Beauty Over the Days

I feel like the last couple of weeks have been whirling around in a twister, which is why I thought the above photo was appropriate. This was taken from my front yard the other day, but don't worry - it's just a dust devil, not a tornado. We are still in a heavy drought so we've been seeing a lot of these devils lately. You certainly don't want to be in their path!

On my way to pick my girls up from school, I saw a different one that was more defined than any I'd seen in my lifetime. It was storming in the area, but hadn't hit in town yet. If the clouds had been just slightly different, I would have sworn it was a tornado instead of a dust devil. (I have seen, in person, a tornado form from the sky and come out of the clouds to touch ground.) This was the most twisty and defined dust devil I'd ever seen and it reached what must have been at least 200 feet into the sky - probably much more. I raced home after getting them, hoping to capture it but it fizzled as we got home. This one popped up in a different location several minutes later.

My daughters ran inside to hide, convinced the dust devil would hit us hard. (It didn't.)

I haven't done a good job the last two weeks of sharing the beauty I've been finding and capturing. It's been therapeutic for me, but I just haven't had the time or energy to get them shared with you each day like I'd been doing. I'm hoping this is my catch-up post and it will go back to being regular again. Here are more photos I've taken recently:

Little hands, purple flowers

Pyrrhuloxia eating insects (it never lets me get too close - this was from the window)

Monarch

Just chillin

Triple view

Sunrise sky

Bee in redbud, cross process. (Love the bokeh on this!)

Sunset

The bluebonnets are blooming!

Believe this is a great tailed grackle. It was the male - smaller female was following. They are so annoying when I'm napping, but I thought he was pretty impressive to look at in my neighbor's tree!

Buzzards in the sunset

I hope you have a beautiful weekend!

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

Eagle Mama

Are you all having a good week? It's been a better week for me than last, most definitely. I'm still a little sluggish after it all, but I've been trying to take those photos all along. I hope to place several in one post later to play catch-up. (I also made an incredibly easy and quick eggplant dish last night that I look forward to sharing with you soon.)

Are you in need of some soothing entertainment from time to time in your day? I've been watching this beautiful mama eagle and her eggs the last few days with my family. My daughter's teacher shared the link with me and I must share it with you if you haven't discovered the Decorah eagles yet. The first baby broke through its egg yesterday after many hours of hard hatching work. The other two baby eagles will hopefully follow soon.

(The photo above is a screen shot I captured earlier today.) I hope you find beauty in your day today, and if you're in need of some inspiration, click on this link to watch beauty in nature in one of its finest moments: http://www.farmyou.com/falcon_cams/decorah_eagle_xcel.html

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

Constants in the Sea of Life

Have you ever been at the beach, enjoying your time in the water, and suddenly you're knocked down by one wave and have more crashing upon your head one after another? You try to get to the surface and just as you take a gasping breath, another wave pummels your head under water. Crash! It's a scary feeling.

Have you also ever been there and suddenly felt the pull of a rip current? You feel kind of helpless.

The shore is your constant in both cases - the first you just want to get back on it and the second you must get it in your sights and swim parallel to it until you're out of the current. You can't fight the current. You can't swim against it. You must lock your eyes on that constant and stay parallel to it.

That's been me this week. I've had one of those weeks where one life wave after another has come crashing upon my head, leaving me feeling weak enough to not pay attention and feel the pull of life's rip current. Not the best scenario for someone who's trying to recover from such a seemingly forever illness.

After I've taken care of the necessities in our lives each day (of course that includes food!), I haven't had much energy left.

The constants in my life have kept me afloat this week: My family, good friends, my dogs, the birds at our feeders. The mountains I see in my windows. God has placed these constants in my life and I am so grateful.

You see, even though I've been too fatigued to even edit or resize photos, I've still been trying to take photos of beauty surrounding me each day. I've also been writing in my grateful journal. (What's that, you say? A grateful journal - a small book I just last week started recording things I'm grateful for each day. The idea was inspired by Laureen over at Fox in the Kitchen. Thank you, Laureen!)

Being thankful for beauty around me and the constants in my life has really helped me stay on the surface this week. We live on the base of one mountain, so I see the top of it from one side of the house and the view above from the other side of the house. This is what they look like in the morning.

I love having these constants - there's some security in that. No matter how many things are swirling around me, I can look up and see some things standing strong, or going about life as normal. It's a reminder that "this too shall pass." Sometimes life sucks (or sucks the life from you!) but you move on. Things do get better, or you at least eventually learn to cope with the circumstances handed to you.

Chin up and enjoy the beauty surrounding you this weekend!

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

First Monarch

In the midst of a day that could have been very ugly for me, I forced myself to get out and enjoy some beautiful times. Even if I have a bad day, I need to find beauty. We all do.

We spent some time this morning with a close family friend, laughing, talking and enjoying her always-beautiful yard no matter what time of year it is. We were sitting down to a snack when my oldest spotted a monarch flitting about a bush about 30 feet away. We all ran over there with our cameras and tried to capture its beauty on the gorgeous purple flowers. (I have more photos of this time to share with you later.)

This is the first monarch I've seen this spring. Today was the perfect day for me to see it.

Later, we were blessed with a short but beautiful rain shower complete with thunder that freaks the dogs out. We've been in a terrible drought for more than a year, and it was about a year ago that we became plagued with one wildfire after another. We still are in desperate need of rain - lots and lots of rain - so we welcome every drop that falls from the sky. What once was a dreary thing for me living in another part of the country is now a wondrous sight and sound.

I'll have a busy weekend filled with family time so I don't know if I'll get another post in over the weekend. I hope your weekend is filled with beauty!

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

Lucky Leprechaun Surprise Chocolate Mint Mug Cake

You remember that mug cake I made the other day? Well, I can't seem to get them out of my mind. I've been making different flavors, and thought I'd better share this one with you before Saturday.

Mint-flavored chocolate cake with a hidden green creamy surprise inside - all in a lucky 7 minutes. (Had to add a couple of minutes in there to make the creamy goodness!) You'll want to try this any time of year, but it also serves as a nice green treat for St. Patrick's Day. (So does a salad and other veggie greens - be sure to get some of those in!)

If you are looking for other gluten-free St. Patrick's Day goodies, I do have an Irish "Spotted Dog" soda bread and these fantastic clover cookies from last year. I've had my eye on some of the other gluten-free soda breads in the food blog world, though, and they do look amazing. Some of them are even vegan, so I'll have to give them a try at some point!

I'm also thinking I may give Stephanie's dijon corned beef a try in the crockpot this year - she says it's not slimy and I believe her. You can't beat the ease of a crockpot meal!

Projected time, start to finish: 7 minutes
(Printable Recipe)

Cake:
1 large egg
4 Tbsp. Pamela's baking mix (not bread flour blend)
3 1/2 Tbsp. pure organic cane sugar
3 Tbsp. milk
2 1/2 Tbsp. extra virgin coconut oil (tip: warm to above room temp to make it liquid)
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure mint extract (I used mint in this case, not peppermint, but peppermint would probably work fine)

Cream filling:
2 Tbsp. cream cheese
3 tsp. powdered sugar
1 tsp. egg white (from egg in mug)
1 drop green food coloring

Grease inside of large microwaveable mug. Crack egg into mug first because you'll need 1 tsp. of the egg white for the cream filling.

In a separate small bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg white and green coloring until smooth. Set aside.

Add remaining cake ingredients to mug and mix with a fork until everything is incorporated very well.

Drop cream cheese mixture into middle of cake batter.

Microwave on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Enjoy!

This morning the girls and I had some excitement about our birds - not one but TWO chipping sparrows were flitting about under the feeders and among the branches outside our dining room windows. We hadn't seen chipping sparrows (house sparrows are what usually visit us) since last year, and we don't see them very often when they are around. I guess spring brought them back for a while.

I hope you have found beauty in your day today.

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

Shells Today

My daughters spent some time outside today. It was a beautiful day and perfect for all sorts of pretend play. My oldest wanted to sweep the patio area off first, so my youngest occupied herself with placing their newest shells from the beach last summer into a deliberate line on top of our deep freezer. She was so intent on her method, I just had to capture some of it. Of course, I also loved the colors she chose (with help from big sister) to wear today.

I hope you are finding beauty in your days!

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

Bee in the Redbud Tree

We have redbud trees blooming all around us. The redbud tree we own is a strange tree - it has tiny pink buds slowly cropping out and one little bitty branch with green leaves starting up. The photo above was taken of one of our neighbor's redbud trees, which is blooming larger flowers so far and no green leaves. Most of the other neighborhood redbuds are doing what our neighbor's are doing ... leave it to my redbud tree to bloom to its own drum.

It's lovely to be surrounded with such pink beauty at the moment. When you walk outside, you can smell the sweetness of the blooms. So can the bees - they were covering this tree as I took photos.

I love winter. Fall and winter are my favorite times of year. But when such beauty crops out in the spring, how can you not love this time as well?

Find beauty in your week!

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html