AMANDA'S BASKETS: BLOOMING TREES, EXERCISE, WEEKEND PLANS

Friday, April 22, 2016

BLOOMING TREES, EXERCISE, WEEKEND PLANS

WALKING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
I wanted to share some of the trees that are blooming around here...

Blooming seems to depend on how far from the water the trees are located. Closer, fewer trees in bloom. Further, more trees in full and past bloom stage.

I choose to end my walk by the water today. You can see how hazy it was...

What was interesting was that it was much warmer in the park and in the sunlight by the water than it was walking the neighborhoods a few blocks away. So my question is...why are the trees in the park by the water so far behind? And yet, the dandelions are beginning to go to seed...

There are lots of rocks that bolster the walkway...

But why are there so many leaves in the walkways?

EXERCISE
I ended up the week a little better than anticipated. To get back in walking shape, my goal was to walk definitely a mile each day. It turns out that my average was one and a half miles each day. Some days, like today I walked more (3 and a quarter miles) and others I walked less. That means I walked 10 1/2 miles this week. Next week's goal is to walk 12 miles.

RAIN FORECAST?
We were supposed to get some rain today but the storms are apparently sliding to the east of us. The next bout of rain is scheduled for over night, beginning around midnight and ending in the morning. I am not holding my breath for this because the storms truly seem to split and go right around this little area of Brooklyn.

WEEKEND PLANS
So, do you have big plans for the weekend? Mine are pretty simple:
- Enjoy my PBS cooking/crafting shows
- Work on a fabric art piece
- Continue reading the book I began yesterday (I am finally starting to read my Easter Basket books.)
- Make a stew with the vegetables that need to be used
- Go for a walk in downtown Brooklyn and check out the new Michaels

For those of you celebrating , my Passover wish is that you enjoy the warmth of family and friends as you gather to remember and partake in Passover.

For those of you celebrating Earth Day, my hope is that each of us will touch lightly on this vessel we call Mother Earth.

Thanks for stopping by...
Talk to you next week...

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?