I had some people express a further interest in our grilled artichokes. I took some photos of them throughout their journey that I’m posting along with a link to the recipe. These were especially large artichokes, complete with stem. Our produce guy pulled them out when he saw us looking in dismay at the small artichokes they had out that day. Bless that man!

The recipe is here.

Here they are fresh out of the boiling brine (and no, I didn’t stage this photo; the thyme spring and bay leaf just fell there naturally) :

On the grill:

On the plate:

Check out my Bear Diary for a short movie of the bear’s visit from yesterday afternoon. They haven’t been since over a week ago, so I was glad to see them.

We pulled out the barbeque this weekend and grilled up some Scotta Dita and artichokes. Yum! I’m having some fun with the movie feature on my new little camera! Thanks go to husband Rick, computer wizard extraordinaire, for making it all work. Let me know what you think!

When I woke the other morning there was a sound that kept penetrating my mind. A persistent bird call. One I had not heard for a very long time. Our phoebe was back! Now I know it’s Spring for certain.  The sweet, if not monotonous, fee-BEE ... FEE-bee was music to my ears. Last year this sweet pair of birds built a nest under the eave of our deck supports and proceeded to raise two broods of babies. They were fun to watch, swooping through the air catching all manner of bugs.

There are other signs as well. 

Well, it’s official: I am now truly a Jersey girl. I finally traded in my Colorado driver’s license for a New Jersey license. It was more than time for me to get a NJ license; I just kept putting it off. Rick has had his since about a month after we moved here. Thank you Reya, for allowing me to see that I was indeed holding on to my “old” life. I had not really even thought of it that way until you said something.

Since the 911 terrorists got their identification in New Jersey, they’ve made it harder for people to get a license. They have a system in place that requires you to have 6-points of identification. One 4-point document (such as a passport, birth certificate, marriage license) and two 1-point documents (like a driver’s license from another state, Social Security card, bank statement, etc.) It took Rick three different trys before he came up with what they needed. It was easy for me because we already knew what documentation to take.

And, our car Becky, is now registered in the state of New Jersey. We bought our car in Colorado before we moved and were cautioned by a well-meaning person that it would cost much more to put plates on here in New Jersey. So, we registered the car in Colorado to the tune of (you’re not going to believe this) $700.00!! How could NJ be more expensive than that, we pondered? We really should have checked into what it was going to cost here. We really should have. Last week it cost us $169.00 to get plates, and that was with the special scenery plates (a red-headed woodpecker). Go figure.

It’s been almost one year since we moved. In some ways it still feels like I’m on vacation. Other times I can’t remember what life was really like in Colorado. I have to admit that it felt very strange to hand over my Colorado license that I’ve been driving under for 30 years. Like a part of me was being taken away. Silly, isn’t it? It’s just a laminated piece of paper. So, I’m letting go.

Goodbye, Colorado: Hello New Jersey!