adv.], [prep.], [adj.], [n]  or [v].    

 

 

It's easy to  understand UP, meaning toward the sky  or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in  the morning, why do we wake UP?    

 

At a meeting, why  does a topic come UP?  Why do we speak  UP, and why are the  officers UP for election and why is  it UP to  the secretary to write UP a  report?  We call UP our friends, brighten  UP a room, polish  UP  the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.  We  lock UP the house and fix UP the old  car.    

  

 

At other times, this  little word has real special meaning.   People stir UP trouble, line  UP for tickets, work  UP an appetite, and think UPexcuses.    

  

 

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP  is special.    

  

 

And this  UP is confusing:  A  drain must be opened UP because it is stopped  UP.

 

We open  UP a store in the morning  but we close it UP at night.  We seem  to be pretty mixed UP about UP!    

 

To be knowledgeable  about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary.   In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost  1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty  definitions.    

  

 

If you are  UP to it,  you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is  used.  It will take UPa lot of your time, but  if you don't give UP, you may wind  UP  with a hundred or  more.    

  

 

When it threatens to  rain, we say it is clouding UP.  When the sun  comes out, we say it is clearing UP.  When it rains,  the earth soaks it UP.  When it  does not rain for awhile, things dry  UP.  One could go on  and on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now . . . My time is UP!   

  

 

Oh . . . One more  thing:  What is the first thing you do in  the morning and the last thing you do at  night?    

 

 

U    

          

 

P  !    

 

 

Did that one crack  you UP?      



Don't screw  UP.  

 

 

Now I'll shut  UP

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

A Food Post

Time for some food photos.

I had zucchini to use from the CSA and decided that I'd vary my quiche ingredients to include zucchini. I usually use mushrooms, onions and tomatoes but skipped the mushrooms, reduced the amount of tomato and used lightly sauteed zucchini.  I had some leftover Italian seasoned chicken sausage so sliced one up and added it too.

Photo above before the second layer of cheese. Photo below baked quiche.

I forgot that zucchini tends to be soggy and first servings were a bit wet.  Below plated with cole slaw using Vicki Lane's dressing recipe (modified).

We usually eat leftover quiche for breakfast and Dan finished the last of it this morning before heading out to have cruise control fixed on the car.

Yesterday we had company for dinner. I planned to make scalloped tomatoes to accompany the marinated flank steak and saffron rice. I wanted to use up my cherry tomatoes but didn't think I had enough so at  the grocery store I purchased two local grown tomatoes to complete the dish. Later when I checked the tomato vines in the raised bed I ended up filling this colander with cherry tomatoes.

I dumped the red ones out so you could see the yellow ones which are even sweeter in the bottom of the colander.  There was no need to use regular tomatoes for the dish.  In fact I had leftover cherry tomatoes.

Here's the dish of scalloped cherry tomatoes. This recipe comes from Joy of Cooking. The topping is made by melting 2 T butter in a pan and cooking diced onion. Then add 1-2 T brown sugar and once that's incorporated add a cup or so of bread crumbs.  I used Panko this time.  This has been a long time favorite recipe for summer tomatoes.


Our dinner was completed by the vanilla cake that friends brought for dessert. It is three layers and very large.  It was delicious!  They refused to take it home and there was 2/3 left!  I'll freeze some but will be giving as much as I can to Emily and family to enjoy.


Plenty of leftover steak, tomatoes and rice.  I think it will be dinner again tonight!



Saturday, August 16, 2025

Who is She?

In May Dan's brother showed us this picture in this frame that was with their mother's belongings. He wondered then who this was and asked us.  We don't know either and since Dennis didn't want it I brought it home and have had it in the window sill.

It's a precious photo of some little girl unknown.  With closer examination Dan and I realized it was likely someone in the family dressed up as a Dutch girl.  The background tells us it's not a photo from a studio or even from The Netherlands.  It's not his mother because the hair and face are not hers.

Here's the back of the frame. 

The photo was wedged in using tissue.



On the back of the photo is this.


A Google search of Pixie Snap or Snap Pixie yielded nothing.  Dan searched using the photo and it came up with other old photos in oval frames.

So who is this little girl all dressed up for some occasion?









Friday, August 15, 2025

Laughs for You.

 Thank you Marilyn for sharing these with me.




The one below got me laughing so hard I couldn't read the punch line out loud to my family.



Got any good laughs to share?

Thursday, August 14, 2025

A Police State Now!

 

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Letter from Pete

 

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Change in the Works

 Here is a before, during and after post. 

The former store next door is in the process of becoming our new library. Money has been raised by a non-profit to renovate the space creating a library and community room. The owner of the store will be giving it to the non-profit and once the renovation is complete the non-profit will give it to our town to replace the current library which in inadequate in so many ways.

Before the first transfer happened the owner paid for trash trees to be removed.  These are box elder trees which grow fast and with lots of trunks.  Two of the trees bordered our property and at least 8 or 9 bordered the property on the other side of the store.

In the center of this photo is one of the box elder. To the left are hemlocks and to the right are arborvitaes that are on our property.


Here is the take down.




Gone!



The other tree is that dark spot in the center behind the two trunks of maple.


Here's another perspective - dark green in background.



Here is the take down.




Some days later after clearing the trees on the other side, a crew returned to grind the stumps.




Before above and after below.


Here is looking from one former tree stump down our property line.


Notice the stone? It's likely a former fence stone or property line marker that was encased by one of the tree trunks.



Here's where the other tree stump was ground out.

We expect construction on the library to begin in September.

But that's not the end of trees being removed. Our north side along the driveway is marked by these hemlocks and spruce trees on our neighbor's property.  Some are not doing well and we've been concerned about them falling our way.  The two that have fallen since we arrived here, fell in her yard, thankfully.



She told us last spring that at least one would be removed. However on Sunday, five trees had ribbons tied on them.  I called her Monday morning to ask about the timing for removal but she wasn't even aware that the ribbons had been placed there.  She thanked me for letting her know. I guess we will wake up one morning to the sounds of chain saws again.