Baking bread has become my weekly indulgence.
When I get flour, it comes in 5 lb bags, so since I need a pound for each bread, I get 5 loaves of bread, from one bag of flour.
If I am not mistaken, that costs me (basically) about $3.99 on sale. The holidays it is normally even cheaper.
So under a dollar for the ingredients, and you get a weeks worth of bread.
Add an hour or so of baking with a gas oven, and there you are, inexpensive bread that tastes great!
You can get the recipe, HERE.
I am home, for the moment, and I have lots to say about Spirit Airlines.
First off, I did take the Premium Economy upgrade, that allowed me to book some flights with the middle seat empty. That was spectacular, and my first flight was like that. A tray table was placed on the middle seat, and it worked out well.
My return flight I was not so lucky. I was happy I had the aisle seat, but the guy in the middle was nothing but trouble the entire flight.
So if you can definitely get middle seats blocked, that is worth the upgrade.
As to the discount on their food, I did not see anything worth buying, just sodas and chips. Alcoholic Drinks cost $9 a bottle (no thanks).
I (as a general rule) don't use my phone on the plane, so I did not purchase the WI-FI. It's up to you if you want to watch a movie or two on your cell phone.
The seats do not have places to put your water bottle, or snacks, everything is metal in the upgraded section.
Boarding group 2 was also worth the price, as was the getting an overhead compartment for your 1 bag. It is high though, so tough to get to your bag during the flight, especially if it is heavy.
On my second flight, the gentleman in the middle seat, had so much stuff under his seat, that he ended up using part of my leg room for his feet. That drove me crazy.
Otherwise, it was a flight, and some of the upgraded things were worth it.
I am flying back home today, so I thought that I would remember 9/11.
I have been staying in the Garden City area, so this 9/11 Memorial is right down the road from me, as i write this.
When I booked these flights, I did not even think about the World Trade Center anniversary.
When in NYC, you find that it is never far from their minds here.
Still so sad, 24 years later.
I painted a barn, back in the early days of my oil painting class.
It has lived on the East Coast for decades.
This week, it ended up in my brother's posession, and I really love what he did with it.
It happens to be a favorite of mine, and I share it with much pride.
I hope you enjoy.
My Water Post For Today.
Another incredible photo of the Merced River, in Yosemite.
I love the mountain on the left side of the photo, the trees, and, of course, the rocks in the water.
It was very hard to take a bad photo, in such a pristine area.
I keep saying this, but I am so glad I took the time to visit our 1st National Park. It truly is America's Best Idea.
I hope you enjoy.
I had to go shopping, while here.
What I saw, right off the bat, was a huge display of Mallomars!
My Husband and I heard they had them last winter, but even after asking the manager, we never found any.
They don't make them during the summer months, so this must be the first display of the Fall in New York.
I thought about it for a few seconds, and grabbed a box. Now I just hope it makes it home without melting.
The other thing I saw was a bottle of maple syrup, called Dickinson's Maple Syrup, distributed in Oxnard, California.
I was like, What? We have no maple trees in California.
It ends up that it is distributed by J.M. Smucker's Company. Shipped from 3 thousand miles away.
Our interconnected life.
On our way home from Fresno, we passed a section of the High Speed Rail that goes right over the BNSF tracks.
Thus, it was over our heads for a moment or two.
It was south of Corcoran, and before Wasco, and is called the Tule River Viaduct.
It is the one place that really shows off the HSR in its final form.
They are planning to lay track next year, with or without funding from the Federal Government.
Get it done already!
I made it across the Country yesterday.
It was a long day, but there was a bright spot or two along the way.
My first one was at Newark International Airport.
They were doing work on the terminal, and so they had someone paint favorite locations from around the Garden State.
I immediately saw Old Barney, and dropped my bag, to get a photo or two.
It always makes me happy to see Barnegat Lighthouse, the location I visited, and who still graces the right side of my blog, to this day.
The other cool thing I saw in my travels, was a beautiful building at Belmont Park, right by the Cross Island Parkway. I was driving, so no photo of that.
Welcome to New York.
I am heading back East today, so this machine, may be in my future.
This trip was unplanned, and I am going it alone.
Hopefully, the lessons learned back in April, will serve me well on my journey.
I plan to spend some time with family, so there might be some fun involved, too.
Oh, and my brother is lending me his apartment's washer and dryer, to use, while I am there.
The concert went well, on Tuesday.
We got to the pick-up location about 25 minutes before they left, for the venue.
Our favorite picnic location didn't have many people, so we had our choice of tables to eat at.
Our seats were row 1, just after the box seats, so our view was great.
Though it was humid, and you could see Anne had to keep wiping her face and neck and the violin, during passages where she got a break from playing.
We LA types are not used to humidity, at all, so we suffered, too.
The piece was written just for Anne, so it was well done, as I would expect.
The composer, Arturo Márquez, was brought out at the end, by Anne, to thunderous applause.
Their work is now on vinyl, and they were signing copies for fans, at the gift shop. My Husband and I had a bus to catch, so we did not get to meet, and greet them.
All in all, home by 11:30PM. A good night.
I held off buying concert tickets for the Hollywood Bowl, this year, because there was not much that we had never seen.
Gershwin was there, The Planets were there, and Anne Akiko Meyers was there.
All shows we have seen and enjoyed, but nothing new.
I finally did purchase tickets for my Husband's cousin, Anne, and that is what we will see.
More later.
Photo from her bowl performance in 2023.
If you had heard that tourists are not coming to Yosemite, this should dispell that myth.
It was crowded, at times, especially at the most viewed sites (this one is El Capitan, I believe).
Our Park Ranger told us that climbers do not do any climbing, at this time of year, due to the heat.
Spring and Fall are their major climbing time.
I was kind of looking forward to seeing people up on the face of the mountain.
Oh well.
The Merced River flows through the entire Yosemite Valley.
Due to the granite walls, there are so many rocks along the river bed.
I have never seen so many boulders, seriously.
No matter, the river is beautiful to see.
I hope you enjoy.
I know I placed a photo from the website, for this Valley Floor Tour.
This one, is mine, and it shows a non-posed photo, and guess what? It looks just as professional as the website's photo.
Our tour guide was spectacular, with lots of information about the hidden gems of Yosemite.
I knew it was this Country's first National Park, but I did not know that it was formed back in 1864, by Abraham Lincoln.
As if he had nothing else to do, during the height of the Civil War.
The falls you see is (I believe) Yosemite Falls. There is an upper falls location to hike to, and a lower falls location to hike to. I of course was happy to see it from a distance.
I can't say enough about how great the tour was. Do it, if you visit.
While we were in Fresno, California, we decided that we wanted a salad, for lunch.
A half a block from the IHOP, was a lovely restaurant called the Mediterranean Grill and Cafe.
I saw it got good reviews, so we took a walk over to it around 11:45AM.
Good thing we did, because the place was packed at that early hour.
We got a Greek Chicken Salad, that we split between us, and a Falafel appetizer, that had 3 falafel balls, with pita and normal fixings, that go in the pita bread.
We were pleased to take advantage of a local restaurant, rather than a chain.
I admit that this photo has been placed in two other social media accounts. So sue me.
This is the view from just to the left of the tunnel coming into the Yosemite Valley.
So it is called, Tunnel View.
The entire valley can be seen from this vantage point.
Is it worth the effort to get to Yosemite, oh yes!
So very beautiful, and serene, when you are not on the roads on the valley floor (the tour was great, btw).
We had rain, with thunder and lightning, both afternoons. Not scary, just an added dimension to the beauty.
It also allowed the waterfalls to flow once more. Extra special views, that the people a few days before us, did not have.
The YARTS bus was a bit of a pain to find, because of some construction work at Merced Station, but we did finally figure it all out, and it was so worth using, instead of driving up there.
If you have the chance, do it!
This is Roeding Park, from a visit we took in 2016.
Today we will spend most of the day in Fresno, and then once again, board the train and bus, to home.
Our hotel is right by the train station, and so is an IHOP, so I don't think we will starve.
With luck, we will be back home this evening.
A fast trip.
We are only going to spend about 24 hours in Yosemite.
With that constraint, I thought it was worth the money, to buy the Yosemite Valley Floor Tour.
In 2 hours, they drive you to some of the highlights of Yosemite National Park.
Hopefully, photos of things like waterfalls (if they are flowing), El Capitan, the Merced River, etc... will be taken.
I can't wait.
This is it!
Our mini-vacation is here and yes, we ended up having to Uber to the station. Sigh...
We are leaving this week, to finally get to see Yosemite National Park.
I got close to it, years ago, but my Husband has been there several times.
Today is train travel day, and due to the fact that we are not going to be near Wi-Fi, I am giving you the next three posts, written in advance.
The train is the San Joaquin (photo from Amtrak). Hopefully, riding the train, will give me some for my future posts someday. I can't believe I never took a photo when we rode it last time. Probably because we were so tuckered out from our long trek across the Country.
I have been clearing out some of my photos, to get some room in my Google account, and so I hope to get lots of photos on this journey.
My Water Post For Today.
A beautiful photo I took in 2011, of the San Joaquin River.
We visited the river, when on a tour of the San Joaquin River, along with my Husband's childhood friend.
This one, is a close up of the water and is a worth-it view.
Enjoy.
Hint, I will be seeing it, soon.
Some good news came out this week, in regard to Public Media Stations.
The funding cut that the Federal Government voted for, has left many smaller Public Stations in trouble.
Some of our funders, over the years, the Ford Foundation, and MacArthur Foundation, have been working on helping.
"MacArthur Foundation along with Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Pivotal, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Schmidt Family Foundation today announced that they will commit nearly $37 million to provide immediate relief to public media stations at risk of closure following federal funding cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)."
Stations will need to apply to get funding, since these foundations are trying to bridge the immediate needs for the first year. Bigger stations, where the Federal Funding was a small percentage of their budget, will not be eligible for this. Sorry KCET. :-)
I was going to wait to get my shots for this season, but being we are going on a trip next week, I began the process of trying to find out if any were available yet.
What I found out is that the shots the pharmacy is trying to give out, is last years shot.
The new one, with the updated formula, does not come out til September or October.
So I will wait and take my chances on this trip and maybe the one at the end of September.
It is never easy figuring these things out.
In anticipation of our trip to Yosemite next week, I am trying to find a place to park our car.
Our Amtrak bus picks us up at Newhall Metrolink Station.
We drove by it the other day, and we see that the place where I want to park the car for 3 days, does not allow overnight parking.
I am not sure of the 2nd lot on the other side of Market Street, but I would prefer not to park there, anyway.
So our next thought is to park at the Santa Clarita Metrolink station, and take a train 8 minutes to Newhall.
Yes, we are stupid, but we used to park our Disney van there, so we think that would work for us.
There are more trains than there were back in my commuting days, thus more chances to catch a train at that early (5:55AM) and late (7:40PM) hour.
If it doesn't work, we Uber. Yuck!
My cell phone has finally arrived at its destination.
We shipped it on 8/11, and they received it on 8/20.
It took 10 days to arrive.
I just shake my head, and i am glad I did not have to wait for my working phone to return to me.
They say they will have an answer as to the amount of money I will be credited, within 72 hours.
I hope I get the full $90.
I bought (on sale), a pound of ground beef (chop meat for the East Coast).
I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but then I saw a large package of baby bella mushrooms at Costco on Monday, and made up my mind. Meatball stuffed mushrooms.
My recipe differs from this one, a bit, but you can do what you want.
I was taught to use normal meatball recipe and cut up the mushroom stems into it.
This recipe goes a bit further, and I have no problem with the things that were added. Though cooking it ahead of time, before you place them in the oven, is something I have never done.
This is an 18th-century beef-stuffed mushroom recipe that I have altered slightly. Better make a double batch because these go fast. Sausage can be substituted for ground beef. Submitted by Jennifer
Prep Time:20 mins
Cook Time:40 mins
Total Time: 1 hr
Servings:12
Ingredients
12 fresh mushrooms
½ pound ground beef
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon chili powder
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Remove and chop mushroom stems.
Combine ground beef, onion, and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until beef is no longer pink; drain. Mix in chopped mushroom stems, 1 tablespoon butter, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in cream.
Dip mushroom caps in 1/4 cup melted butter and stuff generously with meat mixture. Arrange stuffed mushrooms in a baking dish. Sprinkle with chili powder.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
Enjoy.
My Son must have gotten the hint, last weekend, because he sent me 2 more photos mid-week.
I like this one the best, Taro looking cuddly on their couch.
She is always so photogenic, so it is a pleasure to see her in my inbox.
Thank you, Son.
My Water Post For Today.
Ventura Harbor, my favorite short trip to the Pacific Ocean.
Compared to Santa Monica, or Venice, it is not very crowded, but always a happy place to be.
I love spending time there, but unfortunately, we don't get there often.
Rumor has it, that we might visit the area in November, so that is something to look forward to.
I hope you enjoy.
I have been tracking our return phones, for the last several days.
All was going fine, until Thursday, when a message about a delay came up.
I checked again on Saturday, and nothing has changed.
I am so glad that I did not send my phone to get a new battery. Can you imagine them losing it?
Worse comes to worst, we file a claim, I guess.
We do not leave on our 3 day Yosemite trip, for another week or so.
As the month is progressing, we have been thinking of the things we might need to have, food wise.
Seriously, this was not an issue, until we got a message from Amtrak that there will be no cafe car on our trains, either to Merced, or back from Merced.
In some cases, we will be boarding a bus at incredibly early hours. So we decided it would be best to have something available, that we can carry with us.
Orange juice, milk, cereal, cookies, chips, and fruit roll-ups, all work for snacks.
Maybe I will make sandwiches for lunch, that we carry with us.
We will see how it works out for us.
In other things, being we will be in the outdoors for a day, I did get sunscreen, and Off, for help with mosquitos.
Better to be prepared.
Beauty always makes me happy.
This rose is Olympaid, which is a bright red color.
I especially think of this rose, as the summer starts waining.
Mostly because the summer Olympics are usually around this time of year.
It is the rose that is not dedicated to a person, but rather an event.
It has taken me weeks to do, but I finally booked a hotel in Mackinaw City.
The fly in the ointment, was the fact that a certain family owns over 20 hotels in the tiny city, and they are not known for giving good service.
I had to make sure the hotel I chose, was not one of those.
I finally decided to go with the hotel we stayed at the first time, Parkside Inn Bridgeview.
We liked it, and it does have an outstanding view of the Mackinac Bridge.
Glad that is out of the way.
It has been a while, since my Son sent me photos of my Grandcat.
With a bit of a nudge, he sent me 4 photos on Sunday afternoon.
This one spoke to me the best, and so I share it with you all.
She is doing cat things, as is her way.
Still hoping to visit for a bit in September.
It's peach season!
My store had them at $1.99 a pound, and so I decided to make Peach Cobbler once again, this year.
Peaches and nectarines only have a small window, when they are ripe, so I like to take advantage of them, when I can.
The cobbler came out good, though probably 5 or 10 minutes less might have worked better for it.
My Water Post For Today.
I went back to my photos of when I graduated from Oswego in 2022.
We took a lot of photos of the rocks by Rudy's, at sunset.
This one has a piece of driftwood on the shore, which reminds me of a Moody Blues song (from Octave).
"Oh no, don't leave me driftwood, on the shore"
I hope you enjoy.
My new phone arrived on Friday evening, and I set it up on Saturday.
Actually, it is still a work in progress, since I seem to have to log-in to each app, that has a password.
A minor annoyance, soon to be gone.
Next up is resetting the old phone to factory settings, and mailing it in.
I am glad to have this taken care of, because having a old, but good phone, instead of one that is broken, made the switch, much easier.
Sad to lose it, but happy with my new one.
This is my golden barrel cactus.
I bought it in Phoenix, Arizona, and it has lived here in Santa Clarita ever since. Maybe for the past 45 years.
It was tiny, when I bought it, and when we created our pond, I moved it over there.
Recently, I saw that the rosemary plants were almost totally covering it, and we trimmed it. We moved it out of the way, when the pine trees were cut last weekend.
It is sitting on my grill right now, though we have to clean up the pond area and return it to its normal home.
Hopefully it will live for years longer.
Right after lunchtime, the notices began.
A 30 acre fire between Piru and Val Verde, just outside Castaic.
The problem is that the wind is blowing from West to East.
So evacuation zones are in Val Verde, and Castaic.
We are, of course, keeping an eye on it.
Things I did not know, when we stayed at the Hotel New Yorker, back in April.
Nikola Tesla died in the hotel, in room 3327, back in 1943. There is a plaque commerating this room, as the place where he died, and people can actually sleep in it, if they want (for $500 a night). You can read more about it HERE.
If I ever have occasion to stay there again, (highly recommended, though almost 100 years old), I would definitely go up to the 33rd floor, and check it out.
The views out the windows are outstanding, by the way. Midtown Manhattan at its finest.
My Son went to his 2nd Oshkosh Airventure, 2 weeks ago.
He has said he would love to take off the entire week, to watch the planes come in, but not this year.
The finale begins before the sun goes down, so it changes from a daytime airshow, to a sunset and then nighttime airshow, with fireworks, and Tora, Tora, Tora performing.
He has something like 2 thousand photos, though he gave Facebook about 50 of them.
I am glad the weather held out for them, and that the three of them (all CSULA alumni) had a good time.
My Grandcat, Taro, made it through the weekend, being alone. I was pleased to hear that.
Here it is, the finished product.
As you might have seen, they were really overgrown this year.
How we manage that, with so little watering, I have no idea.
My gardner really cleared out the underbrush, which I appreciated greatly.
It took them 5 hours, start to finish.
We are extremely happy.
My Water Post For Today.
I have been trying to figure out what waterway this is, and the best I can come up with is the Mississippi River, just before we reached Fort Madison.
The photo was taken in May of 2022
No matter what, I am always happy to see water out the side of my train. Especially coming into Fort Madison.
I hope you enjoy.
I have been thinking of baking, this past week.
As usual, All Recipes comes to the rescue.
I had 4 overripe bananas in the freezer, and had the time to cook something.
This recipe is extremely simple, so there is not much to do, to make it happen.
This banana bread recipe creates the most delicious, moist loaf with loads of banana flavor. Why compromise the banana flavor? Friends and family love my recipe and say it's by far the best! It tastes wonderful toasted. Enjoy!
Submitted by Shelley Albeluhn
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins
Servings: 12
Yield: 1 (9x5-inch) loaf
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter
2 large eggs, beaten
2 ⅓ cups mashed overripe bananas
Directions
Gather all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Beat brown sugar and butter with an electric mixer in a separate large bowl until smooth. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until just combined.
Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes.
Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has lost its final battle.
On Thursday they found out that their allocation in the Senate appropriations bill for the FY 2026 budget, had been voted down, 15-14.
That was basically their last chance to fix the problem of losing this years funding, which begins in September.
With the money taken back, and no money to be allocated in the future, they had no reason to continue, and so they are winding down their operation.
I may not have agreed with every decision they made over their 58 years of service to the American People, but the shows they funded were incredible, and changed my families lives for the better.
I was so sorry to hear about this, and wish my CPB collegues well, moving forward.
It's that time of year again, trimming my pine trees.
As a matter of fact, I am a little late getting this done.
My normal landscaper retired in June, and not knowing what to do, I delayed looking for a new one.
I finally talked to my gardener a week or so ago, and offered him $500 if his team would trim them to 5 feet.
He accepted my offer, and they are due to come take care of it, tomorrow.
I will be so happy to get this done already.
Whenever I pass through South Bend, Indiana, I think of Pete Buttigieg, and his book "The Shortest Way Home".
He and his family live in Michigan now, but I learned so much about South Bend, 5 years ago, reading that book about his years as Mayor.
South Bend is one of the rust belt cities. There is still so much to be done, but there are new buildings up and I would appreciate seeing them.
This view, from the train, goes straight down Lafayette Blvd, right to the downtown area.
Unfortunately, the train passes the "not so nice" areas of South Bend.
Sometime, I would love to make a stop there, and check it out.
I found one of the concerts that was profiled in the Billy Joel Documentary that I watched last week. The C.W. Post College May of 1977 concert.
A note, The Stranger came out in September of that year.
I saw him at Oswego, at that same time, and I remember distinctly hearing "I Love You Just The Way You Are" during the concert. I am not sure about "Italian Restaurant", but he did do that song on Long Island, the place he grew up.
It was a big deal to that audience, naming all those locations that they all knew.
Here is the Setlist, which aired on WLIR from a soundboard recording, if you care to listen to it.
Setlist:
1. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway) 0:00
2. Somewhere Along the Line 4:38
3. Summer, Highland Falls 7:58
4. Piano Man 10:59
5. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant 17:17
6. James 25:00
7. Prelude / Angry Young Man 28:44
8. New York State of Mind 34:19
9. Travelin' Prayer 41:46
10. Just the Way You Are 48:35
11. The Entertainer 52:57
12. You're My Home 57:23
13. Root Beer Rag 1:00:59
14. She's Got a Way 1:04:33
15. The Ballad of Billy the Kid 1:07:05
16. I've Loved These Days 1:12:46
17. Captain Jack 1:16:54
18. Worse Comes to Worst 1:24:01
19. Ain't No Crime 1:27:59
20. Say Goodbye to Hollywood 1:31:00
21. Weekend Song 1:36:14
22. Souvenir 1:42:19
