A Jeanne in the Kitchen

After leaving Grand Junction and Colorado Monument Park, our next stop and state was Utah.

On average, we drove between 5-6 hours per day, stopping along the way for whatever came up that sparked our interests, as well as for personal reasons.

Southern Utah and Western Colorado are geographically very similar. Both are beautiful in their own right, only I think Colorado is more colorful, making it prettier to me. A good number of my geographical photos were taken from the car as were were driving, so I apologize if they are grainy and/or slightly out of focus. There is only so much you can do from a car traveling roughly 80 mph. 🙂

We stopped at a lot of museums and historical interpretative centers, where we learned a lot about things we had only heard of before. Layton, Utah was going to be our final stop for the day. Before arriving in Layton, however, we stopped at the Prehistoric Museum in Price, not long after entering Utah. It was filled with dinosaur remains and displays, and was very interesting. I am only going to present a small sampling of the photos I took, to give you a brief overview, (and not to bore you completely) and hopefully spark your interests to go there when doing your own traveling.

There were also a lot of Native American exhibits and displays as well. Before learning from the displays, I always thought the Wooly Mammoth was extinct long before the arrival of man. But I was wrong. I learn new things everyday. 🙂 Wooly Mammoths and Native Americans lived side by side. The Wooly Mammoths were vital to the survival of many Native American tribes.

Alien influences perhaps? Ancient Native drawings.

Outside the museum was a beautiful tribute to the different branches of the military, as well to the coal miners lost to the mines. There were also so many gorgeous irises. In fact, we saw so many gorgeous irises, of all colors, and sizes everywhere we went. Needless to say, I took a lot of photos of irises. My mother would have loved all the beautiful irises.

I hope you are enjoying this so far. I have oh so much more fun adventures and photos to share. We are just getting started. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe, stay well, and always keep alive the thirst for knowledge and for growth. ‘Til next time.

As you know, we are back from our epic Northwestern journey. We covered seven states and all of the Southern Rockies of Canada. For the most part, our journey took us all through the Rocky Mountains, starting in Colorado. We visited Western Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Canada, Alberta, Canada, Montana, Wyoming, all before coming back home to the North Denver Metro area. Larry and I love just getting in the car to go. We like road trips a lot, though granted, they are NOT for everyone. This recent trip is by far the longest road trip in a car, we have ever done. We traveled with my Australian “brother” Dennis, and my “sister-in-law” Lee. Dennis and Lee came all the way from Australia to join us on this epic Northwestern journey. We saw a lot, did a lot and visited three sets of friends along the way, staying with each set of friends for a couple of days before starting our travels once again to parts unknown.

We headed westward, for the first leg of our journey ending, up in Grand Junction for the first night. Once again we visited Colorado Monument Park, which was also the first leg of our road trip last year as well. Our Trip To The West – Day #2 – Colorado National Monument. Even though our trip began in the middle of May, we still had a lot of snow all along the way. Here we are in our own Rocky Mountains, at Loveland Pass, headed up towards Grand Junction, Colorado.

Once we crossed the Continental Divide, then we lost the snow and had warm weather for a couple of days.

Colorado Monument Park is absolutely stunning. I could go again, and again, and again, and never get sick of all its natural beauty. This was our third time to visit, Dennis and Lee’s first. We have seen something different every time we have visited.

I missed everyone, and I have been so looking forward to start sharing with all of you once again. I have edited ALL 1250 pictures I took, and am beginning to whittle away at all the emails I accrued in my absence. Trust me, I WILL NOT bore you with all of my pictures, just the highlights. 🙂 Only geeks like me get excited about seeing EVERYTHING and EVERY picture. 🙂

This is day one of our seventeen day-long journey through The North American Rockies, both in the United States and Canada. Buckle up and bring snacks. I have tons of fun things to share. I hope you enjoy our adventures as much as I enjoy sharing them. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I am home again. We had a great trip. We saw so much and did so much and covered A LOT of territory, but it is good to be home again. I missed the “kids” way too much and I think they missed us just as much. I just got back from taking my Australian brother and sister-in-law to the airport. It has been an even longer trip for them, since they arrived in the United States a month before we all went on our long, epic journey together. They are flying back to Melbourne tonight. Now, I have to get caught with everything once again.

I am still editing my bazillion pictures, and getting through all of my 15,000 emails. So I am not quite ready to start my blog again on a regular basis just yet, but soon. I have lots of good things to share. 🙂

Since I am leaving and will be gone for about three weeks, I will share some more of the duck-a-lings with you. They will be mostly grown up by the time I return home, so I just have to share them with you once again. Besides, they are so darn cute right now.

This is another batch of tiny babies. They just look like they are a couple of days old.

Have a fabulous, ducky day. ‘Til next time.

We are getting ready to hit the road again, for our big road trip to Canada. It will be quite an adventure. We will be gone for almost three weeks, seeing all kinds of natural beauty all along the way. We will also be stopping and staying with friends in Idaho, and two different parts of Canada. By the time we return home, we will have driven about 3500 miles or more. Even though we will be stopping quite often, we will still be in the car for long periods of time too. And that means we will need nibblies to help sustain us through our travels. 🙂

This is for the four of us. I don’t think we are going to starve. I think we will make it. Just barely. 🙂 We have fruit, dried fruit, granola bars, chips and crackers, sweets, a variety of nuts and a jar of Marmite (GAG) for the Aussies. I didn’t get a chance to look for Vegemite, so they will have to settle for Marmite instead. I can’t stand either one of them, but from what I understand they are pretty similar.

I also made some Snickerdoodle cookies for us to munch on as well.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Snickerdoodles are some of Larry’s favorite cookies, but then being German, he loves anything with cinnamon. He is going to love these. They are very easy to make, with only a few simple, basic ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 400* F or 205*C.

2 3/4 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar +4 TBSP

1 cup or 2 sticks softened butter

2 eggs

4 tsp cinnamon

Mix the flour, salt and and baking powder together and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs. Add half of the flour and mix, then add the remaining flour and mix.

Mix the 4 TBSP sugar and the cinnamon together in a separate bowl.

Once everything is combined well, take about 1 TBSP of dough and roll into in a ball, then roll the ball into the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Lightly press onto the cookie sheet with the bottom of a glass to flatten out the cookies.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the centers are set and the cookies are lightly golden. Allow to cool on the sheet pan for a few minutes, then remove and place on a cookie rack and allow to cool completely.

I will be packing these up to add to the rest of our travel snacks. As you can see, I have enough for a small army. I feed people. That’s just what I do. In fact, Dennis, my “Australian brother” who is traveling with us as well as his wife Lee, calls me “a feeder”. 🙂

Dennis and I are not actually blood related, but we are definitely family. His stepdad and my dad were best friends in Australia from the age of about five until they both passed away. They were both named John, and both were called Johnny, so we lovingly refer to them as our two Johnnies. Even with my “John” moving half a world away after WWII, the two were still bonded together forever. The two Johnnies would both have been 99 this year. Dennis and his family and my family have been apart of each other’s lives for almost 100 years now and counting. 🙂

I will be gone and out of touch for about three weeks. Stay safe and stay well, and try your best to stay out of trouble, oh wait, that’s me. 🙂 I will miss you all, but I will be back before you know it, with lots of tales from our road trip and adventures. ‘Til next time.

Every day I see more and more flowers blossoming and proudly showing their off bright colors. Spring keeps getting prettier and prettier and more an more colorful everyday. I just love all of our spring colors.

Color your world beautiful today, tomorrow and everyday. 🙂

It’s time for another trip, so I am once again emptying out my refrigerator and using up whatever leftovers we have. We have family coming in from Australia tomorrow, and then Friday, the four us will be on the road again. We are doing a big road trip from Colorado up through Canada and back, visiting friends all along the way. We will be driving about 3300 miles in total.

So because I am not cooking much right now, and am getting everything ready for our trip, I will offer some more kitchen talk from the pros.

If you only knew how often I do this. 🙂

This is SO true. Sometimes when I am watching others cook, I just cringe.

Yes to the nth degree!

Just with anything, it takes years to master our trade.

Yes, and yes! I feed people. That’s just what I do. And every time I feed someone, it is an act of love, coming straight from my heart, or the heart of my kitchen (they are kind of synonymous) to you.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

As a tribute to Mother’s Day, here are some more pictures of the mother geese and their goslings and the mother ducks and their duck-a-lings.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. 🙂

I hope all of you lovely ladies had a fabulous Mother’s Day, and were able to do the things that make you happy with the ones you love.

We had a pretty quiet day, and then we went out to dinner with Janet, Bob and their exchange student, Luke for dinner. We celebrated both Mother’s Day and Bob’s birthday. We went to Root Down A Golden Celebration. Root Down is the original restaurant from the Edible Beats Restaurant Group. Edible Beats is known for both their fresh and innovative foods as well as their fun, recreated restaurants. All of their restaurants have an interesting story behind them, and Root Down is no exception.

Root Down was a garage in a previous life, before it was renovated and recreated into a fun, hip restaurant. “Root Down’s fresh-from-the-earth menu and funky, mid-century details have earned it a cult following. Not just a restaurant, Root Down is a neighborhood nexus and sensory rabble-rouser … served with a spoonful of nostalgia. Think: seasonal flavor, bright-AF cocktails, gas station architecture, and offbeat ebay finds. Word! Eclectic is an understatement. But so is this: It’s sure to whet your appetite.”

Anyone else old enough to remember these phones? This is the type of phone I grew up with. We had one phone in the house, and it had a very long cord. I took it in my room with me all the time as a teenager.

Most of us enjoyed the special Sunday menu, which was a selection of courses from which you could choose to customize your 3 course meal.

Larry was the only one who did not order his dinner from the Sunday menu. He was the rebel this time. He ordered the lamb sliders, which were very good. They are what I had last time we were there. He also got my salad that I had ordered.

The rest of us started out with the curried apple soup. DELICIOUS!!!!

Everything was fabulous and cooked to perfection. For his entree, Luke ordered the pan roasted chicken.

Janet and Bob ordered the vegetarian option of Kadhi Pakora.

And I ordered the steelhead trout.

Desserts were part of the 3-course dinner plan. Again, Larry got mine, though it was SCRUMPTIOUS! I had a bite or two, but I am really trying to NOT eat a lot of sweets, desserts and sugar in general. I ordered the banana cream pie.

Luke and Janet ordered the lime leaf chia pudding.

When we first arrived, we told them it was Bob’s birthday, and they made his day very special. They gave all of the adults a glass of delicious champagne and then brought Bob a piece of their candy bar cake with a celebratory candle.

It was yet another fabulously fun and delicious evening. We all had to be rolled out the door and back to the car though. We were all so full and completely satisfied, with very happy tummies. Once again, good food shared with good friends and lots of laughs. Life is definitely good indeed. 🙂

There are two Root Down locations, the one near the Downtown area and one at the Denver Airport. We went to the one in Denver, located at 1600 West 33rd St, Denver, CO 80211. Definitely call or text at (303) 993-4200. Reservations are a must, since they fill up fast! Root Down, as with all their sister restaurants, definitely offers a unique, one-of-a-kind dining experience with locally grown and produced organic food. Any time in Denver, you need to add Root Down, or one of the other Edible Beat locations on your to-do list. Trust me. You will be in for a very delicious time. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Mother’s Day is an annual holiday celebrated in the United States on the second Sunday in May. Mother’s Day recognizes mothers, motherhood and maternal bonds in general, as well as their positive contributions to their families and society. It was established by Anna Jarvis, with the first official Mother’s Day celebrated through a service of worship at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, on May 10, 1908.

One of the loveliest motherhood symbols is the mother and child Celtic knot. The intertwining knot calls to mind a mother protectively embracing her child. It’s sweet, simple, and lovely. The goddess is a symbol of feminine power and has been for generations.

It wouldn’t be Mother’s Day in the United States without the classic traditions Americans know best: large bouquets of roses and carnations, homemade cards, special outings, and accolades for moms near and far.  Mother’s are celebrated and honored all over the world, NOT just in the United States. Here are some of the world’s Mothers’ Day celebrations.

In Mexico, Mothers’ day is called Monumento de Madre. The week leading up to Mother’s Day, elementary schools organize festivals with dances, plays, and songs. Moms are invited to watch and enjoy the treats. Families typically gather on the day for large meals with traditional menu items including mole, pozole, and enchiladas, while others opt to take their moms out to a local restaurant. But nothing beats the tradition of hiring mariachi bands or trios to serenade moms — sometimes early enough in the morning to wake them up!

In Peru, Mothers’ day is called Feliz Dia Mama! All mothers are honored, and those who have passed away are honored too. Families congregate at cemeteries to pay respect to deceased mothers, aunts, and grandmothers – particularly those who live in the provinces outside of the capital of Lima. Many bring food, drinks, and flowers to lay down on the graves. What might seem like a somber tradition is actually regarded as a joyful celebration among Peruvian families.

In the U.K., Mother’s Day goes by a different name: “Mothering Sunday,” which honors the connection to the church in addition to mothers. During the Middle Ages, people who had moved away would come back each year on the fourth Sunday of Lent to visit their “Mother” church — typically where they were baptized. This was an opportunity to reconnect after long periods spent apart. Today, Mothering Sunday is still celebrated on the last Sunday of Lent, the date of which varies each year.

Thailand makes Mothers’ day a National Holiday, giving everyone the day off. Originally celebrated on April 15, the holiday was moved to August 12 in 1976 to coincide with the birthday of Queen Sirikit, a member of the Thai royal family. Everything is decorated to honor both Queen Sirikit, as the Mother of Thailand, as well as all mothers throughout the country.

These are just a few of the various ways to honor all the moms around the world. The common thread, however, is love and respect for ALL mothers. No matter where you live in the world, or what your heritage, small gifts from the heart, flowers and gathering together seems to be an international gesture of love towards all mothers, everywhere.

My mother, Evelyn, passed away 18 years ago, though I really lost her about 10 years before that. She suffered with both dementia and a severe stroke at the age of 67. She lived in a nursing home for the last 10 years of her life, not really knowing who my father and I really were. She was a fantastic mother though, when she was healthy. She was always very supportive of everything I did, regardless of how strange and crazy my ideas were to others. She was always there for me, no matter what and gave me a tremendous amount of love everyday, my whole life. I will always love her, and I miss her terribly. But she is in Heaven, and has been one of God’s angles for many years.

Aside from family, some of my mother’s favorite things were butterflies and irises. So whenever I see either butterflies or irises, of all colors, I know my mom is close by, watching over me. When she passed away, my dad, some of my closest friends and I gathered at the Arboretum in Arcadia, CA, one of my mother’s favorite places, where we all said our prayers and offered our favorite memories of my mother. We all laid irises in the pond in her honor. Then we released balloons up to Heaven as a way of sending her home to be with God. Then my dad and I flew her to Texas and had a ceremony with her family, and buried her in just a few feet away from my grandparents. Again, there were lots of irises for her, and everyone laid an iris on her casket, along with our prayers and memories of her.

I never had children of the two-legged sort. All my babies have always had four legs, fur and tails. But they are my children, and I love them all dearly, including all our fur babies who are also in Heaven. I know my mom and dad are taking great care of them, and giving them lots of love.

Juneau and Dorrie

Nicodemus and Otis

Mothers are a gift. Honor them and treasure them for as long as you can. Without our mothers we wouldn’t be here or who we are today.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful mothers and ladies out there, even if you are only a mother to your fur babies.