Wednesday, September 4, 2013

View from the wagon (July, 1853)

View from the wagon (July, 1853)
We take turns walking, is his rule,
Unless a body is ill…meaning dead.
I like to look out the back of the wagon
To where we’ve been, and never again.
As if knowing where I’ve been is better
Than not knowing where I’m going.
Don’t the hills make it look like a rainbow
Of fields in the afternoon sun on the grass?
“It looks hot,” she says, then turns away,
“I believe we’ve come fifteen miles today.”
And, I can see every one of them miles
Out back till the hills disappear.
I walk in the tracks of the wagon wheels
That bend the grass down smooth.
Every now and then I turn and look
To where we’ve been, and never again.

Painting by Roycroft
Poem by Grinstead



More at Vision's Voice 


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

After the Rain?

After the rain, the shining streets present a canvas of light and shadow
Amid the fray, she cannot help but smile at the beauty
The scent of wet pavement, oily streets, brushes her nose
Embracing this familiar measure of the worth of her while

Like that day, long ago, when as a child from school
Walking the streets alone – she stopped, startled by the silent scent
Of wet pavement, oily streets, in green light and blue shadow
After the rain – that first glimpse of the worth of her while

But dawn must gray the day
And she lingers, not wanting to make her way
Into the city to prove her worth, while
She ponders – was it only a dream, after the rain?


    After the Rain - Acrylic on canvas - Nancy Roycroft
    Poem by Jerry Grinstead

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

My June 2013 Poems

‘round your eyes

I like shadows on bridges
That look normal to me now.
Then l I turn away, just for a moment,
And the shadows are longer and skewed.

I like the wrinkles ‘round your eyes
That look so normal to me now.
After I’ve been away, just for a time,
The wrinkles do become you.

I like eye shadow on wrinkles
That hides the normal now.
But let me wipe away, just for a moment,
The shadow ‘round your eyes.

Bridge Street Bridge, Fair Oaks, CA – Photo taken: 2/24/2013 – J. Grinstead


5th decade, rebirth:  What’s important to me now

What I want,
Worth more than rhyme;
Just a little more of your time

What I need,
Worth more than sleep;
Just a little more of your time

What I take,
Worth more than gold;
Just a little more of your time

5th decade, rebirth - 24x36 Acrylic on canvas - Nancy Roycroft

http://www.visionsvoice.com/  -  Nancy's Vision / Jerry's Voice

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Grillin' again (Followup from last week's blog entry further down)

Sunday, 2 June Grilled Vegetables
This week, I thought I'd show you a couple of similar vegetables to last week's grilling. The orange carrots and red beets are the main difference this week.


What's the same as last week?

Today, I grilled red potatoes, zucchini and added some Japanese eggplant, all from the farmers market at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, CA. I quartered the cleaned red peppers and cut the zucchini and eggplant in half length-wise and then once across the middle. So I ended up with four grillable pieces per veggie.

Like last week, I put the cleaned and quartered red pepper, zuchini and eggplant in a large zip-lock bag with equal amounts of olive oil and Italian dressing.

The red potatoes were cleaned, but NOT peeled, and halved. I put them on the grill first because they take longer to cook, as I explained last week. I like to put the on the grill cut-side up first. I spray them with a little  olive oil spray and sprinkle with garlic powder/pepper mix. That's all the seasoning for the potatoes.

What's different this week?

The eggplant is new this week, but so much like zucchini insofar as preparation and cooking time is concerned I will not go into its cooking other than to say, eggplant will soak up the olive oil/Italian dressing more than the other veggies. I did peel the eggplant with a potato peeler.

This week, I used red beets instead of golden beets and orange carrots instead of purple carrots. I again peeled and steamed the carrots and peeled and boiled the beets earlier in the day. I put them in the fridge until I was ready to grill them.

After putting the peppers, zucchini and eggplant on the grill, I put the carrots into the zip-lock bag to coat with the remaining olive oil/dressing mixture. After the carrots went on the grill, I put the beets in the bag to coat. Then the beets went on the grill.

I've put some photos side-by-side so you can see the difference.


 
    Red beets on the grill today and golden beets on the grill last week

 
    Grilled Red beets served today and golden beets served last week

   Orange carrots on the grill today and purple carrots on the grill last week


    Grilled orange carrots this week and grilled purple carrots last week

I was unable to find long thin orange carrots at the Sunrise Mall farmers market Saturday morning, so I headed over to 'Sprouts' in Citrus Town Center at Greenback and Sunrise to check out their organic veggies. I found the organic orange carrots for .99 per pound. Whether orange or purple, both types of carrots grill well and taste delicious. 

I found the red beets at the Sunrise Mall farmers market. I got a few more beets this week than last week, but they'll get eaten all week, along with the other leftovers. Tomorrow night, I'll make a veggie burrito with all the leftovers, and maybe make one to take to work the next day.


Sunday, May 26, 2013

Grilling Vegetables

Sunday, I grilled red potatoes, purple carrots, golden beets, red peppers and zucchini. Below are some photos and comments along the way to our dinner tonight.

Preparation

Purple Carrots

I bought these at the Folsom Farmers Market, Saturday May 25th, 2013. 
The first thing I did was peel and wash them, then place them on the steamer basket. I steamed them for about 12 minutes. Steaming them cooks them so they don't stay too long on the grill and burn later.


Next, I put them in a bowl and into the fridge until grilling time later.


Golden Beets

I bought these also at the Folsom Farmers Market.
The first thing I did with these was peel and wash them. 
I then cut them in half or thirds - just the right size for the grill.

I boiled\simmered them for 35 minutes. Boiling them, like steaming the carrots, cooks them so they don't burn on the grill later. (I have a freezer with red and yellow beet juice in containers that I use when cooking pinto beans or making soup. Lots of nutrients in the juice.)


Next, I put the beets into a bowl and into the fridge with the carrots until grilling time later.


Red Potatoes, Red Bell Peppers and Zucchini

(Yellow, orange and green bell peppers are great on the grill, too.)

I purchased the zucchini at the Folsom Farmers Market, but there were no potatoes or bell peppers there.
So, this morning I headed to Safeway where I did find some organic red potatoes, but no organic red peppers. I purchased the regular red peppers (4 for $5.00).  We try to buy fresh farmers market veggies or organic when we can find them. But when not available, we use the regular store veggies.

I washed all the veggies. I sliced the potatoes in half, and I like to cut out the little eye. The peppers get quartered and the zucchini cut in half, then cut again length-wise in half. The potatoes go in a bowl and into the fridge until grilling later. The peppers and zucchini go into a large Zip-lock bag with equal amounts of olive oil and your favorite Italian dressing. I like to use a good amount because after I put the peppers and zucchini on the grill, I put the carrots and beets in the bag to marinate them just a little for grilling.



Grilling the Veggies

I start with the potatoes because they usually will take longest to cook, especially if they are large size. And unlike the beets and carrots, the potatoes have not been pre-cooked.

The only thing I do to the potatoes is spray them with a little olive oil spray and sprinkle them with garlic powder and pepper. PAM or Canola oil will work just as well if you don't have a nice olive oil spray. I saved a garlic powder container and made my own garlic powder and pepper mix. About half and half I'd guess. Very easy and convenient to just sprinkle it on.

Below is a photo of the potatoes, peppers and zucchini on the grill. (The pre-cooked beets and carrots come last.) You can see the potatoes have some grill lines on them because they have been on longer than the peppers and zucchini, which were just put on in this photo.


As the vegetables cook, I will move them to the upper rack. Some areas of a grill are hotter than others, and you'll get to know which areas cook faster.

Below, you see I've been moving the veggies to the upper rack so they don't burn. They stay hot there, but they don't burn


When the potatoes, peppers and zucchini are all on the upper rack, I load the grill with the carrots and beets.


While the peppers and zucchini were grilling, I placed the carrots and beets into the large zip-lock bag with the olive oil and Italian dressing marinade. That's just to keep them from sticking to the hot grill and give them a nice little flavor that just enhances their natural flavor.

We're ready to take everything off the grill and put it on the table. 

 

Let's Eat!

Here are the finished veggies ready to dig into.

    Grilled purple or orange carrots taste great. I left part of the tops on for aesthetics. Don't eat 'em!

   Golden beets or red beets are delicious. If you don't think you like beets, try these!

    Peppers and zucchini are made for grilling. I grill these all the time with red potatoes.

   Red potatoes are perfect with olive oil spray and garlic powder/pepper sprinkled on.

Grilling seems to have become a weekly event for me at our house. Today, there were only two of us for all these veggies. We ate our fill and put the leftovers in the fridge.

The veggies get eaten all week long for our lunches or quick dinners. I like to cut up a little of each in a bowl, microwave it, and put the whole mix into a flour tortilla for a quick dinner. (Hint: Before putting the veggies in, fold the plain flour tortilla onto a plate and microwave for 30 seconds.) Sometimes, I'll make two of these veggie burritos, and put one in plastic wrap to take to work the next day.

Other veggies I grill are asparagus (rolled on the grill like the carrots until done) and Japanese eggplant, marinated with the peppers and zucchini. The zucchini and eggplant cook very fast, so they usually go first to the warming rack on the grill (or get taken off completely and covered with foil).

I would advise starting with the basic three veggies (potatoes, peppers and zucchini) or even just one of your favorites to go along with your favorite meat. When we have guests who eat meat, I like to grill a pork loin or boneless chicken breast tenders. Very easy, tender and you can flavor the meat with garlic/pepper or barbecue sauce. As you can see, we had more than enough food without any meat. And I had also boiled some fresh sweet corn on the cob that I got at the Folsom Farmers Market.

Note: Saturday, May 25th, 2013 was the first day of the year-round farmers market in Folsom. It will be there every Saturday now. I will go back again, or go to our neighborhood farmers market at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, also on Saturdays year-round. If I can't get to one of those on a Saturday morning, there is a nice one in Carmichael Park, near by on Sunday mornings. (I stopped there Sunday morning to see if they had peppers or potatoes, but they also did not). 

Sunday, February 24, 2013

A walk today (February 24, 2013) and the shadows on the bridge kept changing with the sun. Below are two pictures of the bridge.

Quiz: Where is this bridge.
Hint: It's over the American River

To get these pictures, I had to wait until there were no bike riders, dog walkers, runners or joggers, or lollygaggers like me on the bridge. Spring is here and it's still winter in February. I've seen daffodils in gardens and my peach and nectarine trees are ready to bloom. Give them a couple weeks and the pink blossoms will be looking for the bees. I took a picture of them today and will take another of the them in full bloom in a couple weeks. And at the end of June/beginning of July I'll photograph the fruit. Then I'll post those pictures here.

Then, I'll make a Peach/Blueberry pie and eat it all by myself.

Well, maybe I'll save a piece of pie for you.

I walked along the River where I also photographed the California Buckeye trees (Aesculus californica). This time of year, there are no leaves, just strong looking buds. I will take another picture of the same trees in April or May when they are in bloom. Very beautiful. And then, I'll take a picture of the same trees September or October when the Buckeyes are splitting out of their shells.

I am always surprised when I meet Californians who don't know what a Buckeye tree is. They are all over this part of the country. Being from Ohio, I always notice the Buckeye trees.

The paintings of Northern California artist and downhill skier Nancy Roycroft and the poems of Jerry Grinstead, somewhat of a skier, who tries to keep up with Nancy, are celebrated at Vision's Voice. Here's another of those old poems.

Choir boy

I sang only to sing,
Every chance I could get,
In two different churches;
Two different beliefs. Yet,
Both making the same
Joyful noise unto God, in
All the world.

A choir boy, they’d tease.
And I couldn’t argue that.
So, I took it as a compliment,
And I made the joyful noise,
And I took a different way,
And it helps me still today, in
All the world.

Poetry You got in the way (A Caregiver's respite) Your memories have long since gone away Still, I wait for you to say Through shadows o...