Chicken Dinner, Birds, Flowers and More!

What follows is another miscellaneous hodgepodge of food, flowers, birds and more… There is probably something here for everyone!

Laurie decided to try something new for our dinner one night.  Fortunately, part of the meal plan included seasoned and roasted asparagus…one of our favorites!  This photo shows the asparagus prior to roasting.

I like chicken breasts but Laurie really likes thighs better.  They do stay moist and they have more flavor.  We’d picked up a big package of them from our local Food Lion store.  The recipe she made is called Rustic Chicken with Garlic Gravy.

Here’s what the chicken looked like after she browned it.  Looking good already!

The final step in this recipe involved adding the sauce and then baking the thighs while immersed.  The sauce was a combination of white wine, chicken broth, thyme, butter and the roasted garlic and drippings from the pan.

This is what the asparagus looked like when it came out of the oven.  I could easily eat roasted asparagus once a week and be a very happy camper…

This was Laurie’s complete dinner plate… A slab of garlic toast, roasted chicken thigh, roasted asparagus and a scoop of mashed potatoes.  It was very tasty but in retrospect, Laurie thought that she should have added more garlic and spices to the sauce in order to perk up the flavor of the chicken for out taste.

Laurie was tired of having same wreath on the front door and it was spring so she was looking for something with a pop of color! (She had picked up the basket while we were in Historic Downtown St. Charles, MO)  Off Laurie and Bonnie went (her sister was visiting from St. Louis) to Hobby Lobby where they picked up some faux stemmed flowers.  Not only do they add color, they were appealing enough that a wren considered building a nest in their midst. But Laurie learned that if you put a fake bird on the basket ( you can't see it...it's in back clipped to the rope) the birds won't build a nest! It worked!

Speaking of birds… Who is this shy bird peeking around the side of our feeder toward the house?

There it is!  It’s a rose-breasted grosbeak.  Pretty bird don’t you think?

Every spring we enjoy the sight of adult birds feeding their ‘helpless’ almost full-grown ‘teenagers’.  They whine (chirp) so pitifully until fed!  Reminds me of that 35 year old that was recently thrown out of his parent’s home.  In this case we have a mama Hairy Woodpecker feeding her ‘baby’. 

We love wrens. This is a House Wren. They sing day and night! We have the Carolina Wren in East TN too . They wake us up in the morning! They’re quite bold and they’re really cute in the way they hop around.  What is this little fellow eyeing?

Ahhh… He was checking out one of Laurie’s herb planters.  Was he looking for bugs, nesting material, or what?

Nope!  What he was doing was building one of his many nests…hoping that one of them would appeal to a female wren.  Fortunately after over a week, she apparently didn’t like his nest or possibly the neighbors…because they didn’t take up residence in this ‘hobbit’ like dwelling.  So Laurie removed it so she could start watering her herbs again! Great construction job though!

After 39 years of marriage, Laurie finally got the recliner of her dreams!  We ordered it in February…and finally they made it and we got it on June 2^nd.  She does love it although the TV controller is now up for grabs with her chair on one side of the living area and mine on the other.

Recently friends Carol and Randy visited us from the Chicago area.  They brought a couple of yummy bottles of wine and this beautiful planter with these colorful petite petunia flowers.  Brightens up our deck for sure! 

This photo is from the cardio-rehab center in Lenoir City.  I just had to publish this photo of Katie (our therapist/taskmaster) and her new 'boyfriend' Elmo!  Elmo is amazing and he has some great life stories too!  How many 97 year old men do you know who are in cardio rehab… No walker, no cane and he still drives his car.  I should be so lucky!  As for Katie, she’s from Jackson, my hometown in Michigan.  Small world!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave