Pyrite Ball

Pyrite ball about the size of a marble found in the Waldron Shale (over 400 million years old) in Clark County, Indiana.  Pyrite is also known as "fool's gold" or iron disulfide.

Fresh Cherry Pie

This cherry pie was created with fresh picked cherries from a tree in Clark County, Indiana. My lesson from this was pitting cherries by hand is somewhat time consuming but if you have a notebook computer with streaming movies it makes the job much nicer.

The recipe used is take 4 cups of washed pitted cherries and mix with 1/4 cup Splenda, 1/3 cup flour, and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Use two pie dough circles (I bought two at Wal-Mart for maybe $2.25) and follow the direction on the package for preparing them. Since I had 5 cups of cherries I used a deeper pie pan and placed the first dough circle in it. I then filled the pan with the cherry mixture. Next margarine slices were placed on top of the cherry mixture and the pie was covered with the other dough circle. The excess dough was trimmed off the perimeter of the pan and added back to the other crust. If I was giving this pie away or taking to a public function, the crust would have been arranged neater and a fork used to make a pressed pattern in it.

Four slits were cut into the top dough layer to make a flower pattern. About a spoonful of sugar and some dashes of cinnamon were mixed together in a glass. This mixture was sprinkled on top of the pie. Margarine was gently spread around the circumference of the crust. Aluminum foil is then used to make 4 cm wide strips to cover the outer crust to keep it from baking too fast compared with the center of the pie.

Bake the pie at 425 F (218 C) for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown. 

Let cool and then shall we say... enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Cherries of Clark County, Indiana

My father and I picked a number of containers of cherries from a tree on his property. The tree is a descendant from a cherry tree on my great-grandmother's farm. The cherries are marble size and tart (not sweet like a Bing cherry). Even though tart bordering on sour I tasted a number of the fruit while picking. The taste reminded me of childhood in southern Indiana with our small orchid. Once we picked the cherries my mother would make cherry preserves and pies.

All and all this year was a very good crop.  We did not try to reach the cherries at the top & center of the tree.  A little snack for the birds.  Last year the birds cleared the tree out quickly so nothing was harvested.  The 2008 was not too bad with maybe 75% of what was picked this year collected.

I hope this is a positive sign toward a good Concord grape and watermelon harvest in 2010!

My mother used some of the cherries already picked to make this delicious pie using Splenda as a sweetener. You do not want the pie too sweet to overwhelm the tartness of this cherry. It was yummy with a nice crisp crust with a cinnamon & sugar topping.  As the photos show, it is already half way consumed.

More Iris Flowers

Purple Iris

Purple iris in bloom in southern Indiana.

Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata).

Orchid

Orchid blooming in the kitchen.

Frilly Petal Red Tulip

Red frilly petal tulip growing at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana.

Red Tulip

Red Tulip blooming at the Falls of the Ohio State Park

Clarksville, Indiana

April 2010

White Clover Flower

Pictures of white clover flowers at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana.  Pictures taken April 2010.

Calcite - Jennings County Indiana

Picture of a calcite specimen from Jennings County, Indinana (home of the North Vernon Quarries). This mineral is on display at the Indiana State Museum.

Calcite is the most common mineral found in the state of Indiana. It calcium carbonite that makes up calcite is the primary material of the state's limestone.

Fluorite From Indiana

Fluorite found in Allen County, Indiana. This specimen is on display at the Indiana State Museum.

Fluorite is calcium fluoride.

Dolomite From Indiana

Here are some specimens of the dolomite on display at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana. These minerals were found in Harrison County, Indiana. If I had to guess they are probably from the quarry near Corydon.

Dolomite is calcium magnesium carbonate.

Indiana Magazine of History Journal Database

Published since 1905, the Indiana Magazine of History is of the America's oldest historical journals. 

They have a great database that allows users to read the content of journals for the years 1905-2007.

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/imh/index.jsp

Mottainai -- Thrifty Mind

Here is a rug on exhibit at the Carnegie Center for Art & History located at 201 East Spring St., New Albany, Indiana 47150, 812-944-7336. It is part of the Stripes: United States/Japan Traveling Hooked Rug Exhibit III 2009 on display till October 24,2009.

After viewing this rug, I learned something new about Japan. The term mottainai which translates to "don't waste". Recycling should be a big part of our society and this rug reflects this sentiment.

The description card reads:
"Thrifty Mind
Keiko Ito
Okszaki City, Aichi-ken Japan
The Japanese idea of mottainai ("don't waste") is now known worldwide. I hope the spirit of a frugal lifestyle of giving new life to a disused article and of thanking will always spread. The materials used for this rug were all recycled wool."

A close up of some of the stitching work.

Harvest Homecoming Festival - New Albany, Indiana

The Harvest Homecoming Festival has come and gone for this year. I volunteered with the Habitat for Humanity booth which seems to doing a good job at collecting donations for its 20th and 21st houses now under construction.

Below is a picture of the Corydon Dulcimer Society getting ready to play another song. My cousin is one of their members and I always look forward to hearing them play every year. Also her parents usually attend as well but due to a scheduling conflict I did not get to see them. Fortunately, I saw them later in the evening at a wedding.

Learn more about the Corydon Dulcimer Society at their website: http://www.corydondulcimersociety.org

Bees in Action

This could be a honey bee. Bees are one of my favorite insects since they help pollinate crops I grow.
The black and yellow bees might be carpenter bees.


Maybe another honey bee.
This bee seems different than the others as it collects nectar and pollen of a purple cone flower.

All pictures taken at flower garden in Memphis, Indiana.

Rose of Sharon

A number of pictures of a flower called Rose of Sharon or Hibiscus syriacus. It was found in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Double Orange Daylily or Hemocrallis

This flower was found in Clark County, Indiana. It is called Hemocrallis or double orange daylily.