Category: At Home
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Why I Never Learned to Whistle
It’s true: I can’t whistle! Never learned, despite years of trying. This article’s title is misleading — or perhaps its more accurate to say it simply reflects wishful thinking. I’d love to know why I can’t whistle. But since I don’t know, I can’t tell you. Speaking of you — does anyone else experience this…
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One Word: Solitude
Some words I love because of the way they sound. The way they feel when I write them. Their playful ambiguities. Their spelling quirks. Others I love mostly on account of what they mean to me. âSolitudeâ is a word I love for many reasons â but mostly for its meaning. I love to be…
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One Word: Crumb
Some words fascinate me on account of unusual or specialized ways they can be used. âCrumbâ is such a word. Singular, not plural. Iâm not especially interested in crumbs (plural), the little shards of bread, cake, pie crust, and the like that break off and make a mess that needs to be cleaned up so…
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Crock-pot Turkey: Best Ever!
For the juiciest, tastiest, tenderest turkey you’ll ever enjoy — bake it in a crock-pot! Here’s how. Cheri and I taught ourselves this trick, this past Thanksgiving. We acted on pure impulse. Nothing wrong with turkeys we’ve baked before, for ourselves and family. But we were in a mood for something more. We ransacked the Internet for turkey…
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May Your Days Be Merry and Bright!
Happy Holidays from GaryMatthews.com and my digital-art associate, Fractal Fran! More background details here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GaryMatthews/posts/PTfX1bk2mQg
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It Happened Almost at our Door!
Knoxville school bus crash kills two students, injures many more. Tragedies hit home, especially when they involve children. Way too many of those, these days. But when one lands practically on your doorstep! Cheri and I still are reeling. What really flattened us was the way we found out about it. We’re fixing dinner in the…
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My Favorite Mushrooms!
Walking in the neighborhood. About a block and a half from my East Knoxville house in Tennessee — these bodacious mushrooms: Almost couldn’t believe the brazen boldness of these fungi! Just to capture the sense of scale, I plunked my hat down amongst them, along with the red hand-weights I was pumping. For anyone curious,…
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Synchronized Fireflies of the Smoky Mountains
Just saw my first summer fireflies within the past week or two. They come out, here in East Tennessee, sometime in June. Now that July has arrived, so have they, in full force. This fractal picture I drew may be stylized, but it does depict the way these beautiful insects cluster around vegetation. In the…
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Charmian Matthews: “influencing, rosy” mom!
Thinking of you, Mom, this Mother’s Day. And every day! Hard to believe I’m just three years younger today than you were when you died, in 1991, at 68. Too soon! But what an impact you made — on the world, on me, on everyone who knew and loved you — in those years. Your full name was “Minnie…
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Heron Now! a magic photo moment
Not every critter associated with the Knoxville Zoo resides there in an official capacity. There’s a large gray heron I’m pretty sure nests on or around the zoo property. Apparently in the wooded buffer that surrounds the exhibits. UPDATE: More bird magic! See below for my mourning dove image capture! The heron hangs out at the Chilhowee…