My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
– Mitch Hedberg
I found these adorable knitted cacti recently at a shop on the Atlanta Beltline. Any friends want to volunteer to knit me a couple? I promise not to kill them.
: )
So I’ve been taking photos of some of the adoptable dogs and cats for the PAWS Atlanta website for a couple of months now. I started volunteering there shortly after we adopted Sadie. At first, I assisted their photographer by helping with equipment set-up and herding the animals during their photo shoot, but after a while the regular photographer moved away and I was promoted to full-fledged official volunteer pet photographer.
; )
As volunteer gigs go, it’s pretty sweet! I don’t have the fancy studio set-up that the other guy did and I don’t usually have an assistant and I mostly don’t know what the heck I’m doing, but it’s so much fun! And oftentimes there are puppies and kittens to be photographed and loved on and snuggled some, too!
The cats are often a challenge, though. Or they’re a different sort of challenge than the dogs. The last couple visits I’ve been met with running, hiding, hissing and spitty kitties. I try to reason with them, but not being a cat person, I can’t seem to get them to understand that they’re not doing themselves any favors by looking so… so… dangerous!
; )
I would encourage anyone with photography skills and a love for animals to consider offering your talents to a local shelter. The time spent befriending the animals (even the meanest of scaredy-cats) is therapeutic to us both, I think, on a personal level as well as in the quality of the photos. A happy, comfortable animal makes for a more beautiful photo; both of which make their adoption more likely!
You can see the pets currently available for adoption at PAWS (as well as some of my photos of them) by clicking here.
As a kid, I loved having tacos for dinner, but could hardly convince my dad to ever make them. I guess assembling all the proper parts was too much trouble. What I’m sharing tonight are not tacos, but something better, I think.
Jay calls these “Poor Man’s Tostadas” and we had them for the first time last week before our first Braves game of the season. They came together quickly and were delicious! We started with a corn tostada instead of a taco shell… important to the stability of the end product, I think. We used warmed refried beans spread in a thin layer over the tostada as the base for the yummy things and as a “glue” to hold it all together.
We made a meat-free version, hence the “poor man” title, with boiled carrots and potatoes in place of any meat. On top of that we added a crumbly Mexican cheese called queso fresco, diced tomatoes and diced jalapenos.
The final touches were sour cream, fresh cilantro and a green tomatillo salsa. All very yummy!
A proper approach is necessary, so that you don’t lose the whole thing in your lap. It’s definitely worth the trouble balancing it all, though. I’m trying to dream up something besides potatoes and carrots that might be used as an alternate… any ideas?
I’d been waiting ever so patiently (not) for that glorious day that felt like Spring for the first time and it finally came on Saturday last. I sat in the sun for a couple hours and finished the latest Barbara Kingsolver book. It’s a good one; I’d recommend it, especially when combined with some overdue sunshine.
I seem to have lost all tolerance for cold weather. Probably that happened around the time that I moved here and threw away most all of my winter clothing in the process.
Spring happens differently here… everything is coming into bloom at once. Daffodils and Redbud and Forsythia and Azalea are all screaming for my attention at the same time. It’s hard to relish any one thing.
In an ongoing effort to keep myself busy, I’m starting volunteer training later this week to be a docent for Trees Atlanta in their Beltline Arboretum program. I’m doing this so that I can lead bird walks on the Beltline for Atlanta Audubon and be able to sound as intelligent about trees and art and the history of Atlanta as I do about birds. We’ll see how that goes.
: )
I’ve been reading a lot of cooking blogs these days and I think that, more than anything, this attests to just how out of sorts I’m feeling. I hate cooking, remember? I do enjoy reading about it, though, and enjoy the excuse of trying out a new recipe because I saw it on a favorite blog. Anyone have a good cooking blog to share? The blogs I enjoy the most are written by people who seem to approach cooking the way I do… as something like a science experiment. I like reading about their failures and mistakes because it makes me feel less incompetent myself…
Do you like scones? I have a couple recipes that I use often… a favorite is maple walnut scones. I tried dressing them up a couple weeks back with frozen blueberries that were leftover from some we’d picked last summer. I was wholly disappointed with the results… those frozen blueberries had no flavor whatsoever!
It turned out that the frozen blueberries I’d used were actually black beans. Ask me what they were doing in the freezer. Ask me, too, how I didn’t realize they were black beans instead of blueberries.
It’s good to be able to laugh these days.
Maybe some of you that are bunny people heard this story about a nearby bunny hoarder. It ended up that many of the rabbits “rescued” from the hoarder were turned loose in an RV park so campers could “feed and enjoy them” as the above article says.
The local chapter of the House Rabbit Society, thankfully, stepped in to re-rescue as many of the bunnies as possible from the terrible fate that awaited them in the “wild” of the RV park.
The GA House Rabbit Society has put out a desperate call for help with the surviving bunnies… they need donations for the care of the sick and malnourished bunnies they rescued and they’re looking for foster homes.
This is where Lucas (pictured) and I enter the story. I decided to foster him for a while to make space at the shelter for these recently rescued bunnies. He’s a cutie-pie. I can’t let him stay very long or I’ll fall in love.
: )
We went for afternoon tea yesterday at Glenridge Hall with some other supporters of Atlanta Audubon… we’d “won” the opportunity to be treated to this special event by bidding in a silent auction at the 40th Anniversary Gala back in October.
Never having been to tea in a multi-million dollar mansion before, I was a little stressed out about what to wear and whether it was proper to eat the finger sandwiches with my hands and so forth, but it turns out that afternoon tea, like Alice Walker says, is really just an indoor picnic.
With fine china, of course.
: )
We also were treated to a tour of the place, which was a lot of fun. We’re hoping to schedule a couple bird walks on the property this spring, so if you’re in the neighborhood (Jayne!) keep your ears open for more information.
Isn’t there a saying about a rainy day at the beach being better than almost anything…
: )
So it rained while we were in Florida and when it stopped raining it got so cold and windy that being outside on the beach was almost unbearable.
Almost.
We got to do all the things I was hoping for and it was still fun, but the weather did put a damper on things.
Florida is magical to me, regardless of the weather, really. During the many hours on the road, driving back and forth on I-75, I found myself remembering a road trip my family made to Florida when I was a kid. I don’t remember much about that trip beyond the rain and that I had to sit next to the leaky window in the backseat of my dad’s Cadillac.
Any trip to Florida still holds a certain level of excitement for the Jersey Girl in me. Growing up, the lucky kids got to go to Florida on vacation.
: )
But having been able, recently, to visit different parts of the state, I’m seeing it differently now and starting to form opinions about favorite places to spend time.
That’s a good thing, I guess. The magic isn’t at Disney anymore, but instead in the places that aren’t so developed. The roadside orange groves and blooming bougainvillea delighted me. The palm tree-lined streets are charming, but for all the traffic. The birds are amazing… I’ve never seen so many Osprey!
So… I came home without even so much as a sunburn. I’ve a bucket of seashells from Sanibel to sort through and some lovely photos of Florida “junk birds” like this Yellow-Crowned Night Heron. Plus the memories of a couple rainy days in paradise…
 |
| seashells cover the beaches, tinkling like wind chimes as they tumble over one another in the waves |
Our next throw-everything-in-the-car-plus-the-dog-roadtrip-to-escape-the-city is on for next week. We’ll be spending a couple days on Sanibel Island and then a couple days around St. Pete. A visit to Ding Darling NWR as well as Fort DeSoto is on the agenda. We’re hoping also to fit in a dinner date with a long quiet blog friend while in her neighborhood.
J is plotting our course over his beloved maps. Me, I’m looking forward to…
blue sky dawns * shelling on one of the best beaches in the world * pelicans! * salt spray * white sand underfoot * key lime pie * driving with the windows down * roseate spoonbills * at least one drink with an umbrella * wearing flip-flops for a couple days * watching J make drip castles in the sand * laughing gulls! * my polka-dot bikini * palm trees * sunshine * sandy feet * sunsets * floating * hermit crabs * sandbars * humid salty air * staring at the horizon
I think the ribbons on her ears are a nice touch.
Sadie’s embarrassed by them.
I like them and think she looks adorable.
Jay, the good sport who walks her in the park, thinks they’re ridiculous.
He was ready with a story should anyone ask:
“They’re antennas; she’s actually a robot.”
I like that, too.
