We are on vacation...ole!

We are gone for almost 3 weeks- not sure about posting abilities

BUT- I will be reading my favorite writers/authors and

you know who you are........all of you...my literary community!

Cheers- til later on...........I love you all..........

Happy Halloween!

Here's a little poem I wrote for Halloween...

And for Jingle's Poetry Potluck too...

BOO!

Once upon a dark and gloomy night

I was out for a little tiny bite

Of a tasty neck

Oh what the heck

It's my diet and I'll eat what I like

Magpie 38-Unknown Mothers

Adopted at the age of five

Was your Mother still alive

Were you abandoned

Or saved?

~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~

My mother always told us that she had been put in an

orphanage at the age of 4 and adopted by an older woman

when she was only 5 years old. She always told us that

she only remembered swinging on a gate waiting for her

father to come home. When he didn't my mother was

sent to an orphanage with her smaller sister.

My adopted Grandmother died when I was only 3.

So I don't remember her at all. I only remember the

horrific stories my mother told me about how she was

raised by this older widow and the one letter my grandmother

wrote me when I was a tiny baby.

Years after my Mother had passed away, my father

told me that my biological grandparents had not died,

but had put my mother and her little sister in an

orphanage for unknown reasons. My mother's biological

mother had attempted to contact my mother, but was

refused at the front door. My grandfather tried to also see

that my mother was okay. Another refusal by my mother.

I tried to find them by writing the Orphanage and the City

where she had been adopted. It was too late as all I could

find out was that everyone had passed away.

Potluck Poem- Love and Romance

Love and Romance

It's a lively dance

A cha cha cha

A YES YES YES

I do gotcha

Machismo tangle

of legs and arms

A sexy samba

Aie Yie Caramba

Swift sure steps with

Feet in motion

Set the oceans

Of deep emotions

And there's that pause

When eyes glance

Oh take that chance

Of that forever dance

R is for Rice and Shrimp Risotto...

I don't have any photos of my tasty Shrimp Risotto....

so will these photos of the latest completed

baby quilt do?

Just finished this for our good friend Tom's

first grandson....and he's mighty grand from what

Tom says!

Here's the recipe:

Shrimp Risotto

2-4 Main Course servings

5 cups (about) low salt chicken broth

3/4 cups dry white wine

1 or 1/2 pound uncooked large shrimp peeled/deveined

6 T butter

3/4 cups chopped onion

2 large cloves garlic minced

1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

3/4 cup dry white wine

3 T chopped fresh parsley

3/4 freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Bring broth and 1/4 cup of wine to simmer in medium pan

Reduce heat-keep hot

~

Melt 2 T of butter in medium skillet over medium heat

Add 1/2 the garlic and all the crushed red pepper, then shrimp

Saute til shrimp begins to turn pink-about 2 minutes

Add remaining 1/2 cup wine. Simmer another 2 minutes

Drain shrimp-set aside and reserve cooking liquid.

~

Melt remaining butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat

Add onion and remaining garlic, saute til onion is pale golden,

about 4 min.

Add rice and stir to coat about 2 minutes, Add 2 cups broth mixture

Simmer til absorbed stirring often. Continue adding broth mixture

1 cup at a time until liquid is absorbed before adding more-

about 20 minutes.

Stir in reserved shrimp cooking liquid.

Cook until rice is just tender and

mixture is creamy about 5 more minutes.

Remove from heat.

~

Stir shrimp and chopped parsley into rice-season with salt and pepper.

Spoon into bowls and sprinkle

with Parmesan cheese according to your taste.

YUM.

Magpie 37- Mirror Mirror

Mirror mirror on the bed

Who's the cutest sleepy head

With rumpled jammies

and tangled hair and a

Drowsy face so rosy with heat

My little one is oh so sweet

Photo of me and my oldest son Phillip

many many years ago as he is 47 now!

Seven Deadly Sins-Potluck Poem

This weeks prompt for Poetry Potluck is the Seven Deadly Sins....

I did have just a wee bit o' fun with this one!

http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/2010/10/poetry-potluck-seven-deadly-sins.html

She lustily sighed "Oh, please just one more"

Enviously eying the one she adored

Oozing with avarice and enormous greed

Her hand lazily reached over with a hungry need

Only to be met with a fierce hot anger

Refusing to admit her crumby fatal flaw

Of caloric intake beyond all awe

No wonder she cannot fit into her tiny size six

Those VooDoo Doughnuts got her into this fix.

http://voodoodoughnut.com/

"It's all their fault!"

Magpie 36

Open doors

stretch arms out wide side to side

Hugging all

Highway 26 as a Charm Bracelet

This week's Poetry Potluck theme is Beaches and Mountains
http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/2010/10/poetry-potluck-beaches-and-mountains.html

Well- living in Oregon we have 363 miles of coast along Highway 101.

But, that really didn't do too much for me.

Then I thought about Oregon's State Highway 26

that meanders from Astoria all the way to Nyssa, Idaho.

A mere 472 mile drive.

I began to think ( I was awake in the middle of the night) about all the

little towns that Highway 26 passes through

and voila! here's my little poem:

(a small caveat- all photos are from a free photo site.

I will eventually have the time to upload my own of all these places )

I Think of Highway 26 as a Charm Bracelet

Little towns linked together

by silvery rivers and waterways

Astoria has the mighty Columbia

where the Peter Iredale still sleeps

Passing through the Coastal ranges

of Clatsop and Tillamook

Chinook and Salish spirits in the trees

mix with Lewis and Clark

Onto the old city of Portland

Sometimes called Puddletown

Clackamas, Tualatin and Mollala

waters feed into the Willamette

Continuing east towards the Cascades

with sleepy slumbering volcanos

past Rhodedendron and Zig Zag

Mt Hood rises above the timberline

Over the summit, passing Frog Lake

and down into the Warm Springs

where the Deschutes River

meets the Crooked and Metolius

Through Madras and the Grasslands

Through Prineville and the Ochocos

to the Painted Hills, Fossil Beds

Strawberry Mountains and John Day River

I think about the Oregon Trail as

I see a sign for Baker City

But continue to my final stop

Nyssa and the awesome Snake River

A Segue from Magpie #35

After posting my "Leaf Ride" poem for this past weeks

Magpie Tales, Stafford Ray made a comment on my blog:

"First we rode in a side box on the old Indian, then we had a three ton truck and kids rode in the back, no sides or anything to hold us in, then we had a car and all sat inside. Then we had seat belts in front and no babies allowed to ride on laps, then no arms outside windows, then everyone had to have a seat belt, then no phones in the car. Why not make them completely safe and ban people from using cars at all... except for leaf rides!"

Well- that triggered another poem. Which I then sent to

Stafford and he replied with his version. I like his better

than mine, and he says he likes mine better.

So- here are both for all of you to enjoy!
Cheers!

Kathe's version:

First the covered wagon
Children running alongside
Then the Model T
Kids bouncing loosely inside
Now we're all buckled in
With no laps to sit on
Children watching DVD's
Instead of life flying by
All I can say is-
"Good grief why?"

Stafford Ray's version:

Before 999.

First the lumb’ring Conestoga
Took us where we had to go. A
Few years on, a bouncy ride
In Model T, thrown ‘round inside.
Now with belts and bags and laws
No kids on laps, and child proof doors
It seems the fail-safe life we lead
Is fool-proof, holeproof, guaranteed
Strapped in children, eyes transfixed
On DVD’s, adventure missed
So much of life goes flying by.
And I just wonder: “Good grief, why.

http://staffordray.blogspot.com/

and don't forget to go to Willow's blogsite Magpie Tales...she started it all!

http://magpietales.blogspot.com/

My Birthday Week

My birthday is October 2nd and I fully intend

to celebrate all month!

This first photo is of September's full moon....

Here's some of my garden's bounty! I made lots of

tomato sauce this year and Delicata squash gnocci.....yum

Our good friends Bill and Ewana were coming up for a long weekend
from Weed, California to help celebrate...
So I made some Oatmeal Cranberry Coconut Orange cookies
in case we got a it peckish in between meals...hahahah

Russell and I walked down to inspect the massive sewer
interceptor project going on....the lake has been drawn down
about 25' to enable replacement of our sewer line.

Incredible project- it's taking more than a year to complete

We went to Marylhurst University
(my alma mater)
to celebrate the Art Gym's 30th year!
Greg Grenon and Mary Josephson were two of
the artists exhibiting in this marvelous show.

http://www.marylhurst.edu/theartgym/index.php

http://www.laurarusso.com/artists/grenon_g.html

http://www.laurarusso.com/artists/josephson_m.html

Wild mushrooms at the Lake Oswego Farmers Market!

I purchased some Lobster and Shitake mushrooms

Russell made a fabulous pasta dish with the mushrooms...

Huge artichokes!

Someone let these zucchini get out of control in the garden!

Gorgeous colors in the fall

Later this past week we went to the Green Dragon Brewery

and saw these goats in a field- they were with a whole bunch

more and were clearing all the brambles from the field.

Goats for Hire... the sign read" the goats are here to enjoy

and feast upon what spontaneously grows on this urban meadow.

Unlike gas-powered mowers, goats require no fossil fuels

to trim the vegetation" How clever is that?

and here's a pic of this months flower arrangement

that I put together for Blue Sky Gallery-

Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts

a non-profit gallery that is supported by

a huge group of volunteers
This month is a special month for Blue Sky

It's the 35th year it has been exhibiting photographs

and it started with just 3 photographers with a wonderful vision.

Mazeltov!

http://www.blueskygallery.org/

and finally...last but NOT least here's a little

video of Bill and Ewana's little

Cairn Terrier doing what he does best...

entertaining us! Enjoy!

Falling Magpie #35

Pile all those leaves up

We're going for a leaf ride

Load up the little pickup

We're going for a leaf ride

Heap orange, yellow and red

Fill up that little truck bed

We're going for a leaf ride

and here comes the best part...........

as

we

drive

slowly

up a hill

we're waiting for the thrill

of throwing gobs of leaves

at the honking cars behind us!

Silly them- they make a fuss...

Hah! We're going for a leaf ride!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When my two sons were young we had a little

Datsun pickup and we would load up the back with

tons (well-maybe not TONS) of freshly fallen

leaves. They would pile into the back with all the

leaves and I would drive slowly around our neighborhood

while the boys would wait for the right moment

to appear tossing big armfuls of color. What a lark.

Today, I suppose everyone would frown and not

enjoy the exuberance of youth with the colors of Fall.

They would possibly grumble about more leaves to rake up.

Nevermind, we had a great time.

Four Elements of LIfe

Inhaling roses

watery wet scents

that tease my nose

fierce fires

ignite my heart

and pierce the earth