Thursday, April 17, 2014

Spring In The Mountains

click photo to enlarge
Spring Afternoon Today
Passed by these lovely blossoming trees 
on the way home. 

We had stopped for pizza 
(and a root beer float for me) 
and then  remembered 
to backtrack through town 
so I could get a photo of these beautiful trees. 

See how wide the street is? 
Back in the gold rush days this town 
made sure the main street 
was this wide because they believed that 
the town would grow into 
an important city. 

But the gold played out... 
people still search and pan for gold 
but there has not been enough 
found to turn this town into a big city. 

I love the wide street 
and 
I love the little town. 
Just my size! 

~:> 

Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Snow Today!


Morning, April 1, 2014
Nature played a snowy joke.
Really! 
It's not an April Fools...it really snowed. 
And then the power went off. 
Which was a neat thing because I got to make stew 
on the wood stove. 

The stew was really good even if the house had a bit of a scorched smell. 
I filled the dutch oven too full of liquid 
and then built the fire up too high. 
Oops! 

I have great admiration for the women 
who had to cook using wood, coal, etc. 
They were very skilled 
in knowing how to build and judge the fire temperature. 

There are lots of ways people used to test 
the oven temperatures before thermometers.
Well, at least I came up with a few when I Googled.

I like least the idea of putting my hand in the oven 
and counting how long I could stand to leave my hand inside. 
I liked best the idea of sprinkling some flour in the oven 
and counting how long it took to brown. 
Tricky business!

I think I'll stick to my gas cooktop
and/or the top of my wood stove when needed
or for fun.

~:>
Smiles