SimplyLife

We enjoy the birdlife around our house--most of the time. We have feeders just outside the courtyard and every morning my husband fills them and tosses a generous amount of cracked corn on the ground.  He even makes "Dave's Special Birdseed Mix" for our feathered friends.  The bagged mixes aren't good enough for our birds.  My job is to keep the hummingbird feeder filled.  Finches, sparrows, wrens, flycatchers, silver cardinals, ladderback woodpeckers, doves, quail, and several different varieties of hummers all frequent the yard.  A vermilion flycatcher has been spotted and in April several pairs of Bullock's orioles will nest in the mesquites.We also have a pair of roadrunners, Prairie falcons, and Great Horned owls that claim Casa Wallace as part of their hunting territory. With so many birds converging on us, there are a few stories to share about our bird adventures.  I'll share the latest. Since this is nesting season, we've seen birds toting s

This week was a crazy, busy week. You wouldn't think that would happen with a part time day job and afternoons at home. But, the part time job spilled over into the afternoons and there were a myriad of errands and tasks at home. The few hours left to me were reserved for polishing the novel that is almost ready for the publisher.  My husband's schedule was full of travel, meetings, and rehearsals. Our daughters were experiencing the same busyness. Our youngest was moving to a new house, helping her fiance get ready for a long deployment, along with treating cancer patients. Our oldest was on the run, juggling motherhood, a demanding sales job, and marriage. I suspect that your week may have been similar. It seems our days are crammed with activity, which in the end isn't great for our health or quality of life.  Symptoms of overload include: irritabililty, forgetfulness, inability to focus on a task, headaches, and the knot in the back of your neck. We weren't de

One of my fondest childhood memories is of my mother baking bread. The whole house smelled wonderful and if I timed it right, I could get her to cut off a heel of hot bread and then slather it with butter. A simple, but absolutely wonderful treat. Better than chocolate cake even. James Beard, that very famous chef said, " Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” Bread has been called "the staff of life" and it's basic to every culture, in every part of the world. Look at the wonderful variety, whether its made with yeast or not---lovely loaves of whole wheat, rye, dark pumpernickel, banana, scones, zucchini, biscuits, honey oat, baguette, warm fresh tortillas. It seems any kind of bread is always best right out of the oven, warm and comforting in our hands. Yesterday, I went on bit of a baking binge. It was a windy day, so working outside wouldn't be fun. I baked bread instea

We lived in the same house for 25 years just outside of our small hometown of Castile. It was a good little neighborhood and was mostly quiet except for the traffic on Route 39. When the signs of spring arrived, it was also time to pile up tree branches, and clean out the garage or the shed of burnable miscellany. Each year there seemed to be a contest between my husband and the next door neighbor to assemble a burn pile of enormous proportions.  Day after day I watched their piles grow until tepee-shaped woodpiles were just right to be torched. There was an art to the arrangement so that it would be totally consumed in a short amount of time. It was sort of like a bonfire on steroids. Now the neighbor enjoyed the element of surprise on the neighborhood and waited for quiet Saturday afternoons to begin his incendiary activity. KABOOM! You would have thought we were under attack by enemy forces. Then there was a rush of wind and the crackling of the kerosene inspired fire devastated t

While men in mess dress and women in evening gowns made their way to assigned tables, the smell of jet fuel filled the hangar.  The largest presence in the room was the lethal F-16. We were there to honor 13 men of the Mad Mallard Squadron who had just successfully completed their real Top Gun training in this ferociously fast jet. The day before we were privileged to participate in the Blue Carpet activities which began with breakfast provided by the Lady Ducks (wives and significant others of the squadron). We were proud to see our future son-in-law, 1st Lt. Chris Morse accept an award for best strafer at the morning's "briefing." Then it was off for a tour of the air traffic control tower where the team of highly trained, dedicated men and women guide these high flying men on and off the runway. I was deeply impressed with their concern for each pilot and their families as well. After lunch we headed out for a rollicking time in the "Sim" (flight simulato