NOT SOCK SOUP .....

 

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth. It is the time for home..."  -Edith Sitwell
Every winter my mother would make vats of soup. She made what she called Sock Soup. A bit of this and that, with leftover bacon grease, or sausages, and cabbage...

  

Sometimes it smelled like she'd  actually boiled socks  in the pot.  .......soup has come a long way since then.

THIS is  Hamburger Soup. It doesn't taste like socks. When we lived on military bases  THIS was THE soup of choice for all gatherings, in minus 35 Celsius weather in Ontario, and the Maritimes.  Big crock pots of this lovely, chili- like soup, without the chili seasoning, served by roaring fires, to hungry hoards, with homemade crusty buns, or scones.... 

Haul out your largest crock pot. Get it heated up with  a cup of hot water....this is kind of a add-whatever-you-want soup .....you can add meat, or just have it as vegetarian. This batch was made with no-salt ingredients......

I cooked up a large pack of gr beef in oven, while adding veggies to the crock pot. Let the oven do the cooking while you get everything else ready....

CHOP: a few stalks of celery, a small group of potatoes, some onion, if you wish. Not too much onion, as it can get VERY strong ,as the mix cooks in slow cooker. 

MICROWAVE: A bag of frozen carrots, peas, corn, green or yellow beans till warmed up. 

Varied Thrush

DUMP: 1 large container of no sodium veggie broth or beef broth into crock pot.  

ADD: warmed up veggies, potatoes, celery, CAN of tomatoes,  TWO cans of (no salt) kidney beans, another carton of broth, if you wish, or top with hot water. 

ADD: pepper, parsley, basil... THEN add the cooked hamburger meat. You can also use ground turkey, or chicken. Or just add more veggies, if you prefer. Sometimes, I add squash, turnips, parsnips.......

To keep the acid of the tomatoes at bay, sprinkle in a tsp of sugar......the flavours meld well. I've tried baking soda, and it's okay, but the sugar seems to work better. 

* you can even add a touch of chili powder , to your liking. but NOT cabbage or broccoli, or it will smell, dreadfully, like socks boiling....

Let it cook on high for about 4-5 hours till you can see the soup bubbling up through the glass lid. Serve over rice, or plain with buns or scones......

I remember one instance, years ago, on a freezing January night, in Petawawa, Ontario, there was a gathering for a group of military wives.  We were each supposed to bring a main dish. I decided not to make  hamburger soup, which was the going "thing" for these things. I figured someone else would bring it.  Instead, I made a chicken curry.  WHY? I have no idea.  Fifteen wives arrived that night. Each one with a curry of some sort. No soup. Nothing but curried dishes as far as the eye could see. Curried veggies, curried chicken, curried eggs, curried scones, curried potatoe salad, curried  everything. I never made curry again.......

"Soup is a lot like family. Each ingredient enhances the others; each batch has its own characteristics, and it needs time to simmer to reach full flavour..." 

                                                                                                            - Marge Kennedy

Photographs 2025

BIRDS....

 "She decided to free herself, dance into the wind,create a new language. And the birds fluttered around her,writing "yes" in the sky...." - Monique Duval

 Seasons are changing. The birds have started gathering again . A Flicker and his mate with rose coloured cap...

 Stellar Jays eating peanuts like they're going out of style

 The beautiful female Flicker. I have never seen her before. 

 And the male. Stuffing himself with suet without sharing any with  her!

 "In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence..." -Robert Lynd

 The orange flushed Varied Thrush. Looks like a chubby robin.

 The eagle on the power poles.

 "When the Sun of compassion arises darkness evaporates and the singing birds come from nowhere...." -Amit Ray

 And the Thrush.............

 Warbles...

 Purple Finch.

 And the Flicker shoves in  as much suet as possible 

 While the female waits her turn.

 Eventually she kicked him out. 

 "Somewhere a bird sang. Its chant hanging plaintive and melancholy in the air..." -Jane Johnson

 And off they flew. Into the dusk.

 While the Jays splashed in the bath....

 Ate some seeds and wondered where all the peanuts had gone. Were more coming?

 "Birds are the eyes of heaven....." -― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

 Towehee

Photographs 2020

Spencer

SNOW DAY VARIED THRUSH

 "How does it happen that  birds sing,that snow melts, that rose  the rose unfolds , that the dawn whitens behind the stark shape of trees on the quivering summit of the hill....." -Victor Hugo (1802-1885) ( considered the greatest of the French authors)

 Varied Thrushes  look great against the snow.

 Chubby little birds, with orange pot bellies and  sleek beaks.

 Hopping along the ground  they pick up insects in the summer. Seeds and nuts in the fall.  They love to raid bird feeders and  flap at the other  birds. So scary.

 Hummers don't seem to mind the Thrush. They can be as ferocious with the best of them.

 Thrushes sit on exposed branches to sing their haunting, thrilling songs. 

 Thrushes breed in dark Pacific forests, but in the winter they brazenly take over gardens and any bird feeders they find.

 Similar to robins  they are often mistaken for their cousins. 

 Thrushes are related to Western Bluebirds, Aztec Thrush, Eye-browed Thrush, Rufous Robin, Dusky Thrush, and White-rumped Shama.

 The Varied Thrush has a huge range  spanning 3,300,000 Kms. bordering Canada, U.S. and Mexico. 

 A group of Thrushes is called , interestingly  enough, a "mutation" ( or sometimes a "hermitage")

 When it flies it creates a long whistle song.

 Its regular song  is distinctive. A series of long eerie, almost spooky whistles on 1 pitch,with success notes on different pitches. 

 Female is very like the male, only with a dark back. Both parents help raise  and feed their young. They are beautiful birds, first to show up just before spring.

 "The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best...." -Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933) (Author and Clergyman)

 Photographs 2017: M. McConachie Woods   ( Campbell River, B.C.)