Mother's Day Weekend

Dinner of the Day

I added some leftover traditional tomato sauce to a pan of leftover cauliflower curry. I then chopped and added a head of green leaf lettuce to complete our rice topping of the day. I loved it! Anthony was not as excited about it.

 

Big Girl

Chau Ram Falls Revisited

Yesterday evening, we went on another hike at Chau Ram Falls. We took a trail that was new to us. There was much to see. We saw the river, many beautiful flowers, and I saw lots of poison ivy along the trail. Gladly, we did not manage to bring any poison ivy home with us, though I did have a slight brush with it. 

I walked over a small black and gray diamondy patterned snake, and I let Anthony know. He held back with the baby until the snake passed. We also walked into more spider webs than usual. Anthony said the spiders especially like to design webs in the evenings. He used a small branch to swipe the webs away from the trail. 

Mini Knots & Pizza

I made my pizza dough earlier in the afternoon than usual. The dough had extra time to rise, and I had extra dough when it was done rising. I decided to make knots to go with our pizza. Once I began rolling out the dough for knots, it became evident that I did not have very much extra dough. I then made mini knots for the first time.  I served the knots with tomato sauce for dipping. The mini knots and pizza turned out to be delightful. Anthony particularly liked the pizza. He said it tasted very Mediterranean. I agreed, and said that it was classic, margherita. (I might add that I made cheese pizza despite the fact that Anthony insists that he always likes toppings, and that he's not a fan of just cheese pizza.)

Musings At Clemson Experimental Forest

Last night, Anthony, Shastya, and I took a trail that was new to us in the Clemson Experimental Forest. We really enjoyed it, and it is now one of our new favorite trails. We saw many beautiful flowers, trees, babbling streams, and a tranquil lake along the way. 

At one point, against the backdrop of a pale blue sky, a canopy of delicate trees covered two paths elevated on either side of a clearing which had a flowing stream in it. The waters were peacefully winding their way down towards the lake. The layout, structure, and flow of the setting reminded me of a conservatory in Longwood Gardens, PA. 

Part of the lake was covered with lily pads, reminding Anthony and I of Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Our lake in Clemson was lacking the gorgeous pink lotus blossoms that all the tourists were incessantly photographing in China. 

On the way back, we saw a beaver effortlessly swimming along the shoreline. Baby Shastya took a nap during some of our adventures, but she loved looking up at all the tree tops and sky when she was awake.

Woodland Babe

Daddy does not like big flowery headpieces for baby Shastya. Since they are all the rage nowadays, I just had to at least see what she looked like in one. She looked so dear.