Summer (Magazine) Reading

By Elizabeth Prata

I started my Summer Reading Plan on Monday and it's going well. It like it, which means I will probably follow it all the way to the end of summer, like I did last summer. It gives structure to my days, and helps me feel like I accomplished something. Plus, the books are interesting. Really interesting!

In between the stack of books I am reading, I also have a stack of magazines I haven't gotten to. My plan was to read the magazines with coffee on my patio in the mornings, before it got too hot. (The patio is concrete). I wanted to get a little sun on my face and perhaps turn from Casper the Ghost to light brown Italian olive picker. I also planned to clip my succulents and maybe re-pot a few of them. That WAS the plan. Georgia weather had different ideas.

It's been August-hot here since mid-May. Unusually hot temps have seared the state and smashed records. So, I am inside. That is quite all right. I am still having a wonderful summer and enjoying the time off. I feel for the folks in the middle of the country enduring the thunderstorms and tornadoes.

I do hope it rains soon. The once lush spring grass has withered and turned brown, as it will do without water When spring sprung, it seemed as if the green velvet carpet over the pastures would last forever. But the Bible says it will wither. The flowers will fade. (Isaiah 40:8). It happened fast, though. I know the grass will bounce back when the rain does come.

Meanwhile, I have plenty to read. :)

Summer is finally here

By Elizabeth Prata

Summer vacation seems like one long string of days with no weekend.

The last day of school for the kids was Tuesday at noon, and for staff around 1:00 today. Saturday I'd planned on attending a wedding, but I currently have pneumonia, so that's out. So is my church service I attend on Sunday. Monday, Lord willing, if I feel better I will kick off my summer break with a Reading Plan and a Photo A Day series.

Last summer I posted a picture a day from my tiny environs of the small apartment and yard. It was a challenge to myself to be creative and look with a new eye to things I see every day. I don't have exotic locations to go to or interest in selfies or particularly good people skills enough to take street photog. So year before last I took a bunch of pictures of macro subjects. Last year was simply a pic a day to tell the story of the highlight of my day. This year I might go for a theme. Things that Look Like Letters. Or, Metal. Or, Monochrome. Or, Diptych collages. I liked the ideas in this Creative Idea series.

This website states, "Many budding photographers find that their work takes a distinctive leap forward once they start working on a photo series instead of just standalone images. This is because a well-conceived photo series will provide focus and naturally guide the photographer towards uncovering and defining their own distinctive style. This kind of project is excellent for those looking to create a portfolio or Instagram feed with a strong, cohesive look.

Summer is a good time to expand my creativity. I'll be well rested and have no work to go to. Perfect time to widen those photography horizons. If I can stay out of the hospital.

I've had pneumonia several times over the years, as well as an almost annual bronchitis until I left teaching. Then the colds and bronchitis and pneumonia stopped. I've been back to education for ten years now and though the first few years I had successive sinus infections, the last five or so years have been relatively healthy. I've only had to take a day or two off work all year. So I thought I was done with all that. Silly me.

At least the timing is good! School was essentially done and I have 9 weeks to rest and recover.

Now that's enough of that. No one wants to hear of an old lady's medical problems, lol.

Summer is here, the Memorial Day weekend is upon us. I hope you all have fun, good BBQ's in the back yard, pools, beaches, books, fireflies, long-off rumbles of thunder, and peace.

But remember the reason for the holiday. Men and women who fought for America and gave their lives, so that we may have freedom to speak, assemble, vote, and...pursue happiness. As you pursue it this weekend give a prayer to families who are mourning a military loved one.

Happy Summer!

It's Saturday, but Summer's a coming!

By Elizabeth Prata

We are in the last days. LOL, not the last days before Jesus returns, the last days of school. We conclude the 2018-19 school year on May 21 at noon for the kids and Friday, May 24 for the teachers and staff.

It's hot, the temps are around the mid-80s, and tempers are about as hot. We love each other, but we are tired and worn out. It's just the way it works. When the last day comes, we are all ready to go our separate ways. When August first comes, we are all joyfully ready to see each other again.

This has been a really good year. I am blessed. I love my school. I love my Administrators. I love my Teacher. I love the kids. This year the chemistry among the kids in our class was smooth as butter most days, and they quickly cohered into a working group of pliable and well behaved children. A dream.

People have been asking each other "What are you going to do this summer?" They plan trips, they transport their kids to various sports camps or Christian camps, they swim in their pools. Whatever people plan to do, they are usually items of leisure and ease. Teaching is hard, wearying adn emotionally draining.

Personally I am not planning any trips, but plan to go home and stay there. I want to make progress on Challies' Christian Book Reading plan, study the Bible, write, and nap. I might go on a photo expedition or two and return with lots of pictures to process.

I call it hermit season.

The bliss of dwelling inside my home in clothing that is sensitive on my skin, being quiet, not having to converse, and being relieved of stresses that an autistic mind encounters, is compelling. I have not written much about these kind of struggles, but they are there and they are tiring. I need the summers.

For now, here are a few photos you may enjoy:

Mid-centrury building, Athens Technical College

Cat shaped car perfume:

Saturday Morning coffee with whipped cream

The Most Inconvenient Bookstore, Paper Planes, Bauhaus, and more!

By Elizabeth Prata

It has been a busy and hectic week, as it usually is at school with mere 16 student days remaining. We have field trips, State Assessment testing, changed schedules, pollen allergies and sinus infections making one last grip on tired bodies, final standards to achieve...

In our area, we finish the school year by Memorial Day. We begin the school year at the very beginning of August. I like the schedule, but it has taken some getting used to after a lifetime in New England starting school, both as student and a teacher, after Labor Day and finishing in Mid-June.

This is a great season of the year though. The green of a southern spring is vibrant and lasts a long time. I enjoy watching the buds burst and the myriad bushes flower into a riot of color.

The anticipation of a sweet summer at home the most powerful lure of my job as a teacher's aide. It's one of the reasons I re-entered education a second time. I love kids and I love teaching them to the extent my teacher allows me to, and being with them and seeing their growth, and their silliness. Kids are cute. But I also love staying at home in the summertime. It's true that I need to live for 12 months on a 9-month salary, but I make it stretch without having to get a second job.

Of course I have a stack of books to read through this summer. I'll do some crafting. Photography before it gets too hot. I refreshed my patio so I'll read outside during the cool mornings. That is about it for plans this summer. No plans to travel. No plans to attend any big events. I call it "Hermit Season." Just church and grocery store. Then home.

Here are some light stories I've read this week. I hope you enjoy. They are along the themes I like: books, art and design, and sweet movies.

Here is a story about The Most Inconvenient Bookstore

Tucked away off the highway in Perdue, Sask. (pop. 300), Crawford’s Used Books doesn’t have a website—but it holds twice the number of volumes as the main library in Guelph, Ont.

Crawford works his way through his book shop in Perdue, Sask. (Photograph by Mark Taylor)

Somehow, even 100 years later, Bauhaus is still fresh. That makes me think about how exciting and ground-breaking it was back in the day.

Bauhaus then:

The Bauhaus school didn’t shy away from the impact of change, but instead embraced it. Students were taught to embrace modern technologies in order to succeed in a modern environment. ‘Form follows function’ was the key teaching of the Bauhaus, and this was applied in the school’s approach to graphic design and typography, as well as architecture.

Bauhaus-inspired now:


I enjoyed this movie out of Australia, called Paper Planes. It's not rated, being a foreign film, but Common Sense Media reviews it as appropriate for 10 and up. See their review at the link. I like clean, charming, small, quiet, movies and if it stars a kid I'm  even more interested. I enjoyed the main (child) actor, Ed Oxenbould.



Here are some spring scenes from my backyard and immediate area I'd snapped this morning.

The mulch awaits...



The Golden Hour...



Good morning: moonset over pine trees at 6:30 AM:



My hosta is growing:



I enjoy the different shades of green across the yard into the pasture next door:



Enjoy the day everyone! Thanks for reading.

Spring Break 2019 Roundup

By Elizabeth Prata

I have four hours left of my Spring Break. At 1:30 I leave for 2:00 Sunday School, then Church service, then Small Group at 5:45. By the time I get home at around 8:00pm, it's time for my nighttime-closing down routine and then bed by 9. So this is it.

I had plans and goals for this week off from school. I didn't go away anywhere exotic. I stayed in my mind, which is exotic enough, lol. I wanted to rest my ACL muscle and let it recover. It had been giving me trouble. Wearing a knee brace helped, but the brace rubbed the skin off the back of my knee and I also wanted that to heal. So, not a lot of walking.

I wanted to nap and rest with the cats, which is very relaxing to me. When I get on the bed for an afternoon rest or nap, they climb on and nestle around me, purring. It's so wonderful. I lay there looking at the ceiling and letting my thoughts wander and listen to them purr.

I wanted to read some books. I have a pile. As any bibliophile knows, the reading never keeps up with the accumulation. I read three books (a disappointment since I'd set a goal of 5). The three I read are listed below. The thing is, I then bought 4 more. LOL, I'm behind once again, happily.

Banner of Truth Trust had a $3 sale. Are there any better words than that? Except Ligonier's $1 eBook sale or Ligonier's Friday $5 sale...or the elders at church piling up a stack of books the church had bought and saying "Here, take a book for free..." Our church is filled with readers.

Here's what I got at Banner of Truth's $3 sale-

Both Sides Now: Ecclesiastes and the Human Condition by Peter Barnes. I am fascinated with Ecclesiastes. I think it's because I was not saved until age 42, and I remember distinctly what it feels like to be lost. I think that is also why I'm so fascinated with grace.

Letters on Revival, by Ebenezer Porter. The author was an eyewitness to the New England revivals, and has valuable insights, warnings, and encouragements. I love the Puritans, I believe because I was raised in Rhode Island, one of the original colonies. My school history days were full of tales of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson and I was fascinated by people who clung to a religion so much that they would sail off in leaky boats across the Atlantic to pursue it. Their act was a powerful witness.

The Way Everlasting: A Study in Psalm 139, by E. J. Young. I'm intrigued by the Psalms. I don't really click with them for encouragement the way a lot of people do. I think it's because of my autistic brain not connecting with emotions as much. For encouragement, I like Ecclesiastes and Revelation, that is where I get my comfort, strangely. So this little book studying one Psalm, I hope will introduce me to the majesties I know the Psalm contains.

Books I Read:

Narrow Gate, Narrow Way by Paul Washer
Work and Our Labor in the Lord by James M. Hamilton
Internet Inferno: A Contemporary Warning and Reminder Regarding this Ancient Truth - "The Tongue is a Fire, the Very World of Iniquity, and is Set on Fire by Hell" James 3:6, by Michael John Beasley
Lit! Tony Reinke

I didn't finish Lit! the way I'd hoped. I had also wanted to start and finish The Believer's Joy by M'Cheyne and Idols of a Mom's Heart, two books our church recently gave away. But oh, well, the naps won out!

Things I Bought: (Must. Be. Frugal.)

File folders
Small Birdhouse
Small Planter
DampRid for the closet
All but the DampRid from The Special Store (local vintage thrift shop).

Books I Bought:

Banner of Truth $3 sale-
Both Sides Now: Ecclesiastes and the Human Condition
Letters on Revival by Ebenezer Porter
The Way Everlasting: A Study in Psalm 139 by E. J. Young

Must.Not.Be.Frugal when it comes to books...Axiom does not apply...

From Amazon-

The American Puritans by Perry Miller. One of the guys I follow on Twitter recommended the book. As mentioned, I love the Puritans, and yes, I judge a book by its cover, and I loved the cover. It's pretty. And New England-y.

Fortunately, summer is coming when I have the time off between Memorial Day and July 30, so I plan to read. I am still chugging along on the Challies Christian Book Challenge at the Avid level.

I also had a goal of organizing some things. I have one closet. My drawers were overflowing. I go through my clothes every two years or so and get rid of what I haven't worn, and make room. I was busy talking myself out of that when a friend dropped off two large trash bags of clothes she was giving me, so that rationalization ended that. I sorted hers, kept what suited and donated the rest, along with my own clothes that I needed to move along out of here. I've got one and only one closet in this place and I need to keep it manageable. So I organized the clothes in the bureau and the closet. Feels good! As well as donating.

And this might sound strange, but I also had a goal of organizing my jewelry. I don't like to wear jewelry that much. It feels funny on me, and heavy. I also leave it to the very last second when getting ready for work in the morning, and if I can't work the clasp, or if the strands are tangled, I am 100% likely to just throw it back in the box and go on with my day. I have nearly zero tolerance for jewelry frustrations. But when I do wear it, I get compliments, so obviously, it is important to look nice, or polished, or something.

I reorganized my box and untangled. I also did some surgery of removing the smaller clasps and putting larger links on them, for easier putting on or removal. Needle nose pliers and tweezers accomplished this while I was listening to Laura Twiss explain about Psalms 3-7. Still trying with the Psalms... I also took the time to clean the silver and wash the gold.

One other reorganizing project I had mentally scheduled as a goal, in addition to the clothes and jewelry, was my China display. I live in a 400 sf apartment and the kitchen is small. It has little counter space. And little wall space. I like to display my teacups and teapots in an orderly way. Doing so looks nice, because the china patterns are lovely to look at. Orderliness also affords easy access when I want to actually use them, which is practically every day. However I have some teacups doubled up and I don't like that. The china display is about 90% where I want it to be but I can't seem to get it over the top.

Those bottom two loops are not designed
for hanging cups. But I needed a spot to display them so...

Which caused the saucers to be stacked up apart from their cup

There is an unused space in the corner of the counter. It was jumbled and not used well. In a small apartment, every space counts, even space that's just a few inches. I searched for a long time for corner display shelving at Amazon and Amazon Warehouse. (Frugal tip: scroll to the very bottom of the Amazon.com page. See the Book Repository and Warehouse, two sections of the store that sell the items for lower prices.) Nothing. The shelf I have now actually holds a lot. I got it at a yard sale like 11 years ago for under $5.

Still, I searched for a replacement counter top shelf that maybe could hold more or in a better way. Nada. Stumped, I started thinking...what do I already have that would fit into that space? Something tall so the teapot I put on it will be displayed and not hidden. Hmmm...

Voila! I have a glass vase. It's clear so it won't make the space look crowded and just the right height to put the teapot on. I found a coaster of the right size and placed the Hall's 1920's tea pot on top. It freed up space for the Japanese cups clustered unseen in the corner and allowed me to spread out the doubled up tea cups a bit. The display is about 95% now. I still would like to display every tea cup with its saucer and another wall rack would solve that, but I simply don't have the wall space. I might have to live with this the way it is. As long as I do not buy another teacup...

The bowl is an Iroquois china, Harvest Time pattern, Mid-Century. 1958 - 1969
I use it for a fruit bowl. I have eaten all the fruit. 

I'm blessed to own 8 teapots, 11 china teacups, and three Japanese Yunomi cups. I figured out a way to display them all in my small apartment, somaybe I'm not doing so bad. I found a teabag display organizer on Amazon while I was looking for counter top china display shelving! I put it on my wish list, because the tea cupboard is the next thing I plan to organize.

I know I go on about organizing, but it is frustrating to me to see clutter. Any extra cluttr makes the place seem smaller. I also feel frustrated when I have to hunt, or wrestle things from their spaces to use them. Living tiny means extra steps anyway, you do not want to add to that with extra steps that are under your control. Example, getting a paper towel. I don't have room for it on the counter, so instead of one move, lean over and grab, I have to bend down, open cabinet under sink, take out the roll, rip one off, put back under counter, and close door. Instead of one step, there are now 6 steps. You do not want to add to that by having to reach, hunt, or reorganize, just to get one paper towel. Keep things streamlined as much as possible. Makes life easier.

Movies Watched:

Measure of a Man
East Side Sushi
The Ramen Girl
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
The Highwaymen
Barkley Marathons
The Polka King
Carrie Pilby

Youtube Channels Subscribed to:

Centsible Living with Money Mama (focusing on financial frugality and time saving)
Frugal Minimalist (life hack tips for saving money)
Dr. Lori Verderame (appraisals of thrift store items)
Alexandra Gater (home decor/interior design on a budget)

Sermons listened to:
Lots. Phil Johnson, John MacArthur, Mike Riccardi, Sinclair Ferguson, Steve Lawson, RC Sproul...I love these men and the way they exposit scripture. Also heard Laura Twiss for the first time (Paul Twiss's wife), teaching at the Ladies Ministry at Grace Community Church, called Every Woman's Grace.

Blogs written:
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People seen or visited with:
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As of Monday when I return to school, there are 31 1/2 days left with the kids, and 3 days of post-planning. We're done on May 24. So we are winding down. I can't believe another year has gone by. They do go quickly. I try to be productive and redeem the time. I sometimes feel I could do more. But can I? Should I? I can only do what I can do. I appreciate these respites from the loudness and (to me) chaos of life outside the apartment. My brain has to work so hard to just keep up with normal life. Sometimes I feel like George Jetson on the treadmill after the cat scares the dog and the treadmill speeds up to beyond his ability to keep up.

But Jesus will keep me, hold me, lift me.

Have a great Sunday and Monday everyone. Summer's a-coming!

It's the end of #sluglife. For now...

By Elizabeth Prata

This morning is the true first morning of Spring Break. I am at home, not at school. I am not hurrying to the copy room to copy the day's papers. I am not on the walkie calling for cleanup of the puke in the hall. I am not on duty in the loud lunchroom. I am not at my desk quickly reading the day's Memo of events. I am at home, even this hour at 10:30 am, in my pj's. I drank lovely coffee slowly, not gulped. I wrote a blog on The End Time about music. I have been listening to the Gaither channel on Pandora. I am content.

This is the scene:

Start the day off right, not just with coffee, but make it 'weekend special' by adding whipped cream.

My table/desk. Coffee, laptop, book in progress, and notes for next blog:

My constant companion while I write (only in the morning, in the afternoon he goes and climbs under the covers and stays in bed the rest of the day) Murray-

My afternoon plans. I'll get dressed and put away the laundry, also make the bed (hard to do with Murray in it) and then spend the afternoon reading. I have a lot of books on deck.

In case you can't see the titles on a small phone screen, they are:

• Lit! Tony Reinke
• Visual Guide to the Bible, Challies & Byers
• In a Different Key: The Story of Autism, Donvan & Zucker
• The Believer's Joy, M'Cheyne
• It Can't Happen Here, Sinclair Lewis
• Valley of Vision, Abbott, editor
• Work & our Labor in the Lord, Hamilton
• Idols of a Mother's Heart, Fox
• Internet Inferno, Beasley
• Banner of Truth Magazine
• Southern Living

My food prep this week will still continue. I need to eat stuff and since I am the only one here, I have to cook it. I am working very hard not to have any processed food or any junk food etc. Meals to come:

Dinners:
Rice noodles with tofu and green beans
Baked spaghetti with spinach and mushrooms
Enchiladas with fresh cheese and avocado on top

Lunches:
Crabcake sandwich
Turkey sandwich
Green salads

Sides:
Fruit (bananas, grapes, peaches, ugli fruit, plums)
Nuts

I bought several gluten-free items Friday, which KILLED my budget, but I figured I'd try a few items and then frugally seed them into the occasional weekly menu. I got:

Freschetta pizza
Ezekiel sprouted grain bread
Bagels
Waffles
Base Camp blonde brownie
G-F spaghetti

That's $30 right there. Each gluten free item generally costs at minimum, $5. The pizza was $10. The spaghetti was on sale as was the brownie. Still. I cannot forsee buying all of these each week. Maybe one of them, once per month. But I am trying them and then keeping track of how I like them so I can make a mindful choice as to how to enhance my menus without getting sick all the time. I'll review them at some point soon.

OK I better get moving if I am to get on my schedule for reading by noon!

Spring planting and patio decorations

By Elizabeth Prata

The pollen is too heavy outside for me to stay out long. My eyes get dry and itchy, and my nose runs. The sun is bright and the breeze is gentle, and the temps are perfect. But I scuttled back inside anyway, the pollen kills me. Here is the beginning of my refreshing the patio area. Soon when the plants and flowers are put out for sale (when freeze possibility has passed, early April) I'll get a few and plant into my pots.

My idea is to replant my small succulents into the square white planter I got. (Not pictured.) Also to have a flowering plant join the chicken on the table. I'll replant the two large pots on the ground. I might get a hanging plant for near the door.

It's not a whole lot, but it's more than I've done the last couple of years. Springtime is so fun!

Sad trombone

By Elizabeth Prata

My spring break started tonight. I celebrated by driving up to The Special Store in search of a certain teacup I'd seen on their photographic previews. The folks at the store buy estate sales, and then sell the lots that they have acquired in their store. There are many unique and beautiful things, some charming finds, and just plain useful items, too. When they get a new lot in, they often post photos from the estate to whet our appetite, though unpacking the items once they've arrived at the store's storage locker may take a week or two.

I saw this china set and fell in love with the teacup. I trust my gut when it comes to spotting things, and this one in the picture looked like it would be a good find.

Label said simply pottery set mid-century china. Special Store pic

Turns out it was. Or would have been. I found the plates, sandwich dishes, and saucers. But the teacup was not among them. No teacup? Waaah. The ladies who decorated the store and the ladies who unpacked the items had no idea about the teacup. They had not seen it.

It is from the Rhythm line, pattern "Lotus Hai" (RY-135) by Homer Laughlin Company and it was produced from circa 1945-1955 (Mid-century). HLC were the folks who brought us Fiesta Ware.

I have a soft spot for Homer Loughlin stuff. My nascent interest was birthed as a tot ambling around my grandparents' house. They had a house in the city and a house at the beach. The beach house was light and airy, and in the huge dining room with long table, was a built-in hutch with glass front. I loved the dishes stacked inside, these were the Fiesta ware items full of bright and bold colors. My favorite was the rose color, introduced in 1951.

When I grew up and started visiting yard sales, when I spotted a few Fiesta dishes it all came rushing back. I started collecting the original ones from the 1930s colors and the 1950s.

I paused the collecting for around 20 years, but when I moved to Georgia and found The Special Store I began to collect again. I stuck to looking for teacups and teapots. I can't go TOO crazy because I live in a small space.

The Homer Laughlin Company's series Rhythm is described as, 'Large Leaves, Green & White Floral, platinum trim.' Hopefully mostly lead-free, lol.

I bought a sandwich plate. I said to the ladies at the store that if they come across the teacup, I want it. I have low hopes, though. It probably broke in the transfer or unpacking, or something.

I have a Homer Laughlin Eggshell Cavalier teapot. The teapot is a mid-century style pot in Spring Song pattern. It was actively sold between 1952-1959. SO mid-century! Mine is indicated by the stamp as a 1955 period. It's large, the largest pot I own. I really like mid-century modern styles, as long as the motifs aren't overdone with the outer space patterns of galaxies and stars and stuff.

So that is how it goes. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don't. I usually score when I'm not looking for something specific. When I am, even if it from a fairly sure thing from their own photos, someone has bought it before I get there, and I miss out. I like to just go and see what's there and strikes my fancy.

I bought a square white ceramic planter to put my succulents in. I also got a sage green ceramic chicken for a patio table decoration. The aforementioned sandwich plate. And a small birdhouse. Not a lot, barely over $10, but I'm looking forward to rearranging the patio and refreshing it with some plants and flowers. It's been a few years since I did that. Picture tomorrow. The chicken is real cute.

Don't be afraid of Ugli Fruit

By Elizabeth Prata

Our grocery store has a section where clerks place produce in a net bag and sell it for 99 cents. Normally, the fruit or vegetables are still good. For example, a tray of cherry tomatoes might have one lone moldy or squashed tomato in the entire tray, but they reduce it from $3.99 to .99. I buy it, throw out the inedible tomato, and eat the rest.

The other day there were two ugli fruits in the bag. I have never eaten them before. One advantage of my strictness with the net bag program is if there is anything on the reduced shelf even remotely palatable, I try it, even if I'm unfamiliar with the item. That way, I expand my palate and learn to eat new things. Otherwise I'd simply be eating scrambled eggs, blueberries, oatmeal, or soup every day and only those things.

I looked up on Youtube how to peel and eat an Ugli fruit. These fruits are in the family of grapefruit and tangerine. They are apparently juicy but not sour like the grapefruit, more sweet like the tangerine. Oh, ok, good to know. I never was able to get past looking at the ugly wrinkled thick skin to think of the fruit inside. Wikipedia explains this way

The Jamaican tangelo, also known by proprietary names ugli fruit, or uniq fruit, is a Jamaican form of tangelo, a citrus fruit that arose through the natural hybridization of a tangerine or orange with a grapefruit (or pomelo).

Above, two eggs getting ready to be poached and eyeing the ugli fruit for cutting

Very easy to peel. Cut off the pointy top and peel with hands

The woman describing the process in her video said that the membrane of the fruit is tough to chew and bitter, unlike a grapefruit, so I dispensed with it. Without testing it for myself I could see she was right, it was hard to pierce with a knife to open the membrane and extract the juicy fruit inside.

Break in half and tear off pith

I poked the individual segments and sliced the membrane open, extracting
the fruit inside. Half an ugli fruti was enough for me, one serving

So my breakfast Saturday was two poached eggs on gluten free toast, home fries, and half an ugli fruit. If you see an ugli fruit in the store, don't pass it up. It's juicy and tasty, and only requires a bit of work. Preparing an ugli fruit is a lot less work than an orange or a pineapple. The fruit should be without mold or dark spots, orange-ish in color at peak ripeness, or light green at just underripe. Enjoy!

Backyard Spring 2019

By Elizabeth Prata

For some reason this week seemed to chew me up and spit me out. I had no particular issues and nothing untoward happened. It was just a busy, hectic, long week that took a toll on my body and mind.

I did write two major discernment articles this week on my other blog, one about Lori Loughlin and the College Admissions Scandal, and one about Francis Chan who seems to be sliding toward apostasy before our eyes. Those kind of articles take a toll on me.

Nevertheless, this morning is sunny, crisp, bright, and filled with birdsong. A new day to admire creation and be thankful to our Lord for the ability to go forward in joy.

I took a walk around the yard this morning, to see the flowers and hear the birds. There are many mature trees in our yard and along the quiet one-way street. There are pastures too. The birds love to fly through the yard and over the fields, alighting from tree to tree. The grass in the yard is also filled with wild flowers. As I walk I'm stepping on a springy cushion of verdant grass dotted with purple violets. I feel like a queen, being able to tread on such richness.

Here are some pictures from my short amble around the grass and bushes.

I don't know what this flower is, but I am fascinated with its perching and blooming at the very end of a long twig from the bush it's attached to-

Irises I think. There is a bush at the front of the house facing the street-

The birds like to perch on the top of the mailbox post, and anywhere else on the post, lol.

I wish I'd noticed when I took the picture that the auto focus was on the branch of the tall tree and not on the moon. The moon was slightly pink, reflecting the rising sun's pink-

Fiery start to the day. The sky was ablaze-

Nothing says weekend to me, an educator, than buses at rest. This is of the school across the street-

The sun had just peeked over the horizon and made the trees across the pasture glow-

The violets in the grass. I love them-

Have a wonderful day everyone!