Lena Rocks

We have so many butterflies living in our neighborhood – actually so many that our cats have started getting bored chasing them…

I generally keep a camera ready and try to see if one shows up who likes it’s picture taken – some of them actually do and will pose and spin around and flap their wings so you can shoot them from different angles – very interesting and fun to do

I got some grains for making water kefir and have discovered a beverage that I love so much that I want to share.  It’s such an easy thing to make and has all kinds of good probiotics that keeps the belly very happy. The grains also grow and multiply a lot so you have them to share with friends You can also use the kefir to mix with herbs or whatever you can come up with to make a very customized beverage.

I use one cup of water with one tablespoon of raw brown sugar with at least one tablespoon of kefir grains. The water needs to be non chlorinated since that can hurt the grains. You will need:

1. A wooden spoon (the grains do not like metal)
2. A strainer that is also not metal – plastic will work fine
3. A jar that is big enough to hold what you’re planning on making, some will use jars with lids but I like to cover it with cloth since I figure the grains can breathe better.
4. A couple of dried apricots, figs, raisins or other unsulphured dry fruit
5. Half a lemon gives a very nice taste to the final drink and putting some chopped ginger into the container before you refrigerate it gives it a very nice flavor.
6. Another jar to strain the finished drink into.

A 24 hour fermentation will give a sweeter drink, the grains convert the sugar and it becomes less sweet and more tangy the longer it is left to ferment. For me 48 hours is about right and then I bottle it up and leave it out for another 24 hours before refrigeration. I heard that you should not go over 72 hours since the grains can run out of food and starve

A couple of great websites where I learned a lot more about this can be found here:

http://www.weim.net/homeovet/Docs/water%20kefir.pdf

http://www.yemoos.com/waterkefir4tbs.html

If you want to try it for yourself I’ll be happy to send you some grains if I have extras – just email me and I’ll let you know. I’m looking into dehydrating them at the moment but they are still drying so I will have to experiment with that as well – seeing if they easily come back to life after being dried…  This has been some great fun since there are so many ways to use flavorings and different recipes along with intent…

Lena

The Blue Ridge parkway in North Carolina is well known for the amazing autumn colors when the leaves change in the fall. We had an amazing drive though it was raining and I managed to get some pictures of the trees looking like they are on fire. I was telling my friend Karen about how beautiful it was and she asked me to take pictures so I decided to share them with everybody

There is a special fascination with waterfalls when you get to see the power of water in motion.  Linville falls in North Carolina are well worth visiting and an amazing place to spend some time – a place where the sound of the water will help you find you peace and the surrounding nature can take your breath away

After much searching we found a place in North Carolina we could visit some caverns.  Linville caverns is off the 221 highway and it’s a beautiful drive getting there.  The caverns are found inside a mountain called “Humpback Mountain” and they have a visitor center set up with guides taking you inside.  There were a lot of amazing rock formations waiting to get photographed

Went driving in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina the other day and took some pictures of a place we had visited and gifted before.  Once I came home and saw the pictures I saw this thing… which seemed to hang out in this one spot.  I took quite a few pictures of the panoramic view and there are none in the other shots, just in this particular spot in two shots, like flickering in and out.   I have enlarged it to get a closer look, it almost looks like a jellyfish.

Went to the Aquarium in Charleston and had a great day out playing and taking photos.   This was a great place to visit – no feelings of sadness due to animals in cages and I’m pretty OK with fish in tanks – especially this big    I used to scuba dive quite a lot years ago and have not been underwater for many years but this was a definite inspiration to go back – this is such a wondrous and quiet world that is so different from ours.

Being that I love turtles it was pretty special to be able to see them this close and there were many different kinds.  Absolutely love the way the jellyfish shots came out since I didn’t think I would be able to capture their glow and they ended up posing very nicely.

They also rescue some birds that would otherwise not have made it and I got a shot of an eagle close up and he didn’t seem to mind too much.  The little owl was blind so I was told it was OK to use flash while shooting it, which made it come out much better than the eagle shot.

I just had the most amazing experience yesterday and want to share. We had made no plans other than going to the beach to relax for the day after a chat boost session so we headed out there at lunch time. Decided to stop and eat before hitting the beach and so picked a place by the water. We had just sat down and ordered when we looked into the channel and saw dolphins feeding…

I went out to the car and grabbed three TB’s and threw them into the water to thank them for showing up… and then grabbed my camera to take pictures. I started getting all annoyed with my camera cause every time they popped out I had a time delay which took the picture just a second or two too late… and Dennis told me to come back and finish my lunch… that I’d be able to take the pictures soon…

Then it started raining…

Well, he then grabbed his own camera and mysteriously said “Now is the time for the pictures” and I couldn’t believe it – the dolphins started rolling and playing right in front of us, just like posing for the shots… It was incredible and I was almost in tears, at the same time wondering why they were listening to him and not me He laughed and said he’s been gifting that channel for years and that so far I had only put three TB’s in there…  LOL – looks like I’m gonna have to make some special dolphin balls now…

After this we went to the beach and it was still raining…  I didn’t mind since the beach is still nice and the water is warm whether it rains or not but we got a big blue hole opening up right above where we were…  An amazing beautiful day!  Much gratitude to the dolphins – I was euphorically happy until I fell asleep… and woke up today with a big smile

We recently discovered that there is a place where you can rent canoes for the day to go by yourself down the Edisto river so one day this week we went.  It was the most amazing day… very easy to find your peace on the river and it’s a very romantic thing to do with your loved one – as long as the helicopters stay away   So annoying when they disturb the peace… and there were even two different ones.

The river is fast enough to not even have to paddle and next time I do it I will bring my good camera and hope that the sun is out.  The place is a huge wildlife reserve and there is a lot of wildlife to look at.  The turtles are a little shy and will jump into the water when they hear you coming so you have to sneak up on them   I did manage to get a picture of one…  There are supposedly alligators there as well but we didn’t see any.

So Mamacat managed to get herself knocked up before we could take her to the vet and we now have a fresh batch of kittens… I guess she figured we liked the last ones so much that she would make more   This time I got to be there and she seemed to really enjoy my company.  I was pretty amazed at the birth since she was so in control of the whole process and so blissfully happy the whole time   She would pop one out, clean it up, clean herself up, let the kitten get settled and then pop another one out, purring and stretching happily the whole time.

They are now three weeks old and have recently opened their eyes.  I took some pictures since there are a couple of people who wanted to see what they look like.  They are starting to toddle around in the box but don’t really have that much body control yet… but are getting stronger every day.  Right now they seem to be practicing – sitting… and they are getting pretty good at it

Having kittens in the house is such a joy since there is always cuteness, learning and play going on and I can sit there and watch them forever…