Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter treat, festive hat and feathery friend

- An heirloom tomato paired with an avocado and basil. This simple salad recipe was inspired by one found on the Simply Recipes blog - no fresh chives were available, so basil made a fine substitute.

- A woman passing by the produce window of the grocery store is wearing a definite spring inspired Easter bonnet. She comes in as I am leaving and I tell her how much I admire it - a straw hat adorned with flowers, Easter eggs and pink bunny ears. She tells me that I, too, could have this hat - all items found at the dollar store.

- Hearing from a neighbor that the bird nesting in my fern is a Red-breasted Sparrow, but then reading that there’s no such thing. There is, however, a female Eastern Towhee. So that's what I think she might be and love how she flies out and sits on a nearby branch to call out to me to be careful when I quietly enter and leave from my front door.

17 comments:

G. B. Miller said...

Sometimes you can find the funkiest things to create with from a Dollar store.

LL Cool Joe said...

Ha the Dollar store was my favourite shops in the US! :D

I love avocado!

Louvregirl said...

Lynn~ Is that the purple heirloom?
Also~~ You managed to remind me of....an event that I remember from maybe...3rd grade (or second...) I was in an Easter Bonnet contest....(and we had to cross up on a stage...)
My hat (that I adorned with colored paper and LARGE flowers of some kind; this part of the memory is rusty...I'm afraid) ...was a rather LARGE oatmeal (cardboard) container with a sash around my chin! It sat tall on my head like Ab Lincoln's hat....
:-) :-) Oh My!!! How cute and funny is that? I have a rather long face so I must have looked a sight I imagine!!! What a gas.

Lance said...

It's finally warming up here, and I slept with the window open last night. What a treat it was to wake with the birds singing in the trees outside.

And...mmmmm...the tomato and avocado looks delicious!

Jannie Funster said...

You've re- inspired me to eat green and healthy today! Thank you. I could jump into a bath tub filled with guacamole right now!

Ahhh, remember that classic old tune...

Put on your old Easter bonnet
with the Dollar trinkets on it...

:)

xxxooo

TALON said...

That is one appetizing looking dish!

I wonder if it might be a Common Rosefinch? We have some of those here and they look a lot like sparrows especially when they aren't in their full rose color (though you can see the red on the breasts all year).

I love Easter bonnets. Nice that they are still so delightfully adorned and even better when they don't cost a fortune :)

Lynn said...

G -

I know a guy who manages a Dollar store - he says they amuse themselves by having fake price checks on the loudspeaker, "Price Check on aisle 2!" "Uh - that's a dollar."

Joe -

California avocados are the best to me - I love them, too.

lg -

Yes - it is! It was so good - I almost let it go too long before it as eaten.

I love that story! I'll bet you were adorable in that bonnet!

Lance -

So glad to hear that it is warming up a bit!

Jannie -

Yeah - I'm a guacamole girl, too. :)

xo

Talon -

I see a little flash of red when it is flying out of the fern. I watched it from my car yesterday as I was leaving and it sat on the arbor and looked around before flying back in.

Maude Lynn said...

Oh, my! That looks like a real tomato. I am so envious!

Sparkling Red said...

I work with a woman who is a highly-paid professional. She is taken very seriously. I love that at every holiday, she comes to work adorned by some type of whimsical decoration. For Easter she wore a headband with furry pink bunny ears sticking up from it. However, she keeps a straight face as if they weren't perched on her head all day. It's the best!

Adrenalynn said...

Oh, YUM! I've never heard of an Eastern Towhee, but I love the name!

Riot Kitty said...

Oh boy Lynn - if you got that hat, you'd HAVE TO take a picture and show us.

Basil would be much better with that recipe than chives, good choice ;)

Fireblossom said...

That's adorable about the bird.

desk49 said...

A feast for the eyes
a hat that said surprise
and a bird said walk on bye

Lynn said...

Mama Zen -

It took me a second, but I know what you mean about a "real" tomato - as opposed to those awful orange ones in the grocery store.

Sparkling Red -

I love people like that. :)

Lynn -

I had never heard of it either - but it sure sings sweet songs.

Riot Kitty -

She put the hat together from items from the Dollar store. And I just never do that kind of thing, but you never know. :)

I love me some basil!

FB -

I know - I love having them there. Yesterday I had to water the plant and just put the water in at the very edge so I wouldn't disturb the nest so much.

Ellis -

Another good one! Thank you for my poem. :)

Laura said...

Avocado instead of mozzarella - a perfect substitute for the lactose intolerant! Looks delicious.

Snaggle Tooth said...

Beautiful food plates you put together-
Produce has been so expensive, but I finally broke down n spent money on some salad goods this week.
The Dollar Tree got me five supplies for 5 bux today- fun to shop there.
I actually think I saw a wren going after my bread crumbs out the window yesterday- i love finding out new birds- even tho difficult to look up with the male/female differences!

Opps thunder, have to get offline again!

Lynn said...

Laura -

I hadn't thought of the lactose intolerance factor - good idea.

Snaggle -

I think it's fun to go in those dollar stores - we have Family Dollar near my house and I went in there and picked up some plastic serving spoons that I wouldn't mind losing. (I've lost so many good ones to work functions over the years.) :)