I sat doing my slow-stitching for a while before it was time to go, and he kept sitting in the tree. A bird friend of mine tells me that Cooper's hawks like to go after little birds, and our bird feeders are just below this tree. Methinks he had evil on his mind.
It seemed like a good time to get out my DSLR camera with a telephoto and try to get a proper picture of him. Of course, about the time I had the camera out and ready for shooting, he flew away. The life of a photographer is full of disappointment.
After that, I took off for the Farmer's Market with Erik where I scored these pretty Montmorency cherries. In fact, there were four different varieties of pie cherries to choose from at this one fruit stand. I chose these because the name was familiar. And here I thought I pie cherry was a pie cherry was a pie cherry. I didn't know they had actual other names besides "pie." And, honestly, when you're talking about pie, who cares?
Several hours later, they looked like this.
As I've mentioned before, when it comes to pie, I'm hit or miss. This was kind of a near miss day. I had some problems physically getting it into the oven to bake...not worth going into...and about 15 minutes later, I heard bubbling and sizzling and realized the cherry juice was spilling over onto the baking sheet. No problem...I'm just glad there was a baking sheet to capture the mess. But then I noticed the crust had broken and fallen off the edge (that's the portion in the lower right corner). I actually took the pie out of the oven thinking it wasn't too late to fix it. But then I was afraid I was only going to make matters worse. Right then and there I told myself we'd eat that part first.
Not to be defeated by a pie crust, however, I persevered. When I took it out of the oven at the end of its baking time, I used some tongs to fish the errant crust out of the cherry juice and stuck it back to the edge of the pie. Pie, do not test my patience, I said. Only in my thoughts you understand. Just because I talk to inanimate objects all the time doesn't mean I speak out loud to things I'm going to eat. So anyway...it's not a looker, but it was pretty darned tasty for dessert last night. It was a little soupy, but nothing a little vanilla ice cream couldn't fix.
And that pretty much took up the whole of my day. I did finish off my little mystery piece. I need to finish the binding, and then it'll be ready for mailing off to my friend. I hope she likes it.
When I know she's received it, I'll show you the whole thing.
Today I'm sandwiching quilts. Mike and I will set up the saw horse tables, and I'll sandwich the quilts I have waiting in the quilts-to-be-sandwiched pile. There are four in all. Matthew will be back here in Portland next month, and I want to finish off the Quiltemala quilt so he can take it with him when he heads back home. Also, I'm going to try to get a start on next month's monthlies.
9 comments:
That pie looks luscious--and so what if a piece fell off--it just couldn't wait for you to eat it;)) right??I love to make pies--especially apple, and blueberry...Cakes defeat me--they always look dumpy for me...each to her own, right?? And Vanilla ice cream can fix almost any dessert in my mind...
hugs, Julierose
Thinking about your zebra. Are you going to add a white speck to his/her eye like you do with the cats?
I do like the photo of the Cooper's Hawk in the fir tree. It may have had nefarious plans in mind, but sure is handsome.
The cherry pie looks (looked) wonderful to me!
The hawk is gorgeous, quite a looker. The cherries (and pie) look amazing. I love warm cherry pie with vanilla ice cream. In fact, at our first meet, Jack and I talked for hours over coffee and cherry pie a la mode. And your secret something looks bright and happy. Sweet.
Well, I can attest that your friend is right about the Cooper's hawk going for small birds and, actually, not so small birds. We had one take a mourning dove right outside our patio door a few years ago. Of course, our daughter took a video (I'll spare you). It was one of the most gruesome things I've ever seen. They are handsome birds though! I'm sure that pie was tasty, no matter how it looked. I'm holding off making one here, since I need to get a few more pounds off before I indulge. Your little gift is a cutie; I'm sure it will be well received!
A Cooper Hawk lives nearby. He likes to perch near the pond and wait for those darned chipmunks to give him an inch. He is tenacious but those little guys hide pretty well when he is around.
Oh your cherry pie looks great. It's been a long time since I baked a fruit pie. No bake creme pies are my usual choice. Your secret stitching looks great.
xx, Carol
We have a hawk (not sure what kind) that visits often in the winter. He has caught many mourning doves because they are heavy and slow to take off. Same with our feral cat-he gets quite a few birds. I'm torn between feeding the birds or not because I feel I lure them to their death. The hawk also caught him a squirrel this spring. I haven't seen him much now that it's warm and I'm sure plenty of mice and rabbits are running loose in the fields. Last year our feral cat got injured very badly and we could do nothing for him since he won't let us get close. We didn't think he'd make it because it started to heal, then it was like a big abscess but then it began to ooze and he got better then. We thought it was the bully feral cat that is always picking a fight with him. Our feral cat is fixed and I never see him start fights with other cats. However, this spring we seen the hawk swoop down and he almost caught feral cat so now I wonder if those injuries were from Mr. Hawk...they were mostly on the right side of his tummy and shoulder areas. We'll never know
Thanks for sharing the pictures for the hawk and the pies. That hawk was impressive for sure and that pie looked delicious.
Birds either want to pose or they don't. At least that's what my guy tells me about his field expeditions with the camera. I'm not a big fan of cherry pie, but your's look good. I guess I prefer my cherries raw.
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