One of my favorite things to do when I visit my mother in the Adirondacks is to go for a walk. The air is blended with the wonderful scents of the mountains and the view, of course, is beautiful. The photos below are from one of my perambulations.
Tag Archives: Photography
Look at the View!
My mother lives in a beautiful location in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. The gorgeous scenery prompts her to exclaim, “look at the view!” whenever she has company – something we in the family love to tease her about. During a recent visit, I took these photos from her beach. Indeed, it is a lovely view … in any direction, any time of the day.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Wrong
“Oh, Mommy, something is wrong with my nose.”
When Abbey had stitches in her nose a while back, now and then she would give me a look that said it all.
Thank You Flowers
Recently several people have kindly nominated A Taste of Morning for awards. In thanks, here are some pictures that I have recently taken of wildflowers out on the Konza Prairie. I thought this would be a fun way to acknowledge those readers who have shown such warm support! 
Thank you to Diana Staresinic-Deane for the Reader Appreciation Award, to Share Chair for the Beautiful Blogger Award, to Letizia from Reading Interrupted for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award nominations.* You should check out these blogs. Diana writes about Kansas, Share Chair about technology (especially iPad and iPhone), and Letizia about reading, writing, and related topics.
Here are a few blogs that I really enjoy following and that I would like to nominate for an award. I think that all of them deserve a Reader Appreciation Award; and some are inspiring, some are beautiful; some are both! (I’ll let them decide which should they choose to accept.) The people behind these all bring enthusiasm, effort, and a special perspective to their work.
Roho Ya Chui for photography insights that inspire me to think
Neely Wang for beautiful photography of a wide variety of subjects
Words & Images for beautiful photography of a wide variety of subjects
SKEdazzles for beautiful photography and travel inspiration
Retiree Diary for beautiful photography and travel inspiration
Doli Siregar for beautiful adventure photography
Cumin Seeds for colorful, mostly gluten-free, recipes featuring wonderful spices
Boy Drinks World for tips on cocktail-making
Bebe’s Kitchen for interesting recipes and food photography
Beyond the Green Door for a fun mix of recipes, gardening, and decorating ideas
Becca’s Green Kitchen for delicious vegetarian recipes
Pearls & Prose for garden and travel photography
A Word in Your Ear for colorful travel photography
Goss Coaching for positive and inspiring perspectives
Crazy Train To Tinky Town for interesting stories
Some random facts:
I am a “mostly vegetarian”.
The first cookbook that I ever bought was James Beard’s Theory & Practice of Good Cooking (1977). I still own it.
I have really enjoyed watching the Olympics over the past two weeks.
The last book that I read was Sea Change by Karen White.
I just started reading The French Gardener by Sara Montefiore.
I had a great great grandfather who was French.
One of my goals for the next year is to travel to some beautiful place that I have never been before.
* Rules …
Reader Appreciation Award: Post link to the person who nominated you; include a picture of the award on your blog; nominate some other bloggers for the award; tell 7 things about yourself.
Beautiful Blogger Award: Post link to the person who nominated you; include a picture of the award on your blog; nominate 15 other bloggers for the award; tell 7 things about yourself.
Very Inspiring Blogger Award: Post link to the person who nominated you; include a picture of the award on your blog; nominate 7 other bloggers for the award; tell 7 things about yourself.
On a personal note …
Having accepted blogger awards several times now – each time quite happily and feeling flattered – I feel that it would be selfish of me to continue to do so. Hence, I humbly request that if you enjoy A Taste of Morning, that you simply send me a note letting me know. I hope that this does not sound presumptuous or offend anyone. Thank you kindly to all of you who have shown your support!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth
When we moved into our house twelve years ago, this American Linden tree (a.k.a. Basswood tree) was a scrawny specimen. I could reach up with a pair of clippers and prune out competing leaders. I did my best to shape this tree in its formative years, but now it is in the neighborhood of 30 feet tall (give or take). Not realizing how quickly it would grow, when we moved in, I planted sun-loving perennials near the tree. I should have known better. Now I am trying to find other locations in the garden for those very same plants as they are in shade too much of the day. If it grows to full size, this tree could reach 70 feet tall and 50 feet wide. Then I would really have to rethink my garden!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Purple
Manhattan is home to Kansas State University. Since the school colors are royal purple and white, there is no shortage of purple around town. (For more photos see my post Putting on the Purple.) Thank you to Varney’s Bookstore for letting me take the bottom two photos inside the shop.
I’ve Been Inspired By … Donuts
It’s been a while since I’ve posted in my “Let the Inspiration In” series; but I just had to try Frugal Feeding‘s Cinnamon Dipped Doughnuts recipe. Since I am gluten-sensitive, and couldn’t imagine making donuts and not having one, I used white rice flour instead of wheat flour in the recipe. (My batter looked a little thicker than Frugal Feeding’s appears in his photos.) The only other change that I made was that I needed to double the amount of butter used for dipping the donuts. I served these for breakfast this morning – with roasted turkey and fresh tomato omelettes and dishes of fresh berries – and everyone, including me, agreed that they are delicious. Thank you, Frugal Feeding for the recipe!
Cinnamon Dipped Donuts
1 3/4 c. + 2 T. (250 g.) sifted all-purpose flour or 1 3/4 c. (250 g.) sifted white rice flour for gluten-free
1/3 c. (80 g.) granulated white sugar + 3 T
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
3/4 c. (180 ml.) buttermilk
2 lg. eggs, beaten
4 – 6 T. unsalted butter
1 T. ground cinnamon
(1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a six-mold donut baking pan with oil.
(2) Melt 2 T. of the butter. In a small bowl, beat together butter, eggs, and buttermilk. Set aside.
(3) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, 1/3 c. sugar, baking powder and nutmeg. Whisk in buttermilk mixture until smooth.
(4) Divide batter between molds. Bake for 6 to 10 minutes or until they spring back when pressed or until they are firm to the touch (if using rice flour). (I baked my rice flour donuts for 10 minutes.) Let pan cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before turning the donuts out. Meanwhile combine the remaining 3 T. sugar and the cinnamon.
(5) Melt the remaining 2 – 4 T. butter. Dip both sides of donuts in melted butter then in cinnamon sugar. Serve right away.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside
I keep plants by a few of my kitchen windows. These photos look inside two of the orchids in my ‘inside garden”.
So You Think Kansas Is Flat?
So you think Kansas is flat? Okay … most of the state is. But not the Konza Prairie which is located in the northern Flint Hills of eastern-central Kansas. This narrow chain of hills counts as its own ecoregion because it is home to the densest remaining tall grass prairie in North America. Early European settlers, unable to plow the area due to its rocky soil composition, used the region for grazing livestock thus leaving the grasslands intact. Due to dry conditions this summer, the grasses probably will not reach their full height. Nevertheless, this expanse of prairie with its soft, rolling hills is still something to see … and it proves that Kansas isn’t all flat!
The Konza Prairie is co-owned by The Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University. While much of the area is dedicated for use as a biological research station, fortunately there are several trails open to the public. The trails are frequently used by hikers and joggers, birders, and photographers and other artists out to capture the beauty of this land. If you have been following my blog this week, you’ve probably figured out how much I enjoy photographing this area. (I’ve also done a few paintings of the prairie.) However, my next post will be back to food.
Compass Plants on the Konza
Compass Plant (Silphilium Laciniatum) is a wild flower native to the prairies of the midwestern US. It also grows in parts of northeast to central US and southeastern Canada. It derives its name from the fact that its leaves align themselves north-south to avoid over-exposure to the parching sun. Despite the abnormally hot, dry conditions that we have been experiencing in Kansas* – the driest in over 50 years, when I photographed them a few days ago these Compass Plants gave all appearances of thriving on the Konza Prairie. I find them to be a fascinating combination of beauty and ruggedness.
*Our official high yesterday was 107 degrees F., though the thermometer in our yard registered a high of 113.2 degrees F. at 4:20 pm. A thunderstorm last night brought only 0.07 inches of rain.
A Taste of Morning 