It's coming today!
It's a full moon (The Full Wolf Moon)
It's a Supermoon.
There will be a total eclipse of the moon, sometime in the night.
You name it, it will have it.
Talk about overkill...sheesh!
By the way, this photo was taken on Monday evening, so it is not quite totally full.
Here it is, my new digs on the 6th Floor.
We are facing south this time around and so I see Mount Lee with the radio tower on it.
I also get to see Forest Lawn Hollywood (you can see the Old North Church on the hill).
If you want to move forward, you can see Universal City off in the distance, on the right side.
All in all, a nicer view then the last one I had.
Note: it is hard to see almost anything from this photo, but at least you know what you are missing. :-)
My Water Post For Today.
I bring us back to Ventura in January of 2015 and my 60th Birthday.
All the news coming out of the Montecito area makes me sad and also make me long to see the shore of Ventura and Santa Barbara once again...but I guess that will have to wait a bit longer.
This was taken during sunset and the best part of this photo, are the many footprints in the sand.
The water is not bad, either.
I hope you enjoy.
This was another book that came to my house, by way of my Son.
He read it while we were in Phoenix back in December and told me it was a fast read.
I enjoyed the movie, The Martian with Matt Damon and thought that I would try the book.
As usual, with any book made into a movie, there was so much more detail in the book.
Some of the big things, like the potatoes dying, I remembered from the movie, but the whys of some of the situations went right over my head.
Sometimes it still went over my head, but for the most part it was interesting and yes, it was a quick read.
My only complaint was the fact that the book did not bring it back to earth, as it did in the movie. I had enjoyed the closure in those final scenes.
Instead, the book leaves them reunited, but still over a year out from earth. Oh well.
Worth my time and the price was great...free.
This is my Next Icon project.
We have a pattern available in our Iconography class, due to the fact that Kevin (our teacher) wrote her at some point.
It was never done as a Workshop project, like St. Kateri or St. Serra, so I am on my own with this one.
Kevin will be around to show me the way, if I get too far off, so that is something.
If you look closely at St. Edith Stein, you see a Star of David on her habit and yes, that is what attracted me to writing her.
She was born Jewish and at a later age, converted to Catholicism. A straddling of worlds, similar to my own house.
Wish me luck.
It just amazes me how many people from so many walks of life, give me a quick Happy Birthday and how they come through to me.
I got the most from Facebook, of course.
Several from this blog.
A few text messages on my cell phone.
A few via Hallmark cards on my email.
A plant arrived from my brother's family, thanks so much, Anne.
As the afternoon went on, I was glad I was at home. Thankfully, KCET gives us our Birthday off.
I got sang to at my Aquafit class to begin my day...Thanks Paula.
Went to dinner with friends, to celebrate my birth and one of our friends birthday which is next week on February 2nd.
All in all, a nice way to hear from people and celebrate, uh me.
It's here again, Birthday time.
I am still working at the same company and I actually got a raise this past year.
Things I was not sure I would ever see.
I moved up to the 6th floor on Wednesday, so another first for this "older" dog...I get to be Corporate. :-)
My family celebrated my Birthday on Saturday and I chose Red Lobster, once again.
Maybe someday I will break down and get the lobster, instead of the shrimp.
But for now, I am content.
So onward to another year.
My Husband is not a fan of Pot Roast. He feels that cooking the meat for hours, takes away all the flavor and makes the meat stringy.
I saw this recipe on Facebook (a sponsored ad by Anthony's Noodles) and I decided I wanted to try it.
I was debating just using chop meat, instead of a bottom round roast, and then I saw that Stater Brothers had Chuck Roast on sale for $3.99 a lb.
Since we were on a Costco run and Stater Brothers is right next door, we decided to stop in.
Conscious of the fact that my husband does not like overcooked meat, I only cooked it 1 1/2 hours in my Dutch Oven (on the stove).
Otherwise I basically followed the directions down below.
They all ate it, so I count that as a WIN!
=============================================
Savor the flavors and textures that come from a great pot roast. Fluffy egg noodles highlight a hearty dinner that will quickly become a family favorite on cold winter days.
Ingredients:
8 oz. Anthony's Pasta® Egg Noodles, any width
2 tbsp oil
3 lbs. boneless beef bottom round roast (I used a chuck roast)
3 cups beef broth
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 lb. carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup cornstarch
Directions:
Heat oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef & brown on all sides. Add beef broth, chopped onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours.
Add carrots and onion wedges, simmer 30 minutes or until beef and carrots are tender.
While carrots and onions are cooking, cook and drain noodles according to package directions; set aside.
Remove roast from Dutch oven, cover and set aside. Remove bay leaf from gravy in a Dutch oven and discard.
In a small bowl, stir together cornstarch and water until smooth. Stir cornstarch mixture into beef broth and vegetable mixture in the Dutch oven to make a gravy. Bring contents to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute.
Toss cooked noodles with 2 cups gravy. Cut beef into bite-size portions.
Serve noodles topped with beef, vegetables, and remaining gravy.
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 2 hrs 30 min
I have had this book, Coffee with Jesus, on my to buy list in amazon for several years.
Why I did not buy it for so long, I have no idea.
As Christmas approached, I decided to break down and buy it.
I have been reading it, as I find the time and finally finished it on Saturday.
I enjoy the comics in my Facebook feed each Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but having a hard copy to read and refer to, is nice, too.
What I like the most about the comic, is that David Wilkie makes you think...and that is not a bad thing.
I somehow thought this one was appropriate, in the midst of the Government Shutdown and all that political stuff.
You can see some pages from the book HERE, that is if the link works.
My Water Post For Today.
This is the third and last water post from Frank Lloyd Wright's Talisin West.
This is the fountain on the back side of the building. We went through that walkway you see at the end of the pool and then came upon it.
In my humble opinion, very dramatic.
Again, when the weather is always so very HOT, these water features help bring coolness to the complex.
He did a magnificent job.
I did not choose the colors on this day 1/20/18, but as I contemplated this photo I realized that I was wearing pink all day.
Since many of my brethren (female) were out marching in their pink hats, once again...I thought that I was showing support, without consciously knowing it. (works for me)
When I tried taking a photo with my cat, I noticed that we both had on purple. So we matched, too.
Pink and purple...a weird combo, but it worked for me.
It always amazes me how fast you go from the November time change, when sunset occurs around 5PM over to the shortest day of the year a month or so later. Then to January, when you once again are seeing the very end of the day by around 5PM.
What that means to me is that I am only walking in total darkness for about 2 1/2 or so months a year.
So here we are, the final part of January and this is the sunset that I was greeted with at about 5:15PM.
Truly a beautiful sight.
Clouds are there due to an impending storm, that is due to arrive late night.
58 years ago, Brian Wilson submitted a song to his music teacher at Hawthorne High School.
The teacher, Fred Morgan, gave him an "F" for the tune named Surfin.
The song ended up on their first album and became their first hit song.
Hawthorne High School belatedly reevaluated the work and changed his grade to an "A".
You can read about it HERE.
Sort of like Billy Joel finally graduating from Hicksville High School. :-)
Pardon my ignorance on the subject, but I have no idea why these glass balls were collected in a dish and displayed in Talisin West.
The best I can come up with is that Frank Lloyd Wright did have window designs with Colored Globes.
I happen to love colored glass (as my visits to Chihuly exibits proves). :-)
So I took a photo of the glass and share it with you all.
If anyone can come up with a more detailed reason for these to be displayed in Talisin West, please let me know.
Enjoy.
This is part of the view out front of Talisin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home.
I love saguaro cactus and so (of course) I could not resist taking photos of these, with the mountains of Scottsdale in the background.
We were lucky, it was a beautiful day and as the sun started going down a bit, it lit everything so dramatically.
I hope you enjoy the serenity of the desert in winter.
