I'm Looking Up Today and it is a Touching Sight.

The prompt for today's Photo a Day Challenge, #30 summerdays, is to look up and photo what you see.  I was sitting in my living room chair and looked out the window as a bird flew into the roof of my porch....

So here is the story behind this hole in the roof of our porch.  Several years ago we had a woodpecker who was wreaking havoc with the roof of our porch.  Before we finally got rid of "woody" we had 5 or 6 holes in the roof.  We started patching them up but when we got to this particular hole we could not close it because a bird had her babies in there.  Here is the thing about birds, you think you will wait until the babies fly the coop (or roof) and then patch it.....but those birds (and bees, I guess) are going at it all the time, evidently, because as soon as the babies leave, there are more eggs laid!!  So we always say we will wait until the Fall and then we forget about it until we notice the birds flying in and out of our roof again.

I enjoy watching the mama bird go back and forth taking care of her babies and it was a perfect segue into today's One Word Wednesday prompt.  One Word Wednesday is a little exercise that my friend, Lisa, put together for those of us that are, were, or will be care givers.  She gives us a one word prompt each Wednesday and we write about what comes to mind about our care giving lives when we think of that word. Today the word is TOUCH.

I thought about talking about the touching that is required of me as a care giver....the bathing, the hair brushing, the dressing but then I looked out and saw that mama bird caring for her little one and it reminded me of the touching my mother used to give me.  One of my fondest memories is laying on the couch reading or watching tv while my Mom would tickle my back.  She would sit next to me for hours, tickling my back, rubbing my back, scratching my back and we would talk or watch tv or I would read while she and my father talked.  I had forgotten all about that until today.  I am so busy being my Mom's mom that I forget, sometimes, what it was like to be my Mom's daughter.

I had a good day today, Frank had to drive about an hour each way to drop off some contracts and I went for the ride with him.  It gave us time to catch up with each other and he bought me lunch!!  Then he went with me to pick up the groceries for the food pantry and helped me trudge all of them downstairs.

When we got home, I started on dinner.  Tonight is Beef Pot Pie, using the leftover beef scraps that I cooked up in my stockpot when I made the beef kabobs last week.   I make Beef Pot Pie, exactly like I make Chicken Pot Pie but of course I use beef and beef broth and omit the thyme.

Make a roux of butter, flour, salt and pepper.

Add beef broth to make a gravy.

Add the vegetables and beef.

Heat through to defrost vegetables.

Transfer to a pie dish.

Top with Pie Crust and Bake.

My pie crust did not want to cooperate but it will be fine once it is baked.

Beef Pot Pie

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. flour

salt and pepper to taste

2 c. beef broth

1-2 c. leftover beef

1 (15 oz) pkg. frozen mixed vegetables

1 pie crust

Melt butter in saucepan over med high heat.  Add flour and salt and pepper and cook until flour starts to brown a bit.  Add beef broth and whisk until smooth and starting to thicken.  Add beef and vegetables and warm through. Transfer to a pie tin and cover with a pie crust, cutting slits to vent steam.  Bake at 400* for 40-50 minutes until crust is golden brown.  Print Recipe