hope these get there 

Hi all... I am trying to send pics of our newest front yard program... Hopefully this will be finished now and we won't keep changing it.. Also. for alls info.. We will not be going to Idaho in July. Seems my right hip is bad because of the prednezone i have been taking and they arre trying to get me a surgery date soon to replace it... Soon there will be nothing left to replace... lol. I am going to try to send more pics now... love ya all. JOHN 

Risotto Cakes

Risotto Cakes

Last night I had no plans for dinner but lots of leftover risotto. I'd frozen some of it and refrigerated about 3 cups with the idea of trying out risotto cakes. There are a couple of methods for doing this. Some recipes advise adding egg yolks and beaten egg whites to room temperature risotto and then pouring the resulting batter onto griddle and cooking it just like you would pancakes. I decided to try another method:

3 cups chilled risotto
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups coarse bread crumbs (I used store-bought, but you could make your own)
6 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 350°F. Form chilled risotto into 8 (3/4-inch-thick) patties using wet hands. Put flour, eggs, and bread crumbs in 3 separate shallow bowls. Coat 1 cake with flour, tapping off excess, then egg (letting excess drip off), and then bread crumbs. You'll have to handle them gently. Transfer to wax paper. Repeat with remaining cakes.

Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch heavy nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté 4 cakes, turning over once, until browned, 5 to 6 minutes total. Transfer with a slotted spatula to a baking sheet and keep warm in oven. Heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil and sauté remaining 4 cakes in same manner.

Depending on what sort of leftover risotto you're using, garnish appropriately. I used Acorn Squash, Rosemary and Blue Cheese risotto, so I sprinkled the cakes with crumbled blue cheese and fresh chopped rosemary.

Makes 4 side-dish servings or more than enough for 2 main meal servings. Serve with a salad and a big-bodied red wine.

Graduation

Hey guys,
As you all know, many schools are coming to an end. My last day was Wednesday, and also the day of my graduation. Here are some pictures of my friends, me, and the ceremony (click on "graduation" when you get there). Also, I would like to share the speech I wrote:

I found myself standing in her ‘shrine’, as I later called it, staring at the photographs, old newspaper clippings and lighting coming from the projector in the ceiling. So this is the real Diane Arbus, I thought to myself. I had just been dragged to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by my parents. They said we were going to see a photography exhibit. We arrived at the big white steps and then proceeded to enter and get our tickets. “So, who is this Diane…whatever?” I asked them. “Diane Arbus. She’s a photographer. She took pictures of all different kinds of people. They each have flaws that she was able to capture in her photographs”, my dad responded.

We entered the gallery. I found myself examining each photograph intently. I was amazed, among many things, at the diversity of them. There were photographs of wealthy families, young boys, poor families, nudist camps, hard laborers, transvestites, dancers, and those who are mentally unstable. While studying these pictures, questions began popping into my head. Who are these people? What are they doing with their lives? Is this how they always act? I walked around the rectangular room and then went into another. This room was darker. Higher on the wall there were more newspaper clippings, photographs, and her ideas. There was a display of her journal, written in illegible cursive. On the wall beside it there was the translation. She had written, “I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them.”

When I think of Bank Street I find I can compare it to the photographer holding the camera, informing the students of the things behind the lenses. Slowly, over the years, Bank Street has given me the camera, allowing me to see the differences in people myself. Bank Street has allowed me to see the things instead of looking at them through another. Diane Arbus was a photographer who took pictures so people would be able to see differences. In the beginning, like those looking at her pictures, I was only open to the things in the still frame. Now I have developed the ability to see and comprehend the unusual and the ability to accept it and recognize that it exists in everyone. Bank Street has helped me become the photographer.

When I walked out of the exhibit, I had this strange sense of completion. I felt as if the exhibit had been an end to something. I also felt a deep sadness. This may have been because Diane Arbus committed suicide later in her life or because the pictures themselves were so deeply emotional. Whatever the reason, today I look back at my visit at the museum and recognize the feelings I am having now with those that I felt then. I stand here before you with terribly mixed emotions. My career here has come to an end. I feel complete, and yet I cannot deny my sadness.

Bank Street has shown me how to ask questions and to see people how they really are. It has taught me to capture things in the world around me and to share my observations with others. While I do not altogether want to move on, a part of me knows I have to. I may be leaving the community, but the skills Bank Street has taught me and the teachers and students there will stay with me forever, like photographs on a wall.
Enjoy,
Love Sophie

Prague Photo Album

I finally got the Prague trip photos organized and uploaded with commentary. You can see them here and I've also linked the album in the sidebar.

My latest project

Hi all,

Reed just posted a picture of my mirror which was my latest accomplishment. In real life the mirror reflects the yellow climbing rose out the window but that didn't work in the photo. I recently took a class in making fused glass flowers and it is a huge challenge. Making the flowers is ok but trying to attach stems is nearly impossible and you need at least 6 hands!

We are home for a couple more weeks and then to Georgia to visit friends and back to DC for one of Reed's two week stints during which we hope to see Misty and Mike and the new house. Home for a couple of weeks and then we drive to Pat and Stan Nelsons for the start of our river cruise on the Danube. We fly to Budapest and end the cruise in Prague so we are very excited.

It is great to see the blog getting active again - it really is a great way to be in touch so let's keep it up.

Love to all!

MaryAnne's Latest Creation

Update

Hi all,
Nice to see so much activity on here. John/Jan, your traveling home looks wonderful.....hope a trip to New England is on the calendar.

We had a cold wet spring and now have hot, sticky weather to contend with. On still days the studio is so hot I can feel my brain melting away. Andi has been a wonderful help to me this summer so far. We have a lot of plans, but time is short and then I will lose her to a semester in Italy. We miss having Misty with us as well, nothing is quite complete with out her.

We will all travel to Florence for Thanksgiving. Misty, Mike, Chuck, Frazier, and myself. The girls (me included) have wonderful boyfriends, family gatherings are all the better with them around. We are in the process of renting a house in Florence, any other family members would be welcome......

Hope all is well with all of the Fisher clan......New England is beautiful from now through October, come to visit.....love

The new trailer

Ok.. The trailer I showed PR and MA when they were here was our first one..it was a 28 foot Prowler with a super slide (the dinette and couch slid out). It was a areally good unit but when we bought it we planned to upgrade in five to six years... As Jans and my health progressed it was slightly more difficult to get into tight places and really difficult for jan to make the bed in the old one. So we decided to step up sooner than expected. The new one is called a Titanium and it too is 28 foot but the design actually gives us five more feet of space... the bed is extended over the front and that give more floor space... Then new one has a slide for the kitchen and intertainment center and it also has the same size slide for the couch and eating area... this one has a table and chairs for the dinette. In the bed room also has a slide out closet and that give us the storage room and extra room in the bedroom we require... Also for me, the shower is full size and that is a real plus for my oversize body. lol. Also, the design of the front where the bed extends is kind of like a bow of a ship so it cuts the air much cleaner and there fore tows considerably better... I love the way the old one towed so this should be great... Well enough for now , we are going to reno the twentieth so hopefully we can get more pics for all of you... take care.. Jan and I love all of you...

pictures

Hey all. I posted some pictures of our new 5th wheel trailer. This was my first time and with PR's help i think i figured it out...next to figure is Picasa so i can send more than one at a time... Jan and I are really excited about this new trailer...Planning a short shake down to Reno on the 20th and then after the 4th of July we are planning a trip to Idaho... We will take pics of that trip for sure.... JOHN

shower but still i do not know how to rotate a picture... lol 

The bed..is actually long enough i do not hang over this one.. 

The whole closet is a slide... lots of room 

this is looking toward the bedroom and bathroom... wish i could have figured out how to rotate the pic..sorry 

Even a ceiling fan... 

This is the Couch and hide a bed 

Here is the entertainment center and refrig which is also part of the kitchen slide 

This is the dinette and it is a slide too 

back of trailer 

Prague

A quick collage... I'll link more photos and an account of our trip soon.

Posting Photos

To upload photos to FisherCatch you can use one of several methods:

Most simple woulod be to create a Flickr account for yourself and to use it both for displaying your own photos in general and for uploading photos to this blog. Flickr is very, very easy to use.

Slightly more sophisticated is a very handy little piece of software called Hello. Read the Blogger article about it to get an idea of how it works or just go to Hello's download page. You can read some specifics about it works here.

If you choose to use Hello, don't be intimidated to learn that you're also downloading a fairly powerful photo management tool called Picasa-- you won't have to switch from whatever software you use when you download and manage photos with your digital camera. Once you get the hang of using Hello you may want to play around with Picasa as well (it will grab every image on your machine and store them for you automatically) as it does some fun things, like making photo collages.

If you get Hello downloaded and feel a bit lost or even if just downloading the software is confusing you can always reach out to me or PR ... we've both suffered through learning to use it and can walk you through getting a photo onto the blog.

Good luck!

More On Our Backyard Wildlife

Hi All - A couple more photos of life in our backyard. The quail family is down to four chicks from eight. The fate of the other four is unknown. I guess the reason they have large clutches is to provide for losses and still preserve the species. The chicks can all fly and run fast. There's another quail family with two larger chicks that comes around. The Daddies fought in the beginning but seemed to have reached an agreement. One of Doves that hangs around successfully hatched out a chick. The chicks seem to start pretty big. Love to all.

The Remaining Quail Children (with Mother about to leave the back wall) After a Month.

Mother Mourning Dove and Child