The Old Dogwood Blooms Again -Spring in Mars, PA
I Can Only Strive…
Welcome back
from your dormant rest.
Blossom and bloom
and boast your beauty.
I can only strive
to follow your example.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
I Can Only Strive
Spring
Lightened Up Vinaigrette Broccoli Salad
Lightened Up Vinaigrette Broccoli Salad.
I love broccoli – cooked or raw.
And I love broccoli salad.
The traditional version has a creamy mayonnaise-based dressing, and it is delicious!
But I was looking for a way to “lighten it up” a bit when making dinner one day this week, so I tried it with a vinaigrette dressing instead.
And it is DELISH too!
It is lighter and fresher tasting, and it is about half the calories of the traditional version!
This really is a nice twist on a classic that is healthier and just as yummy.
Here is how I made it.
Lightened Up Vinaigrette Broccoli Salad
Ingredients:
- 4 cups fresh fresh broccoli florets, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/4 thinly sliced, chopped sweet onion
- 1/2 large sweet red pepper, thinly sliced and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/3 cup golden raisins
- 1/4 cup raw sliced almonds
- 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 3 slices bacon, diced and cooked
- Vinaigrette:
- 2 Tbsp apple cider (or your favorite – red wine, white, etc.) vinegar
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp freshly ground pepper
Directions: Combine first seven ingredients in large bowl. Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over salad and toss to coat well. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.
Enjoy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Lemon Lavender Loaf
Lemon Lavender Loaf.
Fresh, bright, tart lemon zest and juice mixed with sweet, flowery, fragrant dried lavender buds in a beautifully glazed loaf.
I couldn’t decide if this should be considered a bread or a cake, so I am simply calling it loaf. Plus I love the alliteration of a name where all the words start with the same Lovely Letter!
A dear friend gifted me a bag of dried lavender recently, and I have been dying to use it. I finally found some time early Sunday morning to bake this beautiful loaf to enjoy on a beautiful Spring day.
It is light and soft and such a perfect Springtime treat.
Here is how I made it.
Lemon Lavender Loaf*
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
- 2 cups white sugar
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk (or use 1 cup milk with 1 Tbsp white vinegar let set 5 min)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 large lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 Tbsp dried lavender buds
- Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 1 large lemon, zested and juiced
- 1/2 tsp dried lavender buds
Directions:
Prepare two loaf pans with shortening and flour. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Cream butter and sugar in electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, and continue mixing until mixture looks like buttercream frosting.
Gently mix in salt and baking soda.
Add lemon zest and juice to buttermilk, and set aside.
To batter, alternate adding flour and lemon buttermilk in three additions, and mix just until incorporated. Stir in lavender.
Pour into prepared pans and bake approximately 45 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool loaves 10 minutes in pans. Remove and cool completely.
Once cool, prepare glaze by mixing powdered sugar, milk, lemon zest and juice, and lavender. Pour over loaves.
Enjoy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
*Original recipe slightly adapted from FudgeRipple
All of the Sudden
Flowering Crabapple Tree, Mars, PA – Spring 2018
All of the Sudden.
You wait.
You wonder.
You anticipate.
And then
one day
you blink.
And all of the sudden
the beauty and joy and delight
appears.
All of the sudden.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Don’t Stop Working for It
Pine Squirrel in the Spring Snow – Mars, PA – April 7, 2018
If you
can’t stop
thinking
about it,
Don’t stop
working
for it.
This little cutie is an American Red (Pine) Squirrel that hangs out in our back yard with the birds and other bigger squirrels (and chipmunks and turkey and deer and Charlie of course). These little squirrels only stand about 6 inches tall, being just a bit bigger than a chipmunk, and weigh about a half of a pound (200-250 g).
Saturday morning, we awoke to another Spring snow with two or three inches on the deck railing. This little bugger was not giving up on his quest to get to the (ahem) “bird” feeder for breakfast. I caught him burrowing full force through the snow that was taller than him when on all fours, but he was determined…. and he got there.
He reminded me not to give up and not to stop working on what we want and where we want to go.
Thanks little buddy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
In Search of the Little Things
Daffodils Popping out of the Ground – February 20, 2018 – Mars, PA
In Search of the Little Things.
Sometimes we need to get down low,
Forsythia Buds on Branches – February 20, 2018 – Mars, PA
or look extra closely,
Grape Hyacinths Emerging – February 20, 2018 – Mars, PA
or push some other things out of the way,
Bleeding Hearts Emerging – February 20, 2018 – Mars, PA
or look for tiny changes.
Irises surfacing – February 20, 2018 – Mars, PA
The little things are there…
Little signs of change…
Little hints of what is about to happen.
As I walked around the yard late yesterday afternoon in bare feet on a record-breaking warm day for February in our area (we hit 80 degrees F!), I searched for little things. I searched for tiny changes. I searched for little hints of Spring.
And they were everywhere! Daffodils and hyacinths and irises popping through the earth. Buds developing on forsythia branches. Intricate formations of future bleeding hearts.
And it made me think…
Again…
On a topic that has not left my mind or my heart…
The mass shooting in Parkland, Florida last week where a 19 year old boy/man killed 17 innocent children at school.
As the days pass, details are being revealed.
Little hints of issues.
Little signs of change.
Didn’t anyone notice?
Wasn’t anyone paying attention?
Why was this troubled young man able to purchase military grade assault weapons?
For that matter – why is any civilian legally able to purchase military grade assault weapons?
That is certainly one important issue I feel needs addressed.
But we must also be diligent.
We must also be watching.
We must be paying attention
to our children.
We must be searching for and noticing the little things…
The little changes, the hints, the signs
happening with our children…
Before it is too late.
It is up to us.
Hugs,
Jodi
Imagine it Real
Soft Spring Bunny Watercolor 8×10
Everything
that is real
was imagined
first.The Velveteen Rabbit
I “real”ly enjoyed
painting this
soft Spring bunny
with a bright, hopeful eye.
I never would have
“imagined”
just a couple years ago
that I could possibly
consider myself an
artist.
Imagine
it
Real.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Time to “Art”
White Floral Abstract Watercolor 11×14 140lb Cold Press
Time to “Art”
It is the week following Christmas…
a time I once used to feel “let down.”
After all the busyness
of the weeks leading up to Christmas…
The checklists
and shopping lists.
The writing and signing…
The sealing and stamping and mailing.
The sifting and stirring…
The separating and straining and sugaring.
The ripping and wrapping…
The taping and twisting and tying.
The fluffing and folding…
The scrubbing and setting and shining.
It’s all so exciting
leading up to the celebrating!
But there is something special also
about the days “after” that I have truly come to appreciate.
I am fortunate to be able to take time off from work
the week between Christmas and New Year.
And this year is especially special
as I get to spend extra days with my granddaughter.
We are snuggling and tickling…
We are reading and singing and laughing.
We are napping and relaxing…
We are twirling and tumbling and kick-backin’.
And yesterday, during an especially long nap,
I had a chance to escape to my art room
for some much-needed “arting”
that I’ve been longing for.
I had no idea what I wanted to paint –
it’s been weeks since I’ve gifted myself with the time.
But it was as if the paper and water and paints
decided to give me a gift…
And this is what emerged…
A white floral abstract of sorts.
A celebration of time graciously granted
at “life in between.”
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Daniel Smith Watercolors: Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Gold.
Four Seasons with Jodi – Exploring Color
With Jodi’s kind permission I’m sharing some of my favourite posts from her fantastic blog, of which you could say that I’m a devoted follower. If you enjoy beauty, art and inspiration (not to mention mouth-watering food recipes) then Jodi’s blog simply has it all! I feel honoured that Jodi so generously allows me to […]
I was so honored by this beautiful post created by Liz at Exploring Color, I had to share. Thank you my sweet friend Liz from the other side of the world in New Zealand!
I hope you enjoy this beautiful post she created about the Four Seasons from my blog. My heart is so touched. I hope you will check out her lovely blog.
Four Seasons with Jodi
Autumn
I’m starting with Autumn because this recent post of Jodi’s prompted me to do ‘Four Seasons with Jodi’. It touched my heart…
Let the Rain Fall
I watched you as you sat proud and beautiful
while the rain fell on and around you.
You didn’t need
the sun to make you shine.
In fact,
you stood out even brighter in the cloudy drizzle.
And I was reminded
true beauty comes from within.
It can’t be soaked or drenched
or washed off.
It can’t be dampened or doused
by the storms of life.
Let the rain fall.
Let the storms crash.
And continue to shine
your authentic beautiful self.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Link for original post: Let the Rain Fall
Winter
Snowy Pines Watercolor
Is anything crazier or more unpredictable than the weather?!
Where I live, we went from record highs one week
to record lows the next.
From open windows and shorts and bare feet –
to snow flurries and wool socks and sweaters.
And one cold day I painted this winter scene
(inspired by a photo I saw that I cannot find credit for).
It’s funny how the cold scene
gives me a warm feeling.
Almost as crazy as the weather!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Link for original post: Snowy Pines Watercolor
Spring
A Brief Visit
Your visit is so brief….
but your memory lingers,
and it is ceremoniously revived
each Spring when you surprise me yet again.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Link for original post: A Brief Visit
Summer
A Bumble Bee Named Buzz
On the edge of a meadow lives a bumble bee named Buzz.
He lives near his aunt and his uncle and his cuz.
Aunt Sally, Uncle Sam, and Sherman they was.
They love Buzz more than any other in Americas.
Sherman and Buzz love to play and dance because
It is what all the bumble bees in the meadow does.
So if you see dancing bees and think your eyes are a fuzz,
don’t be surprised if it’s Sherman and Buzz.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Link for original post: A Bumble Bee Named Buzz
One of Jodi’s friends left a wonderful quote in the ‘comments’ on this post:
“The hum of bees is the voice of the garden”
– Elizabeth Lawrence
Buzz the bumble bee is one of many cute animal characters in Jodi’s newly published children’s book Klaus The Mouse
Klaus the Mouse by Jodi McKinney – Amazon
Jodi contributed a guest post in my Where and What is Beauty? series.
Please visit Liz’s beautiful blog – Exploring Colour.
via Four Seasons with Jodi — Exploring Colour
I hope you are enjoying whatever season of weather and of life you are in!
Cherish the Moments!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
In Case You Forgot
In case you forgot to remind yourself this morning…
It’s a new day ready for fresh beginnings.
Your smile can light up a room.
Your beauty is way more than just your appearance.
You alone are more than enough.
You are doing a pretty awesome job at this thing called life.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
PS – I also need to remind myself of this, and these maple tree seedpods I fondly remember as “helicopters” from my childhood spring days at Grandma’s remind me of the hope each day brings and the beauty and potential we all have within just waiting to be shared.
Cherish the Moments!
the creative life in between 