Twittered

Twitter Mosaic was a featured link on Dooce last week and it just showed-up on Digg a few minutes ago. These fun mosaics are made out of Twitter Icons. How cool is that?

This picture made my day!

And, look how beautiful?

If you don't know about Twitter, you oughta know. Because it's cool. This post, however, does not make me feel cool. It makes me feel like an internerd, a fact I should probably just accept already.

Lately I've

• Practiced my butterfly in a sparkly clean pool.
• Painted red toenails.
• Toggled between numerous spreadsheets.
• Moved furniture.
• Made pretty-pasta salad with wee shells, jicama, carrots and red bell pepper.
• Tried to convince my friend Jacs that jicama is called hickama not he-comma.
• Wrote 5 real letters, though mailed notaone.
• Danced to triphop.
• Read a book about horses.
• Twittered.
• Chatted with my Gram.
• Giggled down a hot street in strappy heels with girlfriends.
• Embraced my inner cold stone.
• Joined a group.
• Dodged the snapping jaws of my ever-growing turtle.
• Drank vodka tonics with lemons.
• Revamped my sun salutation.
• Practiced an etude.
• Watered my plants.
  

Interesting, non?

More OK Go

I'm in love with these men.

Chirpped

I was wrong! I was wrong!

The wee hummingbirds are alive; the Pequeña family is okay. Early this morning two little brown heads popped up from the nest and my hope for urban wildlife was restored.

I've Mcguyvered a hummingbird feeder out of a tiny bowl and some koolaid. As we all know, red dye #5 is an essential ingredient in any city bird's life. I just hope Mrs. Pequeña gets a drink before it evaporates into rock candy, which I will later sell in the parking lot of the local Circle K with the other hustlers.

Hummingbirds are my second-favorite type of bird, number one is the burrowing owl. I'm glad these little chirplings are still alive.

Chirpless

Mrs. Pequeña's babies are dead. Our little baby hummingbird's are no longer chirping or stretching their necks for their mother's attention. I wonder if Mrs. Pequeña just didn't feed them or if they roasted in the insanely hot temperatures. I would think hummingbirds need more foliage and water than our square plot of brick-colored dirt in the backyard can provide.

I did buy some birdseed today for the other birds in the backyard. I need to look-up how to make a bird feeder out of objects from around the house. If you have an idea for how this can be accomplished in a stylish yet functional manner, please let us know.

Thank-you New Blogger

Finally, you can read my blog in a browser other thatn Explorer!. My template had been loopy for a while there but New Blogger helped me do all the design things I wanted to do and without all that messy html. Thank-you, New Blogger. At first I hated you but now I think you're pretty okay.

Simply Rice Salad

It's hot here in Phoenix, real hot. When it gets this hot, I don't want to cook or eat heavy things. I made this super simple rice salad the other day and it's been receiving rave reviews around the house.


Simply Rice Salad

Ingredients:
1 Cup Rice
2 Lemons
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 Tbs Cumin
Fresh Cilantro to Taste
Salt
Pepper
1/2 Red Onion, chopped finely
3 Ears of Fresh Corn
1 Can of Frijoles Negro (black beans for you gringos)
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped finely
1 Ripe Avocado
1 Ripe Mango

Step 1: Cook the rice, you can use brown or white. You can also use quinoa if you're feeling adventurous.
Step 2: Steam the Corn just a bit, don't let it get mushy
Step 3: Combine the juice from the lemons, olive oil, cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper in a big bowl and whisk until combined.
Step 4: Slice the Corn off the cob and add it to the bowl.
Step 5: Add rice, beans, onion and bell pepper
Step 6: Chill
Step 7: Serve and garnish with Avo and Mango. Enjoy!

Birds, Babies, Pigs and Puppies

What in the dickens is that?



That is a nest of baby hummingbirds who have made a home on my back porch in a sun chime. The mama was just building her wee nest when I left for the city a few weeks ago and when I came home, little hatchlings were raising their tiny beaks to the air. I love sitting out there, watching the mama come and go. She doesn't seem to mind my company and her presence provides much joy for me in this city that so often feels devoid of nature.



Other than a few photos of town, I wasn't a good picture-taker on my trip home. I took some snapshots of my friends and their new baby, Odin. But, since I'm not sure they want me plastering their newborn's face all over the internets, I'll post a picture of the new baby pigs they have wallowing in their barn. These piglets seem large to me, but they are young'ens and will grow far larger before they are sliced into bacon.



They look delicious, don't they? I'm glad pigs don't have much in the way of personality because they are scrumptious and I would have a much harder time enjoying their wonderful insides if they were more friendly. Harder, but not impossible.

I also took some pictures of the new puppy at my Mom's house.


This one's not a puppy, but she's adorable nonetheless.



I would not like to eat the insides of either of these creatures. They are far too lovely.

To keep you from gagging on all the cuteness and/or the talk of eating animals' insides, I'll leave you with a picture of my favorite spot in Portsmouth--the Brewery. Fabulous times with fabulous friends make me really miss that place.