Outside My Window ~ 4.21.2013

 Outside my window…is the end of another weekend.  At around 11:00 this evening we are at 47°F with clear skies.  The weather channel says it feels like 43°F and I’m wondering if I should be worried about the house plants I took outside a couple of weeks ago.  I guess it is too late to worry about that now…I hope they will be alright.  We had an absolutely beautiful, albeit chilly, weekend.  There was a nice overnight soaking rain on Friday and into the early hours Saturday morning that washed the thick layer of pollen away.  A cold front moved in with that rain and left the air feeling brisk and clean.  It was wonderful to walk the dog and not feel like I had a half inch of pollen dust all over me when I got home.  The pollen has been quite heavy this year….I’m thinking all the rain we have had allowed everything that could bloom this year to bloom.  The flowering trees have bloomed and turned from beautiful flowers to leaves and even the pines have exploded their pollen everywhere.  I know we are far from done with it but if we get a nice soaking rain every few days, it can be tolerable as long as you don’t spend too much time in it.  I believe the high on both days was in the mid 50’s but today we had some brisk winds which made it feel even cooler.  There was plenty of sunshine and blue skies….as I said, absolutely beautiful.

I am thinking…I am glad this past week is over with.  I received some sad news Saturday before last ~ the man I worked for {and still did work for} passed away.  I went to work for Mr. Moore as his Administrative Assistant at Moore Realty Company not quite a year after I moved back to Virginia.  The woman I was working with had sold her business and I was not interested in working with the new owners.  She happened to know Mr. Moore and heard he was looking for someone so she recommended me for the position….the rest is history.  I worked with him for nearly 14 years…I had my daughters while there and went through a divorce.  He retired in 2004 and I continued as a personal assistant for him and his wife whenever the need came up.  We often had lunch together after I went to work for the College of William and Mary since they lived in Williamsburg.  As the girls were growing up we enjoyed brunch with them at their country club on several occasions and then relaxing back at their house afterwards.  He was a kind man….and he will be missed.

I am glad…I have weathered the pollen fairly well so far this year.  Of course I haven’t been totally unaffected but for the most part, I’m doing pretty good.

From my kitchen…was homemade buttermilk biscuits this morning….some leftover sesame chicken for lunch….and a clever way to make meatloaf for dinner this evening.

Prepare the meatloaf as you normally would except instead of cooking in a loaf pan, use a muffin pan.  It cuts down on the cooking time plus it creates a single serving.  You can “frost” your meatloaf with some mashed potatoes and top with your favorite gravy.  I don’t use ketchup in my meat loaf, I prefer gravy.

I also have a recipe for you this evening….homemade taco seasoning.

Have you ever wanted tacos only to discover you have no seasoning for the meat?  Here is a recipe that is quite tasty and you probably have the ingredients in your spice cabinet right now.

I am hearing…the ticking of my many clocks….a stupid commercial on television….the hum of the ceiling fan.  I am not hearing The Walking Dead these last couple of weeks and won’t until October of this year.  I may or may not be going through withdrawal.  🙂

Plans for the week include…working from home on Tuesday….begin work on a composite I have been formulating in my head for some time….continue editing some photographs I took last week.

One of life’s little pleasures…discovering my passion for some things is still there ~ I just needed to step back and recharge my batteries for a bit I suppose.  🙂

From my camera… are a few images tonight. By the way ~ how do you like the new window?  I have been picking up the camera a lot more lately….playing with natural light as I toy with a new direction to go with my photography.  This first image is some wild flowers growing along a little creek in the Colonial Parkway in Williamsburg, VA….

 Next up, lunch today…..

And finally….a shot I took at the beach early last week….