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Buddha Toad

14 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by Claire Eddins in Flora and Fauna, Frogs and Toads, Home and Garden, Inspiration, Nature, Virginia

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amphibian, Anaxyrus quercicus, animal conservation, Central Virginia, extinction, Flora and Fauna, garden, garden photography, iPhoneography, lifestyle, nature, nature photography, Oak Toad, summer, toad, Virginia garden, Virginia Herpetplogical Society, Virginia toad, Virginia wildlife

Every once in a while, you run into an individual who’s got that “It” thing going on. You know, the bigger-than-life types… the ones who exude confidence, awareness and over-the-top, in-yer-face personality. The ones with an undeniable energy. The ones who stake their claim to the space simply by being there.

And, in my experience, these It-Factor types occur with animals as well as humans.

And every once in a while, I run into an animal who just oozes It-Factor. Like my Buddha Toad here. I mean no disrespect to the followers of Buddhism, however, I do think he seems to have attained some sort of knowledge and enlightenment. Just look at him. When he sits back in my hand and looks out at the world (and scornfully at me), I am convinced that he knows far more than I do…

My research indicates that this little fellow may be an Oak Toad (Anaxyrus quercicus). According to the Virginia Herpetological Society, these little toads are quite rare in the state and require a “very high conservation need” as the species is at high risk for extinction or extirpation.

Photo note: I tried, tried, tried, to achieve a photo with Buddha Toad’s nose in the same focal plane as the rest of his body… however, my trusty iPhone camera was not so trusty on that day; Buddha Toad’s nose remains out of focus in a photo or two. But then, I figured his personality transcends all technical issues… so I’ve published anyway. I promise to find another It-Factor amphibian and try again!

All photos taken with an iPhone 4. © 2012 EddinsImages

Mighty Mushroom

13 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by Claire Eddins in Flora and Fauna, iPhoneography, Lifestyle, Nature, Summer, Virginia

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Flora and Fauna, garden, garden photography, iPhoneography, lifestyle, mushroom, nature, nature photography, summer, Virginia, Virginia garden, Virginia plants

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Rainbows and Green Orbs

06 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by Claire Eddins in Flora and Fauna, Inspiration, iPhoneography, Nature, Photography, Summer, Virginia

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

apple, black walnut, Central Virginia, chestnut, countryside, double rainbow, farm, Flora and Fauna, green apple, green pepper, Inspiration, iPhonography, lifestyle, nature, pepper, photography, rainbow, rainbow photo, storm, summer, trees, Virginia, walnut, weather

Double rainbow in the Virginia countryside after the storm. © 2012 EddinsImages


It has been a week since the Eastern United States was hammered by a fast-moving, deadly storm. Here in central Virginia, after an eerie, silent stillness with no warning of what was to follow, we were blasted by a sideways, screaming wind. Nothing else… just wind. Then, the wicked, other-worldly tempest brought-on wild, non-stop lightning in the clouds above – as if someone was flicking a light switch on and off, on and off. The lights flashed all around us without pause. There was still no sound, except the roar of the wind. Later came lightning that was lower in the sky, accompanied by rumbles of thunder, downpours of rain, and hail. Throughout it all, most devilish was the incessant wind. Many likened the 70-plus mile-per-hour wind to the scary roar of a train.

We took the rampage seriously. After returning home safely during the first-half of the storm, my husband sat inside the house with the front door open, listening, for the sound of an approaching tornado. My son and I retreated to the far side of the house, opposite the ancient maple tree outside, wary that the tree would fall into the house. We learned after-the-fact that this unusual storm is called a derecho – a widespread, fast-moving weather event that features intense, straight-line, damaging winds and sometimes thunder and lightning.

And, sadly, for many in Virginia, that very scenario was a reality. Most tragically, however, is the fact that when it was all over, just an hour or so later, lives were lost, property was severely damaged, and, for a great number of families, power was out. Today, one week later, the clean-up continues. Many families remain without power. We’ve seen working power crews here from as far away as Texas. I am so very sorry for families who lost loved ones.

Even so, Mother Nature has a way of recovering. First, there was the double rainbow outside my barn. Even without electricity at the barn, seeing the rainbow brought me a feeling of hope.

Green chestnuts fall to the ground early during a Virginia storm. © 2012 EddinsImages


Then, throughout the past week, I’ve been finding little fallen orbs of nature… beautiful trinkets dropped by trees and plants. And each is green.

Close-up of a ready-to eat green pepper that survived windy weather. © 2012 EddinsImages


Green, the color of nature. The color of rejuvenation. The color of life.

A handful of black walnuts picked-up from the grass below after stormy weather in Virginia. © 2012 EddinsImages


So, with these verdant little reminders of our future and all that is good in life, we rebuild, replant, and reclaim.

Fallen green apples and their seeds ensure that more, beautiful apple trees will grow for future generations. © 2012 EddinsImages


Live goes on…

Country path leads under the double rainbow. © 2012 EddinsImages


All photos taken with an iPhone 4. © 2012 EddinsImages

Summer Fun Challenge: Water Photos

15 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by Claire Eddins in iPhoneography, Lifestyle, Summer

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

feet in water, floating in water, hands photos, iPhone, iPhone 4, iPhoneography, lifeguard, lifestyle, outdoor pool, photo contest, Photograph, pool, pool photos, red nails, shadow photos, summer fun, summer in Virginia, summer photos, swimming photos

Recently, I signed-up to join Blissfully Domestic’s Summer Fun Photo Challenge where Angela England hosts a different photo challenge topic during each week of the summer. Results are posted on Fridays.

Feet in the pool. © 2012 EddinsImages

Week One’s task was to photograph Water, and the topic is open to any interpretation.

Pool stripe. © 2012 EddinsImages

So the other day, I hopped over to the pool, iPhone in-hand.

Summer pool shadow. © 2012 EddinsImages

No doubt, folks thought I was a bit looney as I waded into four feet of pool water with my iPhone.

Pool stair. © 2012 EddinsImages

Regardless, I managed to keep my iPhone safe from the dangerous waters!

Pool legs and red umbrellas. © 2012 EddinsImages

And, people at the pool thought I was even nuttier, probably quite narcissistic, as I spent the afternoon in the water taking pictures of my own hands and feet.

Red-painted nails in summer pool. © 2012 EddinsImages

Okay, okay… so I got a little help from my husband taking the photo of my two hands (after all, I couldn’t push the button). However, it was frustrating because he couldn’t see what I saw, so, quickly the team photo tactic was abandoned.

Lane line close-up. © 2012 EddinsImages

One time, the life guard called out, “Are you trying to get a photo of your ring?” Ummm… not exactly…

Painted pool fingers. © 2012 EddinsImages

And, I snapped a more shots of the pool.

Pool feet and black umbrella. © 2012 EddinsImages

Hummm… what to we have here? A crack in the stair?

Pool stair close-up. © 2012 EddinsImages

Then, more shots of my legs. They looked cool.

Distorted legs in pool water. © 2012 EddinsImages

Another quick look around to see what I missed…

Pool number 4. © 2012 EddinsImages

Then, it was time to get out and hit the pool deck.

No Diving. © 2012 EddinsImages

All in all, it had been a lovely day at the pool, don’t you think?

Shadow over the kiddie pool. © 2012 EddinsImages

The topic for next week’s Summer Fun Photo Challenge is Technology…  not in my comfort zone, for sure!

To join the fun, visit Blissfully Domestic’s Summer Fun Photo Challenge. Each week we’ll get a different theme and each Friday we post results. Here’s what’s ahead…

  • June 15, Week 1 = Water
  • June 22, Week 2 = Technology
  • June 29, Week 3 = Fun/Playtime
  • July 6, Week 4 = Light
  • July 13, Week 5 = Family/Home
  • July 20, Week 6 = Money
  • July 27, Week 7 = Travel
  • August 3, Week 8 = Friendship/Love
  • August 10, Week 9 = Food
  • August 17, Week 10 = Learning

So grab your camera, and join in the summer photo fun!

All photos taken with an iPhone 4. © 2012 EddinsImages

Introducing the Egg Cup

18 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by Claire Eddins in Favorite Products, Food, Home and Garden, iPhoneography, Kitchen and Table, Lifestyle

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Boiled egg, Breakfast, Cloche, Cook, Cooking, Easter, Egg, Egg cup, Family traditions, Food, How to cook an egg, How to eat an egg, lifestyle, Pottery Barn, Soft boiled egg, Soft cooked egg, Tableware

The egg cup… hard to find in the United States these days. © 2012 EddinsImages

Part of my mission as a mom is to pass down arcane life skills and information to my son, so that when he’s a grown man, he will be fully prepared and confident to handle whatever surprises life throws at him. Of course, passing along esoteric, obscure, or old-fashioned skills most often goes hand-in-hand with passing along family stories and traditions.

So, it’s not all for nothing.

Before introducing the egg cup to my family… two soft-cooked eggs were chopped and  served in a bowl, the way Grandma did it. © 2012 EddinsImages

A few weeks ago, EGGS were on my mind. I don’t know why this was the time for eggs, maybe, because it was nearing the Easter holiday, a time when the media bombards us with bunnies, chicks and eggs. Regardless, I decided that my 13-year-old son needed to know how to prepare a soft-boiled egg (also called a soft-cooked egg). He could cook a scrambled egg, he could prepare an omelette, and he could fry an egg. However, he’d never learned to soft-boil an egg.

Let alone eat one.

And, I determined, if I was getting into soft-boiled eggs, I might as well get into egg cups. After all, you never know in life when you might meet-up with an egg cup. And, if you’ve never encountered one before, an uncracked egg sitting in an egg cup waiting to be eaten can be daunting.

Now, if you’re from the UK, or many parts of Europe where using an egg cup is more common, then, you may feel I’m a bit out of line for calling an egg cup “arcane.” However, the fact is, egg cups are few and far between here in the US.

Pottery Barn egg cup with attached saucer and bunny cameo cloche. © 2012 EddinsImages

So, about the time I began planning my egg tutorial, low-and-behold, Pottery Barn was having a sale… their spring catalogue featured the “Cameo Egg Cloche;” a white, glazed stoneware egg cup, with a little attached dish on the bottom, and a bunny “cameo” imprint on a separate cloche cover. Better still, each was on sale for less than six dollars. How could I go wrong? I ordered three, one for me, one for my husband, and one for my son. We’d make it a family affair, eating soft-boiled eggs out of our new egg cups.

Of course, even with the best-laid plans, nothing ever goes quite as expected. After the initial egg cup presentations were made to my family, when the  appointed day for egg cup lessons came to be, my husband was nowhere to be found.

I think, he hatched a plan to be away that day…

Son’s first crack at an egg in the cup. © 2012 EddinsImages

Regardless, my son showed a remarkable amount of patience and poise as he tolerated my soft-boiled egg and egg cup tutorials.

I told him stories about how, when I was a girl, I ate soft-boiled eggs at Grandma’s house. I remember Grandma’s early 20th-century kitchen, with the painted, sage-green cabinets, linoleum floor, enameled sink and drainboard, white gas-range, and her red transferware. Inside each transferware bowl was a depiction of a past-century couple under a tree.

Yummy, sloppy-good, soft-boiled egg. © 2012 EddinsImages

I’d watch Grandma boil the egg, cool it under running water – not for too long, just until cool enough to hold – then, hit the cooked shell with the back of a knife around the top before carefully removing the “lid.” Next, with a teaspoon, in one motion, she’d carefully scoop-out the egg from the shell (like magic, I thought), and place the loosened egg in the transferware bowl. My egg would be chopped with a spoon, before salted and peppered. I daresay, there would be a pat of butter added as well. Sometimes, there would be toast with butter and jelly on the side. I’d eat my delicious egg, whites cooked, yolk still partially runny, until I reached the bottom of the bowl where I’d discover the garden scene. Grandma ate hers with little pieces of buttered toast mixed in with the runny egg. When we finished, Grandma and I would make-up a story about the garden couple in the bottom of the bowl.

Inside the egg…  © 2012 EddinsImages

However, even after years of eating soft-boiled eggs with Grandma, I’d never eaten an egg from an egg cup. So, the polite and practical use of  the egg cup was something my son and I learned together last week. To cook and serve:

  1. We started by placing an egg in cold water inside a saucepan.
  2. Then, we heated the pan until the water came to a full boil.
  3. After two to three minutes, we removed the egg with a slotted spoon and cooled the egg under running cool water… just until it was cool enough to touch (still quite warm).
  4. Then, we placed the egg into the egg cup.
  5. Using the back of a knife, we hit the top side of the egg-shell with a sharp rap to crack the shell.
  6. We followed by pushing the knife tip into the egg and slicing across the top, until the “lid” fell off to reveal the interior of the egg. Our first peek inside… here’s where we learned whether we’d gotten it right in terms of cooking time! We concluded that I prefer my egg slightly runny and my son prefers his egg cooked a little closer to hard-boiled, so we needed to adjust cooking and cooling times appropriately.

All that was left to do was season the egg interior with salt and pepper (if desired), carefully dip the spoon in (so as not to slosh out all the egg on the first bite)… and enjoy! Dipping slivers of toast made from my pumpkin bread was a tasty treat as well.

Dipping toasted pumpkin bread was “eggstra” delicious! Eddins Images

Ummm… we won’t mention here that if one finds his or her egg to be slightly undercooked, and if one decides to put the egg with “lid” removed but still in the shell,  into the microwave for a few additional seconds, then perhaps, when one finally inserts his or her spoon into the boiled-then-microwaved egg… there will be an EGGSPLOSION.

Don’t do that.

<grin>

So, after a few days and a dozen eggs or so, armed with a bit of new arcane knowledge and skill, my son is ready to take-on a world full of eggs and egg cups.

Now, we just need to find some egg spoons…

Son’s first egg-cupped egg… all gone! Eddins Images

Some of What I’ve Learned about Egg Cups:

  • An egg cup is little dish or bowl specifically designed to serve a boiled or cooked egg.
  • Most egg cups are single cups on a pedestal. However, a double egg cup may have two sides, one large and one small.
  • Using a double egg cup, place the large end over the unopened egg to keep the egg warm until it is time to eat. Then, flip over the cup and set the egg into the smaller cup for consummation.
  • During the 1930s, the double egg cup was especially popular; egg was removed from the shell, placed in the big cup, chopped and seasoned with salt and pepper and then eaten right from the big cup.
  • Toast or bread, often sliced into narrow “fingers” dipped into the egg is a favorite treat.
  • The egg sits with its larger end in the egg cup.
  • A special egg cutter (ACK! who has one of those?) can be used to break open the shell.
  • An egg spoon is made to fit into the egg.
  • Egg cups are most common in the UK, Europe and Canada. Less common in the US.
  • Art depicting egg cups dates as early as 3AD. Actual egg cups were found in ruins of Pompeii dating from 79AD.
  • Prior to 1700, egg cups were made from wood then silver.
  • An egg cup may be made of just about any material, form porcelain, to plastic.
  • In the 1700s, French citizens purchased egg cups to copy King Louis XV, as he supposedly could “decapitate an egg at a single stroke.”
  • Often, 1800s egg cups made of silver were gilded inside to prevent sulfur from the egg from staining silver and affecting flavor.
  • 1800s egg spoons were often made of horn, bone or ivory so as not to taint the egg taste.
  • Beginning in the 1930s, egg cups with attached platters were made.
  • People collect egg cups all over the world. Egg cup collecting is called pocillovy. An egg collector is known as a pocillovist.

All photos taken with an iPhone 4. © 2012 EddinsImages

Spring’s Wonder

22 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by Claire Eddins in Flora and Fauna, Frogs and Toads, Home and Garden, iPhoneography, Lifestyle, Nature, Spring

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Tags

flower, fresh start, frog statuary, garden, life experience, lifestyle, memories, new beginning, pansy, spring

“Every spring is the only spring – perpetual astonishment.” – Ellis Peters. © 2012 EddinsImages

Remember when you were very young… how the simplest little thing could be an object of absolute joy and wonderment?

Like flowers in an early spring garden.  Or, a favorite object.

Springtime at my Grandparent’s house in New Jersey: after long, grey, northern winters, any bits of color – crimson buds against cerulean skies, green leaves reaching up to unfurl from hardened earth, screaming yellow flowers with neon noses held atop emerald stems – were welcome celebrations of the earth’s rebirth. When I was very little, it was bliss to be outside without a cumbersome snowsuit, feel the warm sun on my skin, smell early-blooming narcissus in the garden, and feel the rich, cool dirt in my hands, on my knees and under my nails.

Each spring I scrunched under the shrubs in the backyard to discover my favorite lion-faced pansies bobbing atop rich, freshly turned soil. Carefully, I’d lift-up the delicate pansy heads to examine their charming purple and white faces. My very own little lions. I’d spend forever, studying and comparing one flower to another, choosing my very favorite. And, each day on my visit to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s, I’d run outside early in the morning to be sure my very favorite lion-face was still safe and blooming.

Best of all, nestled amongst the lion-faced pansies, were two cast-iron frogs, one painted light green and the other dark green with a white belly. In my shaded pansy paradise, I petted and played with the frogs, adoring them as if they were living creatures, hour after hour.

It was all so simple and wondrous. Each spring, each day…

Today, half a century later, my darling grandparents are long gone. Their home is gone. And, their marvelous garden with each spring’s promise, is gone. However, my beloved cast-iron frogs have found their forever home with me. Their paint has all but worn away, and each little frog has patinated so that the pair shows a near-identical, rusty-bronze color. To anyone seeing them for the first time, they are hardly the cheerful Spring Princes of my childhood days.

However, I remember.

To me, the frogs are every bit as wondrous as they were fifty years ago. They remind me of spring in New Jersey. Of lion-faced pansies. Of Grandma and Grandpa. And, they remind me of the joy and excitement I felt when experiencing the simplest things. By contrast, today, often bogged-down in the day-to-day mechanics of adulthood… raising a child, being a wife, caring for pets, making a living, managing a home, shopping and child shuttling from one activity to another… I feel overwhelmed. Some days, all I can do is get through the nuts and bolts of living. No time for whimsy.

Then comes spring. Everything is anew. Each day is fresh. A redo from the day before. And all the days before that. I can forget my troubles. Move forward from my mistakes. And I see that what made me happy fifty years ago still makes me happy today. I just need to remember. I just need to make time to enjoy life, experience the wonder, as I expected to when I was still a child.

Spring reminds me to be the me I expected to be.

I’m off to find some pansies for my frogs…

Photo taken with an iPhone 4. © 2012 EddinsImages

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  • Beloved, Award-winning Toy
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  • Mighty Mushroom
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