An Interesting Hour of Our Lives

On our road trip to Kansas, we took an hour stop to see the Jeffers Petroglyphs in Minnesota. (Being partially Native American myself, Andrew thought I might especially like it.) There are about 2,000 carvings on the site. We basically fast-walked the entire thing but I got some cool shots. (I am including some information shots to help explain as well.)I stopped to check out a cute little nest in a small tree along the path and almost screamed. Out of the prairie grasses beside flew a beautiful pheasant. I could not get my camera out quick enough for a shot but it was magnificent.

We also ran in to an elderly Presbyterian couple while we were there and struck up a quick conversation. For more info on this area, visit:http://www.placeography.org/index.php/Jeffers_Petroglyphs_Historic_Site,_27160_County_Road_2,_Comfrey,_Minnesota, http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/jp/
or http://www.jefferspetroglyphs.com/

Drive, Fly, Drive.

Day # 318 of our married lives: We woke up at 5:30 am and headed out to MSP. (Pardon my use of aviation lingo but I have to stay fresh!) We got stuck in some traffic but we had budgeted our time with this in mind. Our flight out on American was around 0900 non-stop to STL. Due to a great tail-wind (over 30 mph on the ground/even better in the sky), our flight took an hour instead of an hour and twenty minutes. Andrew had brought along our road atlas so we tracked our progress. After all, I needed to brush up on my VFR navigational skills. It made the time pass so quickly and we knew right when we entered Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. While we did not fly Southwest, I had fun getting up close and personal with this one on our drive to the airport. And here is the church:
Just kidding. This is just the beginning of our journey. (I simply thought the building was interesting so I snapped the pic as we were going 65 on the highway.) We landed in STL with out incident and made our way to the car rental desk. Our particular company's desk was dark. There was a small sign reading, "Proceed to shuttle pick up area". (That is what we get for booking with Thrifty, we thought.) We were presently surprised, however, to be quickly shuttled off to a lot outside the airport. We had booked an Aveo (because it was the cheapest) but ended up getting a nice black Toyota Corolla. Away we drove.

Our drive through Illinois was peaceful and Spring-like. This picture does not do it justice as far as the Green-ness but I wanted to give you an idea of how wooded this end of Illinois is. This was one of the towns close to our destination. I was amused by the water tower painted like a hot air balloon. These oil doo-dads were also a common site all over the area.Our destination at last:The nearby town of 8,000 had flowering trees galore. It reminded me of Dubuque.
Our hosts were a wonderful couple with a beautiful home that they are in the process of finishing. They built and decorated the whole thing themselves. I was really inspired by her decorating ideas and loved her fresh flowers. She liked photography as well and we had the same camera. She said I could take any photos I wanted. This was one of my favorites. Isn't this just a gorgeous bouquet? Here is the flower of another fresh arrangement she had in the house. I was intrigued by the texture of the flower. I found this blooming Lilac outside the home of another church member. On our return trip we stopped off at the Arch. Due to lack of time we were not able to take the tram to the top but we were able to take some photos and visit the free museum that is located under the arch.This is one of my favorite shots. Andrew is in the picture on the right.I could not finish my blog about the trip with out adding one last aviation tidbit. In the museum (which allows photos) I took this picture of an old picture. (it has not been doctored in any way; it's straight from my camera.) I really love how it turned out!
We are home, and safe, and ready for whatever God calls us to.

Total travel time: 10 1/2 hours driving, 1 hour flying.

Birds in Minnesota 101

Here are some of the birds I have spotted in the last 2 weeks:

Brown-Headed Cowbird - interesting factoid: they place their eggs in other nests and expect the other bird to raise it's babies. It is a type of blackbird. The following site has a sound-byte of it's call. It is very unique: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/id

Red-Winged Blackbird- (Note how his feet are spread and grasping their own branch for balance) Hawk - I have not yet identified this one. I have spent a bit of time trying but with no success. Many hawks have brown or red eyes where this one has yellow. I found one quite similar but then found out it was only in Mexico. My problem may be that it changes color in the winter and the bird books don't show the winter coat. Canadian Geese - (Note the egg in the nest) Factoid : these geese usually spend 12 hours a day eating. Common Loon - (Due to the long dives under the water I was not able to get a great shot. The following picture off the Minnesota DNR site helps to identify what we saw.) Factoid: Unlike most birds, their bones aren't hollow. They can fly 75 mph. They are known to live to 30 years old. American White Pelican - (Sorry it's so blurry, he was sitting in the middle of the lake) Factoid: The knob on it's bill is only there during mating season. It falls off after it lays eggs. Unknown Bird - Can anyone help me? The closest I came was the Least flycatcher. The following picture shows its tiny narrow bill. Most yellowish birds do no have this narrow of a bill.

I also got to see a Hooded Merganser (which it seems, is rare), but it was too skittish to get a picture. Here is info on them : http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Merganser/id

And Now For Something Completely Different

Of late, I've been tormenting Alissa with the only keyboard instrument I could lay hands on, an accordion. I thought I'd share what one might encounter if you happened upon 82nd Ave in the evening. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you (dramatic pause), "The 82nd Ave Waltz."

Happy Easter!

Hello! We just wanted to share our Easter with you so here are a few updated photos of our family.

(I thought the angle of this picture was artsy.) Andrew preached the sunrise service. It was probably the best sermonette I had heard on an Easter Sunday! I will try to get him to put the manuscript up soon. I took part in 2 pieces of music with the bell choir and we both sang several pieces with the choir.

Indian Almond Soup

Andrew and I were blessed to be able to travel to India a few years ago. We really enjoyed many new varieties of food. I have wanted to make some since our return but never got around to it. For our wedding some Indian friends from church gave us a Complete Guide to Indian Cooking. About a month ago I decided to try this dish. (I changed it to work for the crock pot.) It turned out to be very tasty and very different from your average soup so I thought I would share it. You can add 3/4 cup cubed chicken but I decided not to. Ingredients:

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp chicken granules (or 1 bouillon cube)

2 Cups Water

1 Carrot, sliced

4 Cilantro Sprigs

1 Cup milk

1/2 Cup Frozen Peas

1/4 to ½ tsp ground Ginger

6 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter

1 Cup Almonds

1 Med. Onion, chopped

1 tbsp Chopped Cilantro (or 1/2 Tbsp. dried cilantro)

1 fresh Green Chili, chopped

½ tsp crushed Black Peppercorns

Directions: Place one cup of whole almonds in your food processor or blender (I used my blender) and turn on grate setting until all almonds are in a fine powder. This takes little time at all. Place all ingredients except the Cilantro sprigs in your crock pot. Stir well. Turn on high for 4 hours. Use Cuisinart hand blender and blend until smooth. Stir occasionally. Serve with sprigs of Cilantro if so desired.

Refried Beans and Things

I definitely love owning a crock pot. (Thanks mom for giving me your old trusty. I still use it!) Today I decided to make my own refried beans since Andrew likes them so well and it is cheaper. You all probably already do your own version but Andrew said it tasted just like the beans in the can so I thought I would share my version:

Ingredients: (feel free to double this)
1 lb. dry pinto beans
8 cups water
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used 1-1/2 tsp. garlic powder instead)
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tsp salt (Feel free to use less)
1/2 tsp black pepper


Preparation: Combine all ingredients in a crock pot or slow cooker. Cover and cook on medium-high for 8 hours.
Drain out most of the water. Blend the beans with a Cuisinart hand mixer or mash with a potato masher, adding back in some of the liquid if needed.

My other adventures this week included cooking zucchini, yellow squash, and green bell peppers. And to end this post with a sweet note, I made a small apple crisp for Easter out of my homemade apple pie filling.