10 on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Birds



So, I have to admit that my 10 favorite birds are not exactly the ones you think would be anyone's favorites.  I like birds that are more interesting than pretty, especially the ones that make me tilt my head to the side and say "huh?" 

Ducks at Hunnewell Park in
Wellesley, MA

1) Peacock - Ok, so this bird is just pretty.  I love the long complex feathers they have and how they can hide their plumage. Group name: a Muster



2) Flamingo - Any bird that can wear hot pink and not be ashamed is good with me.  While flamingos are beautiful in a lot of ways, they are a little odd looking as well.  But apparently we like them enough to put fake ones made out of plastic on our lawns. Group name: a Stand.

Seagull while sailing around
Dead Neck/Sampson's Island
Sancutary in Cotuit, MA

3) Duck - I looooove ducks!  In college we had a nice gig pond in the center of campus and there were quite a few ducks that called that pond home.  We named them, gave them bread and enjoyed watching them every day... I think I have always really enjoyed feeding ducks since I was a little kid and used to go to the park to feed them with my Aunt Sandy.  Group name: a Badelynge, Bunch, Brace, Flock, Paddling, Raft or Team. 

4) Seagull - I spend a good deal of my time when I'm on vacation either on or near the ocean and seagulls are part of that complete oceanside package.  They are very resourceful birds.  Probably my favorite things about them are their foraging skills.  I have personally been dive bombed by one trying to get my hot dog.  While annoying, seagulls do really entertain me. Group name: a Flock or Colony (breeding group only).



Hawk at King Richard's Faire

in Carver, MA

5) Hummingbird - I just can't get over how these little guys even function.  They are so tiny and have to eat almost constantly so that they can keep moving.  I also find it really cool that when they fly by you they sounds like bees. Group name: a Charn

6) Hawk - Hawks are predatory birds with good eyesight that tend to hunt from above in concealed perches.  To me they are just beautiful and look very intelligent.  Group name: a Cast



7) Owl - I like how owls look all nice and sweet, but actually are excellent hunters, especially in low light conditions.  They have serrated edges on their flying feathers to make them quiet flyers and they can turn their heads up to 270 degrees in either direction.  Very cool.  Group name: a Parliament.

8) Swan - Ok, I love swans because they are just so graceful, serene and gorgeous.  A girl has to like something pretty doesn't she? Group name:  a Bevy, Lamentation, Herd, Game, Team or Wedge.

 

Swan at the Reservior in
Waltham, MA

9) Crow - Crows are in the same family as ravens, which are also pretty neat. I think I mostly like crows because of their black feathers and very distunctive call. Granted I really don't appreciate the latter when they are camping out behind my apartment buiding making a racket at 5 in the morning. Oh, also of note, a group of crows is called a murder.

10) Vulture - Vultures are opportunists and attack the ill or weak.  Some new world vultures have a keen sense of smell that helps them find food from up to a mile mile away.  Group name: a Wake.



If you don't like cute mice, don't watch this video

About three weeks ago we opened our grill to find a nest of three newly born baby mine and their mama.  Being decidedly prone to the preservation of cute furry animals, we researched and found that baby mice wean in three weeks.  Thus it was decided that we would put the cover on the grill for three weeks and let the babies grow up as they are want to do.  Today was the three week point, so we cracked open the grill to see who was still at home.  Turns out there were two mice there.  The first one fairly flew out of the grill when exposed to us and the other, well.... reacted differently.  Truly, we fail at mouse wrangling.

$2.00 Worth of Endless Entertainment and other Farmer's Market Adventures

I never would have thought that picking up a little can of cat grass at the Farmer's Market at Longfellow's Wayside Inn last weekend would provide my husband and I with so much entertainment...  As you can see, Molly REALLY likes her cat grass!  Actually, she gets so into eating it that she picks the whole container up, noms for a bit and then drops it on the floor.  This of course leaves a lovely little pile of dirt for me to clean up and that's kind of hard to do when you are giggling :-)

So, I bought this cute little plant from a couple of tweens who were selling inexpensive pet treats at their little stand at the farmers market.  Their set up was so cute I had to take a picture of it (see below).  While the market was fairly small I was ok with that since I didn't have a lot of time to wander.

Here are a few pictures of the the stands I visited while I was at the market.

The Wayside Inn had a table featuring lots of homemade baked items.  I picked up some blueberry scones, a single serving apple pie (which was way more than one serving) and some corn rolls which were made with corm meal that was ground at the inn's Grist Mill just a little down the road.  The Grist Mill has been in operation since 1929 and is a beautiful place to take pictures.  People commonly get wedding photos taken there if they get married at the Martha Mary Chapel across the street.  Click here to see an online tour of historic Sudbury.  You can even print out the tour and follow it by "foot, horse, or coach." :-)

My day would not be complete with out seeing some baby alpaca. Soooo cute!  Plus they are from a very local farm called Twillingate where is the future I could arrange to purchase a whole alpaca blanket (fleece) to process and spin.  So much potential!

I got a nice handmade memo basket for my dad for father's day from the people at this stand.  I filled it up with a bunch of locally grown veggies, a sampling of the herbs from our garden and other various items I bought at the farmer's market. 

I think the best find of the day was this HUGE cherry tomato plant I got from a farmer based in Bolton.  It was only $16 which is think is a steal!  What was great was that there were already little red tomatoes all over it that were ready to be picked so we could enjoy them right away.  Since putting it out in our garden the plant has produced a bunch more, so I'm really happy.

Well, that's about it.  I would highly recommend checking out the Wayside Inn Farmer's Market if you are local.  The market is running every Saturday this summer from 10am-2:30pm through October 2nd.  I definately plan on going back every few weeks to see what is new and get some more of those delicious corn rolls. 

Since it isn't so big you may want to plan to do some other things in the area as well such walking the Tour of Historic Sudbury I mentioned above, walking the Garden in the Woods in Framingham, or rent a kayak or canoe and navigate the Concord River from the South Bridge Boat House in Concord.  There are lots of things to do in the area, so you can really make a day of the trip if you are coming from far away and do a little bit of planning.

Apples, apples everywhere....

...and not a bite to eat! Well, ok, I lied. There was tons to eat, including this amazing apple cider donut (my favorite of all time).

This past Saturday a group of our friends including 6 adults (in physical age only), a three year old and a very cute Redbone Coonhound met at Shelburne Farm in Acton, MA for our Annual Apple Day. Unfortunately, a few of our friends weren't able to be there with us due to things like living in other states and illness, but the spirit of Apple Day was present nonetheless. We just hope they can make it next year.

The day was one of those that seems like it's going to be freezing, yet somehow you end up warm. After looking at the llama, sheep and goats and grabbing a donut, we began our trek into the orchard.

It actually took us a little while to find some good apples because many of the trees were picked clean on the portion that we could reach without a ladder. The main reason for this was that the farm was keeping certain areas of the orchard closed off so other pickers would be able to find fruit later on in the season.

We were looking primarily for Macs and Cortlands, which have turned out to be great choices for both pie baking and applesauce making over the years. After a little bit of hunting, however we did find some nice examples of appley goodness within reach and even discovered that our mini-person (blame Brian for that name) could fit under all the trees and get to all the apples we couldn't reach without breaking the branches. Luke, you definitely earned your keep on Saturday! I swear he personally filled the last 1/2 a bag himself while the rest of us just watched.

Katie the Coonhound also helped out by keeping us apprised of all the other people around us, not to mention the other dogs who came out with their respective family members. Isn't she beautiful? I always get such great pictures of her when she finds her way into my viewfinder.

After returning to the farm stand for our well earned cider and ice cream we headed back to Erin & Joel's to begin phase II of Apple Day: The Apple Peeling/Coring/Dicing Extravaganza. This process used to take ages, especially back in the day when we first started the tradition. For many years grossly overestimated how many apples we needed to make pies for each of the households and applesauce as well. So, the prep process seemed endless... especially since we did all the work by hand, but over time we gradually got better and then this year we were spot on.

We ended up getting only one bushel, which turned out to be the perfect amount to provide for all the folks present this year. We also have made the process less tedious by investing in a few apple peeler, corer/slicers. Of the two we used, mine (of course) was made of failure. Tara's, however, worked like a charm and the three of us girls had all the apples set to go in an hour or two. Edit: Correction! Mine is no longer full of fail. The cutting blade was just was set out far enough. Now that the adjustment has been made, mine works perfectly! Ha! Ok, well, except for the handle that keeps falling off...

We still have to cut the peeled apples after they go through the machine, but really this is so easy, its almost not like work at all.

At the end of the day, we would up with four pies (thanks go to Heather's mom for the recipe), a nice sized cauldron full of yummy tart applesauce we split up and 9 cups of apple butter (a newcomer to our usual recipe list). Mmmmmm... apple butter... It turns out that apple butter is really just applesauce that has been pureed and made thicker by boiling it down. You can find the recipe we used here at Cooking Light.

A wiley visitor

I've seen this guy around the apartment complex a few times lately, but this week was the first time I was able to get close enough to take a nice picture of him. He kept on lookng right at me when I was snapping away, wandered around the playground for a bit and then sauntered off into the woods.

rafael?!?!?!

Ok, so this isn't my favorite ninja turtle and yes, I did have a favorite one. This is apparently one of the many snapping turtles that pass through my friends' (Becca & John) backyard. I was over at their place Saturday with Becca and her bridesmaids before we went out for her bachelorette party. While we were getting ready to head out for Becca's evening of torture, we saw this guy attempting to pass by unnoticed. I just couldn't resist going out and snapping (groan) a pic of him.

surprise metamorphosis

When Brian went out to grill out lunch today, we noticed this:
















A caterpillar must have gotten stuck between the glass and the screen of our slider door long enough to have it change into a butterfly. Neat huh? After, I flashed my camera at him a few times, we set him free and he fluttered off into the woods.