Tag Archives: Mushrooms

Write it Down Hodgepodge

I’ve jotted it down in my notebook and it’s time for Hodgepodge Wednesday. Joyce asked the questions and we answered them.

1. What surprises you the most about people? 

How little the general population knows about God and the Bible. God and His Word are the source of life and peace and wisdom, just to name a few benefits. Why would we ignore what God has to say to us and what He wants us to know about Him?

2. Would you rather have a chauffeur, nanny, gardener, maid, personal shopper or cook? Tell us why that one? 

Gardener because that is the hardest task of all the ones mentioned for me. My wrists and lower back suffer after a day doing the weeding, etc.

3. May 18th is National Notebook Day. No idea what that means but let’s run with it anyway. What’s something you currently keep in a notebook? Have you seen the movie The Notebook? On a scale of 1-5 how does it rate? (5=a favorite, can watch and re-watch and re-watch again) 

I can’t recall if I have seen The Notebook. I watched the trailer and it looks entertaining but I can’t rate it without watching the whole movie.

I do love notebooks and use one daily for my devotions, prayer lists, Sunday sermon, notes to self, etc.

A quote from my notebook from Sunday February 5th, 2023:

J. I. Packer ~ God Has Spoken

“Faith in the Bible is not, as existentialists make out, a leap in the dark, but rather a step in the light, whereby one puts one’s whole weight on the firm ground of God’s unshakeable promises.”

and

“The promises of God are the ground of faith; for where Christians are not living in the joy of the knowledge that all God’s promises are theirs, the truth is that God’s Word is not being heard.” 

4. Do you like mushrooms? Last dish you made or ate that had mushrooms on the ingredient list? Your favorite dish that calls for mushrooms? 

Yes, we do enjoy mushrooms.

My favorite way to enjoy mushrooms is in a sauce like in this recipe below. Other creamy sauces for topping a steak, etc. are also delicious.

This Polenta with Mushroom Sauce is delicious. Click on link to see the recipe.

We’ve also enjoyed sautéed mushrooms alongside eggs for a not so full-English.

Sunday-Banbury 001

5. What would you say is the most annoying thing people do in public? 

Talking on their phones using the Speaker option. Oye!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We enjoyed the company of Pastor Dennis and Miss Lori, as our Grands call her, last evening for dinner. They are moving to Iowa for a special calling to teach at Faith Baptist Bible College and theological seminary. We will miss them dearly but know that in their new positions they will be used mightily in teaching the younger generation.

Our church, First Baptist Colville, looks to the promises of God for a new lead Pastor to fill the pulpit soon. It will be a time of growth for us…

 

Closer to Home

…and what’s been going on here at this old house. I’ll start with the latest and work back.

We switched out our old fireplace insert for a new one with no brass and a larger window, quieter fan and more efficiency. We are happy with our choice. While the installers were at my house on Wednesday I scrubbed down all my kitchen cabinets and scrubbed my hardwood floors.

No I don’t have my Christmas Tree yet, but can you believe all the Christmas merchandise in the stores already? I digress…

I posted this photo to show you the 3 bookshelves full of books that on Thursday while I waited for the Inspector to sign off on the fireplace insert I dusted. Yep, each and every book and all the shelves. My wrists and arms and knees are calling for a couple days off now! And speaking of Christmas our mystery tree this year is going in a new spot and I’ll show you that in December!

I received a package from bj (Sweet Nothings) in Texas because my name was drawn on her giveaway. She has such a good sense of humor and I enjoy visiting her blog.

A few Saturdays ago Katie and I met some friends at the Seattle Center for the Northwest Tea Festival. We enjoyed sipping tea samples and then we all went out for lunch at a Thai Restaurant close to the center.

These girls have been friends since elementary school.

My new getting out and exercising plan is continuing nicely. Some views from my walking trail…

On a overcast morning I thought this boat and it’s reflection was very cool and look at these great looking mushrooms!

The following week these same mushrooms had spread out to a huge flat top and I didn’t have my camera with me. Epic fail…

After exercise class this morning Katie and I are headed to University Village for W Day in honor of the University of Washington homecoming. We’ll be wearing some vintage sweatshirts from when Dear was in Pharmacy School at the University of Washington. There are special offers and discounts available from merchants if you are wearing purple or UW-licensed apparel.

img108Katie and I look a little different now but we’ll both be wearing a sweatshirt like the one I’m wearing here at Disneyland back when the University of Washington went to the Rose Bowl and played Michigan on January 1, 1992. Dear was able to get tickets for the Rose Bowl game and we decided to take a family trip to California and enjoy a day at Disneyland with the kids and time with family for Christmas. Fun memories…

Hope you all have a good weekend!

The Fungus Among Me…

 

We had a short dry spell on Tuesday so I decided to mow the lawn because it had become quite unruly. I had my camera in my pocket when I spotted these in the lawn.

 

So like any good blogger I got down on my knees and took some photos.

 

They are such interesting looking growths.

 

FUNGI IN ART AND LITERATURE

From time to time, fungal hyphae penetrate the consciousness of artists. In the work of medieval Flemish painters, toadstools were often associated with Hell. Victorian illustrators in England took a more benign view, and developed a popular style that linked fairies and toadstools. Elements of this connection persist today. The colourful spotted cap of Fly Agaric, often associated with a gnome or sprite, remains a favourite with children’s illustrators, designers, advertisers, and the manufacturers of kitsch garden ornaments. The psychedelic sixties, of course, generated a mass of artwork that owes its origins to fungus-induced creativity.

Down the ages, from Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling, fungi have also sprouted regularly in literature. Shakespeare seems to have had fungus in mind when he penned The Tempest. Prospero observes that it is elves’ pastime to “make midnight mushrooms,” and one scholar has suggested that the fits of Caliban show that he was suffering from ergot poisoning. In recent times it’s no surprise to find fungal references at “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’ in the Harry Potter stories.

Writers often turn to fungi when searching for a metaphor for decay or rottenness. Examples abound and can be found in the works of many great poets and authors, including Spenser, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, D.H. Lawrence, and Emily Dickinson. Raymond Briggs’ cartoon creation, Fungus the Bogeyman, a celebration of much that children like to find revolting continues the tradition.

The best known-and perhaps most inspired-literary mushroom of all is the one nibbled by Alice in her Adventures in Wonderland. Eating from one side of the mushroom makes her grow larger, eating from the other side makes her shrink. It’s possible that author Lewis Carroll knew of the properties of Fly Agaric. One effect of this hallucinogenic fungus is to make objects appear larger or smaller in the user’s eye.

ht: The source of this information can be found here.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.