Dahlia the Artist

For her birthday, Dahlia got a two-sided easel with paints, chalk and markers.  At 3 years 2 months she is doing amazingly well with her art.  This is her self portrait, not quite fully completed.

On another picture, she talked to me as drew:

That is Dahlia.
I put some hair and eyes and a nose and a shirt.
A mouth.
I made a head on me and I put arms on me.
Oh, and a forehead.
Yellow hair. Cheeks.
I put a big hole so that I could fill it in.

I wrote this on her picture, and she also "wrote" on the picture.

Rule of thumb is that you expect the young artist to include one body part for every year of her/his age. Dahlia is way ahead of this.

Solar Blueberry cake

For Dan's Birthday, I gave him a history/cooking book, "A Garden Supper Tonight: Historical Seasonal Recipes & Home Lore."  From the July recipe for Summer Lemon Cornmeal Plum Cake, I turned it into Solar Blueberry cake. 

Dry ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup sugar

Liquid ingredients
1/2 cup almond milk
1/4 cup olive oil
1 egg

I mixed the wet and dry, poured it into the oiled Teflon pan, added a cup of blueberries, and baked it from 10:30 to 1:00 in the Haines Solar Cooker.  It was probably done by 12:30.   Part of the time, there were some leaf shadows.  The blueberries were bubbling/boiling.  Delicious.

This is the testimonial to how good it was!

Daylilies and Treefrogs

On the way down to Terre Haute, I had spotted a day lily sales place along the road.  On the way back, I kept saying to myself, "daylilies", so that I would not miss it.  I bought a few of their "fans" -- small pieces of day lily -- for Mary Beth.  I rained quite a bit shortly after I got them in, so it should be OK.  I also made notes about some of the varieties on an order form so that I could get some later.

Then Mary Beth and I visited the local day lily place near Iowa City.  Lots of beautiful blossoms.  I bought a couple for Mary Beth, and a few for Missy for a graduation present. 


With Mary Beth's sharp eyes, we found two varieties of tree frogs.

These are both probably grey tree frogs.

Running the Hoover trail

Running the Hoover Trail here in West Branch brings back all sorts of memories -- I ran my 20 mile run here when I was training for the marathon -- the Hooker Trail is only 3 or so miles long -- so I ran back and forth a couple of times, and around to other parts of town.

This trip, the weather has been clear and cool in the mornings, and the trail has been beautiful.  On the ship I ran on the treadmill, and back in Arlington, I have been running on the W&L High School Track.  So this is my first running on roads and trails -- a great way to go.

There has been a lot of water in Iowa this summer, and there were cones on a bridge on the trail marking off a hole about 18 inches across that went to daylight below.  Glad I was not the first person to discover that after the last storm.

Poster children for clean water

 Notice the katydid in Dahlia's hair.

Wildcat Den State Park had a great 2 mile loop trail -- and it turn out that Iowa is not all that flat.  We hikes along limestone cliffs.  Dahlia and Hayden loved the hiking (actually, riding on Mom and Dad's back) and playing in the water.  The water was a lot of fun, but water quality was pretty icky, so we all bathed when we got home. 

We need to listen to the Lorax, and get the water clean!

Another sunny day in Iowa

Here is today's solar cooking report for the Haines cooker.

This morning I baked half an acorn squash and a sweet potato -- easily ready for lunch.  I baked them in a covered glass bowl. 

Then at 1:00 I put out a curried quinoa veggie bowl made with coconut milk.  I worried about the clouds that came and went through the afternoon -- but it was cooked just right.  In fact, it was softer and creamier than a usual quinoa.  I am pleased with the successes of this cooker.  And I am pleased with the strength of the Iowa sun.

Curried quinoa veggie bowl

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 chopped garlic clove
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup quinoa
1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup frozen peas

I just put everything in the black pot with clear cover, and put it into the solar cooker.  It was served with grilled zucchini and cauliflower.

Solar cooking in Iowa

Solar Cookers International ran a great international conference in Sacramento -- two days of talks and conversation, and one day of demonstrations in a park open to the public.  Barbara (Barratt) and I were not the only two-generation family at the conference.  We learned so much, met so many people, and had a great time. 

I came directly to Iowa from Sacramento to visit my son Dan and his family.  We went to the children's museum this morning, then to Target to buy a black pot.  After lunch and a merry-go-round ride, I did not get home until almost 2:00.  I set up the new Haines solar cooker (panel cooker) on their sidewalk at 2:00 with rice, and the rice was done just fine for dinner!

I thought that the windscreen might be too loose and be letting out too much hot air, but clearly not.  The whole thing traveled well on the plane (sticking out of my backpack), and was easy to set up. The pot is raised up off the reflective surface with a clear plastic cylinder, and instead of having to use a plastic bag to hold the hot air around the pot, the windscreen holds in the heat enough for cooking. 

Homeless people and runners own the dawn

Running along the Sacramento River here in old town Sacramento's early morning brings me past the homeless.  Imagine at night having to think about whether to go into the bushy areas closer to the river, or to sleep on the ground alongside the trail, or to go further from the town and sleep on a bench.  Imagine thinking whether it would be worth pushing your things in a shopping cart or to have fewer things that would fit into a backpack.  Imagine wondering where to get a bicycle like some of the other homeless.  Imagine wondering what you will find in today's rummage through the trash cans.  And imagine wondering where today's food will come from.

Cool evenings, cool mornings, and cheerful -- not too hot-- sunny days have made this a great visit to Sacramento.  I had forgotten its role in history as the gateway to the gold rush.  The first bridge across the Sacramento River was at the time of the gold rush, and there continued to be ferries for a long time after that first bridge went in.  During the New Deal, with the increase in automobile traffic, a new "Streamline Moderne" (post-art deco) bridge was put in to frame a dramatic entrance to the capital.  I allowed two lanes of cars and a train track down the middle.  It used an innovative light-weight concrete for the draw bridge section in the middle.

Ha ha, ha ha

Recall that we were the "ha ha" -- the lowered area beyond the yard of the old-time mansion that allowed a lovely pastoral view without the need for a fence.  We were providing that view for the very large house that was built behind us while we were away last year. 

Then the building inspectors required a fence be built before the house could be occupied, so I no longer had fantasies of catching toddlers falling from above.  The tidy open-looking fence seemed to provide a reasonable visual barrier between the houses, and even took away some of the impression that they were always going to be looking down on us, and into our house. 

Well, today, the fellows from the wrought iron fence company arrived, and put up a black wrought iron fence just inside the wooden one!  They thought that the wooden one might be removed subsequently, but that was not their department......stay tuned.

Meanwhile we continue to think about ways of making their view down onto our yard so unpleasant that they put in more trees.  That might not be working out -- because the good weather in June and early July has allowed considerable improvements in our back yard.  And, reminiscent of the MV Explorer, we eat many meals out back. 

The latest improvement is a play space for the turtles.  We have not made it predator proof for night, but they have a 125 gallon pond, and behave more and more like wild turtles. 

Wildlife on Lorcom Lane

There is an amazing variety of wildlife right here in our yard!

Last summer, Mary Beth gave me extra hostas, and they have done very well arranged as a semicircle in the front yard.  They were lush, and just starting to bloom when the deer found them.  Now they are regularly muched by the deer, and look pretty pathetic.

The chipmunk and squirrel are of great interest to the dog Lance.  The chipmunk regularly runs into a horizontal downspout, and Lance paws at it and tries to get him out.  He seems to have other hiding places under rocks and under the deck.

At first the baby bunny did not eat the lettuce that self seeded in the front yard, but now he is a little fatter and sassier -- and enjoys the lettuce.  No gourmet, he ignores the basil!  Lance gets very excited and wants to go out when he sees the bunny -- I always give the bunny a head start.

Today there was a baby robin -- with spotted breast -- flying after its mother.  Other regular birds right now include sparrows, a catbird and a mocking bird.

Lizards and snakes.  There is a fast moving blue skink we sometimes catch glimpses of.  In addition, both my neighbor and I saw a very long black snake, and both looked it up on the internet to make sure it was not poisonous.  The black ratsnake is black on top, whitish below, not too big around, and was at least 3 1/2 feet long, maybe 4.  He was resting his first 6 inches on my front steps when I saw him.

Tanabata

Today is July 7, Tanabata.  This is the one day a year that the weaver and the cowhearder cross the heavens to be together, and the Japanese celebrate by putting paper wishes onto bamboo branches.  In some versions of the story, they have to cross the Milky Way, and celebrations include lots of lights and stars.

The first day that I (together with David and Dan) ever set foot in Japan was July 7, and there was a branch of bamboo with wishes right at the airport.  That must have been 1987.  Nick probably recalls doing this in Michigan -- except instead of putting light pieces of paper that wash away in the rain -- we used very solid paper that was still there in the spring.  The festival is celebrated on different summer dates, so Nick and his friend Derek were there for the festival last summer. 

Will thinks it odd, but we have a bamboo branch with tied on paper wishes in front of the house today.   Leave it to me to find bamboo on short notice!  Wiki says that we should burn the branch or throw it in the river -- not sure that either is an excellent Arlington option.