“They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate.”
— From President Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s official address announcing the D-Day invasion
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Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts’
History, Today
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, history, inspiration, Thoughts on June 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »
When the Best Thing Is No Thing
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, #WildBirdOttawa, birds, home, Thoughts on June 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I woke to a robin.
First thing this morning, I glanced out the window and frowned. An odd little lump sat by the back tire of Mr Man’s car. My eyes aren’t great on the best of days and less so at 6:30 in the a.m., so I had to squint a little before I understood what I was seeing.
Juvenile robin. Not moving. Or… scratch that. Moving oddly.
Hop, shuffle, hop. Shuffle, hop, shuffle. Not going anywhere fast.
It looked like a wing problem, then I realized that it could be a leg problem and the wing was extended for balance.
I conducted a bit of research via the Ottawa Valley Wild Bird Care Centre, a great place that has been helping birds in the area for decades. They took in a mourning dove that hit our back window about a week after we moved in. (Turns out that spring sun renders the living room windows effectively transparent unless you add little stickers to the panes. The Center even gave us a number so we could track the bird’s progress. You’ll be happy to know that while it had a broken wing and pelvis, after months of treatment it recovered and was released with a flock of other doves. So it wouldn’t be lonely.)
Since we’re on the topic, here’s my related story about birds and window strikes: Things I Learned Today, or, Sometimes They Fly Away
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Fledgling birds, including robins, often find themselves out of the nest and still learning to fly. That is to be expected.
If you are unsure if a fledgling is being cared for by its parents, watch from a distance for at least two hours…
The Center was closed anyway so we waited. The bird moved a little, then a little more. The leg still looked odd, though, so we decided it might be time to try to coax it into a comfortable and well-ventilated box and go visit the doctor.
Um, no.
The bird’s wings were working just fine. It wasn’t flying very far but it was flying, and not at all interested in taking a ride to our friendly neighborhood wildlife rehabbers.
The activity was encouraging, actually. The robin flitted. It hopped. It hid under a giant bush. What to do?
Not much. Short a Wile E. Coyote-style net and lots of dramatic, stress-inducing flailing around, there weren’t a lot of alternatives. I edged a little dish of water under the bush and backed away.
We’ll keep an eye out for the bird and try again if it appears to be in distress, but for now, nothing more.
Sometimes there aren’t many options, and while I lean toward action, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all.
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Good Things
Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, home, inspiration, Thoughts on June 4, 2022| 1 Comment »
Should I have spent my day writing? Maybe.
What did I do instead? I made bread, lemon curd, braided lemon bread and baked milk. Went for a walk. Staked the Joe Pye weed. Stared at the clouds. Deadheaded the dandelions and filled up the bird bath and rooted butterfly weed. In short, good things.
Works for me.
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Family Dinner
Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, home, memories, recipes, Thoughts on June 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »
My father texted the other day to say that he was making a dish from my childhood, Mrs. Chiang’s Eggplant with Chopped Meat. The name brought back memories of hot chili and flavorful meat with rice. I should make that too, I thought. Where is my wok?
Several days later I made the dish with what I had or could get. Two eggplants became one, eight scallions became two huge handfuls from my bag of pre-chopped and frozen, peanut oil became avocado and pork became turkey. Fortunately, the recipe is quite forgiving.
The chili paste stayed the same, as did the complex and satisfying taste. And the fond memories.
I still haven’t found my wok.
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Eggplant with Ground Turkey
(adapted from Mrs. Chiang’s Szechwan Cookbook)
- ½ lb. ground turkey, pork or beef
- 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
- 8 scallions
- 2 medium eggplants
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1-inch piece fresh ginger
- 5 Tbsp. peanut or other high-temperature oil
- 2 Tbsp. hot chili paste
- 1 to 1½ tsp. sugar
- 1½ tsp. salt
- ⅔ cup water
- Put the meat in a bowl and stir in the soy sauce and sesame oil.
- Clean and chop the scallions into small pieces. Mix half the chopped scallions into the meat. Reserve the rest for later use.
- Peel the eggplants and cut into ½-1 inch cubes.
- Smash the garlic, peel, and chop into little pieces, about the size of grains of rice.
- Peel the ginger and chop into pieces the size of match heads.
- Heat the pan on high until the oil just begins to smoke. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
- Add the hot chili paste and stir-fry for another 30 seconds.
- Add the chopped meat mixture and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to break up any large lumps.
- Add the eggplant and stir-fry everything for another 4 minutes or so.
- Sprinkle the sugar and salt over the eggplant mixture, stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Stir stir stir stir stir.
- Pour in the water and add the reserved scallions. Wait until the water comes to a boil, then cover the pan without reducing the heat. Cook for another 15 minutes, until the eggplant is soft.
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Courage
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Thoughts on June 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.”
― Aristotle
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A Nice Surprise
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, home, pollinators, Thoughts on May 31, 2022| Leave a Comment »
No Mow May has been a success at our house. Ratings so far:
- Big bees, medium bees, teeny tiny bees say: 10/10+
- Robins say: 10/10 (comment: “But water more please, it makes it easier to catch the worms”)
- Grackles: 9/10 (relevant quote: “stupid insects have more places to hide, but there are more of them, so it’s ok I guess”)
- Mourning Doves say: 8/10 (quotes: “The taller plants were nice but now that the sun’s out there are quieter places to nest” and “We like the backyard bird bath” and “Please put out more of that nyjer thistle seed, it was nice”)
I also spotted a new plant in the front yard, Blue-eyed Grass. Despite its name, it’s actually a member of the Iris family, and a pretty one at that. So that’s fun.
Blue-eyed grass in the meadow,
And the laden bee’s low hum,
Milkweeds all by the roadside,
To tell us summer is come.
— Mary Austin
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Meteoric Uncertainty
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, meteor shower, science, space, Thoughts on May 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
If you’re in North America, you may be treated to a dramatic meteor shower tonight.
Or, you know, maybe not.
Meteor storm of 1,000 shooting stars per hour possible this week | Space
The Tau Herculids meteor shower may light up the skies over North America on May 30 and 31. Or it may not. There’s a chance we might pass through the thickest part of the comet fragment that is creating the debris, in which case the night skies will be filled with shooting stars.
You can watch the possible tau Herculid meteor shower live online, courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project. The project’s astrophysicist Gianluca Masi will provide live all-sky cameras from Arizona and Brazil starting at 12 a.m. EDT (0400 GMT) on Tuesday, May 31.
I kind of love that despite all of humanity’s scientific advances, such events can remain a delightful surprise.
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F1-Grade Idea
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, F1, greener, Thoughts on May 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Today in super excellent ideas I’m giving away for free: I’m pretty sure that turning used F1 tires into premium-branded garage flooring would be a no-brainer.
What Does F1 Do With Used Tires? – One Stop Racing
How much would a superfan pay to walk on Lewis Hamilton’s or Charles Leclerc’s or Max Verstappen’s tires? I’m going to go with A Lot.
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No Rules
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, quotes, Thoughts, writing on May 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“There are no rules in fiction, only vague guidelines. Pick the approach that works best for you and write like the wind.”
— Ilona Andrews
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Ours to Carry
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, hope, inspiration, Thoughts on May 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
We can do better. We must do better.
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