St. Patrick, St. Cuthbert, and John Rutter Walk Into a Pub...

Beautiful Wisconsin
in the springtime

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1. On this first official day of spring tell us something (besides the weather) you're looking forward to in this season of the year.

When you endure a long winter, as we do here in Wisconsin, the weather of spring/summer/fall IS what's on our minds this time of year. We cram a lot into those months from April through October: good country walks, visiting friends and family, campfires, day trips, and other general outdoor adventures. Oh, and I mustn't forget moon walks! We've plans with friends for the Full Moon Walk the end of April. - check out Carla's blog. 

One of three photos I took at

our St. Patrick's Day party on Saturday evening.

After dinner, the kids gathered to play Liar's Dice.

There were a lot of CrockPots in use that evening!

2. When it comes to spring cleaning would you rather wash windows or wash baseboards? Clean out closets or clean out the garage? Dust ceiling fans or dust bookcases? Wipe down the patio furniture outside or wipe down the light fixtures inside? Any of these tasks recently completed?

This reminds me of the 'would you rather' questions that my grandkids ask: 'Would you rather be thrown into a den of rattlesnakes or be stung by 100 scorpions?'  but if I had to choose any of those, it would be to dust the bookcases. Although I have a lot of them, that would be the least objectionable of any of the jobs listed. And besides, I can always pick up something to read.

3. Your favorite thing to make/eat that calls for cream cheese? Sour cream? Whipped cream?

I love cream cheese/chicken in the CrockPot. To a can of green chilies, I add a block of cream cheese, stir well, and pour it over four boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Delicious meal in 6-8 hours! Sour cream? I put sour cream in the Shepherd's Pie that I  made for our St. Patrick's Day dinner (along with an entire bottle of Guinness). Making the Shepherd's Pie took far longer than rounding up a flock of sheep, but I'll have to admit that it was certainly tasty and sticks to the ribs (and hips and waist). Whipped cream? My favorite thing with whipped cream would be the strawberry freezer dessert made with a blend of strawberries, lemon juice, whipped cream, and spread on a shortbread-type crust, then frozen. Another delicious treat!

4. I read here a list of commonly mispronounced words. What is a word that gives you trouble when it comes to pronunciation?

I don't usually have a problem with pronunciation until it comes to names - and those are pronounced however the owner chooses, of course. But I am one of those people who loves it when someone includes a pronunciation guide for people or place names, because I like to be able to pronounce them. If I can't, they stick in my mind, continually pestering in the background, while my brain is trying to figure them out. That's very annoying.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch  - It's a place in Wales. And I've long since given up on trying to pronounce it. 

Well, maybe not, now that I've found this:

via WalesOnline

5. What's a song you love* with the word 'rain' in the title or lyrics?

* emphasis added.

LOOK AT THE WORLD, by John Rutter

(listen, below, in 'Random')

Look at the world: Everything all around us
Look at the world: and marvel everyday
Look at the world: So many joys and wonders
So many miracles along our way

Praise to thee O Lord for all creation
Give us thankful hearts that we may see
All the gifts we share and every blessing
All things come of thee

Look at the earth: Bringing forth fruit and flower
Look at the sky: The sunshine and the rain
Look at the hills, look at the trees and mountains
Valley and flowing river field and plain

Praise to thee O Lord for all creation
Give us thankful hearts that we may see
All the gifts we share and every blessing
All things come of thee

Think of the spring, Think of the warmth of summer
Bringing the harvest before the winters cold
Everything grows, everything has a season
Til' it is gathered to the fathers fold

Praise to thee O Lord for all creation
Give us thankful hearts that we may see
All the gifts we share and every blessing
All things come of thee

Every good gift, all that we need and cherish
Comes from the Lord in token of his love
We are his hands, stewards of all his bounty
His is the earth and his the heavens above

Praise to thee, O Lord for all creation
Give us thankful hearts that we may see
All the gifts we share, and every blessing
All things come of thee
All things come of thee

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

As I write this blog post on Tuesday, the following event is still three hours in the future, and how I'd love to be there!:

SPECIAL SERVICE - 

ST CUTHBERT’S DAY FESTAL EVENSONG AND PROCESSION

20 March 2018

7.00pm

This joyous service commemorating the life of St Cuthbert includes the Lucernarium (the blessing of the light), and the offering of incense. The service concludes with a procession to the Feretory where the Cathedral Choir will sing the late John Tavener’s work, Ikon of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, written specially for Durham Cathedral. 

Part of St Cuthbert Festival.

(From durhamcathedral.co.uk)  

Note: I've written a handful of posts about St. Cuthbert, which you can find, if you so wish, by typing 'St. Cuthbert' in the search bar to the right of this post.

***

And one last thought:

I asked Tommy what he thought of the vet putting him on a diet.

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Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning

Hodgepodging a Bit o' Green

Join Joyce and the Gang

for

She writes the questions;

we write the answers.

Plug them into your own blog post

and join in!

Thanks, Joyce!

1. Best place you've been lately?

Hmmm, that's not an easy one. Maybe I could answer, 'Most recent best place?' in which case it would be Westby and Viroqua Wisconsin, which I've mentioned before, and of which I've shown dozens of photos. Needless to says, I took dozens more photos this trip (last weekend), so I'm sharing some of them with you today. Most of the photos today are from the Viroqua area. What's 'best' about it is the topography.  I love that 'driftless' area of Wisconsin, such beautiful hills and valleys, even though it was pretty cold. I'm definitely not complaining, though. We're getting sunny days. I can imagine how sick to death our friends on the east coast are of this horrid month of March. No one likes it when March comes in like a lion and remains a lion for the entire month!  

2. What's something you should say yes to today? Or this week? Or even this year?

There are personal things I would like to say 'yes' to, but I'm not going to write about them. So I guess I'd have to say 'yes' to my nagging conscience regarding painting some of the rooms in our house. I hate painting. I like baking, cooking, and hopefully will like gardening again after about a five year hiatus, but painting? Yuck. Still, it needs to be done, so I should say 'yes' to it.

3. Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day in any way, shape, or form? If so tell us how. In Western cultures the color green is typically associated with jealousy, nature, good luck, and growth. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word 'green'?

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word 'green' is our green alfalfa field. Here is one of my favorite photos: Mr. C. and the grandsons and Bridger.

The alfalfa field and occupants,

August 2012

This year we are celebrating St. Patrick's Day by inviting friends in for a potluck dinner on Saturday evening. There should be a nice group here, good food, board games, hangman at the blackboards, and generally hanging out with all the usual suspects. I'm making a large pan of shepherd's pie and four loaves of homemade bread, and we'll see what the others contribute to our St. Patrick's Day stone soup. Also, before we eat, we're going to be dividing into five groups and reading the Benedicite, each group taking two stanzas.

It starts like this:.      

Glorify the Lord, all you works of the Lord,

praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

In the firmament of his power, glorify the Lord,

praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

 

4. What's a product or service you love so much you'd happily be their spokesperson? Tell us what makes you such a fan.

Moto Z Force (l)

with auxiliary battery pack (r)

I have always liked my smartphone, but right now I am a huge fan of my Moto Z Force phone with the snap on extra battery. It's an amazing phone, and I discovered, after hours of concern, that it can fall out of one's back pocket into the toilet and survive. It did take a second of shock to realize that my phone had actually fallen into the water, then it took another second to grab it out (yes, with my bare hands, but it's an expensive phone and the water wasn't yet polluted, TMI?) and another few seconds to get it buried in a bowl of white jasmine sticky rice (uncooked).

I left it there overnight and only tried the phone the next forenoon, after much prayer, and I am happy to report that it is just fine. What a scare that was!  I will no longer carry my phone in my back pocket. So often I don't carry a purse and if I don't have a jacket with deep pockets, it seemed the natural thing to put the phone in my back pocket. Anyway, I'll figure something out, but I can't tell you how grateful I am that my phone works!

5. March 14th is Pi Day. How are your math skills? What's the last thing you did that required math of any kind? And most importantly do you like pie? What's your favorite kind? With ice cream, whipped cream, or please hold the cream?

Maybe I'll make this: lemon meringue pie/cake

I'm not too bad at math, loved algebra, and probably the most recent thing that required math was figuring out sizing on a photo I wanted printed to fit a certain frame. So it was that same old basic algebraic formula that I've used hundreds of times over the years, whether sizing photos or changing ingredient amounts in a recipe.

I love pie and almost never eat it. My favorite would be a berry pie or lemon meringue without the meringue. No ice cream or whipped cream. And I'll probably bake a lemon meringue (with the meringue) for Easter Sunday, eat more of it than I should, (because I don't seem to have a shut-off valve regarding pie) and then not eat pie again for another year (or maybe a piece of fresh berry pie in the summertime - strawberry or blueberry). It works for me.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

This is now a 25 x 37 framed print (minus the watermark)

on the wall in front of my computer desk 

Canterbury Cathedral

Tommy & Smokey go in Thursday for their

'wellness checkups' and shots. 

I wonder if they'll be okay going into the same cat carrier.

Good luck with that, huh!

clipartix

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Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

I'll be returning to Instagram in April. @cranberrymorning

Avocado & Black Beans Recipe

And just  because we're not quite over St. Patrick's Day,

here's a little more green to bring cheer to your day.

My New Favorite Lunch

Enjoyed even more at Victoria Station, I'm sure!

Easy and Delicious Lunch - Recipe:

1/2 avocado, cut into chunks

1/3-1/2 c. combination of black beans and/or kidney beans

wee bit of minced onion or a sprinkle of onion salt

handful of almonds

juice of 1/2 lime

sprinkle of cayenne

Full of good things, such as soluble fiber, Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, this lunch is filling and tasty, especially with that little added zing from the lime and cayenne!

And of course, there's always room for a generous square of 85% dark chocolate. YUM. Just think of all those antioxidants!


(Did you ever see the 1978 scary movie 'Coma'? There was a Franklin Institute in there too, I think.  Yikes!)

ANYway...

From Franklin Institute's article on fatty acids and the brain:

or: Why we shouldn't listen to the people who are always telling us that we need to eat low fat! (my title, not theirs)

 

Membranes – the Working Surface of Your Brain is Made from Fatty Acids
"The membranes of neurons – the specialized brain cells that communicate with each other – are composed of a thin double-layer of fatty acid molecules. Fatty acids are what dietary fats are composed of. When you digest the fat in your food, it is broken down into fatty acid molecules of various lengths. Your brain then uses these for raw materials to assemble the special types of fat it incorporates into its cell membranes.		Passing through a cell's membrane into its cell's interior are oxygen, glucose (blood sugar), and the micronutrients the cell needs to function. Metabolic waste products must exit, so the cell won't be impaired by its own pollution."

Protective Myelin is 70% Fat
"Myelin, the protective sheath that covers communicating neurons, is composed of 30% protein and 70% fat. One of the most common fatty acids in myelin is oleic acid, which is also the most abundant fatty acid in human milk and in our diet. Monosaturated oleic acid is the main component of olive oil as well as the oils from almonds, pecans, macadamias, peanuts, and avocados."

I found this cute little casserole at the thrift store last week. It's one of the few things I've found there recently. Mostly, the shelves are quite bare, especially when it comes to dishes and pots and pans.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!
(kp[r upi jsf s epmfrtgi; errlrmf@)
I need all the fatty acids I can get!

***

 

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 This post may be linked to some of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and  Cure for the Common Monday and Mealtime Monday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Mosaic Monday  and Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and On the Menu Monday and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and   What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Creative Showcase and  Tweak it Tuesday and  Coastal Charm Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and Love Bakes Good Cakes and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and 3boysandadog and Trueaimeducation and Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and home and garden thursday and  Artsy Corner Thursday  and The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and  Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and Market Yourself Monday and  Saturday Nite Special

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Thanks for the shamrock, Lydia!

 Here's the lovely basket of goodies I won in Lydia's Giveaway!!
All such pretty things...Thanks, Lydia. ♥

And now a few photos from my backyard (taken this afternoon) as we eagerly usher in spring - if only the snow would stop falling!!

 Our sidewalk, March 16, 2013

Bless his heart, Kevin keeps that boardwalk shoveled. What a good man! I know I complain about the snow, but I think that we've had more than our fair share, (Good grief! I can even hear a whiny voice saying this!) and this white stuff has been around since November. It doesn't snow and melt, like it does in some places. Oh no, NW Wisconsin likes to hang onto its snow! And it's starting to get on my nerves!

 Our driveway, March 16, 2013

But then I think of Pam (EmptyNest) and Jenn (Jenn's Food Journey) and realize that I wouldn't want to be heading into 80s or 90s this time of year. What I suspect will happen this spring is that we'll get about 2 days of spring and then summer will be here. That happens quite often.

With all this snow, it's a little hard to get excited about planting garden seeds, but I need to get that done tonight or tomorrow afternoon. After all, if we can trust history to repeat itself, springtime will actually eventually arrive and those little seedlings will need to be ready for planting in the garden the beginning of June.

I think I'm only going to start Carmen peppers, Early Girl tomatoes, Poblano peppers, Jalapeno peppers, Cayenne, and  maybe another variety of tomato.

Are your garden seeds started? What did you plant?

Have a great St. Patrick's Day!

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