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.