October 26th: Trying to ignore the news

 

Someday perhaps there will be good news, but so far everything seems out of control. Therefore, I decided, since I already voted, I'll try to ignore the news until after the election. I find riding my bike and walking the beach are great alternatives. The weather has cooled down a little, low 70's, so very pleasant for riding. I rode to the San Elijo Lagoon to see how the conservation restoration was going. Once I arrived I walked some of the paths. There has been significant progress. Thousands of little plants were planted and spaced out by all the colored flags in the picture. I figured out that a different plant was planted by color. They seem to be doing very well. Not surprisingly, they must have picked the correct plants. 

While walking the trails I spotted 3 White Egrets, 2 Kingfishers, a Marbled godwit, many Killdeer and a variety of birds I couldn't identify. It's great to see the area attracting birds again.

Marbled godwit

I couldn't get very close and my phone is not the best camera but here are a few pictures.

Same Marbled godwit taking flight

This Marbled Godwit is kind of bland colored walking but very pretty when flying.

Snowy Egret

This Snowy Egret was fun to see. We see a lot in Florida. Their legs are black but their feet are yellow. I understand they wiggle their yellow toes to attract lunch!

It was a nice cool day and the ride along the cliffs overlooking the ocean was very enjoyable and scenic.

In addition to riding my bike, I took on a new challenge. My landlady, Mara, said she had an extra Kitchen Aid mixer I could just keep at my place. I think I said it before but just to be sure, Scott and Mara are wonderful landlords. Got me thinking about anise cookies. They are fun to make because if done correctly they end up with a little cap on top. Tricky to make and require a good mixer because you have to beat eggs and sugar for 30 minutes. I had never made them but my Mom and sister Julie had. Mara gave me the mixer so what else could I do? Julie sent the recipe so I made the attempt.

Anise cookies the way
they are supposed to look

 I discovered there is an art to making anise cookies. The first batch turned out flat with no caps on them. (The caps always intrigued me.) The recipe calls for putting the cookie dough on a cookie sheet and letting the unbaked cookies sit over night. If all goes well, you put them in the oven the next morning to bake for 10 minutes and the little caps form. 

First failed batch

The first batch was clearly too liquid and flattened out. They did, however, taste good.

Rough Capped anise cookies

So I tried again. This time I cut the recipe by 1/3. Decided to do small batches until I got it correct. This time they turned out great. Okay, might as well make a full batch the next night. This time the batter seemed a little too thick. Not much I could do because the only liquid is eggs beaten for 30 minutes. Can't add more at this point. Forged ahead. Let them sit over night and they never got smooth on top. Put them in the oven to bake and they did get caps on them. Very rough, but caps. Again tasted very good. 

By now I had way too many anise cookies. Wendy likes them but there is a limit! I gave some of the flat ones to my landlords whom I told I was going to make anise cookies, and explained they weren't "right". They said they tasted great.  I promised to show them how they were supposed to be. I had to get it right. I wanted to give them some with caps, even though they said the flat ones tasted great. 

Success

Next attempt I erred on the side of too little flour. The batter seemed a little thin so I added two teaspoons of flour. It looked pretty good to me! Let them sit overnight and success. I had plenty to share with the landlords and enough to send a batch to Julie. I think I'm done with anise cookies for a while.

Pink Florida design

When nothing else is going on Wendy and I work on T Shirts. It's fun wearing the T shirts. I've needed some dental work and the staff at the dentist office waits to see what the latest design is. I have two new ones that were both a big hit.

Viking Ship

Our market has expanded. We made one for my sister Julie. The picture is a little washed out so I included one of just the shirt. We are working on one for Linda's brother Tom. He likes frogs and gecko's. 

Julie in her new T shirt

As I posted in an earlier blog, I put up an Ivy privacy fence on my balcony. It not only blocks the sun, but it provides privacy for me as well as the house across the alley. At least it doesn't look like I'm a peeping Tom when I'm looking out off of my balcony. That house gives a whole new meaning to "Open concept." When they open up it is really open. Obviously, they are not looking for privacy.

House across the alley across from my balcony

The picture on the box

Karen (San Juan Capistrano) noticed I had completed the two picture puzzles Wendy, Matt and Rebecca gave me. They were very challenging but fun to finish. Karen gave me one that she has had but never completed. It's not nearly as difficult as the blue ocean and brown sand but is a lot of fun. It is a picture of almost 100 Vintage candy wrappers. Talk about bringing back memories! There are only about 15 that I am not familiar with. The funny thing is, when working on the puzzle, my mind automatically recognizes the wrapper puzzle pieces. The puzzle is so detailed that it is taking longer than I thought to complete, but fun!

Progress to date

I have snorkeled a couple times at La Jolla. The conditions weren't great but I am working on stretching out my wet suit. I'm told it takes a while to stretch it out. I hope it stretches out soon! I feel like a stuffed sausage compared to swimming without it. The water temperature isn't too cold right now but is dropping dramatically so I'll need the wet suit if I want to keep swimming, which I do!

Steve in his new wet suit

I was sitting at my kitchen table and quite suddenly heard a loud "Caw, "Caw," "Caw," etc. I went to my balcony to see what was going on. I felt like I was in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller 'The Birds". There must have been 200 crows circling and landing in the big pine tree across from my balcony. After about 15 minutes they flew on to wherever they were going.