Sunday, January 25, 2009

Happy Birthday Robert Burns

25th of January is celebrated as Robert Burns day as it was the beloved poet of Scotland's birthday. Born 25 January 1759 to 21 July 1796.

I've never actually gone to a "Burn's Night" here in the states eating the traditional dish Haggis. When I visited Scotland in 1981 I wouldn't go near the stuff. I do from time to time celebrate in my own way his birthday. Tonight I made Shepard's Pie and Scottish Shortbread. We watched Braveheart - which William Wallace according to my brother's is a relative from long ago.



This is a picture of the Robert Burns statue in Dumfries Scotland. I took this picture in 1981.


Until Next Time. . . .
Kathleen

A Note of Thanks!

I want to thank everyone who has visited my site, all who have posted comments and those who are brave enough to follow my blog - Thank You! Thank You from the bottom of my heart!

I'm amazed at how many people from the Oregon Coast find my site.

Elegant Marie - I want to say I had tea at the "Tea Cozy" many times. I loved that place! I was so sad when you closed down. I kept waiting and praying that you would open back up. You may have noticed from a couple of my pictures that I too have the Rose Chintz dishes. It would be lovely if you could come to my little cottage sometime when I'm in Bandon and I could make you tea. Of course, it won't be as fancy as your but I do have PG Tips!

Bandon Home - I don't even know your name but thank you so much for following my blog. It would also be great to meet you in person sometime.

Cousin Rick - I hate to break it to you but you may have to wait a long time before those adorable girls wait on you all the time - but I'm sure it will happen. I promise that I will get around to facebook. I've told Suzy we have to join. It is good to keep connected.

And for the older and wiser sister Suzy - please don't stop writing all your funny comments. They make me laugh so hard which is a real important part of life. I would never be upset at any comment you make so let it rip sister!

Thank you all for your comments - it really makes my day when I read them. If you like please leave your email address and I will write you back.


This picture is from a card I received from my great niece Katalynn back in 2000. It was a thank you card she wrote for a Christmas present. A Hallmark Storybook Friends presented by Crayola. I often keep old cards and hang them on bulletin boards to make me happy.


Until Next Time. . . .
Kathleen

Happy Chinese New Year 2009 - Kong Hsi Fa Chai

Happy Chinese New Year 2009. For the next two weeks there will be lots of celebrating around the world for the year of the ox. I found the above photograph on many websites so I don't know who to give credit for the beautiful picture. This is Hong Kong harbour for a Chinese New Year celebration. I can't even tell you what year.



I've found a few websites you might want to check out if you are interested in learning more about the celebrations.




http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/festival/newyear/newyear.html This is a great over all site to give information.



http://www.infoplease.com/spot/chinesenewyear1.html This is another fun site which has links to stories about the fortune cookie and chopsticks.


http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.kiddyhouse.com/CNY/cnyclips/cnyboy.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.gigglepotz.com/chinese_newyear.htm&usg=__0bvr4wb3D8S5KVj_tfrxoojJKZc=&h=648&w=468&sz=10&hl=en&start=100&sig2=TALTiHYc3Dx9F4GPM_MapQ&tbnid=6AVh8ZeLDxAQbM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=99&ei=FBJ9SbP2PJWstQOirLwm&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchinese%2Bnew%2Byear%26start%3D90%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN yeah - this one has a long link line but worth a look at as you can make your own Chinese New Year cards on this one.


http://www.jackiechankids.com/ And a site I visit from time to time - Jackie Chan Kids. He has a coloring contest every year for Chinese New Year.

This photo is from Jacksonville Oregon's newspaper of an old celebration (maybe 2008.) The little town of Jacksonville decorates and celebrates Chinese New Year every year to honor the Chinese men who helped build this old mining town. I use to work on the committee for years until I moved to Ashland. This year I plan to watch the parade in Jacksonville and celebrate with friends on February 7th. I plan to do lots of celebrating with foods etc... in the next two weeks so I will keep you updated on the festivities. You can check out their scheduled events here http://www.jacksonvilleoregon.org/calendar.html


Until Next Time. . . . .


Kathleen

Update on Breakfast Goals

Here is a little update of breakfast. . . . this is my morning shake I make during the week. I finally figured out how many Weight Watchers points it has and I was happy to discovered it wasn't loaded like I thought. Keeping track of Weight Watcher points seems to be easier for me then counting calories etc.

Kathleen's Morning Shake

1 cup of Frozen Cherries
1/4 cup of lite firm tofu
1 large tablespoon of vanilla Activa yogurt
1 packet of tangerine Emergen-C
1 teaspoon of mostly barley green powder
1 cup of orange juice

Put all ingredients in the blender in the order listed and blend until a smooth liquid. This added up to 4 points.



Until Next Time. . . .

Kathleen

Friday, January 23, 2009

Friday Night is Pizza Night!!

On Friday night my niece and her boyfriend come over to our house and we make home made pizza. We think it is much better than buying it some where. These are two types one with pesto sauce (mine and Damian's favorite) or the regular tomato version.


Here Brittnee is shaping her dough. I make the dough in my bread machine. I just follow a recipe from the booklet that came with the machine. It takes about 50 minutes with the machine set on the Pizza Dough cycle.


We use my marble top island in the kitchen. I put down a little flour and corn meal.


Here Brittnee is dressing up her pizza. I just purchase all different types of toppings and sauce. I would like to get a good pizza sauce recipe - so if you have one please share it with me.




We put the pizzas on parchment paper and bake in the over for 20 minutes on 425 degrees.




I have been focusing on dinners this week. I will make many post this weekend to catch up like I did last weekend. Doesn't seem to be enough time during the week. I admire everyone who can do a post every day.



Until Next Time. . . . .

Kathleen

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Reflections on What A Beautiful Life is For Me

These last several weeks have stirred up lots of things for me. These thoughts have been sparked by many things some of which are: the reading of "Schulz and Peanuts;" the state of the economy; and my father-in-law's life threatening illness.




"Schulz and Peanuts"

It is no secret to people who know me that I'm a big Peanuts fan. I have been crazy about Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and the Peanuts Gang since I was a little girl. I've just finished reading "Schulz and Peanuts" by David Michaelis and for a fan like me it was an incredible insight on Charles M. Schulz. Peanuts represents to me a time from my childhood when everything felt secure. I was a young budding artist when I first discovered Peanuts and I wanted to be just like Charles Schulz. To this day, I still think of developing my own comic strip. The book also brought up my time living in Santa Rosa (some twenty years) and the two times I got to met my hero Charles Schulz. The book spans his whole life so it ends upon his death in 2000. The year 2000 was a very pivotal year in my own life. I lost my own father in March 1999, my Uncle Marvin in January 2000 and my childhood hero (Charles Schulz) in 2000. These were three men I lost in less than one year who were big influences on my life. It marked a beginning of me thinking about how I wanted to live out the rest of my own life.





The Economy


The state of the economy weighs heavy on my mind and heart. I'm doing fine compared to many and I count my blessings every day that my husband and I have jobs. Everyday the newspaper has another big story about a company closing its doors or laying off workers. I read about foreclosures on homes, people feeling depressed and desperate. It makes me think that I need to examine my own future more closely. I'm not sure where this will lead . . . but I feel a need for change in some way.




My Family

My father-in-law has been diagnosed with two life threatening illness. My family is discussing how we will deal with the days to come. I am mostly in the role of support. I want to protect and nurture my husband but I know that at times like this everyone has their own way of dealing with the daily horror of the situation as well as the grieving process.


As horrible as it is in the loss of a loved one - I feel fortunate in the lessons I have learned with each one of my losses. The lessons I learned while sitting on my own father's death bed I consider to be true gifts from God. Most people described my father as a difficult man. He had a hot temper. He yelled a lot. He had many other difficult qualities too but I learned that there was a good side. He was very gifted and talented with making things and he was very generous with material possessions. If family was in trouble he would give you his last nickle to help. I learned that even with all his faults he was a lovable man. This in turn taught me that I too could be loved even with all my faults. This wasn't just a lesson I learned on my father's death bed but it was on his death bed that I reflected upon memories that made me realize this truth.


The second lesson I learned on my father's death bed was when it came down to it - it didn't matter where you lived, what job you had or what car you drove that made you happy. It was the connections you made with living things that determined how you felt about living. It was the memories of times together which made the heart glow with happiness. This isn't to say that I don't believe we don't get some form of happiness for our home, our clothing, our car or our favorite possessions. What I believe to be true is that the objects we love in our lives connect us with good memories which can bring moments of happiness.


One of the happiest times I ever saw my father was one of his last days in the hospital. He had a stroke which had made it rather impossible to understand his speech. My father's face lite up when I walked into his hospital room. When my oldest brother arrived a short time later he stood on one side of my father's bed and I on the other holding my father's hand. My mother and my father's oldest sister Ora were standing towards the bottom of his bed. I will never forget the way my father looked first at my brother and then at me. He had this beautiful look that nothing else in the world mattered to him. He had one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen on his face and he looked peaceful. I remember he closed his eyes and kept the same peaceful happy look on his face. We stayed like this for a while with no words being exchanged. That was the moment that I understood that his happiness was determined at that moment by the connections he had made with his loved ones. I too felt it was one of the happiest moments I have experienced in my life. It was the experience of feeling loved and knowing that no matter how much money I had in the bank, how many toys I owned or what I looked like determined my happiness. It was rather my sense of connecting with others and appreciating the interaction with something larger than myself.




So Where Does This Leave Me . . .

So this has me thinking about my current situation and future. Since moving to Oregon I have felt a little lost. I use to blame this on my allergies but in reality I've just checked out of life. I've done a better job of keeping up with my old friends in California then I have with establishing and maintaining a beautiful life here in Oregon. Yes, I have two beautiful homes and I do have some friends here in Oregon. But let me tell you about the life I had built in California. I was involved with many organizations and I was a strong business woman. I had a sense of purpose to my life and that purpose revolved around relationships. I was always getting people together for dinner, for a movie, for a vacation, spending the day together. If I felt a need in my life for an organization and I couldn't find one to join I would start my own. I did this with the Sonoma County Film Society and it was fun. It was work but it was so much fun. I use to always remember peoples birthdays, the things they told me about their daily lives. I was interested in the interactions of people. Sometimes weekends here in Oregon I can stay inside the house all day and not venture out except to get the newspaper. I miss the connection. I've always wanted my house to be the one people could drop by any time and visit. I want to have large gatherings at holidays and I like doing large dinners at my house once a month. I actually tried all this when I first moved here but it seemed hard maintaining the connections with my new friends. I gave up too easily.


So here is a poem that I wrote a couple of years ago about my feeling of being lost.





I Try To Find Her

I try to find her.
I remember her child like imagination and playful spirit.
Her contagious self-assurance that makes herself and anyone around her believe that anything is possible.
I miss her strength, which has helped so many.
I miss her intuitive soul, which brings magic into the world.
I wonder why has she left when I need her this time.
I look through all the different corridors and rooms wondering where I can find her?
Where has she gone?
When will she come home?






It is time to find home.



Until Next Time. . . .

Kathleen

Lucy and Oscar

I wanted to share some updated pictures of my cats. Lucy and Oscar.

This is Lucy laying of the futon in my office. She is my little shadow and follows me around the house all day. She also likes to sit in my lap while I'm on the computer. She will also bite the back of my arm (just lightly) if she thinks I'm not giving her enough attention.


Look at those eyes. She is so beautiful.


I think she was getting a little annoyed with me by the look on her face.



Here is Oscar. Not sure what he has on his face. Oscar is more Damian's cat. Rather because Damian lets Oscar do things he is not suppose to - and Oscar thinks all of the bad stuff is fun so he tends to hang out with Damian more. Every night Damian will put him up on our linen closet in the master bath - just like here. He also lets Oscar on the high bookshelf in the hall way, and the most annoying to me he lets him outside. My cats are inside cats. We won't mention how Damian lost my old cat Vincent for more than 24 hours by letting him outside - no we won't mention that incident. Damian has even put Oscar on a leash and has taken him for a walk. That would be okay but now Oscar no longer fits into his harness. My little baby now weighs 18-1/2 pounds. I always tell him he has big bones.


Oscar has this habit of putting his paws in front of his eyes when he sleeps.



Here he is sleeping on his cat tree.


And another one of him sleeping on the ottoman in the living room. Oscar loves the bath water and every time I take a bath he is right there along the side of the tub. He will either drink from it like a large water dish but mostly he will lean over and lick as much water as he can off of my skin. I will keep dipping my hand into the water and lay it along side of the tub for him to lick.


Until Next Time. . . . .

Kathleen

The American Bento Box

Here is a new bento bag that I got for Christmas. Well, really my husband purchased me some perfume for Christmas that I was allergic to and I took it back and got this bag. Technically it is still a Christmas present though.




I had actually noticed these bags when I was purchasing my husbands Christmas present at Paddington Station in Ashland. I wanted one then but you know - I was shopping for him so I put it out of my mind even though I went back 4 or 5 times to look at it. I liked this one out of all of them as it seemed like it would hold everything I wanted. It is a Mario Batali bag and this one cost $20.00. Part of the money from the bags helps fight against world hunger. You can find out more at http://www.thelunchboxauction.org/ They had other great ones. One of them looked like a smart black purse. It was $29.00. Even though that was the exact price of the perfume that I had credit for I wasn't sure it would hold as much so - the green bag it was. Maybe I will purchase the black bag when I get my eating down to bird size - Ha! That will never happen.



The green bag accommodates what I like to call my American Bento box. This is a Fit and Trim lunch box that I purchased at a local grocery store. I've also seen them for sale at Target. I think I paid around $7.98 for it. So here is a lunch from last week with my star molded rice. One of the small containers has a lentil Indian sauce and then I put my hummus and carrots in the other small container.


This little ice block keeps the small container away from the rice and keeps the food chilled.






It fits nicely in the bag and I have room for my silverware and napkin.



Until Next Time. . . .

Kathleen

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Bento Supply Shopping At Sunrise Asian Food Market

Just the thought of Sunrise Asian Food Market in Eugene Oregon is enough to make me want to move there. There are many things I like about Eugene and Sunrise is one of the top things on the list. I've been known to take the 2-1/2 hour trip north just for shopping at Sunrise and Trader Joe's.






Being true to their name, Sunrise carries food items from all over Asia. Some of the aisles are dominated by foods from a particular region in Asia. Thailand, India, Japan, China and Korea are the ones which readily come to mind.



They also have lots of bento making accessories from food jars, rice makers, dishes and just about anything you could want. My favorite pair of chop sticks in a case were purchased at Sunrise years ago. On my last trip I purchased various rice molds (remember my heart and star rice molds.) Years ago I purchase a mold to make my own California rolls. Which do on occasion usually in the cooler months of the year.





Here are many varieties of the seasoned soybean pockets I stuff with rice for breakfast. They have an impressive produce area. Their deli area has the largest rice cooker I have ever seen in my life. Next time I will make sure to get a picture of that.


Many soybean cakes and various varieties of moochie (not sure if I spelled that right.) The owners of the store are very friendly and helpful. So if you are in the area stop by and tell them I suggested it.


Until Next Time. . . . .

Kathleen

Bandon's Beach Loop

I thought I would give you a view of the beach at Coquille Point in Bandon.




Breath taking. The rocks look like various objects such as a seal and there is also Face Rock over here somewhere. I think I'm at the wrong angle for you to see that one though.







The steps going down to the beach. I will say Oregon maintains their beaches well.


Until Next Time. . . . .

Kathleen

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Port of Bandon and the Boardwalk

Here is some pictures I took on Sunday of the Bandon Harbor Boardwalk. Beautiful weather and very little people in sight.





The little outdoor theatre. I sat right on these steps on the Fourth of July and watch an awesome fire cracker display.

There are lots of Oregon myrtle wood benches around to sit on. The little building in the back is a sheltered area you can bring food into or it is great place to sit while you people or nature watch.

The sign on the shelter.

Inside the shelter - more myrtle wood.

more views from inside the shelter.

Look you can play chess or checkers but you need to bring your own pieces.


These two chairs are my favorite places to sit. That is the crabbing dock across from the shelter. Sometimes there will be a seal down in the water.

This is one of views from inside by the two chairs.

A view from the boardwalk near the shelter.

The story about the fishes decorating the boardwalk.


And some of the fishes. Once again that is the crabbing dock across from the boardwalk.


One of the fish huts you can purchase some fish and chips.

The front side of the fish hut.

And across the street is Cranberry Sweets which the famous Rachel featured on one of her shows.
I hope you enjoyed the little tour.
Until Next Time . . . . . .
Kathleen