Riverbend Journal

  The James Webb telescope continues to prove itself an invaluable tool in the pursuit of knowledge. A couple weeks ago it took the first photo of an exo-planet or planet outside of our own solar system. Last week, it took the above picture of Neptune showing that it too has rings like Saturn. When I think of Neptune, our furthest planet since Pluto was kicked out, I think of the "blue marble" picture taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft on its way by.  It has also conclusively found carbon dioxide around another planet. That in itself doesn't tell us much but if combined with methane, could be a signal of lifeforms. Unfortunately, this planet didn't have methane but perhaps the next one or one down the road will. I can't fathom a world where we aren't alone... yet, but that day may be coming. Below is a picture of a "cartwheel" galaxy somewhere out there. It makes me wonder if someday I'll get to see a "selfie" image of our own galaxy. I...

This entire post is new to this blog and not from my journals or archives. I thought I would give you a sense of Baguio City and it's location in this world. Above is my mother-in-law's house in the Philippines. Mostly my brother-in-law and his family live there though my mother-in-law has her own room still for when she visits and my wife and I still have a room when we visit though I'm sure one of my wife's nieces or nephew occupy it when we aren't there.  It is situated on an extremely steep mountain side though you can't tell that from satellite imagery. The road out front is actually level with what I would call as the fourth floor of the structure which contains a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and MIL's bedroom. Above is the attic floor or 5th floor of the house and is where our bedroom is located along with several other bedrooms and a bathroom. On the 3rd floor which is below the grade of the road, is another level that occupies the sam...

 Although not yet done with our dry shell bean harvest, the remaining variety still has a way to go before being dry enough to pick. A couple of other varieties didn't do so well and of the varieties that did do well, when putting them in jars to store, I had some partial jars. So we took a half dozen partial jars, soaked them in a pot over night and made a ham and bean soup the following day for lunch. Above is a picture of the soaked beans before we started adding the flavorings and ham.  I tried eating some of the various types of beans separately for a taste test of sorts and couldn't really tell much of a difference in flavor. There were subtle texture differences but I'm not sure that is due to the bean variety or just the length of soaking time to get rehydrated fully. All the beans were very meaty and flavorful. When cooked with some ham and some spices, they were downright delightful. After I'm done writing this post, I'm going to have another bowl for toda...

What do you get when you cross a Jeep with a mini bus? Although that question had never entered my mind, I discovered the answer while in the Philippines. What you get is called a Jeepney. The front end has the same grill, lights and shape of a Jeep but with wide flared fenders and the back end looks similar to a mini bus. They are everywhere in the Philippines and are a widely used source of public transportation.   Most Jeepneys had routes that they followed with a sign listing both end points. Once you found the vehicle going your way you just climbed in and gave them your money, which is really harder than it looks. The entrance to these vehicles is located where an emergency exit door would be on a school bus. Once inside, the distance between the roof and the floor was about four feet with one bench seat running along each wall from the driver to the door. Filipinos, being of small stature, could just hop right up and take a seat. Me being six foot two inches tall, had to scr...

  The title of this post is perhaps my favorite line from the movie Good Will Hunting. The last remaining apple tree from our wedding orchard is still hanging in there after all these years and has provided us with many an apple over the years. In the past, we've always just picked a bucket full and let the rest go to fertilize the ground underneath or feed the populous deer. But since we fenced it in as part of our garden area expansion, we have been picking more and trying to preserve them for later use throughout the year. This preservation has usually been one of three ways. I freeze the apples to use in pies, tartes and crisps. I dehydrate apple slices for snacks. I cook down apples in a crockpot to make some applesauce. I plan to do more of the last two again this year but I was looking to do something different other than freezing apples. That method works well and isn't very time consuming but takes up a space in our deep freeze which is perpetually stuffed full. Findin...