Happy 21st Birthday~

February 4, 1994. Jonathan Scott was born. 

 

He has had a love affair with chocolate and Fords ever since he was little. 

Jonathan had a lovely head of curls until we cut his hair at about 3, after our trip to Minnesota.

 Jon has always had a sense of fun. Even if it was hidden under his exterior of camo and cute.

Jon participated in Boy Scouts of America from Tiger Cub to Eagle. We are all incredibly proud of his achievements.

 He has played the bari sax since Mr. C suggested it in the 6th grade and in HS played with the HS band and two bands through the Walla Walla Community College. (Jazz and concert band)

Jon is also a volunteer with the Athena Volunteer Fire Dept and has a bit more beard now, than he wore during the academy.

Jonathan created a coat of arms for one of his classes and came up with this-water, mountains, tools, guns, Fords (the Bronco), home, and tops it all off with God.

We are very proud of you, Jonathan, and are looking forward to seeing where you go next!

Burgers and fries for dessert!

I had an idea a while back. I wanted to make Jon a hamburger birthday cake for his 21st birthday. Something memorable. I looked up different versions of it and jumped in with both feet and the mixer running. 

 My first thought was to make the bun out of angel cake. That didn't turn out as well as I hoped, but it all worked out as I purchased raspberries making the angel cake MY birthday cake! The yellow cake ended up the bun. I wanted it larger (I didn't pay attention to the differences in 8/9 in cake pans..I have 9in ones), but didn't have enough yellow cake batter. I shouldn't have worried.  I sprinkled chopped up white chips on the top layer for sesame seeds (cake in the far back of the above  photo) and got a tad carried away. While these were waiting to be assembled, I was talking to Jon's brother and he suggested I needed a ham slice layer~ so that was the last 'cake' I made.

 I frosted the bottom layer with 'mayo' (white frosting). The onions, lettuce, hothouse tomatoes (they aren't red enough for hone grown tomatoes!) were made from store bought Wilton Vanilla Fondant. (I didn't like it, thankfully, it is only on the edges!) During assembly (which didn't take long) I put strawberry jam over a layer of chocolate (the burger) and then the strawberry cake 'ham' slice.The next burger wasn't as flat as I hoped, so I filled in the edges with chocolate frosting.

 The last layer of goo was yellow frosting 'mustard' and more fondant. I topped it with the yellow cake I'd sprinkled with the chocolate chip bits. It didn't turn out too bad, even if I DID forget the cheese!

 The last thing we added were the fries. Steak fries are easy to cut from pound cake. Tasty, too!

                       Here are the two birthday cakes together. It is a tad blurry, but Jon was pretty excited!

 So, if you have a birthday or just any kind of party coming up, this is a very easy cake to make (really, the time was baking the things and playing with the fondant for the first time--eww). Jon thinks there may be 301 cubic inches of cake in this, but am betting he's off a bit. It was 9 inches tall and the cake was made in 9 in pans, but am still unsure of his math! It did taste good and there is a lot of it left. It is not 'professional' by any means, but it was fun and, as I mentioned above, EASY. The latter is very important in my book!

gooey and delicious!

I used to make these years ago and the memory stuck in my head to the point I had to find the recipe again. I wanted to share it and found several versions online. This one is closest to the one I have. Peanut Butter Marshmallow Brownies, easy and decadent. 

 After making your brownie base, you add the marshmallow creme. Or mini marshmallows--about 4 cups--if you don't want to open up a jar of creme. I placed the brownies back in the warm oven to 'melt' the marshmallows and then let them cool completely. The chocolate layer, I added too much of something (PB, probably) and it is still gooey instead of hard. Not really a problem, just messy.

In this photo of layers, it looks as if there is marshmallow on the bottom. Not true. The confection is in a glass pan and when I took the picture, there was a reflection! Jon liked this so much, he ate almost a half of a row before bed! I am glad I dusted it off and made these again.

Just more birds~

After the stormy day and night, puddles were the perfect spot to bathe! 

 Jon and I liked this one in particular. It has the finch (NOT Junco) sitting in profile above the metal cut out Cardinal.

For the Birds~

January juncos (well, for the most part!). It is so much fun to see these little chirpy, cheeky creatures darting around the yard. We don't get partridges here, but this month we got juncos in our pear trees. Haven't seen many chickadees yet. Still hoping and waiting. Oregon, Dark-eyed juncos are a little different from ones in other parts of North America. Their colors tend to be broader, also. 

 NOT juncos, but they sit still for a camera! They also like the sunflower seed heads I put out the other day. It is about time, usually these heads rot and I end up tossing them.

 Jonathan took over my camera for a bit and caught this junco posing! He was near the window and since he is taller, he could see over the screen to photograph the feeder.

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.  It sings because it has a song.  ~Chinese Proverb

SNOW!

On Christmas Eve we got some snow that didn't really last very long. However, a few days later we got MORE and then the temps dropped. So, this stuff is gonna stay for a bit longer. Which makes this Alaskan gal VERY happy! I took a couple of night photos after the snow stopped falling, Jon said they were not too bad, but am only sharing one. Then, I took some more pictures in the daytime before I let Jon have the camera. 

 Ice on my red rosebush near the house~

 It was around 4 pm, so I decided to turn on the Christmas lights and see how they would look in the mostly day time. It was also about this time I sent Jonathan out with my camera~

One of the lights on the fence behind the honeysuckle bush in the corner of the yard. It appears orange lights show up best during the later afternoon.

 Looking down the yard from the wishing well to the bridge/pond near the little house.

 Jon loves old metal and these always look good no matter what time of year they are photographed. I do need to straighten them up next spring since they are starting to fall over.

 This is on the right side of the garden near the alley. I had sent Jon out with a broom because this tree that is practically bent over with snow weight needed rescued. He also brushed off the satellite dish--not something I asked him to do! The tree in front is the peach tree, then the fallen tree (which I can't remember the name of right now) and the big bushy tree is our white lilac. There is a stake, that used to hold up the fallen tree, but it was felt the tree was strong enough to hold on by itself. Am pretty sure the stake will come back into use.

 Scooter looks a bit droopy under the snow! I guess dragonflies prefer sunshine.

At the edge of my 'private' garden spot is this hemlock. I wasn't sure it looked very healthy last summer, but it appears to have pulled up and eventually this will take the place of the locust tree nearby. Jon was standing near the bridge when he took this photo looking back up the yard to the wishing well~

After the Storm

The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

We have two towering locust trees in our yard that we have never really done much maintenance on. Which is why we are often nervous about storms in this area. The first week of Dec we had hoarfrost and freezing fog, which took out part of the tree across the road. 

 The second week of December our world turned balmy with a strong warm wind. This weather took out part of one of our locust trees. You don't realise how HUGE they are til they are on the ground.

 The view from my kitchen window over the sink was a bit daunting as the giant limb swayed in the breeze about a dozen feet away. A bit like the Whomping Willow, but we didn't have Professor Sprout on hand.

 Steve, however, was able to tackle the job on Saturday. He pulled the erring branch down and cut it up for firewood. He said it is a very dense wood and is heavy.

Locust Life and Limbs

Exhalation of moss, mycelium, black mould; wafted savor of a thousand earthly growths, damp, clinging, redolent; aroma of mighty roots, of invisible spawn and seed—all the vast stirring of the earth’s desire. ~Virginia Garland

 As I looked outside at the locust in the yard, I realised how much beauty was still within it and decided to not just chronicle its demise, but capture it for later. The bark, the curling pieces of wood, and the mosses are a masterpiece of creation. I do admit, however, that some of these photos are better when seen from a different angle. However, blogspot does not always allow the blogger to tweak  photos to the right presentation. Alas, may you enjoy anyway!