Evening Clouds

The Perseid meteor shower is expected to reach its peak late Sunday night and early Monday, August 12, we opted not to stay awake to watch this annual event — maybe next year. 

Earlier tonight, the sky was beautifully dramatic even without bits of meteor debris swirling about. These views were taken from our back porch.

This event occurs annually in mid-August when Earth travels through a region of the solar system swarming with debris from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle. The shower is named after the constellation Perseus, since that is the point in the night sky from which the meteorites appear to originate.

While these bits of debris is about the size of a dime, the intense friction created when they fly through gas surrounding Earth makes them burn bright enough to be visible from the ground.

Did anyone stay awake to catch this event?

Bluegrass and Clams

What do these 2 have in common?
Not certain, but we enjoyed BOTH this weekend.

Summer weekends on the VA Eastern Shore are times for concerts and get-togethers — Friday & Saturday we attended one of each.

Friday night it was an outdoor (and free) blue grass concert on the grounds of Ker Place, a National and Virginia Historical Landmark, in neighboring Onancock, VA. Ker Place serves as headquarters of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society (ESVHS). This former mansion, built in 1799-1803 by Agnes and John Ker, is considered the finest example of Federal architecture on the VA Eastern Shore. Only two families have lived in the home before it was purchased by the ESVHS in 1960. Besides serving as ESVHS headquarters, the house  is a museum, library, archaeology lab, and a place where folks gather for events. Various area groups have performed on the grounds offering free music. This week, bluegrass music was performed by No Spare Time, an Eastern Shore group.These events are either BYOF (bring your own food) or you can purchase dinner from a local vendor. In keeping with the music theme, BBQ was featured — this youngster preferred to ride the pig vs. eating it.These events are either BYOF (bring your own food) or you can purchase dinner from a local vendor. In keeping with the music theme, BBQ was featured — this youngster preferred to ride the pig vs. eating it.

This very young child just grooved with the music in her dad’s arms.Saturday we attended a “clamboree” benefit fundraiser for the Virginia Eastern Shorekeeper, an organization whose goal is to help protect, preserve, and improve our tidal waters. This event also honored the achievements of some local folks we know who have helped towards this goal.

No guessing here as to the featured seafood entrée . . .

 

 

Friday Funnies

Tweeters

without using any social media.

Blowing Bubbles

Time to “fess” up — do you blow bubbles ?

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

George Bernard Shaw

YUP that’s what we did Sunday while “porchin it” on a beautiful and very lazy afternoon. Breezy weather rolled in after Saturday rainstorms — perfect weather for one of my favorites — blowing bubbles. I wanted to try taking bubble photos with Grenville’s help. One thing we didn’t count on was the wind helping to blow the bubbles a\way TOO fast.

Grenville kept trying to blow them slower, if that’s even possible.And, I kept trying to get them in a photo before they crashed onto the porch.
We kept trying, even switching to a larger bubble wand.If you’re ever in the neighborhood, c’mon by and blow some bubbles. We have a supply of them, cause they are NOT just for kids.

Growing up, bubbles were the the highlight of The Lawrence Welk
Show on Saturday night at my parents’ home. After an early start in CA  where it was broadcast from the Aragon Ballroom in Venice Beach (1951-55), it ran nationally for 27+ years on the ABC network from 1955-1971. The show was originally broadcast in B&W; color broadcasts started in 1965. The show would open with floating bubbles, accompanied by a sound effect of a bottle of champagne opening. Welk’s style was called “champagne music.” This description is said to have originated from an engagement at the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, when a dancer called the band's sound “light and bubbly as champagne.” (The hotel claims to have the original bubble machine, a prop left over from a 1920s movie premiere.)

To make the "Champagne Music" tagline visual, the production crew built a bubble machine that spouted bubble streams. It was originally set up to produce soap bubbles, but after complaints from band members about soapy build-ups on instruments, the machine was re-worked to produce glycerin bubbles.

How about you — do you blow bubbles — OR

• daydream and do nothing
• play on a tire swing
• fly a kite
• visit a farm
• read under the covers — with a flashlight
• catch fire flies
• watch sunrises and/or sunsets
• splash barefoot in puddles after a rainstorm
• catch butterflies with a net
• hold a frog or toad
• listen and amaze at the power of a waterfall
• chase a rainbow (better yet, find the pot of gold)

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

Mark Twain

Youth is wasted on the young.

George Bernard Shaw

Crockpot Balsamic Chicken Thighs

Our crockpot has been in use a bit more lately after its relocation from the pantry to the countertop. It was NOT packed away as part of the great de-cluttering to get the house ready for showing. Since those hoped for events have not been happening lately, the crockpot is back in view and NOW seeing more use. 

Chicken was “what’s for dinner” last week and I looked online for a “waist-friendly” meal using spices and herbs a without calorie-laden sauce. There were several recipes similar to this one which was altered to include fresh herbs and onion and a substitution of chicken thighs vs. breasts. The ingredients list is fairly simple and you could have all these items available in your pantry or freezer.

Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken Thighs

• 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp dried minced onion
• 1/2 half small onion, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 C balsamic vinegar
• Fresh basil (if available)
• Fresh parsley (if available)

1. Combine the first six dry spices (garlic powder, dried basil, oregano, salt, pepper) in a small bowl.
   
2. Rub over chicken on both sides, then set aside. 
3. Pour olive oil and put garlic and onion on the bottom of the crock pot. Place chicken on top. Pour balsamic vinegar over the chicken.
4. Cover and cook on LOW 7 hours or HIGH 4 hours. Sprinkle with fresh parsley on top to serve. 

Summer squash is abundant now as so is fresh basil (in our garden). Combine these with onion, garlic powder, sea salt and freshly ground pepper then sautée and serve with the chicken. 

This first-time meal is now a “keeper” worth repeating at The Frog & PenguINN dinner table. (Sorry but there were NO leftovers.)

Got Our Goat?

No, it just seemed like that on Saturday when we visited the Great Pocomoke Fair in MD. It was late in the day when we stopped into the livestock barn.

There were goats of all colors and ages, including this 1-week old baby introduced by this young lady as "Cleo."

It was late in the day and the pigs were exhausted.

So we checked out the cows, before "moo-ving" on.

Yes, I know it was a very bad awful pun — Welcome to Monday !

Horsin’ Around

That’s what we were doing yesterday afternoon when we took a road trip to watch live Harness Racing. And, we traveled less than an hour, plus we didn’t lose any money “bettin on the ponies.”We were on the eastern shore in the neighboring state of Maryland, attending the final afternoon of The Great Pocomoke Fair.The Great Pocomoke Fair is the only one fair in Maryland that features a single day of harness racing.
Horse racing was always a highlight of the Fair from its earliest days. Trotters came from many neighboring eastern states. Races were run four days in a row, with as many as a dozen horses in a race. Currently there are 4 to 6 horses per race in an afternoon of 12 races.Unlike years ago, there’s no betting at these races which are exhibition and USTA (United States Trotting Association) sanctioned races. Horses are brought in from neighboring states, including our native NJ. Purses are awarded with support from Ocean Downs (MD)Racetrack which pledged financial support of the Great Pocomoke Fair to further promote harness racing in Maryland.
It was a fun afternoon. Luckily the threatened thunderstorms held off, but hastened the running of the final few races as seen above.

Any fun things happen on your weekend ?

Still Simply Strawberries

It's August already and we are still harvesting strawberries with NO complaints.

The berries now are smaller than the first harvest in early June, followed up by more in late July. Still, they have been simply wonderful to add to other fruit for breakfast, especially in smoothies.

Any unusual happenings in your backyards or gardens? 

Friday Funnies

Doggone 4th — Even area pets showed their patriotic colors of red, white, and blue in celebrating last month’s holiday.

Smart Camera

Electronic devices now are being billed as “smart” and digital cameras are no exception. Some current models have touch LCD screens, plus an all-in-one mobile app. With a touch LCD, you can “touch type” like on a tablet or smart phone to edit, email or upload to other devices and/or social media.

This new camera is a SMART one with these features (and more).

I purchased it model thanks largely to the enthusiastic recommendation of a good friend who had just bought one. The camera has multiple Wi-Fi capabilities — from automatically sending photos to a smart phone while you're shooting to backing up to cloud storage or e-mailing photos straight from the camera. We don’t have smart phones and I haven’t backed up to a cloud (only my PC), BUT that emailing feature is FUN.
WHY a new camera?

My “brand loyalty” to Canon products was “atta here” after my 2 Canon digital ELPH cameras developed the same problem. A small dot was visible on the LCD and in images when the lens was zoomed beyond 4X, maybe caused by bad pixels (?).  Canon tech support said to send the camera to their repair facility. The resulting “diagnosis” was that the models were not were repairable. I was offered the chance to buy a refurbished unit with a 3-month warranty.
Time for a change. The new camera came with an extended warranty bringing it to 15 months. 
The Samsung WB250F is small at 2.4 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches and under 7 ounces. Its 18X zoom covers a 24-432mm (35mm equivalent) field of view. It has a 14 MP backside-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor.  From OFF to first shot takes 1.5 seconds, shot-to-shot time is about 1 second.  Unlike other cameras, the flash doesn’t release on its own, you press the flash button on top to use it. The flash can be angled for bounced flash photography.

This Samsung camera has features I haven’t even tried yet, but there’s still time before our anniversary road trip in late Sept.

The Best Face feature automatically selects the best facial expressions from a burst shot of 5 frames. You then can pick the best face and it will be seamlessly combined into one photo. Here’s my self-portrait taken sitting on the front porch,hand-holding the camera.
SplitShot lets you take images side-by-side which are then combined into a single image like these examples:

One feature on my “to do” list, lets me control the camera remotely from an iPad using AutoShare. Turning this feature on wirelessly pairs the camera with a smart phone or tablet. Then, every shot taken will be immediately sent from the camera to the device for  upload on the go or to be viewed on a larger screen.

So far, the camera has proven quite capable; these images were taken with it.