Just because Archives : Cast Iron Forest to Skillet

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11/26/2023 nice landscaping at Walmart?!?

A Walmart parking lot divider with gas station in the background. The low sumac bushes are turning yellow and orange for autumn. — It appears at the Neighborhood Walmart at Classen and Constitution in Norman they have used skunkbush or fragrant sumac (I’m not sure which) as their parking lot divider bush!! Good job whoever decided this!!

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11/23/2023 peaceful thanksgiving!

The described meal, plated on white and black plate with a wine glass of champagne. — The Chef and Chef Paula made a lovely Thanksgiving dinner they considered simple but they were actually having a good time in the kitchen all afternoon. I kept out of the way and napped with cats on the couch. The turkey was raised by Paula’s uncle. The dumplings are cream cheese and onion pierogis. The Brussels sprouts are from the farm share and caramelized in crabapple syrup (jelly that didn’t jell).

$The champagne bottle (dark green glass) with the Chef’s hand designed reusable vinyl label. The vintage area is pink with darker pink letters saying “CHC Brewing”. Handwritten notes specify “Cran + Crab Champagne, batch 3, 10.3% alcohol”. The logo is CHC with the first C reversed for symmetry. The letters are red with ornate, almost fractal, curlicues around them in a slate dark gray background.$

Our sparkly beverage was 2021 vintage neighbor crabapples with added cranberry, bottled in 2022.

I’m holding a wineglass of sparkling beverage up to the 1970s shell chandelier that came with the house. The backlighting shows off the abundant bubbles in the bubbly. — Cheers everyone!

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11/21/2023 crabapple syrup

Four pieces of crispy fried chicken thighs arranged symmetrically on a four part round waffles. Cheese cauliflower on the side. — Technically there is no garden produce in this picture but we drizzled the crabapple syrup/jelly on it and WOW was it a delicious combination.

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10/23/2023 dinner

Smoky Rice and beans with sautéed greens and a bright red cherry tomato on top in a stoneware bowl — Cajun beans and rice containing very late season garden okra.

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10/17/2023 autumnal

A black and yellow striped bee fly with dark tipped wings is feeding on the tiny flowers of a Heath aster. The flowers have white petals and yellow centers and cover the whole branch profusely. — Heath asters were buzzin‘!

The small fuzzy body of a common eastern bumblebee worker is dwarfed by the long purple covered flower stalk of Liatris mucronata. — Common Eastern bumblebees were all over both the Heath asters and these Liatris mucronata.

I’m holding a branch of Euphorbia steady so we can see the fuzzy rust-colored arctiid caterpillar hiding under a leaf. The sunlight catches the very long hairs that extend beyond its main dense body of bright orange-brown fuzzy hairs. — Wooly bear!

Faded tomato cages hold a series of fruiting pepper plants and blooming marigold plants. — Marigolds doing well around the sweet peppers.

A closer view of the bright orange marigold flowers dotting their pointed leaves. The plants are lush and only partly contained by the faded red tomato cages. — A close up of the same marigolds. They really thrive in the fall.

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10/14/2023 heath asters at home

Lush sprays of asters crowded with tiny white flowers — At least some of the heath asters I have in our Norman yard are from Texas home. I’m visiting and they are looking magnificent!

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10/14/2023 horseherb in the wild

A pale hand holds green leaves and a tiny five-petaled flower steady in the shade — It was fun to see wild horseherb today at Abilene State Park in Texas. We have one big patch in the yard from a NPSOT plant sale in 2022 and it has thrived.

Briar the dog is laying on soil and sparse mowed grass in the shade of a pecan tree during the peak of an annular solar eclipse. The digital watch in the foreground reads 11:53AM. The dappled light through the trees leaves are all C-shaped crescents due to the pinhole effect created by the overlapping compound pecan leaves. This delightful light effect dapples the dog and the soil alike! — I went with Mom and Dad to see 88% of the annular solar eclipse! This photo was just after the peak. The pecan tree leaves are creating a pinhole effect so all the shadows show the slice of sun that’s left. Mom will be posting her pictures on her blog tomorrow.

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10/08/2023 garden onion and basil

A deep dish pizza, a salad, and an empty plate ready for dinner. — In the deep dish pizza.

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10/08/2023 rain brightened it up

The bright pink tubular flowers of obedient plant arranged in a spike, with the top flowers still just barely budding. — Another plant of fall obedient plant started blooming! Coworkers gave me several of their plants and I put them in several spots around the yard. This one by the winter birdbath by the house was a bit optimistic but it seems to have made it!

A top view of the obedient plant flower spike showing the bright pink flowers contrasting with the long thin bright green leaves, all arranged oppositely. — I thought it looked neat from above with four rows of flowers in the spike.

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10/07/2023 weeding helper

Briar the German shepherd dog lays, looking completely and devastatingly bored, with her butt squishing the base of several stalks of Mexican sage, which are valiantly flowering purple and white above her butt. — After kindly avoiding sitting on the Mexican sage while I weeded, Briar finally decided to sit on them. 🙄

Briar the German shepherd dog stands with her head and back wedged under and draped by long arcs of Maximilian sunflower stalks and blooms. — Earlier, Briar helped us look over the now conveniently low Maximilian sunflowers. We can see all the insects easily!