Walking and Books

I signed up for the  "Walk of Life" program, and today is day #2.  My legs hurt.
(* humble admission that I am very out of shape)

We live in a very hilly area--you can't walk from our house without going  uphill or downhill. There is no flat area to walk.  But that's a good thing, right?
Before  you know it, I won't be huffing and puffing the whole time.  
(*another humble admission, that every spring starts out with me huffing and puffing and then by summer's end, it's an easy walk for me.  It's the below freezing temps that keep me inside during the winter)

But the Walk of Life is different.  I have to  'make a life change'  and 'eat healthy'  (sigh).  It's 70 days to a better me.  (I'll keep you updated.)

One thing I can tell you--day 2 of walking is a better me.  It puts me in a great frame of mind. 
So....WHY do I ever stop?  Activity  (walking for me)  is so good for your  mind.  

Another added benefit?  I get to listen to a book on my iPod. 
Woo hoo!  

Right now I'm listening to  "Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver.

I'm finding it very interesting.  She narrates the book herself, and I had read a couple of reviews that said, while she is a great writer, she should leave the narration to someone more professional.
While she's not the best I've ever heard,   she certainly isn't bad. 
Flight Behavior is also my  Lit Wits Book club has chosen for March.  I can't wait!  It will be an interesting discussion. 

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:
Flight Behavior is a brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia; a breathtaking parable of catastrophe and denial that explores how the complexities we inevitably encounter in life lead us to believe in our particular chosen truths. Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions—religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians—trapping her in the center of the conflict and ultimately opening up her world. Flight Behavior is arguably Kingsolver's must thrilling and accessible novel to date, and like so many other of her acclaimed works, represents contemporary American fiction at its finest

Moody or not?

Today's "Booking Through Thursday" question is:  

Does your current mood affect your reading? Affect your choices? I know there are plenty of books I enjoy, but only if I'm in a particular kind of mood–or books that can lift me out of a bad mood without fail. Surely I’m not alone?



I am sure that my mood does affect my reading choices.  Like even tho, I love Stephen King, I have to be in the 'mood' to read him.  I have to be  'in the mood' to read Chick-Lit also, but I think the question is asking,  if you wake up in a melancholy mood, do you tend to choose a different kind of book  than if you'd woke up in a happy mood.
I'm sure the answer is  yes. But I can't see a pattern with me.  Because...I am always happy?  Well, more times than not, but everyone has 'moods'.  I am just not a moody person--usually.  (do not talk to my  husband and kids about this).

This doesn't particularly have to do with a 'mood', but when I was pregnant with my first son, 34 years ago,  I had just started "The Thornbirds"  (which was wildly popular and good and was made into a mini-series for TV), but I was so sick---SO SICK--with morning sickness, that every time I think of that book I hate it.  The thought of that book makes me want to puke. (sorry if that is too graphic).  I managed to make it thru to the end of the book, but  it was a horrible read for me.   I hate that book.

On the flip side, when my son was about  10, and  got really sick and had to be in bed for a few days,  I sat by his side and read "Dr. Doolittle" to him.  He loves that book and that is a good memory for him.

So, while those are not moods, I guess our choices of reading material can be influenced by lots of things going on with our lives.
Most of the time tho, a  book can take me away and make me feel better--just for having read it.

To Err is Human

Yes,  to err is human....to forgive,  well, let's just hope we are all forgiven in the end. 

I was looking thru my posts and cleaning up some 'drafts' that I had and  lo and behold there is this 'draft' from my life last Labor Day Weekend!

I erred.   Enough said.
I never posted this, when I thought I had:

This was my surprise when I came home from being gone over Labor Day Weekend.  My middle son and his girlfriend ran off to the court house without me and got married.  Without her family too.   I think that's how they wanted it  (which is why they did it that way)

Congrats and welcome to this crazy family Jessica!!

Dustin and Jessica share an anniversary with our oldest son Jeff and his wife Tara.

Speaking of our oldest son---he and his family showed up, as we got home from our trip--to see our youngest son   (are you confused yet?)  that weekend.

So, how did we celebrate the marriage of  our 2nd to youngest/middle son  (very confused now??)  (so am I)

Well...  we walked up a hill!!   We are crazy like that!  Our celebrations?  The envy of others.

The Handyman,  sons Jeff and Dustin, Daughter-in-law Jessica and our grandsons  Hunter, Jorell and Camron,

getting ready to set off on the hike up the mountain.

This is actually a trail head in the high desert of Nevada.

Notice the big trees to shade ourselves in the 90+ degree weather.  

Notice the cloudy skies to shield the sun.

Notice ---how crazy we are.  I said that before

I am bringing up the rear.

It's only about a mile to the W.

But it's hot.

Do you remember my post about  Hillside letters in the west?

A fork in the road. 

(which is symbolic of the newlyweds--who are lagging behind---and they chose the  marriage fork)

(I am so philosophical)

I begin to lag behind.

And to be truthful....I don't see the Handyman either.  I just see the youngsters. 

Altho---Rich (Handyman) did make it to the W.

Anything for the grandkids!

I took lots of great pics. 

Happy Wedding Weekend Dustin and Jess!

Fish Tacos

I love eating at my son's house.  I love to taste 'real' Mexican food. Real home-cooked Mexican food.  It's so different from eating at a restaurant.  It's hard to explain, but it just is.

I spent the last week in Phoenix holding a new grandson,  playing with my 3-year old granddaugther and following my daughter-in-law around, eating what she was eating, tasting food she was making, snacks she was preparing, watching her every move in the kitchen,  and...
...watching Novellas on the Spanish channel.  (She told me the only way to learn to speak Spanish is immersion, so I watched  novellas (soap operas) with her on the Spanish Channel.  It was fun--but now I'm depressed as I had to leave before I knew the fate  Juan Carlos!!   DANG IT!!  ~grins~ )

Mara (my DIL) made fish tacos one night--(they were so awesome!!) (I just had to take  a photo)

And when I got home I made them for the Handyman--(I did a pretty good job I think, recreating a  home-cooked Mexican meal)
They look almost EXACTLY like her's, don't they?  They tasted pretty good too. So, it paid off , following her around like that!  (hopefully it didn't creep her out too much---having her mother in law looking over her shoulder all the time)

As I said,  I followed Mara closely around the kitchen and I hastily wrote this down in my notebook after we ate.   There is no formal recipe---you just do it.  She probably learned from watching her mom in the kitchen...the secret of many great home cooks.


Fish Tacos
Mara Stone
(as scribbled down by me)

Tilapia cut into strips--squirt with lime juice and sprinkle with lemon pepper and fish seasoning.
Dredge is seasoned flour  (lemon pepper and fish seasoning) and fry

cabbage
cilantro
fresh jalapeno
tomato

chop and mix together and add on top of fish in a warm corn tortilla, spread with Mexican sour cream.

avocado
jalapeno
cilantro
lime juice
salt

blend all together  (she did it in a blender and was a lot thinner, more like a sauce. It was really good.  Mine was more chunky)
Drizzle on top of the taco.
Squirt with lime and eat.
If you want you can add hot sauce.

Lazy Sunday Afternoons

You know...the nice thing about  late fall/winter/early spring are  the lazy Sundays. 
I LOVE Lazy Sunday afternoons!

Even if we did go to church, (which we did)  the afternoons are long and lazy.  Around here it's too cold to do much .....and I love the feeling of lazy Sundays.  Coffee cups and newspapers laying around,  maybe a movie in the afternoon, or a walk (because today the sun is shining and there are blue skies above), both of us reading books in big overstuffed chairs,  playing a game of cards together, baking, cooking,  wonderful kitchen smells.

Okay, I'm sounding kind of old.   Coffee cups and newspapers?  But it's true!   I don't feel the need to pick up on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Now in the summer, it's a different feel altogether.   I'm going to enjoy these last few  'winter' Sunday afternoons, because they be gone soon enough.

I am glad to see the time change ---even if it means losing an hour of sleep once a year.  We almost gained an hour tho.  The Handyman set our clocks BACK an hour before going to sleep instead of forward.   We are lucky to be early risers, and caught on real quick.

I had so much to say....or I thought I did, and now I can't think of anything.
Let's see...

I read  "A Good American" by Alex George while I was in Arizona.  It was a good book.

I am doing a read along this month---Little Women--with  Jill at Fizzy Thoughts.

I signed up to receive a newsletter (email) called "Bloggers Recommended"   ( Bloggers Recommend is the brainchild of veteran book bloggers Jen of Devourer of Books and Nicole of Linus’s    Blanket.)
It is pretty self explanatory  right?    I will receive an email that recommends great books by other bloggers.  (you can too---just check it out)

I just got back from Arizona where I visited my son and his family.
(we visited the Phoenix Botanical Gardens.  It was so beautiful!  Those are glass sculptures there.  The light green ones are Chihuly glass.)

The best words ever are  "Gramma, you are my best friend"
(I LOVE being a best friend)

The sweetest smell ever is:   (most of the time anyway)

I had a wonderful time.
It's  Fish tacos for supper tonight.   My daughter in law made them for me while I was down in Phoenix.  There were so good.   I hope I can recreate her meal.  It was Yum-MEE!!

On the way home this weekend (from the airport--we live  162 miles from an airport, and that many miles from a book store also)  , I made the Handyman stop at a bookstore.  I wasn't going to buy anything, (I have a HUGE TBR pile at home),  BUT- I had just read an essay from an author who prides himself on having always purchases something from every bookstore he's ever entered.  (my hero)  and when I told the  Handyman I wasn't going to get anything, he said "why not?"  (and he  KNOWS how big my TBR pile is!!)  So I felt obligated to buy a couple of books.
This is what I got this past week:

I'm going to go cook or read or maybe take a walk.  I'm crazy like that on lazy Sunday afternoons!

Saturday Snapshot

It's me---back from Arizona, and yes, I did make it to the Botanical Gardens.

As we walked thru the garden trails, we saw various sculptures by different artists.  It made for a very interesting little hike.

Here is a picture of a sculpture by Carolina Escobar.   

It looks so bizarre to me....this unique (I can't say weird, because it's all in the eye of the beholder ) sculpture of a...snail (?) in the middle of the Arizona desert.

I liked it, but it was so startling coming upon something like this as you are enjoying native plants and cactus.

I think this looks like an alien.

I am linking to At Home With Books and all the other bloggers who do a Saturday Snapshot.

I'll be back later with more pictures from my trip,  and a few thoughts on books.

Pork and Beans

As you are reading this right now, I am really in  Phoenix, Arizona visiting my son and his family, and my newest grandson, Christopher.  And hopefully, we are at the Spring Butterfly Exhibit at the Phoenix Botanical Gardens, where a butterfly is sitting on my hand sipping nectar from a cup.
But because of the magic of modern technology,  I wrote this on Sunday afternoon and am  scheduling it to post on Thursday.

It is Thursday, isn't it?

On Thursday, I will be feeling a bit melancholy because I'll have to go home and leave my sweet little grandchildren behind.  BUT, I'll also be tired, I know. They have such energy, that I can't keep up.
We will have gone to the Bookstore, made cookies,  seen the butterflies, played endless games and I can't wait!

I'll be leaving my poor husband behind, where he will have to fend for himself for supper,except for the night he has these left over pork and beans.

Pork and Beans?  Well, kind of.  It is pork and there are beans....it's just not what came to your mind when  you read pork and beans, is it?  It is pork ribs--and beans.  (this dish might be good if you used pork chops too)
My friend Brenda, who used to have a food blog called 'Brenda's Canadian  Kitchen' posted this once and  we've enjoyed it many times since. 
It's an easy, crock-pot meal.  ( I'm vowing to use my crock-pot more often because last week  I had cold cereal two times for supper while the Handyman had some frozen burritos one night and a peanut butter sandwich the next. )  And it was good.  And very simple. I said that already, didn't I?  Easy, simple--they mean the same thing.
These are spicy and tender and the beans do not turn to mush, which is what I thought would happen the first time I made them.
The recipe says   to use  SMOKING HOT HABANERO sauce.  I cannot do that.  If you like tons of  'hot' spice, you really should use it because that is what the original recipes calls for.  While I like a teeny bit of spice, I usually have to temper it with the sweet, so I found a great  SWEET AND SPICY sauce that we love.  Just use your favorite.
This is a classic meat and beans dish.

Slow Cooked Smokin' Habanero Beans and Ribs      
Or.... just plain old Pork and Beans.
from Brenda's Canadian Kitchen

2 racks baby back pork ribs, about  3 lbs.
3 cups of PC Tequila Habanero BBQ Sauce  (or your favorite BBQ Sauce.  I used Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy, because, I was afraid of the Habanero )
3 19oz cans white kidney beans or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

Cut rack of ribs into 2 or 3 rib pieces. Place in a bowl and toss with 1 cup of BBQ sauce.

In the bottom of a slow cooker, stir together rinsed and drained beans and 1 cup of BBQ sauce.  Place ribs on top of beans.  Pour the remaining 1 cup sauce over it all.

Cover, set slow cooker to HIGH and cook for 6 hours.  Mine are usually done just the way we like them at around 5.5 hours.

When done, transfer ribs to a serving platter, drain the beans in a colander, discarding liquid.


Enjoy!