Greetings!

Presenting this Monday’s collection of entertaining pieces of interesting + fun + delish.

Beginning with:

THE AMAZING MACHINES 
Really cool watch of the machines that perform the tasks that contribute to our day-to-day mass living we absolutely don’t really wonder or think about — like donuts to spiral notebooks to milling machines to cleaning the tops of tunnels to crushing giant items for recycling  to – to – to …  Impressive!

SURPRISING ALUMINIUM FOIL USES IN OUR HOMES
Besides covering something we slide into the oven:  soften brown sugar!  Sharpen scissors!  Keep pots and pans shiny!  And more totally has my full attention.  Who knew that roll of Aluminum foil in the kitchen drawer is a secret weapon to combat so many things around the house?  Not me.  But now I do – and so do you.

HOW TO DEBONE A ROTISSERIE CHICKEN, EXPERTLY WITH NO MESS
Is genius!  Seeing + Doing = Believing.  Just a mind trip of  “why didn’t we think of this sooner” ?

WE ALL SEE COOL HUMOR AND HAPPENSTANCE IN OUR EVERY DAY WORLDS
Get your phone/camera race ready to click and capture when you see them.

RECIPES
7 Layer Bar Rice Krispie Treats
Well, the 2 just hooked up and they have become one!  Gotta-gotta-make!  Neither will ever be the same solo again!

Crunchy Muesli Bars
Skip the fancy-smanshy “granola bars” sold as easy grab-n-go at the local store.  These bars are WAAAAAYYY better!  And (bonus) less expensive and more accessible – as in the kitchen pantry or fridge at home.

UNSTUFFED SHELLS
Are calling my culinary name (whatever that might be – ha).  Giant fan of stuffed shells but they’re time consuming —  I’m new besties with the same delish results without the task of stuffing every. single. shell.

SHRIMP AND GRITS
Let’s get a little special Low Country food action happening.

CLASSIC EASY EGG CASSEROLE
Company coming?  Here’s the recipe your company will absolutely sing praises about you being a domestic goddess come breakfast/brunch time.  Little will they know how easy-peasy it was for you to prepare day-before and simply pop in the oven.  Bake and serve.  Ta-Dah!

GREEK STYLE SPINACH, FETA, POLENTA PIE
Is fabulously unique and delish.  A light dinner or lunch served with a giant slice of fruit (think cantaloupe, honeydew or watermelon).

IRISH DANCE GROUP
I, personally, think from today until March 17 all things Irish are owned by this specific time of year.
I was mesmerized watching the dancers.   I called my sister, Lisa, and asked her if this was tap dancing because her daughter/my niece, Kaylyn, studied tap and ballet and was VERY, VERY good.  Lisa said, “Nope, this is Irish hard shoe or soft shoe — sometimes referred to as clogging.  And Kaylyn studied it when she first started to dance.”
Lisa continued, “Watch how the Irish dancers only move from the waist down — it’s all about the legs and feet performing as opposed to tap when dancers entire bodies move.  It’s a different kind of skilled dance.”   Totally cool wow watch.

THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE
Is a magnificent story so full of heart and imagery.  Bet you won’t see a daffodil emerging this time of year and not reflect on this story.  I actually wish I’d planted some daffodils this year.  Perhaps, next year.

THANKS ALL
For popping in today and sharing + engaging.  We are grateful.
See ya Wednesday
Same time
Same place.

ENJOY!

• Awe-mazing Machines and Tools compilation showing/explaining how stuff in our everyday world get done by the masses –Riveting watch
• LOVE THESE (!)  Surprising  ALUMINUM FOIL USES – Who knew?  Not me.
• This. Is. GENIUS!  How to debone a rotisserie chicken with a simple plastic bag hack
• Humor and Happenstance coalesce in Julie Hrudova’s Amsterdam Street Photography Art
• RECIPE (!) 7 Layer Bar Rice Krispie Treats
• RECIPE (!) Crunchy Muesli Bars 
• RECIPE (!) Unstuffed Shells
• RECIPE (!) Shrimp and Grits
• RECIPE (!) Classic Easy Egg Casserole
• RECIPE (!) Greek Style Spinach Feta Polenta Pie
• This is pure Joy!  Irish Dance Group Irish Step Dance

THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE
BY JAROLDEEN ASPLUND EDWARDS

And the story goes like this –

“Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.”

I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.  “I will come next Tuesday,” I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy.  Still, I had promised and reluctantly, I drove there.  When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house I was welcomed by the joyful sound of happy children.  I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

“Forget the daffodils, Carolyn!  The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!”

My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”

“Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m headed for home.”  I assured her,

“I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.”

“How far will we have to drive?”

“Oh, just a few blocks,” Carolyn said.  “But I’ll drive.  I’m used to this.”

After several minutes, I had to ask, “Where are we going?  This isn’t the way to the garage.”

“We’re going to my garage the long way,” Carolyn smiled, “by way of the daffodils.”

“Carolyn,” I said sternly, “please turn around.”

“It’s all right, Mother, I promise.  You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church.  On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign with an arrow that read, “Daffodil Garden”.

We got out of the car, each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path.  Then as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped.  Before me lay the most glorious sight.  It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes.  The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow.  Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue.  There were five acres of flowers.

“Who did this?”  I asked Carolyn.

“Just one woman,” Carolyn answered.  “She lives on the property.  That’s her home.”

Carolyn pointed to a well-kept-A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory.  We walked up to the house.  On the patio, we saw a poster.

“ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS I KNOW YOU ARE ASKING” was the headline.
The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs,” it read.
The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman.  Two hands, two feet, and one brain.”
The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience.  I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop.  Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived.  One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time — often just one baby step at a time — and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time.

When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small elements of daily effort, we, too, will find we can accomplish magnificent things.  We can change the world.

“It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn.  “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years?  Just think what I might able to have been able to achieve!”

My daughter summed up the message of the day in usual direct way.  “Start tomorrow,” she said.

She was right.  It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays.  The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, “How can I put this to use today?”

~ A cherished email thread saved from years ago

LET US BE GRATEFUL TO THE PEOPLE WHO
MAKE US HAPPY; THEY ARE CHARMING GARDNERS WHO MAKE OUR SOULS BLOSSOM
~ MARCEL PROUST ~