Posted on 03/29/2021 6:09:50 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
When I was a kid, I was fascinated by miniatures – dollhouses, matchstick cars, all kinds of little models - and I still am. The thing I remember most from the Easter Baskets that my Grandparents gave us, were panoramic sugar eggs – eggs made of sugar, with peepholes and little scenes inside.
I looked recently to see if you can still buy these, and you can; most places may be out of stock by now, but try next year - lots of people offer them, including the Vermont Country Store, vendors on Etsy, etc.
However, if you want to try making your own, here are some instructions from Confectionery House (please note that these are not really intended to be eaten; but can be saved for years, properly stored.)
http://confectioneryhouse.com/blog/post/how-to-make-panoramic-sugar-eggs/
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When I first saw a picture of 'Wool Roll Bread', I couldn't figure out how it was made - until I saw this YouTube from the Apron channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGw0GuSx3_c
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I've been sick the last few days, just sitting on the couch and watching TV. I've become enthralled with this beautiful little family in Alabama, who have a small family farm and a young daughter who is amazing. (I've been a bird aficionada all of my life; but at 67, I still don't know as much about birds as the pre-teen Mary Carl does, and I probably never will. Herewith, the Cog Hill Family Farm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtwRexhVy4w
Maybe a type of finch or sparrow.
http://www.pgc.pa.gov/Education/WildlifeNotesIndex/Pages/Finches-and-House-Sparrow.aspx
If you want to know a lot about birds in your area, the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s ‘All About Birds’ page is a great resource:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search
Thank you very much for your help and the helpful links. I think I’ve narrowed it down to a sparrow and will use these links once I observe the markings etc. Never thought I’d be watching birds but they certainly invited me to do so setting up house in my awning....and love the singing every morning!
We have a new place and put out bird feeders. Took about 3 days for the woodpeckers, jays, a cardinal (too heavy for what we have, so we’ll add one with a strong perch next year), mourning doves, grouse to show up....and red and grey squirrels, for which we need security for next year.
The most fun is our local turkey flock. They come through 2x a day, as did one shy deer, who brought a friend later in the week. The toms are now accompanying *the girls* and showing red on their heads and throats.
It’s a rural subdivision with a majority of summer homes, so the turkeys parade down the middle of the street. Little traffic and very quiet. Feels like we’re in the woods with our 3 acres and absent neighbors on 3 sides.
We are now setting out food only in the front, as we do not want the turkeys or deer near our new raised beds. We will add kennel panels, but I really can see those ground feeders ruining a garden.
We’ll set up the bird baths far away from the tomatoes, too. Need to give them moisture here and without the birdbaths, I’m afraid they’ll peck the tomatoes.
Great entertainment, but then, we’re easy.
One of the first things I noticed when I became a serious ‘bird watcher’ is that all of our lives, we are usually looking down or forward when we walk out.
Bird watchers look UP.
Whole different perspective on life in general :-)
You’re right! a different perspective indeed!
The birds lost their nest yet again today...that makes it easily ten attempts at building their home. Though this time the nest was further along so I thought perhaps sturdy enough to withstand the wind....It’s just on such a narrow strip their work starts hanging about 6 inches off the rail and the wind catches that and pulls the nest off.
Put up a bird house with a big front hole, or maybe a three-sided one.
They’re famous for doing other birds out of nice spaces like that - they are especially damaging to bluebirds, that way.
You could probably rough one up out of a few small pieces of wood that would provide protection from the wind, and hammer it up somewhere near where they are trying to nest.
That is, if you really want them around....:-)
You could probably even do this with a nice deep piece of tupperware, nailed to the wall...
Great idea except this is a metal awning on the second floor and the building is brick. No access to it.
I’ve enjoyed having them without a doubt. The awning seems to attract birds every year that perch up in there but this is the first I’ve seen them build a nest. I hope they’re successful.
The deck is close to the awning so I might be able to put one on the outside as it’s wood, and hope they find it. But of course then I wouldn’t see them.
There are all sorts of cool little wifi cameras you can buy...not to encourage you to become obsessive, or anything :-)
Well they’re cuties for sure......and I enjoy their singing.
You certainly are bird people! Wow ten years is sure a long time. Sounds like a happy bird in your care.
Tough seeing those babies gone..I didn’t know smaller Birds could be so vicious!
This is easily done with a white wax crayon.
Draw your design on the white egg. When its dipped in
the hot blue dye, everything turns blue except your design.
How did you know I’ve been craving a raspberry cream cheese desert????
THANKS!!!!
I was telling someone today about my childhood memories of Easter.
I still can’t smell vinegar without recalling dyeing eggs with my Granny.
(Someone on the radio today called the coming week ‘Traditional Egg Salad Week’.
That was definitely true in our house - though we ate a lot of them just plain, too; or sliced with a special egg slicer for sandwiches. I think the week after Easter was almost the only time that slicer was used - but I still keep one in the small gadget drawer, for old time’s sake :-)
Went out to my garden one day to pick some tomatoes. A few of them had big chunks taken out of them. I couldn’t figure out what was doing that.
A couple days later I go out to check on them and there is this huuggggeee buck standing there! (I live in suburban DC and wasn’t expecting that.) Slowly backed up into the house and knew what was happening to my tomatoes.
About an hour later my little dog wanted to go out. Checked the yard and saw no deer. So let her out.
Within a few minutes my 20 pound dog is barking her head off and chasing a this 300 pound deer around the yard!!!! It would have been funny but I kept thinking “This deer is gonna figure out he has the advantage in this situation.”
Luckily he just jumped the fence and left. (Lot of screeching breaks right after that.)
Now live in a townhouse with a shaded yard. Can only grow herbs if I move the pots around the yard all day long during the days when I’m home. It’s worth it.
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