Quote of the Day
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you.
-Maori Proverb
Sometimes all I need is a little sun on my face to make me feel better, particularly after a few days of rain (like this whole week so far). Hopefully I’ll see the sun tomorrow!
What help lift you out of a somber mood? coffee? the sun? reading? family?
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Playing Hooky
Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Ohio, in the low 70’s and sunny. It was the perfect day to spend all day in the garden, so what did I do?
I played hooky. Mr Chiot’s and I went motoring in our MINI. We did do something garden related though, we stopped at the local greenhouse and bought some blueberry plants to put in our front flower bed. As much as I love to garden, there are days when it’s nice to just leave the gloves at home and play hooky.
Do you ever have those days when you “should” be working in the garden but you choose to do something more fun instead?
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Spring Flowers
The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.
~Gertrude S. Wister
Forsythia hedge at Stan Hywet in Akron, OH (4.17.09)
Yellow tulip in front flowerbed (4.18.09)
Star Magnolia at Stan Hywet in Akron, OH (4.17.09)
Narcissus in front flowerbed (4.18.09)
What’s your favorite spring flower?
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Breakfast of Champions
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, at least that’s what they say. I must admit, I do love a good breakfast. We don’t do the usual cereal and milk like most people, we like a heartier breakfast of oatmeal & nuts. Since Nourishing Gourmet was having a breakfast carnival today, I thought I’d join and share what a typical breakfast at Chiot’s Run is like.
We don’t eat the normal oat flakes, we prefer oat groats, which are whole oat berries. I soak them overnight with a bit of apple cider vinegar to soften them up, then I cook them the next morning. Usually I cook up a big batch on Sunday night and we warm up enough for breakfast each morning, this makes for a quick healthy hearty breakfast each day.
We like to top our oatmeal with various toppings each morning including: crystalized ginger, pecans, walnuts, ground flax seeds, raisins, cranberries, dried pears, and cinnamon.
We finish it off with a drizzle of maple syrup and then we enjoy our healthy breakfast. Hopefully I can find a source for local oats and then our morning meals will be local. (I am planting a few raisin grape vines to make our own raisins and I’m trying to grow some ginger of my own).
What’s your breakfast of champions?
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Me, Old? It’s Official!
The other day I was looking out my kitchen window and I saw the bat house that Mr Chiot’s hung up on our garage.
Then I thought about all of the birdhouses that he made and we hung up on the back of the garage for the wrens. Then I laughed because I thought about a vacation we have planned for later this spring to Washington D.C. and I thought to myself, “We’re OLD!!!” Now Mr Chiot’s and I are still in our early 30’s, but I think that when you plan a vacation to a historical site and are excited about it, you’re officially OLD! Not that I mind, or that there’s anything wrong with being old, I kind of like getting older.
The reason for mentioning our upcoming vacation, I was hoping some of you would have some great tips for places to go, things to see and delicious places to eat. We’re particularly looking for neat little places that only belong to D.C. (so not chain eateries, unless it’s a D.C. chain).
So any advice from all my well-traveled (I won’t say old) readers that have been to D.C.?
