Capt. Merritt P. 4 My Slice/ Recipe/ X word

The Island Life Recipes

My Little Slice of Paradise

By Kathy Brock

Grandma’s Orange Drop Cookies Tested on Grandkids by Elaine Middelstaedt

Ingredients:

2 tbs grated orange peel 1/2 tsp orange flavoring Juice of 1/2 orange 2/3 cup butter, softened 1 1/4 cups honey 1 egg, beaten 2 1/2 cups sifted, all purpose flour 3 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 350°. Blend butter with honey and set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add to the honey mixture. Fold in beaten egg, grated orange rind, orange flavor and orange juice. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Using a teaspoon, drop the batter onto a cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and leave on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, and then place it on a cooling rack until the cookies are cool.

Enjoy them with a cold glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee! They are also great served with a bit of ice cream. Easy and YUMMY!

M U L L E T R A P P E R C R O S S W O R D

Across

1 Go after a fly 5 Globe 8 Hot pepper 9 Yeats or Keats 11 Sweet, to Pavarotti 12 Early anesthetic 14 Decorator's suggestion 16 Old soldier 17 Mineral spring 18 It shows the going rate 23 Bewitch 24 Was victorious 25 So, no third-rate mix-up 31 Low point 32 Italian design house 33 Stringed instrument 34 Mullet Rapper

Photographer Bryan 35 Carpenter tool

Down

9/4/21

1 "Beat it!" 2 Executor's concern 3 Summerhouse 4 Layered, like a wedding cake 5 Oil producers' cartel 6 --- I R A 7 Command 8 Government health agency 10 AZ Town 13 Raise 15 Author Harriet

Beecher --18 Leg bone 19 Type of code 20 Some are mass 21 Changes shape 22 Diner's pick 26 The meter maid? 27 Barrymore of film 28 Robust 29 Yemeni port 30 Convert into leather September is the month that many of the migratory birds start passing through the area. Some are here for a few days of re-fueling to continue on to places like Panama and other parts of Central America or the Caribbean Islands.

Some of the smallest birds travel incredibly long distances. Bird migration is one of nature’s great wonders.

Towards the end of September, you will start to see an increase in the vulture population (we do have residents but many are winter visitors). The raptors and songbirds start passing through as well.

Every now and then you may get lucky and have a “passerby” hang out for a few days. That happened for us a couple of years ago when a young rose-breasted grosbeak hung out at our feeders for over a week!

The Everglades area is the winter home for many warblers as well. The one featured in Charles Sobczak’s article, the black and white warbler, is a reliable, winter resident here. We also frequently see, yellow rumped warblers, yellow throated warblers, and palm warblers.

My personal favorites are the painted buntings. The males are unbelievably beautiful, the females are the only native green bird in North America. Buntings will arrive in early October. You can attract them with bird seed that includes millet. The male pictured above is munching on spray millet in our yard which is one of their favorites!

Buntings are the cousins of cardinals, so if you attract cardinals, you will eventually get a few buntings to stop by. They are one of the first birds at the feeder in the morning and the last ones at night. Be patient and you will be rewarded!

The majestic white pelicans will be here in October too. They can be seen flying in the classic V formation. When you see all white birds with black tipped wings in that formation, you know the big white pelicans are back!

Get a great pair of binoculars and enjoy the birds. It’s relaxing, rewarding, and right outside your window! That’s why I love the Glades!