Leah and her friend Sailor enjoy a pop-up book together during a sleepover tonight. The book is Dragons & Mosters by Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda.

It doesn’t get much better than this down home song on my Victrola. In case you have never heard this song, here is a very nice version by Allison Krauss and Lyle Lovett: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UxOcZgDOpc.Enjoy.

This is a reproduction set of the Isle of Lewis Chessmen (or Uig Chessmen). It is the earliest know chess set. Discovered in 1831 in Scotland, a total of 78 pieces were recovered including 8 kings, 8 queens, 16 bishops, 15 knights, 12 rooks and 19 pawns. The heights of the pawns range from 3.5 to 5.8 cm while the major pieces are between 7 and 10.2 cm. It is believed they were probably made in Norway, by craftsmen in the 12th century. They are owned and exhibited by the British Museum in London, which has 67 of the original pieces, and the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, which has the remaining 11 pieces. Sarah, in 4th grade now, joined the chess club this year and I can’t wait to play a game with her using this set. The board arrives next week!

This afternoon Leah, Sarah and I went to share some treats with the horses down the street. We were hoping to see King and Tinkerbell but instead we found only Pepe. He was whinnying at the fence when we arrived and kept it up until he realized what we had at which point he trotted over to investigate. We shared some apples and carrots with him and I think he must have appreciated it because it struck a very nice pose fore me afterward. Thanks Pepe!

I love the hour glass with black sand that has been sitting on my desk since I started working here. I can’t believe it took me this long to take a picture of it. The trees outside my window and the gray sky made the perfect monochromatic backdrop for the picture. I used my iPhone 4 to take the shot. If I had my 5D I would have been able to capture the sand frozen in space.

Anna Scifres and Lexi Stewart attempt to train Tinkerbell, a miniature horse, to jump barrels. They are joined by Sarah and Leah Scifres as well as Sarah’s friend Katie Levesque.

Maia Madison from David Scifres on Vimeo.

I got my 5D this Friday YEAH!!! I had been taken aback by my oldest daughters friend Maia Madison’s artistic ability on her Nintendo DS. The new camera, coupled with my desire to learn Adobe Premiere, led to this video. When Maia came over to visit, I could not resist the opportunity to try and capture the creative work she had done. Not bad for my first real video attempt.

As promised I took Anna and Sarah to Chicago for the weekend. We had a blast. We purchased a CityPass which got us in the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, Art Institute, the SkyWalk at the top of Sears tower and the Science and Technology building (which we didn’t make it to). The hit of the trip as it turns out was Navy Pier as well as tea at the American Girl Doll store.

Leah dove off the board for the first time the day before this video was shot. I used the 8mm app to give it the old school look.

Brining the chicken is a MUST because it seems to help make the chicken juicier. To brine, first mix 4 cups of cold water with ¼ cup of kosher salt and ¼ cup of brown sugar. Stir until dissolved. Wash and put the boneless, skinless chicken strips in a gallon size zip-lock bag and pour the brine mixture in the bag and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. Now, it is time to make the marinade.

Marinade ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups of apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Juice from one lemon or lime (whichever you prefer – mixing both is tasty too)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 8 tsp of minced garlic
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 cup of Heinz 57 sauce
• 1/2 cup of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup A-1 Marinade
• Tabasco to taste
• 4 tsp flaked red pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Remove the chicken strips from the brine and rinse and pat dry with a paper towel. Submerge the chicken strips in the homemade marinade (you can use a Tupperware type bowl with a lid, a zip-lock bag or for best results a Vacuvin Marinater) and refrigerate a minimum of 4 to 6 hours. Please note it is best to let them soak in the marinade overnight. You should set aside some of the marinade to baste the chicken breasts when cooking. Remove and grill. And that’s pretty much it. Good luck and you won’t be disappointed!

Testing out the share link from FLickr

Ingredients

• Package Puff Pastry Sheets
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves
• 1/3 cup dried cranberry, softened
• 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
• 1 (13.2 ounce) round Brie cheese
• Crackers

Directions

1. Thaw pastry sheet at room temperature 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix egg and water.
2. Unfold pastry sheet on lightly floured surface. Roll into 14 inch square. Cut off corners to make a circle. Spread preserves to within 1 inch of pastry edge. Sprinkle cranberries and almonds over preserves. Top with cheese. Brush edge of circle with egg mixture. Fold two opposite sides over cheese. Trim remaining two sides to 2 inch from edge of cheese. Fold these two sides onto the round. Press edges to seal. Place seam-side down on baking sheet. Decorate top with pastry scraps if desired. Brush with egg mixture.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until golden. Let stand 1 hour. Serve with crackers.

• 10 slices white bread, cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups hot milk (160 degrees F/71 degrees C)
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter one 2 quart baking dish.
2. Combine bread cubes, butter, cinnamon and raisins; mix well and place in baking dish.
3. Beat together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt. Add milk, mix well and pour over bread cubes.
4. Sprinkle with nutmeg and bake for 25 minutes.

For those of you with the Ceviche itch to create your own. You can find a pretty good Ceviche recipe on allrecipies.com.

Sorry for the blurry iPhone photography.

I need an iPhone upgrade.

Finally finished the 2009 Adventure book – (Preview Book). 470 Photos in 240 pages using BookSmart by blurb.com. This is the third year I have used blurb.com to produce our custom print on demand annual. A new feature of the application I really enjoyed this year is that you can now edit the fixed layouts and create your own new custom layouts. I didn’t use that feature as much as I would like to have done on this years book mainly because of the rush to get it out. I intended to do more customization going forward. If I can just discipline myself to build this thing each month vs. the entire thing at the end of the year.

Below are links to the 2008 and 2007 books.

Mr. Smog, a Bearded Dragon may become our newest pet if I don’t manage to get him back to Plum Tree Montessori soon. Caroline is totally obsessed with him and getting awfully attached to him. He is kind of neat.

The Known Universe is from the American Museum of Natural History and shows a view of the universe, starting from the Himalayas and quickly moving out to the edge where all is black and scary – this was made possible by the records in the Digital Universe Atlas.

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit this park while on the way for a weekend camping at Standing Stone State Park. This place is totally amazing, it was like walking on to the set of Jurassic Park. The hike down the falls is pretty strenuous and along several sections the trail has a 20-40 foot drop down one side. So be careful particularly with children if you take them along like I did.

The Burgess Falls State Natural Area, which covers 350 acres, is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

The history of Burgess Falls can be traced back over three centuries. Before European settlement, Indians of the Cherokee, Creek and Chickasaw tribes shared this region as a hunting ground. One of the first white settlers, Thomas Burgess, received a land grant here in 1793 as payment for his service in the Revolutionary War. By the late 19th century, a gristmill and sawmill were in operation on the river here. For the growing logging and farming communities, the Falling Water River played a key role by providing energy and recreational opportunities. Under protection as a State Natural Area since 1973, visitors today may enjoy the same scenic splendor of Burgess Falls, easily seen from the River Trail.

Video

I shot some video so you could get a feel for this place. Please ignore the horrible commentary. I really need to figure out how to edit that out.



The Falling Water River rises near the base of the Cumberland Plateau in eastern Putnam County and winds its way across the Highland Rim to its mouth along the Center Hill Lake impoundment of the Caney Fork River, which is located in an area where the Highland Rim drops off into the Central Basin. The Burgess Falls State Natural Area comprises the section of the river just above its mouth, where the river drops from roughly 900 feet (270 m) atop the Highland Rim to just over 600 feet (180 m) at Center Hill Lake. (Click for map)

Over time, the Falling Water River’s rapids have cut a deep gorge just above its mouth. The river drops to the Central Basin in a series of cascades and waterfalls, each gaining in size and intensity as the river approaches Center Hill Lake. At the Falling Water Cascades, located just downstream from the old Burgess Falls Dam, the river gradually spills over a 10-foot (3.0 m) embankment of rocks. Almost immediately downstream from the Cascades, the river drops another 30 feet (9.1 m) at Little Falls. Beyond Little Falls, where the river briefly bends to the north, is an 80-foot (24 m) cascade known as Middle Falls. Downstream from Middle Falls, where the river bends westward again, is the 136-foot (41 m) Burgess Falls. The distance between Falling Water Cascades and Burgess Falls is less than a mile. Burgess Falls spills into a large limestone gorge enclosed by sheer 100-200 foot walls. The Falling Water River enters Center Hill Lake roughly a mile downstream from Burgess Falls.

Photographs

Below is a slideshow of some of the pictures I shot as we wound our way down the 3 falls.

Directions

From I-40, take Exit 286. Turn South off the 286 ramp onto State Highway 135. Proceed on Hwy 135 for 7 miles following the signs to the park.

Hours of Operation
8:00 a.m. until 30 minutes before sundown when gates are closed.
**Park is closed when the river is high or when there is snow on the roads and/or trails.

View Larger Map

Links

Burgess Falls State Park Website

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp milk
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 1/4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 8 pork chops – thinly sliced
• 1 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small bowl, beat together the eggs and milk. In a separate small bowl, mix the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, and cook until lightly browned. Remove garlic.

Dip each pork chop into the egg mixture, then into the bread crumb mixture, coating evenly. Place coated pork chops in the skillet and brown.

Sample mission examples:

Our challenge is to seamlessly provide access to emerging opportunities while maintaining the highest standards

or

We interactively leverage other’s parallel paradigms and assertively maintain high-payoff benefits to stay competitive in tomorrow’s world

or

It is our business to professionally enhance prospective products and services so that we may quickly create timely deliverables to exceed customer expectations

or

It is our mission to interactively create high standards in intellectual capital as well as to competently disseminate virtual deliverables

It’s addictive, seriously, go create your own. Enjoy, David