tidbit Tuesday!

You get a bonus post this week for being so patient with me and my erratic and unpredictable offerings. Tidbit Tuesday turns out not to be a regular occurrence but instead something I do once in a very great while when I want to share things that don't exactly fall under the "art, craft, design" theme.

So here goes:

Bread!
My friend gave me an old issue of Grit Magazine's "Country Skills Series" and this one was "Guide to Homemade Bread" (circa February 2013). And in there was an article about a method where you let your yeast rise 12 to 18 hours and then bake the loaf inside a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven. I don't think this is a new invention in the bread-baking world but it was new to me. The week I got the magazine I made 3 loaves! I tried the whole wheat, the parmesan pesto, and the cinnamon roll breads. Amazing! Delicious! I feel so fancy! And did you see that loaf up there? Isn't it photo-worthy?

Mail from all over the world!
I am a huge fan of old-fashioned snail mail. The design of the stamps, lovely stationery, a hand-written note – all of it. I think it is one of the most delightful gifts you can give a person! So when I read about postcrossings.com I was super excited!

You set up an account, send out five postcards to the addresses they supply you (other members) and then wait. The people you send postcards to will log it on the site (there is a special code you write on the card). After the card you sent is received, then your address will pop up for another user and you will get a postcard in the mail. So ideally you get one back for every one you send. Very festive! I sent postcards to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, China, and Germany. I just got an email this afternoon that my postcard to the Ukraine arrived. The woman who received it wrote me a little note of thanks.

Interesting little shop in Grand Rapids – Have Company!
A friend just told me about this place. I haven't had a chance to go there in person but it looks pretty cool. I am enamored with this print of the full moon. For all the rest of you, online ordering is available.

tidbit Tuesday

1. Katydids (or "Leaf Bugs" according to my daughters) are pretty sweet.
We saw this one sitting on the back of a car at a park one recent evening. Nature never ever fails to impress me. All I have to do it get outside.

2. Still
I saw an interview with the photographer Mary Jo Hoffman in Martha Stewart Magazine and was intrigued. So of course I had to go check out her blog. So. Very. Beautiful. I have dabbled in similar things – y'all know I love my details shots of nature so I really appreciate her work.

3. I touched this snake.
I wanted to set a brave example for my daughters and teach appreciating instead of freak-outing!

tidbit Tuesday

1. Doesn't this cicada look like it has an olive green flame job? Like a custom motorcycle? Just sayin'.

2. This homemade recipe for removing cat pee and its horrendous smell from carpet, courtesy of cat people in Australia, actually works. Kind of messy and it actually looks worse before you vacuum in the final step but my goodness it actually works. Props to them.

3. I am loving this library book: Better Than Peanut Butter & Jelly: Vegetarian Recipes Your Kids Will Love! by Marty Mattare and Wendy Muldawer. Almost every recipe we've tried has been a hit, even with the kiddos. I especially recommend the taco soup – so yummy!

tidbit Tuesday!

One of the many bloggers I follow occasionally (regularly?) posts a list of funny little things she has learned that week. None of them warrant a full post and some of them really have nothing to do with the regular theme of the blog. I enjoy the lists though and they allow me, the reader, to know her more personally.

So along that line, I bring you "tidbit Tuesday" where I throw out some tidbits. I don't think it will happen every Tuesday but you never know.

1. Use Feedly if you read any blogs on a regular basis.
Don't rely on a bunch of bookmarks. Don't bother googling the name of the blog each time you want to check in on it. Instead, pile all your favorites into Feedly. You can even – heart flutter – organize them into folders. Yours truly is a bit of a blog addict. I follow roughly 50 blogs at any given time so this keeps everything all in one easy-to-check place. I can read by category, or by individual blog, and I often pick and choose, skipping posts that don't interest me. Feedly also has a feature where you can save things you want to look at later.

2. Birds are migrating!
Keep your eyes peeled for interesting feathered friends fluttering about. Last week I saw a group of these brown speckled birdies (see photo above) eating off the ground in my front yard and got obsessed with figuring out what they were. Best as I can tell, and I am no expert birder by any means, they are they Gray-Cheeked Thrush. They summer north of me in Canada and winter far south in the tropics.

3. Great new book: The Returned by Jason Mott
I don't consider myself a sci-fi reader but I don't mind a dash of it or any other supernatural elements within a more realistic story. Could not put this one down and neglected many things to keep reading another bit. Plus, I was kind of sad when it was over. That's a sign of a good read if you ask me!