Take one picture a day as a way to document my life

I am embarrassed to admit that I have been interested in solar ovens for over 20 years. I have read about them, started to build one, etc. But until I borrowed one today, I have never actually used one.

Someone in my neighborhood lent me his solar oven. Setup is a snap, and it was at 300 degrees within 20 minutes! (And today is overcast and not as hot as earlier in the week.) I created a veggie stew to cook in the oven. It should be done in 45-60 minutes.

My cat is checking it out, and the veggie stew is in the pot on the table.
This is fun, and it so obvious for me to continue using an solar oven. I don’t like cook in the summer because it heats up the kitchen – so cooking outdoors is my preference. This is ideal!

Another improvement is a new wider front walkway. The original walkway was only wide enough for one person, and was very narrow compared to the front porch. Things aren’t quite finished, I need to redo the fence and gate, but the basics are in place.

I need another image since this one looks like I live in a troll house…

I finally had the front yard turned into a patio so I can have people over. My house faces east so the backyard gets too hot in the summer to entertain. Putting a patio in the front yard solves the heat problem.

It’s a lot of brick at the moment. Furniture and potted plants will help break it up.

This picture shows the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis. It happens very quickly, a matter of seconds. The picture is “fuzzy” because the caterpillar had crawled up behind a spider web to attach to the house. To the right is a chrysalis that hasn’t hatched yet. They get very dark in color before the butterfly emerges.

The spot of “blood” is the waste fluid that is generated by the pupa. I was happy to learn that because I thought it meant that the spiders had killed the pupas.

This winter a large number of caterpillars crawled around my front door and turned into chrysalises. I cannot remember watching the entire process before. Perhaps we did in elementary school. I took photos of “my” butterflies and waited impatiently for them to emerge. When they did, I had to look on the internet to figure out what they were. Some actually chose a spider’s web to use as the anchor point, and survived! It was a long few weeks as the butterflies emerged and I kept them safe from spiders, cats, and birds as best I could. We had alternating hot and cold weather during this time which I think played havoc with the butterflies.

I hope that some caterpillars will return next year so I can watch them again. The picture is one of the butterflies as it was drying its wings.

is a perfect way to start the day. The only thing better would be to be outside while drinking coffee. This was the view I had from my perch in the store. I went shopping after I finished my coffee.

Fun!

There is a lovely cemetery near my house that I visit sometimes. There are some famous people buried there, at least famous in this neck of the woods. Mostly I just find that it is very peaceful there and I enjoy looking at the headstones as I wonder about the people buried there.

My friend first took me there several years ago. She was looking for the grave of an artist who is buried there. I thought it was a bit strange until I started understanding the amount of history that is in the cemetery. Since then I have become very fond of findagrave.com and sometimes I take photos of the headstones that people request. It was one such visit that I came across the headstone of a woman who has my name – that was strange. I visit her grave sometimes. I wonder what she was like, and what she did for a living. I visited her grave today, checking in with someone I never knew but somehow feel connected to.

And then I explored some of the crypts nearby. I saw one that had a mention of where I work. The name wasn’t familiar, once I got home I did a google search and found out that George Zakas worked there when I first started. Our histories overlapped. I shall see if I can find out more about him from people who still work at lab and may have known him.

It really made me think about my life when I saw that someone’s life was summarized in one sentence on a headstone. What would my headstone say? I couldn’t find an answer that satisfied me.

computer, coffee and cats. It’s a good way to start a day.

Usually the stealth bomber flies over at the start of the Rose Parade, and at the start of the Rose Bowl game. If the fighters escort it, I can hear it coming and go out in my backyard and watch it fly by. This year, it wasn’t escorted for the Rose Bowl game so I only saw it on its return trip.

My friend who lives ~2 miles away shot a video. Check the picture out.

A new red bowl that I saw and just had to buy. It was very inexpensive. :) I love the color and shall use it for salads, pasta and chips.