Roasted Asparagus and Spring!

Roasted Asparagus is back! This simple and popular veggie side dish can be a meal for me! I love it! And it's simple....

Take a pound or two of asparagus spears, fresh from your local farmer or grocer...

Trim bottom ends.

Cover baking pan/sheet with foil.

Spread out asparagus. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with Bruschetta seasoning, whatever is your favorite "go to" seasoning...

 Broil on low for about fifteen minutes, more or less depending on spear "size". Thicker spears take longer to cook. Or if you forget that you put things in the oven (like I do!) then bake at 400 degrees for about fifteen minutes, Plus or Minus a few.... Ovens vary, so if you know your oven, dance to its tune.

Serve hot and delicious!!! A great way to increase the green veggies in your diet and make use of the local farmers!!!

Then we've got the twisty slide.... Now I'm not a fan of new slides. They're so safe that they're boring. They look cool... but you can't come down fast on most of them, and that's sad! But you don't fall to your death from up top, either, so that's a good thing!

#focusonpositives
#slowslidesareboring

 But as you can see, MacKenzie and Morgan figured out ways to make it less boring... by climbing up the outside of the slide and then doing various interesting ways of coming down "SLOWLY" while making faces... or laying on bellies... or pretending it was REALLY FAST when it was painfully slow, LOL! Slow-mo slides!!!!

And these are all Herne girls! My great-nieces and some of my grandbabies...  Aren't they beautiful little athletes? It was soccer night for Alicia and Mary Ruth.... The rest of us were there to cheer them on!

And from my last visit to NYC, a shot of one of the reflecting pools at the 9-1-1 Memorial. I try to get there whenever I drive down to the city. It's the perfect place to pray... to think... to remember that day... and then pray for peace.

And then to the huge new subterranean mall and train station next door beneath the "Oculus", wide-spanning white steel "arms" that make a winged above-ground entrance that is breathtaking from inside!

This is an Unsplash.com picture credited to Tim Queng because mine from last year seem to have disappeared!

Upscale stores line every level of the sides of the train station, going down four levels.... NJ Path, Fulton Street Station and soon more entrances to other Lower Manhattan places... It's an amazing place to visit, right next door to the 911 Memorial and the reflecting pools inscribed with the names of all victims of the terror attacks of September 11th.

It's lovely to be back home... it's green here! LEAVES ON MANY TREES! And you can chart the leaves by soil temperature because the trees react to soil temperature to begin the leafing process. By me, the Black Locust trees are one of the last to get their leaves and first to lose them. By late August, tiny golden leaves begin dotting the black locust trees, super tall trees with craggy trunks and branches.

But for now, we are in the business of welcoming leaves! Welcoming spring!!!!

And getting smelly cleaning out little water ponds to attract birds and frogs and toads! They love the bugs attracted to the water. Perfect!