A Busy Splatterday...

  Been trying to clean up my mess today...lol.  Vacuumed and dusted and straightened and did not mop, because in the middle of my vacuuming, DH came in and said he was going to get the manure.  If you don't live the kind of thrilling life that I do, then you won't know that when it's manure time on the old homestead, every loose running dog and cat will be out there helping with the poo.  And by helping...I mean, tracking it in and out of my house, eating enough of it to make them vomit, and in the case of Le Weiner Dog, carrying around mouthfuls of it until she gets inside the door, where she adoringly deposits it on my floor. She does the same thing with regular mud, but horse manure seems so much more attractive, for some reason.  And now, DH has gotten the truck stuck in the back yard [again] and is waiting for our neighbor to come over with the tractor. I politely (and helpfully!!) suggested we put him on retainer for the remainder of the garden season.  He did not take kindly to my suggestion, and when I offered (in penance) a freshly baked shortbread cookie, he snapped "I don't WANT a cookie!"  I smiled lovingly and said..oh,. okay.  And went back to my wifely duties.  They are out there now and sound like they're having way too much fun. 

  I do have to remember to mention to him that the dogs don't even bark at the tractor anymore....or not....

********************************

   I baked cookies and I made granola bars and I baked hamburger buns today. I have a tray of sweet potato fries in the oven and will make veggie burgers for supper tonight to go with them. We didn't get any of the rain forecast for today, thank goodness, so were able to get the manure on the garden beds.  ON the other hand, we didn't get to attend the Spring Equinox celebration at La Vista either...but we have gone the past four years and so...We'll make the summer one. They really are a lot of fun.

  I've been putting raw sunflower seeds and flax seeds into the veggie burgers when I make them the last few times. It really adds a lot of nutrition, as well as makes them a little more substantial.  I usually saute onions to go on top too. I start with a nature burger mix and embellish it as I see fit. Sometimes I add beans to it for more protein too.  They are very good...and they'll be especially good on the home made whole grain hamburger buns. They turned out really nice today. And the recipe made about a dozen, so I froze half of them for next time I don't have the whole day to play in my kitchen.  :)

  Smells like it's time to turn the sweet tater fries...be right back.

 Okay.  Yup...they're about halfway done. The burgers are a quick fix, which makes them nice for a busy Saturday. I thought about making a few batches ahead of time and freezing them too, but really, they're so fast that it would be a waste of freezer space, lol

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  Thanks everyone for making me not feel so alone re: the grandbaby thing. I know you're all right and I am mostly always okay about it all...but every now and then it just triggers some primal instinctual thing in me, and knocks me down for a minute.  I am very happy for every woman I know that gets to experience the joy of having a grandchild...I just wish I was one of them.  Sometimes.

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  I have a radio station playing today that's been playing all kinds of old beach music kind of stuff...it's been awesome.  Playing a very eclectic mix of stuff too...and a bit ago was Ritchie Havens singing a Beatles song.  Brings back a lot of memories.  Now it's an instrumental steel guitar kind of thing.  Nice for a change...

  So, it's been a lovely, if busy, day here at Honeysuckle Hill.  My lilacs are blooming, the cherry tree is in full flower too.  The irises are over a foot high and the wild violets are popping up all over the yard.  We planted seed flats last night, and got lots done.  We went to a late morning matinee to see Hunger Games and then to lunch.I was appalled at the number of mothers there bringing their 8,9 and10 year olds, It was a really violent movie.  The acting was great and the  film sported quite a few actors I really like, like Donald Sutherland and Stanley Tucci and Woody Harrelson.  The star, Jennifer Lawrence was quite good, and has apparently been nominated twice for Academy Awards, and is only 20 years old.

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  Alrighty then...I need to go get some supper on the table. It's 6:30 already and himself is getting ready to come in.

  Have a wonderful Saturday, everyone!!!!

Namaste.

 

Scatterday

News flash:  It's getting ready to rain again !!!  The skies are dark and the thunder is rolling.

  And because of all this rain, we have gorgeous weeds like this growing everywhere. I don't know what it is, at first I thought it was a type of yarrow, which we have everywhere too...but it isn't. Here's the deal--I don't have to know what it is. I can just enjoy the way it looks, and that's good enough for today. But...I digress...

  THE RAIN !!!!!!

 Good lord.  I have to remember that in a month or so, I'll be praying for rain. lol  On my little stroll through the garden this morning though...I am seeing some of the effects of too much water. Even in my raised beds.  Yellowing leaves...not enough fruiting...hope this passes soon. If it doesn't, we'll be eating sauerkraut and beets all winter. lol  And dried tomatoes. And lots of beans and rice.  sigh....


  I am locked in the office, eating (away from misbehaving cats) a yummy gooey egg and cheese and onion sandwich on healthnut bread.  I have too many eggs, so I think I will make another quiche here in a minute or two. One thing about this weather...I don't mind running the oven a bit. One thing about eggs--you can find a hundred ways to use them.

  I have been bad lately about not eating breakfast. That needs to stop.  I always feel better when I have breakfast. NO matter what it is..oatmeal with raisins and pecans or walnuts...eggs any old way, or even just whole grain bread or bagel with some added finery--like fresh sliced tomato and basil and mozzarella, or peanut butter and jalapeno jelly.  yum...

  I probably should be vacuuming, but who cares?  Maybe tonight after I get home...or even tomorrow morning.

  The dogs keep barking their heads off at a guy on a tractor who seems to be cruising back and forth past my house on an old Ford tractor. That's my luck...I get an Amish stalker...lol...kidding, of course. He's hauling those huge round bales of hay 'twixt and 'tween somewheres.  You'd think they'd figure out they saw him before...


  Well...it's 10 o'clock and if I'm agonna git some stuff done, I better git on it.  I have a load of the Irishman's workclothes in the dryer ready to be folded. It was the last load to go on the clothesline yesterday, and when I brought everything in last night, they were still a little damp, so they went into the dryer for a bit. Order is slowly being restored to my household..(who am I kidding?)  and got a call last night that his trip went smoothly and they had already gone out to rib shack for supper. Good to hear.

  It's suppoosed to get up to 82 today...we'll see. Only about 70 right now. Time to shut down this 'puter and get busy.



 Be Blessed.

Thundering through Thursday...

  As you can see, the giant hostas are making their debut. I went to a plant sale today, put on by the Women of Pappy's market, and when I asked the questions, I got the answers. Those old girls are brilliant when it comes to plants. One of them showed me her tile spade and said it was the best thing for dividing hostas. Said I should get one. New they are about 35 dollars, she says, but I got this one at a yard sale for 3.  I offered her 10 and she roared. And refused. lol  I was asking her about timing for dividing the hostas, as I'm thinking I'd like to move some around to my front porch.

   I bought a few plants...I like to support local people any chance I get, and all their stuff is grown right here. I got 2 big pots of feverfew (and by big, I mean 1 gallon size)- to replace all my feverfew that got destroyed putting in the water lines, 2 pots of Azure fairies (don't have any idea what those are, but loved the name), a pot of red castor beans and a pot of ginger. She said it likes shade. I said really??--that grows here?? They said, "Sure does!" SO I bought it. All the pots were 3 dollars each except the castor beans, which was 2.50.  I also picked up some containers of bell peppers--3 green and 3 gypsy, which are red , yellow, and green.   Just for good measure I picked up one tiny tray of zucchinis.  The butternut squash seeds I planted in peat pots are starting to come up too.  We'll be getting some major work done tomorrow in the garden, as there is supposed to be no rain, and the Irishman and I are both home all day. We're getting a few truckloads of leaf compost from our neighbor tomorrow too.  It's finally starting to feel like spring....


  The boyo called today to chat, and said that for Mother's Day he'd like to come over and cook breakfast for me at my house. I said that sounded wonderful to me. So that's our big plan for that day...family, food and lots of love. What else is there?  I am blessed.


  Tonight I cooked a feast for my husband...bbq'd country pork ribs in homemade sauce, coleslaw and corn on the cob. I made his all time favorite, Key Lime Pie for dessert with freshly whipped cream to top it off.  He loved it and immediately fell into a food coma.  lol  We watched some tv and talked and then he was falling asleep on the couch after his long week of work.  He's gone to bed now and I'm getting ready to join him.  It's been a long day here on the Prairie, with a few minor thunderstorms and rain showers and all the odds and ends that make up a life.  I did a bit of shopping, a bit of cooking, a bit of planning and a bit of sitting out front in the rocking chair...watching the gold finches  and listening to the Barred Owls hooting back and forth. All in all, a very good day.


  Okee dokee. I am off to bed and planning to dream the dreams of a dreamer.  This old woman is plum tuckered out...




Namaste.

Spring at last ??  It could happen. Yesterday I snipped fresh chives from the garden for my salad. I also dug up some runaway perennial onions to take to a friend so she could start her own bed of them. I can't believe it's Saturday already.

  I went to check out the kitchen at the Oblate on Friday...it's where I'll be teaching the canning and preserving workshop.  It's nice and big and relatively well stocked as far as cooking pots and things go. I stayed and had tea and outlined the class with the coordinator, the sister who facilitates the discussion groups we attend.  It was a lovely late morning/early afternoon and I came home after that. I was waiting for an order from Amazon that was being delivered by UPS...I got organic Thai Kitchen coconut milk for a really good price by the case. And free shipping. So...in the meantime I had the Irishman get the satellite internet pieces down from the roof so I could ship the trai and the modem back to them and get that over with. Conveniently, I was able to hand over that box to the UPS guy when he finally arrived. Deed done.

  We went to Chinese Buffet for supper last night. I was able to pick and choose food that was sort of okay for my diet.  I can feel the effects of the high sodium today though. But it was good...and then we went to see the new movie Limitless. It was very good.

  I need to get out in the yard and do some garden cleanup today. I also need to prune my Rose of Sharons before they start to bud. I should have done it in the late fall...I have tons of  flower garden debris to clean up and then I am off to MissB's this afternoon.  Not enough time in the days anymore...I really miss the old days...but am very grateful to have a little extra money. An ancient dilemma...lol


  The temps are warming up daily. Yesterday was pleasant, in the mid 50's. Today we are inching up a few degrees and tomorrow should be around 70. I am so ready for the warming...


  Happy Saturday all.  This week just flew by...


Namaste.
 

Silly Sunday...

   Lemon Meringue Pie...sure to please. This is a wonderful recipe I found in one of my old Farm Journal cookbooks...tweaked a little here and there, of course. I was thinking about making some of the filling for pudding...if I make it with Splenda, it can be okay for me to eat.  I'm agonna give it a whirl. Making meringue with my fresh fresh eggs is a delight...it's whips up so tall and stiff and beautiful !


  Yesterday I squeezed some lemons and then zested the rinds. They were all dried out nicely by tonight and I bagged them up for future use. I never have lemons on hand anytime I need lemon zest for a recipe, it seems. (That is about to change! lol)  My little local market had a good price on some pretty lemons, so I went for it. I used the juice all up too. The pudding recipe for this pie actually called for lemon zest too, but I skipped it, since I didn't have it.


  It snowed about 2 inches just south of here yesterday, but the snow didn't make it's way here much. By morning, it was all gone. Now that's snow I can handle!  Todays temps made it up to the mid forties and tomorrow should be around 50. Tolerable spring weather.  I'm reading in some blogs about folks getting seedlings started and planning and scheming about their gardens. I need to try to get out there and start cleaning things up. I'm having a bit of a crisis about how much of what I need to plant. First things will be to get things inventoried and see what I have lots of and what I have nothing of. lol  I hope I can get edamame again this year, or have enough left from last year to plant again. We really fell in love with that stuff, and like an idiot, I didn't save any seed.  I'd like to be more knowledgable about seed saving, but I'm not.  Probably something I should get on the stick about...there are several books I've seen in Countryside magazine about it, as well as on Amazon.


   My sister may be coming from Florida for a visit next month. I say "may" because she often makes plans and cancels and never bothers to tell you until after the fact. She called and said "We're coming..." and I thought, I'll believe it when I see the whites of your eyes. I'm a little cynical...  It'll only be a quickie visit...I haven't seen her in a couple of years...so it goes. She is apparently calling all of us and making appointments to spend a little time with everyone.  lol


   My nephew and his wife have a baby on the way...they find out the sex this week, I think.  One of my other nephews just bought his own first home...very proud of that 23 year old !!!  A great-nephew just made the National Honor Society. All of our kids are doing well. What a blessing, having had parents like us!  *grin


  Life is a big wheel that turns and turns.  Thinking today about the love and the loss and the tragedies and the miracles that make up a persons life. It's all really quite incredible, if you think about it. The perfect life, I guess, has just the right mix and balance of all those things. When all is said and done, I guess we can only hope to stand before our maker (as Erma Bombeck so aptly put it) and say "God, I used up EVERYTHING You gave me."  All the laughter, all the tears, all the wisdom and all the mistakes. All the love, all the hate, all the fear and all the faith. 

   Every last drop.




Namaste.

Sunday morning, blue and bright....

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor....I have been up for hours, made a big Sunday breakfast for the Irishman and myself and he is off to his Sunday morning meeting and I am settling in to compute for a while.  I get on a little every evening or so, mostly Facebook, and have been so busy it's making my head spin. 

  Things are finally slowing down, and though I have okra to pick this morning and maybe a few tomatoes, that's about all.  I started an inventory list and even I am impressed with how much I have accomplished in the way of food preservation this summer. lol Here's the beginning crock of sauerkraut that is bubblihg away in my kitchen, even as we speak...

  Right at the beginning of the process my food processor stopped working, and I had to thin slice 16 heads of cabbage by hand.  As you can see it's not perfect, but I got the job done.

 

Here are beautiful jars of my "famous"  Peach pit jelly.  After peeling and pitting and slicing up all the peaches for freezing, you take the peels and pits and boil them and make jelly from them. The ultimate in food recycling, using every last bit and making do. It's horrendously sweet, lol, but it tastes like peaches. I generally make jam, and use the low-or-no sugar pectin.  But I still have some jam left from last year, so I decided to forego it for now. I can always make fresh jam from  my frozen peaches if I change my mind.  This jelly is a gorgeous ruby color.

 Yesterday I finished up the garlic finally. Sort of.  I pickled 8 pints of whole cloves. The rest of the 25 pounds of garlic is in the dehydrators. The whole house smells like garlic. I will grind up the dehydrated to use as garlic powder.

 

This is a typical picking out in the garden, the tomatoes and bell peppers and okra have done very well this year. I have over 40 quarts of frozen bell pepper strips and 3 gallons of whole peppers for stuffing. I just dried more tomatoes last night, and will probably dry whatever else comes out for this year. I will have some green ones left for making chow-chow and maybe even for some fried green tomatoes. Don't eat a lot of fried foods, but that sounds good this year. 

  My life has been very full and hectic. The little part-time gig sitting with an Altzheimers patient came at a time when we really needed the extra money, and I had the least amount of free time I ever have. But I managed to split my days in half and get things done in shifts. I am very tired and am glad to see the canning about done, I can promise you that.  lol   It's amazing what a person can manage when they set their mind to it.

  I have to go check my chooks. The Australorps and the Buff Orpingtons have started laying [finally!] and are giving me 4 eggs a day pretty much.  Soon I will have eggs to sell, probably. Then they will be earning their keep. They are great chickens and very docile. 

  Between hubby and our renter, we have been keeping the yard mowed and the little tasks done without my help.  Miss M has been a godsend...she is a hard worker and always wants to pitch in and help.  I feel really blessed.  She just popped in to tell me that Schnucks has pork butt on sale for .99 /lb...gonna have to pick some up. Hopefully I can find room in the freezer...it is full.  

  OK.  I have some errands to take care of before I leave for town at 12:30.  I have really missed blogging and reading and hope to catch up soon.

  Happy Labor Day weekend, all.

Namaste,

A new month

Here we are...on the first day of the 8th month.  It's a Sunday.

 I made a breakfast of sausages and eggs and toasted homemade Italian herb bread.  I am home alone, and just finished tending my hens...cleaning water bowls and putting food and fresh straw down. The newer chooks are getting ready to lay...I have to make some new arrangements inside that coop, as the Rhodies are still being territorial about the coop and nesting boxes, even though they aren't laying.  sigh...life in the country....lol

  I have been busy as a bee...canning and drying and freezing. I have a dehydrator filled with onions and tomatoes that needs to be emptied and more onions put in. The price of onions finally came down to halfway manageable, so I bought several bags to dry. The Irishman said he heard something about a frost in Florida that caused this problem, they were up over a dollar a pound, which is about 3 times the norm.  I have some onions in the garden too...

 

 This is my sweet potato bed...it's gone crazy. Can't wait to see how the harvest turns out. Everything looks good...I haven't dug around in there to look yet. Maybe this afternoon after I get back.

  Time for me to get a move on. Can't believe it's after 11 o'clock already, and I have to leave here by 12:15. Oh well. The vacuuming may NOT get done this morning.  lol   

   Namaste.

Beginning again...

The week, that is. It's been busy busy garden time around these parts, and naturally, I'm trying to juggle too many things. sigh...no rest for the wicked.

 This picture is not from this year. I haven't been out there with my camera in a bit. But you get the idea, lol. I have about 15 pounds of green beans in the fridge ready to can. They are producing like crazy. The peppers are coming into their own...beautiful and shiny, red and green and ivory and yellow. The okra is teasing me with a good sized pod here and there, but is flowering profusely. And the tomatoes are all starting to ripen...cherries and romas and several varieties of large beefy beauties. I've dried some cucumbers yesterday. They dried beautifully, and the idea is that in the dead of winter they can be crumbled into salads for a taste of summer. We'll see.  I'm going to dry some tomatoes in the next few days too, and hopefully I'll get enough onions to dry some of those too. The price of onions (well, everything, almost) has gone through the roof in the markets. Where I was buying a 3 lb bag for anywhere from 49-99 cents at Aldi's, they are now 2-3 dollars. It's crazy. I'm using them like they were truffles...lol.  

  We spent a time on Friday weeding and clearing the garden. Sunday morning we had a monsoon rain that lasted about 2 hours, drenching everything. A nice drink, although it was very windy and knocked out the power a couple of times and blew down a lot of small to medium sized branches. I got the call to go sit with my little lady, as she is terrified of storms due to having been banged about in a tornado that lifted their house off the ground when she was a child. Of course, by the time I got there it was over and she had forgotten about it all. I have noticed she often speaks of herself in the third person, as if she were watching her long life (80 years) as though it were a play. She has 5 cats and a little male dog named Princess. lol  I took her a small tomato and cucumber and zucchini from my garden, and she was tickled to death. She told me some great stories...

  I have an appointment this morning at 9, and it's 7:45 now. Guess I'd better haul my sweet self into the shower.  Maybe I will come back later and edit and add some more, and maybe I won't. Depends on how busy the day gets.  I strained my back a little out in the garden yesterday and this morning I am stiff as a board.  I put some icy hot on it, and have used a heating bag while sitting here... hopefully a nice hot shower will loosen the rest of the kinks,

  Have a bountiful and blessed day....

Namaste.

Saturday song

Blazing hot here today. I've been outside off and on...sweeping decks and burning papers and feeding chickens. But mostly I am inside. The heat index is horrific, like 105. I have done some housecleaning and pulled the stove out and cleaned it and behind and under it..one of those ugly jobs, since I rarely do it more than once a year. I am taking a break and cooling down after sweeping the front porch, and when I am done, I will take a shower.

  Did I say a COLD shower? Well, I meant to. The Irishman took the hot water plumbing apart yesterday to run hot water to the sink in the apartment and still has not finished it. Ran into problems (don't you always?) and had to leave it to go to my birthday celebration last night. This morning he was up and off to his usual Saturday regime and here we sit with still no hot water. At least there is running cold water....sigh....it will not get fixed tonight. We have to be somewhere at 5:30 and it's half an hour or more away. so by the time he gets back here and showers (in COLD water, complaining the whole time) it will be time to leave.

  I took some more garden pictures, just to compare. (lol)  I know you're all dying to see more (snicker) so here we go.  And (((Mary)))  I would love to exchange seeds with you. What do you have in mind???

  Cabbages mid May.

Cabbages late June

Peppers, mid May

Peppers, late June

Butternut Squash, mid May

Butternut squash, late June

  Okay, enough. You get the picture.   I'm off to the shower...brrrrr......lol

Namaste.

Cabbages and Kings...

 This is one of the Stonehead cabbages from my garden.   Someone is nibbling away at the outer leaves of all of them (I have about 8).  Guess I have to do something about that.

  My son and grandson were here this morning, one to fish awhile and one to sit in the house with his granny and watch 2 movies back to back (The Mummy and Return of the Mummy) while she made him waffles because he was "Soooo hungry".  lol  They finally left so that I could get on with things that need doing...a little weeding in the garden,  getting my Mexican potluck dish ready for tonights potluck, and some lunch for me.  I'm debating on whether or not to color my hair, or wait until tomorrow.  I'm going one shade darker this time, to a dark brown. It's my natural color, but I wasn't sure what the grey was going to do, so I went with medium brown the first time. 

  Went out and took some pictures of my garden.  Over the weekend, I got the edamame planted and we finished up putting mulch everywhere and one last cilantro plant. Whew.  Glad it's all finally done.  Here are a few pictures of the progress so far....

Red Pontiac potatoes (and horseradish)

Impromptu herb patch, overseen by my pal Frank...Green beans behind him...

Sweet basil... have about 7 gorgeous plants...

 The wild black raspberries are starting to ripen, and I ate a handful  walking around the yard. They are a little small, but incredibly sweet.

  The lilies are blooming too, we've had so much rain...things are getting nice out there.  The cherry tree has cherries in various stages of ripening that I'm planning to dry this year, and the peach trees are so loaded with fruit that we will have to thin them or they'll break the boughs.  I hate that...it kills me to have to throw away good fruit...lol

  Here is a quick look at some of the flowers...

  Okay...break time is over. I have some friends coming down to go to the potluck with me and I need to be ready when they arrive.

  I am grateful today to have the time and the presence of mind to do things like garden and cook and be accountable.  Living my life in recovery has given me these gifts...and so many more...

  Until next time...

Namaste.

Sunny Monday

  Ahhhhh...a picture of one of my giant ant magnets in the front yard. This peony looks better this year than it has in the 5 years we've been here.  The plant is loaded with flowers too...and crawling with ants, as peonies are if you don't put poison out, I guess. It's okay though...ants on the flowers I can handle.  Plenty to go around...lol

  Been a busy weekend and today I am taking it easy (HAH!)  by hanging out at home and doing laundry and cleaning.  Our weather went from 61 degrees last week to the low to mid 90's the past 2 days.  Ziiipppp!!!   From chilly spring to HOT.  Had to turn the air on, because the humidity is off the scale as well.  Keeping it at about 76, and that works okay.

  Listening to the local jazz station as I am in here...came in to clean off the desk and straighten this room a bit.  Sonny boy is coming by later to use the computer to file his unemployment claim for the week. He's at his inlaws right now, helping them side their garage.  I was thinking about taking him an iced coffee, because I know he won't stop for lunch or a drink either  probably.  (Because I'm his mommy, that's why.) LOL   Hard to believe my bouncing baby boy is gonna turn 39 this year...

  Worked in the garden yesterday afternoon late, once the worst of the heat was winding down. Got the okra in and a small bed of lettuce, radishes and spinach. Put onion sets in too.  Hope to get out there this evening and get some straw down, the potatoes need it and some of the other beds too.  Things are looking pretty good out there...supposed to rain again tonight and for the next few days I guess. But temps are going to stay up in the high 80's-low 90's.  Should cause a growth spurt in everything.

  I have some errands to run today, need to hit the farm store for scratch grains for the chickens and dog food.  It's also the first day of the plant sale put on by the local Landreth sisters. They have tons of stuff at great prices...so I can't miss that ! But I do need to put a $$ limit on what I spend, and buy ONLY perennials.  Sigh...  I will get some geraniums though...they are not perennial here, unless you dig them up and bring them indoors, and even then they don't do well.  I just love those perky geraniums...and I have a couple of old enamel pots, one is a wash basin and one is an old chamber pot, and I plant them both every year.  One sits out on the back deck and one on the little table on the front porch.

  Have to make a potluck dish for the Irishman to take to the class tonight. Something along the line of a vegetarian enchilada, is what I'm thinking....spinach??  Cheese and onions?? Hmmmm....

  Enjoy the day.  Looks great from here....

Namaste.

Mothers Day.

This was one ass-kickin' MD weekend for me. 

  On Saturday, my brother and family came and we grilled burgers and dogs and brats, and the guys went fishing while my SIL and niece and grandson and I all played with kittens in the house. It was sunny, but the wind was brutal, so we ate indoors.  The food was good and the beauty of spending a day with family as almost more than I could bear. Check this out:

 They wound up taking 4 kittens instead of 3. We had the best day...so much love and laughter !

  The guys went fishing out at the pond. My grandson was the first to catch a fish, and indeed, wound up catching 3.  My brother caught several as well, some crappie and blue gill and bass.  But the man of the hour was my beloved, and here he is with his "prize"---

A beautiful bass!! She was full of roe, and they gently released her back into the water, as they did with everything they caught. My niece, who is 7, is an avid fisherman herself.  She goes with her dad all the time. For some reason she didn't want to fish though, she played and ran and had a ball out there with my grandson, who is really good with little kids. He's a big 13 now.

   The fam left around 6:30 pm and grandson stayed the night. Then this morning around 11, my son came over. He just missed our big waffle and eggs breakfast.  He brought me 6 African Cichlids for my fish tank. He helped the Irishman do a few chores around here, and we sat out in the beautiful sunshine for a good part of the day. We grilled a late lunch, and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  He helped me water the garden, and promised that he would be by next week to hook up an outside spigot for me. The he and the Irishman moved the chooks out into the coop. They rigged up a piece of chicken wire to divide the run in half, and we will leave them that way for a couple of days. Give the older hens a chance to get used to them being in there to help lessen the chance of nasty attack on the newcomers.  He also helped hubby with the big barrel composter, and they turned it around and cleaned it out.  It was a really wonderful day, and having my son all to myself (his wife is out of town) was priceless.  The boys cleaned up all the dishes and wouldn't let me help. lol  We hung out in the yard and talked about the gardens and looked at the progress. The peas are finally up, the squash are germinating, the potatoes are FINALLY busting through the ground.  There is a whole bed full of fingerling potatoes that came up volunteer from potatoes that we apparently missed. The tomatoes and peppers are looking great.

  I hope to get some seeds in the ground tomorrow morning, one reason I am up this late trying to get the laundry finished.  We had several days of rain coming last time I looked...but the weather forecast changes constantly, so who knows? lol  I should probably go look again.  I went ahead and watered today anyway. 

  My yard is looking grand. I have yellow and purple irises all in various stages of blooming, the Shasta daisies have started flowering as well. The peonies are ready to open any minute. The primroses are pretty in pink,  the containers of allysum and nicotania I planted look gorgeous. My wisteria is growing like a weed, and I am getting some starts of a snowball bush from the neighbor...as soon as I figure out where to put it. lol   All the lilies are huge and lush, though they won't flower for another month or thereabouts.The rose of Sharon is looking healthy and robust, and it will start to flower in a few weeks, probably.  The grass is growing in where the water lines went in, and I probably need to buy another couple of pounds of seed and sow some more.

  Okay. The dryer has stopped. I'll fold those and put the last washer load in the dryer. Then I'm heading off to bed.

  I hope all you mothers had a wonderful day too...and those of you who aren't mothers as well.

  Blessings on all your houses!!

Namaste.

A Saturday of dubious leisure...

 And here it is...nearly 11 pm.  I honestly thought I would get here early and catch up..oh well.  It was a great day and the weather even cleared up and turned beautiful.  I got going early enough this morning, but time seemed to slip between my fingers and before I knew it, it was time for supper.

  I started the day with breakfast with the Irishman, and then moved onto the fun stuff after he left. lol  I finished up some laundry, that was in the dryer and the washer...the slipcovers and couch blankets that my dogs sleep on.  The covers needed doing, because the male cat that started spraying had left his mark. Arrgghh...he has since gone to live on a farm where he and his brother will have full run of 2 barns and several hundred acres.  There are way too many cats in this house. They are all goofy and displaced, and at least 9 more of them are being given new homes. My brother and his daughter are taking 3 kittens next week.  Another kitten is getting her new mama around the same time. Another farm family is taking more kitties, they have 3 children and are very excited. It is sure a big relief and a load of my mind.  Anyway, I was cleaning up the laundry and did a load of his filthy work clothes too. Then I dyed a set of heavy cotton napkins and a couple of old dish towels...they were all dingy and spotty, but the dye job made them look almost new again. The color is wine (go figure, lol) and the result was grand.

  I went into town looking for some yellow bell pepper plants for the garden, but for some reason, no one seems to have any this year. I have planted about 18 bell pepper plants so far, and it will be plenty. Reds and greens it is.  Even though I found no bells, I did buy some flowers...allysum and nicotania to plant in the 5 planters that grace my sidewalk. Later in the day I went to another plant sale and bought chives, garlic chives and parsley. I also got some sweet potatoes.

  The garden is coming along, slowly, but I'm doing the best I can. So far, I have about 16 tomatoes, and peas, and basil, and peppers, and potatoes and cabbages and cukes in the ground. I have 2 dozen butternut squash seedlings (just breaking ground) and have seeds for okra, carrots,beets and radishes.  I have onion sets that should get in soon. I have a few other things too.  As you can see, I have been busy.

  I am getting up in the morning and going to a Unity church over in St Louis. We have been visiting some churches around and about...from time to time.  It's about the same distance to go across the river to St Louis as it is to travel down to Belleville...

  There's never a dull moment here at the Kelley hacienda. I've been cooking away , as usual, and staying busy enough. I am so glad the weather has warmed up!  The kittens are running around getting into everything one minute, and then all crashed out asleep the next.  They are so adorable...the dogs have spring fever too, and the last 3 nights in a row, they have cornered some wild animal or another out back.  maybe they are keeping something out of my garden??

  The knee is slowly getting better. I am taking a prescription anti-inflammatory and it is helping alot. Somedays I can walk around a lot without ever limping.  I found out that the doctor took out 40% of the quadrant that was torn...no wonder it's taking time to heal!

  Time to go see if the doggies are ready to come in and get myself to bed.

  Sweet dreams, all y'all....

Namaste.


 

A Marvelous Monday

 

This has been  an absolutely perfect day.

I got up this morning and straightened the house, vacuumed...you know. Then I sat out on the back deck and listened to the birds.  I messed with the mower a bit, put some fuel additive in the tank and finally got 'er cranked up. I mowed the front and side yards, and that was about all I could manage. lol  The back isn't quite ready for mowing, but the front and side had big clumps of grass that I couldn't afford to let get much higher. This is a direct result of the way I have bought grass seed and sowed it every year since we moved here. Into the bare spots. When we bought this place 5 years ago, the place was a junkyard...they had cars parked everywhere, piles of half burned linoleum and carpet (partially buried), and it was all ruts and yuck. I have turned it into my own little paradise with a lot of hard work. And so far, it hasn't stopped...lol  Anyway, it looks much neater out front and I'm glad I did it.

Then I made myself a meatloaf sandwich and sliced a juicy red tomato and sat down outside and had lunch.

The I got busy planting the peas.It was easy--I had done all the hard parts of it yesterday and today I only had to rake it a little and plant the seed. 2-3 inches deep and 18 inches apart (the rows).  Good thing too....it was 82 degrees today.  Sweat city. As soon as I finished that, I hit the shower. 

I love gardening. I love the miracles of putting a seed in the ground and knowing that a plant will appear. I read somewhere that this is Faith. Perhaps it is.  I feel such a kinship with the earth every year when I plant. Growing my own food always feels like such an accomplishment.

The Jack Russell Terrorist (Molly) has appointed herself Guardian of the Wee Ones.  The 2 momma cats are leaving the kittens for longer and longer periods of time, and as soon as the little beggars start squealing, herself runs in to make sure everyone is alright. They sound like little piggies. lol  Today when the bigger ones started cruising the floor looking for their momma, she came in and gently nudged them back into their little hidey hole. They don't seem to be the least bit afraid of the dog either, and move right up to her and nuzzle her leg or her snout if she's sitting down. It's quite adorable. (I guess they haven't heard the stories about Miss Molly the Poodle mauler...)

  I am good and physically tired....the kind of tired you get from manual labor.  Thinking I'll reward myself with a short meditation time and then my big comfy bed, next to my big snuggly husband.

  Life is good.

Namaste.

Mondays Moments

This is a new Goodwill find...caught my eye and spoke to me, so I ponied up the 2  dollars for it.

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  An interesting day today around here. I went shopping for a few groceries as a girlfriend is coming for lunch tomorrow. Bought some things like fresh asparagus and artichoke hearts and mushrooms to make a yummy quiche. Found fresh mozzarella and some lovely spring lettuce mix with raddichio and arugula and all the good stuff in it. Bought a cantaloupe and some more pineapple as well, as the price was right.Some butter and some half and half and my fridge is stocked !

  I made a couple of decisions today concerning some things that were important to my well being and unfortunately pissed a couple of people off.  One was very snotty to me on the telephone and practically hung up on me. She doesn't have a lot of social skills anyway...so it's hard to tell if she was hanging up on me forcefully or simply being her usual self.  The other had asked me to do something that was uncomfortable to me, and I declined.  She wasn't very happy either.  It's funny how people will expect you to fulfill their requests without ever thinking that maybe you won't.  lol  I'm not exactly a yes-man...you'd think the people in my circle would know me by now.  The most interesting part of all this, was that I really wanted to call the first one back and give her my opinion of HER and her behavior.  I picked that phone up twice...and put it back down. I called my sponsor instead. (And she hasn't, BTW, returned my call.)  But like most of the rash things I think about doing, when I let it lay for long enough to try to call my sponsor, I changed my mind about calling her. It wouldn't have accomplished a thing and I would have felt bad about it later. Maybe much later, but still...*grin. Sometimes I can actually take the time to ask myself..."How important is it, anyway? Will it matter in a month, or a year or 5 years?"  Most of the time I can lay it down and leave it there.

  I've been feeling like a change of venue may be in order. I live in an area where there are lots of meetings in different areas that are all about the same distance from me, travel wise. Each areas meetings are about as different as they could possibly be. To the north of me is rural and things are much  calmer and peaceful.  To the south of me is a college town, and the meetings there have their own flavor, I hesitate to say intellectual, but they are in a way, a different class of people. To the west of me, which is where I have been going the majority of the time,  it's more working class, and hard core.  I'm feeling a bit burned out and wanting to isolate. And I'm thinking maybe I need to get out and about a little more and switch my recovery neighborhoods around a bit.  Just feeling like maybe things need a little shaking up.

  It was a gorgeous sunny and warm day today. I opened up the house and let the breezes carry out the staleness of winter.   I think it's supposed to be like this the rest of the week.  I hope so. It was nice. I walked around the yard and checked on the plants. The forsythia are just on the verge of bursting into their magnificent yellow blooms. The lilies are all coming up like gangbusters and the sedum is looking good, in fact it's so interesting looking that I think I'll get out there tomorrow and get a picture of it.  My Egyptian Walking Onions (remember them from last year??) are up and looking good at about 6-8 inches high. And they have spread out nicely in the little plot I planted them in, looks like there will be a nice patch of them this year.  The shasta daisies are coming up too, little green mounds of leaves.  I forgot to go look at the asparagus patch. It should be showing some signs of life as well.

  It got me all fired up to start planning the gardens. 

  But, first things first. I have to get up early to get things ready for my lunch.  Which means I have to go to bed. Now. I'm making a concerted effort to get to bed earlier and get more sleep. And believe it or not...midnight IS an improvement (for me!).

  Happy Spring, everyone.  We have an equinox plan for Saturday and a potluck at the CSA gardens for Thursday. Life is good...

Namaste.

Friday January 15, 2010

Since cats seem to be the theme of the week around this blog, I found this adorable picture too. Some of the most amazing acrobats, these feline funny guys!

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Spent a good part of today with a "normie" high school friend of mine. She lives in a delightful old house at the edge of a town I'd never been to before. I didn't make the coffeecake to take along, turned out to be just as well, as she doesn't eat sweets. (In my head is screaming that scene from My Bigt Fat Greek Wedding, where the bride to be is telling her aunt that the fiance is a vegetarian. He doesn't eat meat, she explains. The aunt [at the top of her lungs] says "WHAT??? HE DON'T EAT NO MEAT !?!?!?! WHAT YOU MEAN HE DON'T EAT NO MEAT?????") Of course I'm thinking--you don't eat no sweets??What????? lol

We had a good time chatting away and I stayed a long time before heading home. I met one of her sons and her husband and it was all real nice. I came home with about 15 pounds of sweet potatoes (maybe more, I can't tell) and a light heart. I don't have many connections from when I lived here all those years ago... but this woman had tracked me down back when I lived in Oregon (1995) about a class reunion, and we have been vaguely in contact ever since. It was funny, listening to her talk about things that I have no recollection of for the most part. But isn't that how it is for us, sometimes? I go through this with my family all the time....and try to explain to them that I cannot remember much stuff from back then...that alcoholism stole all memories of lots of things for me. I didn't tell my friend that today-no reason too. Just shook my head a few times and said I didn't remember.

Tomorrow we are going to dinner with friends. Out. Like a real date or something. lol I'm looking forward to that, getting to know some new people that we SEEM to have a lot in common with. Life is good.


I am very tired tonight and getting ready to go and read in bed for a bit before falling off to sleep. It's horrendously foggy here...from late this afternoon through tonight. GUess it's from it getting so warm while there's still so much snow around...


I came home today feeling very blessed to be me and have my home and planning my own garden. My friend gave me a beautiful heirloom seed catalog from a company in Missouri that looks like a quality coffee table book. It is gorgeous! I'll post a little more about that tomorrow.


***Happiness lies not in getting what you want, but in wanting what you have.***


Namaste.

Monday Night/Tuesday Morning

These are a sweet little thing called Surprise Lilies. About a month after the green sword-like leaves all die away, up pops this long green stalk and !SURPRISE! ... lilies... They're quite beautiful, and the tips of the leaves are edged in the most subtle baby blue.(Click the picture to enlarge) You can see it if you look real close. lol They come up fast, and I think they came up about 3 days ago. I have a couple of clumps of them this year...started out with just one pot from Pappy's Market.

The sun is blazing out there today. It's only about 85 degrees though, but feels quite hot when you're weeding a garden. I picked a smidgen of okra today, and 2 bell peppers and a load of cherry tomatoes and a good handful of green beans. Enough stuff, I think to saute and throw in with some pasta for supper. I have some whole grain farfalle pasta I got on sale and with sprinkling of fresh basil and some shredded parmesan cheese, it should be wonderful.

I am doing a lot of thinking about food and cooking with intention today. I have to do the opener for the Sustainable Living Class, and this session is on food. Great articles by Micheal Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver and a host of others. A Zen tale tells us to see the pot as our head and the water as our blood. The art of cooking involves preparing foods mindfully and projecting positive energy into what we eat. And part of bringing out the life force is showing loving respect for the labor involved in the cultivation and preparation of food.

I am so blessed to have the tiniest bit of awareness that I have about food and nutrition and cultivation practices. Not sure where I got it or why...but grateful that it's a part of me.

I am so blessed to have a plot where I can garden...a piece of dirt that can and will grow things.

I am so blessed to almost have water!! *grin

I am so blessed to be sober and useful human being and willing to be a part of life today.

I am so blessed ...just so blessed. By friends, and family and dogs and cats and sunshine and trees and everything.


Namaste.