A Second Look--October 30, 2013

Ward feels invigorated by cold weather. I just feel cold. So at the first hint of cold weather, my instinct is to stay inside under a nice warm blanket. This week we had our first heavy frost, so the blanket instinct was in full force. However, I managed to pry myself out from under it and spend a pleasant time this afternoon under blue skies and a warm sun doing my Second Look. I had a lot of fun walking through crunchy leaves while looking at mostly either green or brown leaves on the trees. The fall show of colors seems to be subdued this year, but there are still many colors to be seen. 

Here's what I saw this week during my Second Look.

A few blanket flowers managed to survived the frost.

However, this coleus didn't fare so well.

Small mud heaves from the frost. The one in the main part of the picture is about an inch long. Does anyone remember what these are called?

Japanese Maple Seeds. The rest of the maples we have form their seeds in late spring. This one drops its seeds the same time it drops its leaves.

If we're lucky, these pansies should keep blooming for another month or two.

Maple leaves just starting to turn.

A variety of tree states. Some have lost all of their leaves, some have leaves that have turned, some have leaves that are still green, and some are evergreen.

There is a lot of good leaf crunching to be had these days. Does anyone else go out of their way to walk on crunchy leaves?

Let the Fun Begin

or We will finally have level floors.

For years, or actually since we first moved into this house 16 years ago, the uneven floors in the kitchen have bothered me. They are structurally sound, but are uneven. Uneven enough that we've only had one choice for flooring--vinyl because it will bend easily over the ups and downs. I decided that it is finally time that they get leveled. Well when you start looking at floors, one flows into the other, moldings multiply, and cabinets have to be moved. In other words, a major upheaval. Four rooms of stuff need to be compressed into one with some overflow to the garage. All major appliances are out of commission as well as the water from time to time.The cats are in only the basement for a few weeks and they are not happy.

The actual construction/deconstruction began this morning. We're not sure how the food thing will work, but we've put some things in the basement. We still have one room of stuff to move including this computer. If you don't hear from my for awhile, I'm lost in the world of new-things-to-come.

Thankful Sunday--October 27, 2013

I am thankful for the first frost.

Last night we had our first heavy frost, and this morning I awoke to the sun glistening off the white crystals it left everywhere. It was a beautiful sight. Even though I don't like cold weather, frost is a sign that it is time to stop worrying about the outside and time to enjoy the the quieter things that you can do inside. I am thankful for this frost and its reminder that it's time to get out a jigsaw puzzle and spend some quiet time with my family.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Oct. 25, 2013

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

Two Tomatoes

By the time I got to the rest of the fresh tomatoes that I mention last week, two more had become rotten. However, I was able to salvage the rest and instead of making a sauce out of them, we ate them with cottage cheese for several meals. Delicious. Here's hoping for no waste next week.

This Week's True Food Confessions

I Spy a Good Week.

 Can you find:

Sausage and egg dinner with cheese. We had breakfast burritos with whole wheat tortillas and salsa which made them particularly good.

Spinach ravioli with sauteed kale. Those leafy greens always seem like a lot before you cook them and they wilt down to next to nothing.  Even though it was a big box of organic kale, it wasn't enough even for the carnivores.

Sausage pizza. This was another one of the huge (18") pizzas from Aldi's. I forgot to take a picture until I had started to eat the last piece.

Grilled steak with roasted potatoes and carrots and steamed cauliflower.  We buy the steak frozen from Aldi's. It comes as 4 five ounce steaks and this serves as portion control for the carnivores. The potatoes were from Uncle Billy's garden and the cauliflower was a gift from Miss Landers. We are very lucky that we have others that like to share their bounty.

BBQ pork and spinach. I did this in the slow cooker and it was very good. However, even though I was the one who put in the spices, it was a little too hot for me. The others thought it was just right.

Chinese take out--Ward's favorite. This was another one of my migraine days and it just seemed like a good idea. And it was. Not guilt feeling here.

Meat loaf with rice and green beans--I managed to slip pumpkin into the meatloaf for a little more nutrition.  I cooked the rice in the rice cooker and steamed the green beans above it while the rice was cooking. A great feature on the cooker.

Until next time...

 

A Second Look--October 23, 2013

The days this week have been predominated by wet and dreary weather and some mornings have been downright cold with actual frost to scrape from the windshield.  The leaves are about at their half way point as far as color is concerned, and there are now plenty to rake/mow. In some areas I had to look hard, but there are still a reasonable number of flowers blooming. I always enjoy this time of year when we get color from both leaves and flowers. Here are some things I saw this week during my Second Look.

The hydrangea is getting a darker color of pink each week.

Another color of mum bloomed. These had several insects buzzing around them.

Most of the balloon flowers look like the seed pods on the left. This lone flower is refusing to believe it's fall.

The rest of the begonias turned brown about a month ago, but this one is still going strong.

Female cardinal and tufted titmouse. The female cardinal shares the feeder better than the male one does.

Dead nettle

Maple tree and leaves from it. The lower half of the tree is mostly green.

The Reasonings of Wally--Alaska

This happened when Wally was four-years-old..

Ward and I came home from work and went upstairs with Theo. He sat quietly on the floor looking at a book while we changed our clothes and discussed how our days had gone. Soon we went downstairs to join Wally who was watching Sesame street. Theo toddled in front of us and when he reached the kitchen floor, his feet slid out from under him and I heard a loud crack as his head hit the floor. That was soon followed by loud crying. As I went to see if he was hurt, I slipped too, but fortunately didn't go all of the way down. We both had slipped on a wet floor and luckily, Theo was not badly hurt.

As it turns out, Wally was no longer watching Sesame Street. He was standing in the middle of the family room (next to the kitchen) with the garden hose in his hand spewing water everywhere. At that point Ward and I just about lost it. Trying to get control of the situation, I immediately sent Wally to his room and told him to get on his bed and not move until we came to talk to him. Next while Ward took the hose outside and turned off the water, I dried off Theo and put him in his high chair to keep him out of the way. And then we began the long task of trying to clean up the water. There was about 1/2" of water on the tile floors and the carpets next to them were soaked. The whole drying process actually took days, but after an hour or so, we had most of the water sopped up.

Then to deal with Wally. We still found him on his bed. He knew that we were not happy and was afraid to move. After a few sentences about the danger of wet floors and the problems that come with wet carpets, we asked the question we had wondering about the most.

"Wally, what were you thinking?"
He slowly replied. "Well, my good mind was on vacation in Alaska, and my bad mind said, 'Do it, do it. It will be fun.'"

And there you have it. The reasonings of a four-year-old Wally.

Thankful Sunday--October 20, 2013

I am thankful for the family I married into.

Ward's family at two different family gatherings.

It really is true that not only are you marrying a person, you are marrying their family. I am lucky that when I married Ward, I got to become part of his smart, fun, and supportive family. I am thankful that for over thirty years they have let me be a part of them.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

Recently, one of our cats, Annie, was on a medicine that made her hungry. The vet said some cats will eat pumpkin, so that was one of the things we could try when she wouldn't stop bugging us for food. Well not this cat. Even with stinky dried catfish treats mixed in, the low calorie pumpkin was a no go.


So what to do with a almost full can of pumpkin? Recipes abound this time of year for pumpkin, but I had a hankering for something sweet. Pumpkin bread perhaps. That idea changed into pumpkin cookies with the prospect of them being done sooner. It was getting late and bedtime was approaching. After a little googling and finding several similar results, I decided on a recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod  for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies that I've reprinted below.


I mostly followed their directions but left out the nutmeg because I didn't have any and used only 1 3/4 cup of butter because that's all that I had. Also, I used 12 oz. of mini chocolate chips instead regular size ones. However, the biggest thing I did differently, was bake all of the batter at once in a 9x13" pan for 35 minutes at 350° F. Another time saving step to get them done sooner rather than later. This resulted in a finished product with a cake-like brownie texture. The flavor was quite rich and very good. I was afraid that the spice flavors might be too strong, but they blended well. The pumpkin flavor was also very mild. Ward didn't even know that there was pumpkin in them. And best of all, there were little pieces of chocolate everywhere.

Next time I may actually make them as cookies. We'll see. It depends on how impatient I get. Hope you get a chance to enjoy some.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Soft and chewy spiced pumpkin cookies dotted with chocolate chips! We make endless batches of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies during the fall months. They are always a hit!

Ingredients:

3 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with a Silpat baking mat or parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin and mix until combined, about 3 minutes. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop by large, rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to brown around the edges. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for two minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

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This delicious recipe brought to you by Two Peas & Their Pod
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Oct. 18, 2013

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

A tomato

We were the lucky recipients of tomatoes recently from my father-in-law. However, one of them didn't make it longer than a day before it turned black. The rest will become part of some pasta sauce tomorrow. (At least that's the plan.)

This Week's True Food Confessions

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

My confession for this week is that I am really messy in the kitchen. Messy, as in, food on the ceiling messy. While I'd like to say that when I cook, I measure carefully, clean as I go, and never spill anything, I really can't. Mostly I'm good, but sometimes things get away from me. When I was a kid, my sisters teased me about how messy I was when I cooked and that annoyed me. Just because the pressure cooker blew its safety valve and its contents all over the walls and ceiling during my watch didn't necessarily mean that I was messy.

However, maybe there was some truth in what they said. I do knock things over more than I would like and sometimes I do something really stupid like I did last night. While using our portable mixer, the cord came out. Instead of turning it off and plugging the cord back in, I just plugged it back in. Of course, that immediately started the beaters, which were out of the bowl, and caused butter and eggs to fly everywhere--all over the counters, the walls, me, and yes, some on the ceiling. Boy, did I feel foolish. And boy, I did I have a big mess to clean up. However, I was able to finish the dish,  pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies. At least that's what they started out to be. Recipe coming soon for this delicious treat.

Spinach asparagus soup.

On the eating front, we had sandwiches from last week's roast chicken and spinach-asparagus soup made with broth from the same chicken. We also had veggies with guacamole dip and pizza. In addition, we enjoyed fresh tomatoes and cottage cheese. Last weekend we went out to a Mexican Restaurant when we visited my father-in-law. This is somewhat of a family tradition and the males especially look forward to the huge burritos they have. In fact, one of the restaurant slogans is "Voted the biggest burritos in town,"  which never fails to amuse Wally. 

I really have to start taking more pictures of our food because our eating is getting fuzzy in my mind. It's hard to be accountable when you're not paying attention.  Need to nip, nip it in the bud. (Does anyone remember Barney Fife saying that?)

Until next week...

A Second Look Update--Wheel Bugs

Yesterday in my Second Look post, I had a picture of a bug that was unidentified. Since then, I've had time to do a bit of research and come up with information on it. The strange looking bug (aren't they all strange looking?) was a wheel bug. The wheel bug is a cousin of the stink bug and is the largest of the bugs. It is named for the round spiny ridge near its head which some say makes it looks like a stegosaurus. The wheel bug injects venom into its prey and eats them from the inside out. Its bite can take a long time to heal. (I'm glad I didn't know that when I encountered it.) They are common in eastern North America, but aren't seen much because of their camouflage capabilities and shyness. Also wheel bugs are considered beneficial bugs because they feed mostly on caterpillars and other soft bugs that defoliate plants.

Now here's the most interesting thing I learned--what a bug is. I thought I knew what bug meant. It meant any creapy crawly that wasn't necessarily an insect. A broad generic term. Wrong. It turns out that bug has a specific entomological definition. It is an order of insects that has mouth parts that pierce and suck. (BTW, we call a lot of things bugs that aren't true bugs like lightening bugs.)

Well, how about that? You do learn something new everyday. I can't wait to see how I can work this newly learned information into my next conversation. :)

Want to know more?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_bug

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-09_wheel_bug.htm

A Second Look--October 16, 2013

Here's what I found this week during a Second Look.

Winter Weather and Woolly Bears

Or How Not to Predict the Weather

As we are now into fall, many conversations involve talk about what kind of winter we might have. Everyone has a theory based on various things--satellite data to the Farmers' Almanac, caterpillars to pig spleens, and aching joints to hair thickness. 

The good old standby of the Farmers' Almanac predicts a colder winter with more snowfall than normal for North America this year. And how accurate is the Farmers Almanac? Well it depends on who you talk to. The people who sell the book, say their predictions have been 80% accurate. Otherwise, you can take any year or place and make the predictions work or not. Accuracy is in the eye of the beholder. I'd like to believe that they are going to be wrong this winter.

How about some of the other indicators? The woolly bear is another favored one. The woolly bear is a fuzzy black and brown caterpillar of the Isabella tiger moth. They are seen a lot during the fall as they move around looking for a protected place to spend the winter. It seems like forever that I've heard people talk about the woolly bear and its predictions about winter weather. I was never sure how that worked, but I assumed they looked at their fuzzy coat and if it were heavier than normal, that meant a harsher winter. Turns out, I was wrong.

The predictions are made based on the ratio of black to brown stripes on the worm. Most woolly bears have a black stripe on each end with a brown section in the middle. If the brown area is bigger than the black areas, then it is supposed to be a milder winter. And conversely, if the brown area is smaller than the black areas, it is supposed to be a harsher winter. And how accurate is this predictor? Well it depends on who you talk to. Some say it can't miss and others say that it is more accurate in telling if last winter was mild or harsh.

Dr. D. H. Curran, curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, actually studied the woolly bear and its weather predicting abilities starting in 1946. For eight years he counted whether each of the 13 segments of a woolly bear was black or brown. He averaged his counts and then predicted the weather for the upcoming winter based on the black/brown ratios. His results were 80% accurate. However, he discounted his studies saying that he knew his sample size was not very large. Other experiments have had varying outcomes, so once again accuracy is in the eye of the beholder.

But not to be deterred by previous results, I set out to see what our local woolly bears were going to tell me about the upcoming winter. However, I ran into a few problems. The first one was even though these little worms are supposed to be everywhere, I only found six of them over the course of  several days. Of these, two were black and brown striped, and four of them were entirely black. That was the next problem. What was I supposed to do with the black ones? No one talked about those in the studies I read. If I went strictly on the black/brown ratio, we are in for a horrible winter. So, I decided to leave the black ones out of the study and use only two data points. Those two had healthy brown stripes, so I predict that we are going to have a mild winter. Now how's that for making the numbers say just what you want?

So what kind of weather are we in for this winter? I'm not sure. I think I may just have to stick my hand out the window when the time comes to know for sure.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Want to read more?

Description and history of Farmers' Almanac

The Old Farmers' Almanac predictions for 2013-2014 winter in North America

How accurate is the Farmers' Almanac?

 The Old Farmers' Almanac describing the woolly bear and how it predicts winter weather.

All about the woolly bear caterpillar

Why do woolly bears cross the road?

Locations of various woolly bear festivals

Predicting weather with a pig spleen

Thankful Sunday--October 13, 2013

I am thankful for this new toilet.

This week we installed a new toilet in our half bath. Now our toilet flushes first time and every time with 1/5 the amount of water as before.  Yea!

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Oct. 11, 2013

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

 

This week my fridge was full of almost empty containers.

The refrigerator was getting pretty full after we found a sale on milk, so I decided it needed rearranging and cleaning. Among other things, here is what I found.  

• -An olive jar with one olive in it. 
• -A pickle jar with one pickle slice in it.
• -A storage container with one orange slice in it.
• -A bowl with five grapes in it.
• -A bowl with two potato slices.

I not sure how we ended up with all of those almost empty containers, but they made it really easy to create extra space in the fridge. The only part that was waste were the two potato slices. They were probably okay, but since they were cooked with meat, I didn't chance it. 

Bulletin: This just in. Tonight's supper included burnt rice.  Really burnt rice. The whole pot will have to go. :(

This Week's True Food Confessions

If I'm going to do True Food Confessions this week, it would have to be that I bought and enjoyed Pop-Tarts. I've not been a big Pop-Tart eater over the years mostly because they got too fancy when they put icing on them. So when I saw this box of plain strawberry (my favorite flavor) without icing, I had to have them. I put up a good front when I paused in front of them at Aldi's about how they weren't good for me and how I really didn't need them. After a couple of minutes of this hemming and hawing, Ward popped (pun intended) a box into the cart and said we had to move on. And if we're all going to be honest, we are all enjoying them. I hope this was a one-time buy for Aldi's and I won't be faced with the same temptation next week.

On other fronts we had Mexican and Chinese over the weekend while we were out of town and enjoyed roast chicken, spinach pie, pizza, and sloppy joes the rest of the week.

Until next time...

A Second Look--October 9, 2013

The unusually warm weather of last week has given way to beautiful fall weather. There's a definite nip in the morning air that turns into warm, sunny afternoons. However, we haven't had a frost yet. Our first mums bloomed this week and a few of the summer flowers are hanging on. The squirrels continue to be active, and there have been more birds at the feeder this week. Our neighbor put up two new feeders, so the birds have a lot of choices these days including all of the wild berries that are ripening. More leaves are turning but we're definitely not at our peak yet. Here are a few things I saw this week during a Second Look.

Daisy mums

We are getting a fair amount of oak leaves on the ground from a big tree we have in the front yard. They go pretty much straight from green to brown.

Marigold

Balloon flower

These female and male cardinals come to the feeder at the same time but are rarely eating at the same time.

Pansy

I try to put critter treats outside the cats' favorite window so they can have a good show like they did with this squirrel eating popcorn.

An overall view of our upper backyard to see how the leaves are changing. In the left of the picture is a dog wood tree that has mostly red leaves now.  In the middle is a maple tree that is starting to change. I always like to watch how it loses its leaves from the top down. In the right of the picture is another maple tree that has very little change.

A Morning with Sarah

Sarah is my special needs buddy that I spend Sunday School with sometimes. I'm not sure about her special needs, but I do know that she is special. And my recent experience found no exception to this.

The air was cool, but the sun was shining as Sarah and I walked from one building to the other. She was carrying her stuffed animal for the day, a bird, as well as a photo album and an animal book. I was carrying the rest of her breakfast. She hadn't finished it before it was time to move onto the next activity.

As we walked down the path, we made faster progress than normal. Sarah usually stops to look at every plant and bug along the way but today was different because we were engaged in a conversation about what we had done over the summer. However, that changed just as we arrived at the other building. She spotted a cricket and had to have it. On the third hop, it was secured safely in her fist. I was amazed she was able to do this because crickets have a lightening fast jump. Also, I was amazed that she was able to do this without dropping any of the other things she brought for the day.

Sarah now had her prize and she wasn't letting go. I told her we couldn't go inside with the cricket, so she chose to stay outside and finish her breakfast rather than give it up. In the middle of eating her scrambled egg, she decided that she was going to feed the ants. She took a leaf to use as a plate and put a small piece of egg on it. And then we waited. She was a bit concerned and I was a bit confused because no ants showed up. At least not for a while. Then they came marching in. They worked together and carried the egg off not to return. It was amazing to watch. It was as if I had never seen ants carry crumbs before.

All the while, the cricket was firmly trapped in her hand. I was concerned that it might be squished from her firm grasp, but every once in a while she would reveal part of it to show me that it was all right. And it was. (And when I say it, I should say she. Sarah said that it was a girl cricket and I'm sure she knew although I have no idea how. ) She then decided that if the ants got something to eat, the cricket should have something too. She pulled a leaf off a nearby bush and proceeded to feed the cricket. She released it just enough for its head to come out above her fingers and it started munching around the edges of the leaf. I could actually see the little jaws moving as it was eating. That was one of the coolest things I had ever seen. Ever.

Soon her mother showed up and volunteered her coffee cup so Sarah could take home the cricket to join others she had there. We parted our ways and I spent the rest of the day telling anyone who would listen about the cricket I had seen eating. And I also spent the day being thankful that I got to spend the morning with Sarah.

Thankful Sunday--October 6, 2013

I am thankful for this sunset.

Ward and I were driving along a two lane road when we spotted this sunset. As the road winded and went from hill to valley, the sun appeared and disappeared. We enjoyed guessing how much further the sun had gone down between our glimpses. I am thankful for the beauty of this sunset and the entertainment it provided for us.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Oct. 4, 2013

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

Bits and Pieces

Nothing major this week, but a little of this and a little of that--a soft spot on a cantaloupe, some black celery leaves, a handful of stale popcorn that went to the squirrels, a couple of tablespoons of hot sauce that came with a burrito. I guess hot sauce can go bad. Otherwise we did pretty well.

(Thanks to Jo at Simply Being Mum for hosting today)

This Week's True Food Confessions

The weekend was another busy one food-wise. Saturday was our Oktoberfest day when we went to a local Oktoberfest festival in the afternoon and an Oktoberfest party in the evening. We enjoyed bratwurst, sauerkraut, and cucumber salad among other things. Sunday, Ward roasted a pig for a work picnic. It was a lot of work but was done to perfection. That was also a great day for eating with everyone bringing their favorite covered dish to share.

The week saw us having a hodgepodge of things. We had steaks on the grill to make up for the loss we had a couple of weeks ago. We also had pizza, pot stickers, sausage, along with fresh grapes and fresh green salad. We're still enjoying the bounty from Uncle Billy's garden.

And speaking of Uncle Billy's garden, it provided the new thing we tried this week--leeks. I don't how it is that we haven't had leeks before, but I really couldn't remember eating them. I cooked them in chicken broth with potatoes, carrots, and squash. The dish was really good. But I knew it would be because it contained many of my favorite vegetables. However, some of us liked the leeks and some of us didn't. Meaning Ward. He doesn't like onions, so it stands to reason that he wouldn't like leeks either which are really just a milder form of onions. Would I eat leeks again? Sure. How do you cook leeks?

Not sure what's on the horizon, but we'll keep treading water and enjoy the successes we do have.

Until next time...

Today...

Today I'm going to look behind the walls.

Sometimes I rush and jump to conclusions. Today I'm going to slow down and think about what is behind the obvious. Who knows what I might figure out.

A Second Look--October 2, 2013

Yesterday, I had a really busy day and I was ready for a little down time when I remembered that I hadn't done my Second Look for the week. So I put down the remote, got the purring cat off my lap, and hurried outside to look around before the sun sank below the horizon. 

And what was wrong with this? My Second Look was not supposed to be a hurried look trying to beat dusk. It was supposed to be a thoughtful look to appreciate things and see them in a different way. And about halfway through my walk, I remembered that. So here are few things I saw this week during both my fast and slow Second Looks.