Welcome to a potpourri of fun! On this page you’ll find the latest comics by Jari Thymian, a motivational quote, a crossword puzzle contest, and whatever else we decide to throw in here. Be sure to check back for the latest!
- Earth Corner – With Pat Walsh
- Star Stories – by Kelly Ricks
- Riding the Santa Fe Trail – by Laura Brewer
- Every Day Should be Earth Day – Editorial by Laura Brewer
- Find the Differences
- Frank Mahannah – Gallery
- Exploring Climax Canyon by Mauricio Meneses
- Madi’s Kitchen
- Quotes & Riddles
Quotes & Riddles
Earth Corner – With Pat Walsh
Green Grass Lawns
Posted March 2, 2025
Years ago, I lived in a cute little bungalow with a white picket fence in Takoma Park, Maryland—a quaint suburb of Washington, D.C. Our house had a small green lawn, and the grass grew without any help, no extra water or chemicals needed.
Now I live in Raton, and as spring approaches, I know the sound of sprinklers, lawn mowers and weedwhackers is not far behind. Which raises a question. Why are we so determined to have the perfect green grass lawn? Especially here, in a place where rain is not a common occurrence?
Americans have been obsessed with green grass lawns for some two hundred years. One of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, had a hand in this. In the 1780s, Jefferson traveled widely and “was favorably impressed by the large expanses of green turf on English country estates,” according to the book Lawn: A History of an American Obsession, by Virginia Jenkins. Jenkins goes on to say Jefferson is “credited with being the first to try to create an English-style lawn on his country estate, Monticello, in the Virginia Piedmont in 1806.”
Meanwhile, wealthier Americans sought to escape from crowded cities. Indeed, the first railroad suburb of Washington D.C. was Takoma Park, founded in 1883 and “advertised as a healthy place to live and raise children,” Jenkins writes. She notes that even by the 1850s, suburban communities were promoted as places where a working man could own a house “with a grass plot on which your children can play.”
As lawns took hold, they were made of non-native grasses, because native grasses didn’t lend themselves to a smooth, even look. Take Kentucky bluegrass, common across the United States. It is native to Europe and Asia, and many plant specialists believe it was brought here by early settlers. Garden Guides | The History of Kentucky Bluegrass
While we may see a neat green lawn as the American ideal, the truth is a lawn is considered a biological desert because it doesn’t support wildlife with food or shelter.
“Dominated by a single species of non-native grass, these manicured expanses offer little to the vast web of life that thrives in a healthy ecosystem,” says the website Medium. Beyond the Green Monoculture: Rebuilding Biodiversity in the American Lawn | by Nstephens | Medium
In addition, maintaining green lawns often involves using chemicals, fossil fuels (via gasoline lawnmowers) and lots of water.
These days, many folks are rewilding their lawns and shifting to native plants. At our house, we converted part of our yard to native plants like Rocky Mountain bee plant. We have less grass to mow and water, we avoid pesticides, and we have switched to a wonderfully quiet, battery-powered electric lawnmower.
Next time you notice part of your lawn that is tough to maintain, consider shifting that patch to drought-hardy natives that will attract butterflies, bees and hummingbirds to your own little wildlife preserve.
Samples of Xeriscape Landscaping
Star Stories – by Kelly Ricks
Total Lunar Eclipse
Posted March 2, 2025
The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge… how much sooner man could have walked on the moon… had we listened to a child’s fantasies. It is truly a pity that so many lose their gift of imagination to the steady hum of the status quo. – Albert Einstein, born March 14th, 1879
Our moon is full of stories. Ever since ever since we have looked up at our faithful celestial companion and wondered why its shape changes and how it got it’s spots. Is a hungry dog nipping at its edges? Did a rabbit throw gobs of mud onto its face? Is the moon a huge mirror reflecting Earth’s oceans and continents? All our stories about the moon are efforts to make sense of what we see and experience, and sometimes teach a lesson. Albert Einstein knew this too: science and understanding begins with wonder, imagination, observation, and investigation. And there are few things as full of wonder as an eclipse.
After thousands of years of observation scientists can now predict the movements of the moon with pinpoint precision.
- March’s full moon will be near apogee—its greatest distance from Earth—and will appear smaller than average. Some call it a “micro-moon.”
- March 13 @ 11:09 pm: the full moon will begin to enter the darkest part of Earth’s shadow (umbra).
- March 14th @ 12:26 am: totality begins. The moon is fully covered by the umbra.
- 1:31 am: totality ends as the moon starts moving back into the sunlight.
- 2:48 am: the moon will be free from the umbra
- During totality, the sun’s light spectrum will be refracted by Earth’s atmosphere till only warm colors remain, causing the moon to take on a rusty reddish hue.
This is the “Full Blood Moon.” An eerie sight in the wee hours of morning. Most old stories about eclipses imagine the moon being devoured by animals or demons, and ancient tales told under its red gaze might leave you with a sense of foreboding. But in this case, reality is even more fantastic and beautiful than myth. Let’s take a page from Einstein and imagine standing on the eclipsed moon looking back toward Earth.
You’re standing above the Sinus Medii, the “Middle Bay:” a small basalt plain at the center of our Moon’s near side. The terrain is not unlike the high volcanic plains of northeastern New Mexico…minus vegetation. An impossibly black circle surrounded by a shimmering ring of red, orange, and gold hangs high in the sky. You can see every sunrise in England, Spain, and West Africa, and every sunset over the open Pacific in a single glance. Their combined colors bathe the moon’s surface in a wash of fiery hues. Countless stars—normally invisible in the bright light of lunar day—shine like pinpoints across the sky, while Saturn, Venus, and Mercury—much brighter than surrounding stars—flank Earth’s reddened atmosphere. The lights of civilization are still too dim to make out, but somewhere down on that jet-black disc, there are a few people in northeastern New Mexico looking back in wonder.
And I almost forgot…Happy Birthday Mr. Einstein!
Help our Earth – Editorial by Laura Brewer
Every day should be Earth Day, but officially we celebrate in the U.S. on Monday, April 22, 2024. Below is a graphic of some of the things one can do to help our Earth.
Posted March 9, 2025 – Provided by Laura Brewer
Madi’s Kitchen
See additional recipes on Madi’s Kitchen page
Gnocchi and Pesto Sauce
Posted March 30, 2025
Gnocchi is a great way to use extra potatoes, while not having to have all the potato dishes taste too similar. The dish also gives you a mixed-up texture unlike mashed potatoes or baked potatoes. It’s not really soft or a little mushy and it’s also not like pan fried potatoes where they’re crispy but maybe a bit dry. These are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and refreshing.
You can do it two different ways; one way is where you just cook it and that’s it. Add some sauce and you’re done. The second way is when you cook it and then pan fry it to give it a light golden color and slight crunch plus a buttery flavor. That is how I prefer to make and eat it!
Since this is made in batches, not all of the gnocchi will rise at the same time or cook at the same pace. That’s perfectly normal and when that happens, just scoop out the cooked gnocchi and just set it to the side to eat it. It can take some time to get through the whole batch so, I’d suggest serving it as soon as you have enough for someone to eat. That way when you’re cooking the second batch two people or so have the first batch in their bowls eating it up. This way everyone also gets to eat it when it’s nice and hot. Not that these are bad when they’re cold, but they’re not quite as tasty. If you reheat these, I suggest reheating them by passing them in a pan with a bit of oil, be careful not to burn them though because when you reheat them, they are more likely to burn.
My favorite pasta sauce to have is pesto with fresh herbs. I have an even better one than this one somewhere that I got from a cooking class with CKC or Cultured Kids Cuisine. I wasn’t able to find it though, but if I did find it, I would’ve added it. Maybe in a future recipe! That special pesto recipe I got from a chef, and it also had mint, +not just basil. It was really good!
If you have left over gnocchi that you haven’t cooked yet and you want to save for it for later, I would freeze it. That way it keeps its shape and stays fresh. If you have left over gnocchi that is already cooked though just put it in the fridge and eat it soon. I’m not sure how long it could last in the freezer at least a couple of weeks though. This is a great quick recipe to make for dinner or lunch and if you make a big enough batch, you can have enough frozen for at least a week of meals. So essentially, it’s food prep.
I hope you have a good day, and I hope you enjoy this recipe and hopefully next time there’s a pesto dish, I have already found that special pesto recipe. Enjoy!
Gnocchi Ingredients:
· 1 pound of potatoes
· 1 cup of flour
· ½ teaspoon of salt
· 1 medium egg (room temperature)
Gnocchi Instructions:
· In a large pot boil the unpeeled potatoes until tender, remove from the pot, let cool, then remove the skin. Smash the potatoes with a fork making sure they are nice and smooth.
· Mix together the flour and salt, place on a flat surface or a bowl, make a well in the middle and add the potatoes and egg, mix together with your fingers to form a soft dough, it should not stick to your fingers. On a lightly floured surface, cut small amounts of dough to form ropes and cut into ¾ inch (2 cm) pieces, then slide each piece on a fork and squeeze a little (but not too hard). Sprinkle with a little bit of flour and toss, so they don’t stick together. Let the gnocchi rest for 20 minutes in the freezer before cooking. When you are ready to cook them, prepare a pot of boiling water. Don’t cook all of them in one go, take a few out at time and cook in batches. The batches are ready then the gnocchi is floating.
· If you like it with a bit of crunch, you can pan fry a batch gnocchi after it’s all done cooking with a bit of butter just heat it up in the pan until they are golden brown.
Pesto Alfredo Sauce Ingredients:
· 1 cup fresh basil leaves
· 1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts, toasted
· 4 cloves of garlic
· 1/4 cup olive oil
· 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
· 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
· 1 cup heavy cream
· Salt, to taste
Pesto Alfredo Sauce Instructions:
· Process basil, nuts, garlic, olive oil, and black pepper in food processor until smooth. Stir in grated parmesan and combine well.
· In a large sauté pan, over medium to high heat, heat heavy cream for several minutes until it starts to thicken considerably. Add pesto sauce and stir well to combine. Season with salt if needed.
Find the Differences – Search by the Sea
Find the five differences in the two images above.
Exploring Climax Canyon by Mauricio Meneses
Artist Mauricio Meneses (D’MAU) is creating videos highlighting sights in and around New Mexico. Visit his YouTube channel to see more. Click on the image below to go to the YouTube video.
