Tag Archives: Photography

Mystery Blooms in the Garden

Posted on by Laurie

As I recently learned from Redneck Rosarian, June is National Rose Month … a perfect excuse to once again write about roses.

I have several ground cover roses in my garden. When I purchased them at least 8 years ago, they were labelled “Red”. In truth, they are more of a magenta. Anyhow, I am quite fond of them. They bloom from mid-Spring through Autumn and add a lot of color to the landscape … and they have proven hardy in Kansas. Now here is my mystery. A few weeks ago, one of the bushes, at the end of one branch, started producing clusters of pale pink roses.  At first I thought that I was seeing an errant limb from Flower Carpet Pink, but both the form of the flower and the color were wrong to belong to that other rose. Upon closer examination, I could see that the pale pink blooms were definitely coming from the magenta ground cover rose bush. The flowers on the rest of the branch matched the rest of the bush. What has happened to cause this mutation? Will there be more mismatched roses? Nature is full of mysteries. Fortunately, this is a fun one.

Magenta/Red Ground Cover Roses

Mystery Blooms (2 colors on the same branch)

“Flower Carpet Pink” Rose

Happy Birthday, Penny!

Posted on by Laurie

Today is our Boston Terrier Penny’s 2nd birthday. We’ll celebrate the happy occasion by making snacks and going for a long walk. Penny loves people and one of her pastimes is watching out the window to see if guests are arriving … that and spying for squirrels, bunnies, and other scoundrels. Here is one of my favorite pictures of Penny playing look out.

Yippee and Thank you to Bebe’s Kitchen!

Posted on by Laurie

Bebe from bebeskitchen.wordpress.com just nominated me for the  One Lovely Blog Award and the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. I am tickled! I’ve seen other blogs that I enjoy following receive these – including Bebe’s Kitchen – and I am pleased to be similarly regarded. I feel like I have learned a lot about this medium in a short time from reading other blogs … and, of course, I am still learning. I put a lot of work into A Taste of Morning. If I had known how much I would enjoy blogging and following other bloggers, I would have started this a long time ago. It has, literally, opened up a whole new world for me as I follow writers, photographers, adventurers, cooks, gardeners and other interesting people from around the globe.

One of the rules (presented below) is to nominate 15 other bloggers for these awards. (I am a little confused about whether I am supposed to have one or two lists – and I am not sure that I could have separated them, so I combined the two. If I have done this incorrectly, forgive me.) I had difficulty narrowing down my list of nominees to 15 bloggers. There are some blogs (e.g. doliphoto.com) that I follow that I know have received these awards recently and so even though I would have like to have included them, I did not put them on my list. Once again, I am thrilled to be a part of this wonderful community!

The Rules:

(1) Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post.

(2) Share 7 things about yourself.

(3) Nominate 15 bloggers you admire.

(4) Leave a comment on each letting them know they have been nominated.

Seven Things About Me That You Probably Don’t Know From My Blog:

(1) I have had Boston Terriers for more than a quarter of a century.

(2) My husband was the first person I met after moving to Kansas.

(3) My favorite movie is Cinema Paradiso.

(4) I love learning about almost anything.

(5) I am a science fiction junkie.

(6) I love dancing.

(7) My nicknames are “Pepper” and “Doc”.

 16 Very Inspiring Bloggers & Lovely Blog Nominees, Presented in No Particular Order:

(Sorry, I just couldn’t quite narrow it down to 15!)

(1) abigailthompson.wordpress.com

(2) thelabkitchen.com

(3) hikingphoto.com

(4) acorninmykitchen.wordpress.com

(5) lyndamichele.wordpress.com

(6) saraincucina.wordpress.com

(7) forgottenhavredegrace.com

(8) kathryndawson.wordpress.com

(9) bighungrygnomes.wordpress.com

(10) redneckrosarian.wordpress.com

(11) corygrahamart.com

(12) amnmusic.wordpress.com

(13) briangaynorphotography.com

(14) ianspagnolo.com

(15) myaukun.wordpress.com

(16) boozedandinfused.com

Thank you to those who read and enjoy my blog! Thank you to those whose blogs I read and enjoy! You all give me inspiration to keep doing A Taste of Morning.


Wine in the Wild

Posted on by Laurie

Some friends and I went to Wine in the Wild last evening. Wine in the Wild is an annual fundraiser for Sunset Zoo, which is about two miles from The Morning Star. It is the first time that I have been to this event. With the B&B, it is often difficult to g0 out for an evening; but I have been working on getting out to see more of what is going on in town. We had a lovely, relaxing evening, strolling around the zoo and sipping wine.

Sunset Zoo has an interesting history. In 1929 the City of Manhattan purchased a hilltop expanse of land for a cemetery. A large area of that land was too rocky for digging graves and in 1933 was dedicated to become Sunset Zoological Park. This, of course, was during the Great Depression, and original funding for the park was provided by the WPA. Even though the zoo has been modernized over the decades, extensive stone walls and walkways built by WPA workers still form an attractive part of  its hardscaping. The zoo has a working relationship with Kansas State School of Veterinary Medicine and is home to over 300 species of animals.

Below are some of the pictures that I took last night. It was hot and bright out when the event started at 7, cooler and pitch black when it ended a little after 9. Many of the animals seemed to be sleeping, but the birds put on a good showing.

Lake House Cookies & Photos From the Lake

Posted on by Laurie

When I woke up this morning, I was craving these cookies, so after breakfast I made a batch. One good thing about running a bed and breakfast … having guests is always a great excuse to make cookies! After the recipe, I have included a photo of the cookies and pictures from my recent trip to the Adirondacks. Tomorrow, back to Kansas themes!

Lake House Cookies*

Makes about 28

Soft white chocolate chip cookies flavored with rum and studded with cranberries, coconut and walnuts. 

1 c. all-purpose flour (substitute white rice flour for gluten-free cookies or if you prefer crisper cookies)

3/4 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

3/4 c. granulated white sugar

1 lg. egg

3/4 t. rum extract

5 oz. real white chocolate, chopped or 1 c. white chocolate chips

1/2 c. sweetened dried cranberries

1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  3. In large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and rum extract. On lowest mixer speed, beat in dry ingredients and then white chocolate, cranberries, coconut and walnuts.
  4. Scoop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto baking sheets leaving about 3” between cookies. Bake for about 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottoms and just barely set.  Place baking sheets wire racks and allow cookies to cool.

Lake House Cookies

Adirondack Sunsets

Posted on by Laurie

While visiting my mother in the Adirondacks recently, I had a chance to enjoy some beautiful sunsets. I thought I’d share  a few of my favorite photographs. As my mother likes to say, “Look at the view!” (Please let me know if you have problems viewing the photos.) Enjoy!

Sometimes Mother Knows Best

Posted on by Laurie

I haven’t written in a bit because I took time off to go visit my mother. She lives on a beautiful lake in the Adirondack Mountains.

Growing up, I spent my summers in or on the water whenever the sun was out. It was a wonderful way to spend the days of my youth. However, when my mother would tell me to put on sunscreen, I would think “Why would I wear sunscreen when I want a tan?” and proceed to slather on my spf zero suntan oil. My grandmother would take more radical measures and try to cover me with newspapers when I was lying out on the dock – a habit that irked me as I wound up covered with newsprint. My mother will now confess, however, that when she was a girl, she didn’t heed her mother’s warnings to be careful of the sun either. In fact, at times she would grab a bottle of cooking oil from the kitchen, rub it on her skin and then head out to the beach. Kids did that in those days.

The reason for my visit back East this time around was to help my mother out. She has just endured her third surgery in four months for skin cancer on one of her hands. She has been very brave, but it has been a painful and frustrating time for her. She is healing well, thankfully! She now wears sunscreen spf 50 whenever she goes outside and I too have come to appreciate sun protection.  Sometimes we really should listen to our mothers.

My mother is a gardener. It runs in the family. While visiting Mom, I helped out in her garden – pruning trees, planting annuals, weeding, watering and so forth. Here are a few pictures of my lovely mother and her garden which is just starting to bloom for the season. She can’t wait to get back out and work in it. Soon, Mom : )

Miniature Roses: A Gift for the Garden

Posted on by Laurie

To many, it will come as no surprise that I love roses. However, I am not a rose snob.  I love large, elegant, fragrant blooms and can chat away about this and that variety. When I go to a garden center, I have to examine every rose bush and ask all sorts of questions about the growth habits of each variety before I can bring one home. But I also have a penchant for buying those little potted rose plants with the tiny, highly structured flowers  that sell in grocery stores for a few bucks around the holidays – a gift for my garden. When I buy them over the winter, I keep them alive inside until I can plant them outdoors in the Spring; and, they have turned out to be surprisingly winter hardy for Kansas. My oldest few have been in the garden for four years now. I have around a dozen grocery-store-bought miniature rose bushes in the garden, give or take, ranging from the most delicate pink to bright coral. I don’t know their names, but that doesn’t matter. What’s in a name?

Per Request: One More Photo of Seven Dolors

Posted on by Laurie

Per request by Paul Golding, here’s a photo of the front of Seven Dolors. What a lovely church! Thanks for the request, Paul! I’ll don’t think that I’ll get tired of taking pictures of Seven Dolors anytime soon.