Discover the Sego Lily, Calochortus nuttallii, a symbol of resilience and beauty in the arid deserts of the West. Uncover its role in pioneer survival and its captivating presence on a serene April backpack into the Rincon Wilderness. Join us in exploring the enduring grace of this desert gem.
Here we discover and learn to admire the winterberry shrub, or Ilex verticillata, during a frosty February morning. Its crimson berries, which symbolize hope, sustenance, and life’s enduring cycle, are a stark contrast to the pall of winter.
Easy to make, nutritious, a favorite with our family == read full post for the recipe.
The town of Ithaca evokes serene charm with its blend of history and modernity. Its community spirit is embodied in key symbols such as the local Fire Department and a public apple sculpture, a tribute to nature’s riches. Ithaca’s architectural prowess reflects generational craftsmanship, while the exuberance of local daisies exemplifies optimism. Encapsulating everyday beauty and shared experiences, Ithaca is more than a geographical location—it’s an ongoing narrative.
In a heartwarming YouTube video, Samuel Jack Wills and his grandmother Pam turn cake-making into an adventure in celebration of his Batman-themed birthday. The video captures endearing family traditions, from a talking doorbell to playful gift unwrapping, and culminates in the creation of a Bat-Signal adorned cake and joyous birthday song.
🎉 Get ready for an extraordinary adventure into the world of cake-making with our superstar, Samuel Jack Wills, and his magical sidekick, Grandma Pam! 🍰✨ It’s a special day just before Halloween, and the excitement is as palpable as the crisp autumn air. 🍂
🦇 In our latest heartwarming YouTube video, witness the grand entrance of our birthday hero, Sam, as he strides through the gate with his dad, Sean Wills, to a chorus of giggles and gasps, thanks to our quirky, talking doorbell that’s become an outrageous family tradition. 🎈
Join us in the celebration as Sam unwraps wonders from Grandma Pam and Grandpa Michael: from a thrilling Batman-themed birthday card that lights up the room with a Bat-Signal magnetic sticker, to a fleet of Gotham-inspired toys including an aircraft, the Batcave, and even miniature treasures like a suitcase brimming with play 100 dollar bills. 🏰💰
Sam and Grandma Pam put on their chef hats, discussing and designing a cake that’s not just a treat but a superhero saga! 🎂 With buttercream as smooth as velvet and chocolate layers that whisper ‘indulge’, they create a masterpiece adorned with blue and yellow frosting, featuring the iconic Bat-Signal.
And what’s a Batcave without boulders? Watch them skillfully make Rice Krispy treat boulders to scatter around their edible Batcave — a feast for the eyes as much as the taste buds. 🍫
The grand finale is a chorus of joy as Sam, surrounded by his loving family, basks in the glow of birthday candles and the warmth of the Birthday Song. 🎶 It’s a day where memories are made, laughter is shared, and love is multiplied.
So grab your capes, click on our video, and be a part of our delightful celebration that’s sure to lift your spirits sky-high! 🚀 Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more family fun with the Wills clan! #SuperSamCakeAdventure 🥳👨🍳
Among our Gorges
“Rubus odoratus, the purple-flowered raspberry, flowering raspberry, Virginia raspberry, or Thimbleberry is a species of Rubus, native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to Ontario and Wisconsin, and south along the Appalachian Mountains as far as Georgia and Alabama.”
“Rubus odoratus is a shrub growing to 3 meters (10 feet) tall, with perennial, not biennial, stems (unlike many other species in the genus). Also, unlike most other related species this plant does not have thorns.”
“The leaves are palmately lobed with five (rarely three or seven) lobes, up to 25 cm (10 inches) long and broad, superficially resembling maple leaves. The flowers are 3–5 cm (1.2–2 inches) in diameter, with five magenta or occasionally white petals; they are produced from early spring to early fall. The red edible fruit matures in late summer to early autumn, and resembles a large, flat raspberry with many drupelets, and is rather fuzzy to the touch and tongue.”
We find Purple-flowering Raspberry in the gorges of the Finger Lakes Region of Central New York State where it finds partial shade, rich, slightly acid soil and moderate water. “It is locally naturalized in parts of Washington State and also in Europe, notably southeastern England.”
Feeding Apple Trees
A spring rite of ours is caring for three apple trees. We provide each, a Cortland, a McIntosh, a Delicious, with 15 fertilizer spikes ; 45 in all.
I am way past using a hammer to pound in each. The preferred method is to drive a space into the ground beneath the drip line (the other reach of the branches), lift the handle and drop the spike into the ground, remove the spade and tamp down the ground.
These helpers are now experts in the dropping and counting. Then, enough is enough, time for play.
And lunch….
Marketing choices
The scenes at Cusco’s Saturday Market were fascinating. The shooting was through a clean bus window using a handheld Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 L IS USM lens mounted on the Canon dslr 1DS Mark III.
“Inka S.R.L.” is a agriculture company full name INDUSTRIA DE ALIMENTOS E INVERSIONES PERU INKA SRL specialized in ELAB OF OTHER PROD. FOOD.. It was created and founded on February 2, 2002.
Very early for these children…
Quechua people or Quichua people, may refer to any of the aboriginal people of South America who speak the Quechua languages, which originated among the Indigenous people of Peru. Although most Quechua speakers are native to Peru, there are some significant populations in Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina. The woman center left sports traditional fabrics of her pants and shawl.
Onions and garlic, potatoes? Wild potato species can be found from the southern United States to southern Chile. The potato was originally believed to have been domesticated by Native Americans independently in multiple locations, but later genetic studies traced a single origin, in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia. Potatoes were domesticated there approximately 7,000–10,000 years ago, from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex. In the Andes region of South America, where the species is indigenous, some close relatives of the potato are cultivated.
Potatoes!!
Maize, also known as corn in North American and Australian English, is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago.
Marketing choices
I caught these participants of the Cusco, Peru, Saturday Market as our bus progressed toward Machu Picchu during our daytrip to that ruin. The shooting was through a clean bus window using a handheld Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 L IS USM lens mounted on the Canon dslr 1DS Mark III.
Several days supply of bread for a family.
Watching the world go by.
Transacting business
Cusco Saturday Market
A group of Quechua vendors during the Saturday Market of Cusco. A seller of baked goods is taking a break while, in the foreground, a woman prepares an order of greens used to feed guinea pigs, a staple of native Peruvian cuisine.
We were headed out of Cusco on our daytrip to Machu Picchu.
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 