eating breakfast

climbing trees

A makeshift shower

Sweetheart in the Sink

winter porch

Winter outhouse

Christmas candy

cabin and clothesline II

cabin with clothesline

Bard and The Baby

bed

mama cat

breakfast

perimeter path

sweetheart outhouse

cabin

Now, there's a life-goal for ya

From the lips of the three-year-old wild child sitting in the back seat of the van while munching on french fries:

"When I grow up, I'm going to drive and eat at the same time!"

Garden Party Participants

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Garden Party. I found a lot of wonderful new blogs that I plan to add to my regular reading!

Keep those gardens growing!

How does YOUR garden grow? Would you like to show the blogging world the fruits of your labor? Would you like to take us on a virtual tour?

Let's have a Garden Party in the blogosphere! Show me your summer garden--vegetable, herb, flower, container, or weed--and I'll show you mine. Leave a comment when you've posted your photos, link back here on your blog, and I'll list you in this Garden Party Tour post, which I'll keep at the top of Today's Lessons until August 15th.

I'm looking forward to seeing your gardens!

*Feel free to use the banner on your blog.

The Gardens

• Anne over at Backyard Treasures has her garden photos up! Be sure to take time to visit the rest of her blog, not just the garden photos. She has wonderful recipes and homesteading ideas as well as unique garden projects, like Rhubarb Leaf Stepping Stones. Thanks, Anne!
• Anne has added more photos to her garden tour.
• The fine and talented Impromptu-Mom over at Confessions of a Happy Housewife has posted her LOVELY garden photos. ;-)
• One of my favorite bloggers, Randi, at I Have to Say, has posted photos of her and her daughter's gardening projects.
• I am having SUCH a blast getting to know people through this Garden Party! For instance, Farmgirl left a comment on one of my posts that she has an entire site devoted to her gardening adventures. Her site, In My Kitchen Garden, is delightfully written, wonderfully photographed, educational, humorous and inspiring and features little snippets she calls "realizations of the day." Her other blog is titled Farmgirl Fare and is filled to the brim with beautiful farm photos and food fixations.
• Marie from Things We Said Today is such a hoot. She posted photos of her garden, which she says she's posting "In the spirit of making everyone else feel good about themselves." Thanks for posting, Marie!
• Marie's daughter, however, has quite a green little thumb. You go, girl!
• You simply HAVE to see the photos that Joanna over at Floats, Knits and Purls put up. Oh. My. Goodness. The photo of her tomatoes nearly brought tears to my eyes! She captured a beautiful shot of her tomatoes after a rain. Absolutely lovely. Reminds me just how good it is to appreciate the simple things. Thank you, Joanna, for sharing your breathtaking pictures.
• Christian, over at Life. Allergies. Food. Recipes posted a picture of her cherry tomato in a pot in her little "city garden." You don't have to live in the country to grow your own foods! Thanks, Christian.
• Amy from Playing in the Dirt, a reader from Ontario, Canada, has posted pictures on her site and on her flickr account (over 100 photos!) of her lovely garden, which includes PEANUTS! What? I didn't know you could grow PEANUTS in Canada! Educate me!
• Cheryl, another Canadian reader, from Free Range Living, posted her gorgeous photos, too. She has others scattered throughout her blog, so be sure to take some time reading. Her photos are beautiful, and her posts make me want to go eat something healthy. Make sure to leave her some comments. We bloggers love readers, ya know.
• Wow! Carol, from May Dreams Garden, has posted a "before and after" picture of her garden plot--one photo from early Spring and one from now, at the peak. Go take a look. It's amazing! I love the deep beds, and hope to make use of those again myself someday.
• Oh MY! A MAN! Mick has posted his photos of his garden plots. Nice use of bricks for the deep beds.
• And my photos are down below. Scroll, scroll, scroll!

Cheap Eats

I'm posting recipes for Randi, over at I Have to Say. She's looking for inexpensive ingredients recipes. The lentil soup below comes from Jane Brody's Good Food Cookbook. The most expensive things are the white wine, the cheese and the herbs, but if you grow your own herbs, you're in luck! Everyone who has tried this soup has loved it. My kids always finish off the entire pot, and I usually make a double batch.

"My Favorite Lentil Soup"

2 T olive oil
2 large / 3 medium onions, chopped
3 carrots, grated
3/4 t marjoram
3/4 t thyme
1 28-oz can tomatoes with juice
7 C broth--chicken or veggie
1.5 C dried lentils
1/2 t salt
1/4-1/2 t pepper
6 oz dry white wine
1/3 C fresh parsley or 2 T dried parsley flakes
4 oz Cheddar, grated

1) Sauté the onions, carrots, marjoram, and thyme, for about 5 minutes.
2) Add tomatoes, broth, and lentils. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, simmer for 1 hr or until lentils tender.
3) Add salt, pepper, wine, and parsley, simmer a few more minutes.
4) Top with cheddar cheese for a complete protein.

More garden party photos

Below, you will find some more dazzlingly amazazing photos of my incredible gardens. I can only say that because you're not here, in my yard, and you can't see all the weeds and other junk that aren't photogenic.

I've learned some things this year for next year's garden.

1. Ignore recommended spacing guidelines. Sometimes they'll leave huge empty spaces, and sometimes your plants will be climbing all over each other. Plant tomatoes further than you think you should and plant violas closer.
2. Plant more fruits. Everyone loves melons and berries. Not everyone loves Swiss Chard. Not every day, anyway.
3. Plant onions deeper, but not too deep. This year, I planted some deep for table onions and didn't use them all, so they're not much bigger than when I planted them. I also planted some shallow for storing, but the dogs and chickens dug them up, so they didn't grow too well, either. And plant MORE onions. One can never have too many onions
4. I really, really want some deep beds.
5. Plant Cilantro later than you think you should, like the first week of July. And then plant another planting two weeks later, and then again.
6. Plant garlic.
7. Make hills for pumpkins and melons in the patch. The grass grew too tall around some of them, and they didn't survive.

The photos below of the greenhouse displays are from the greenhouse where I work. My boss asked me to arrange the fall items in the retail area, and this is my work in progress. It doesn't come across as well in photos as it does in person. I actually like the way they look, and it was a lot of fun making them.

Bo awaits out by the fire, so here I go! Keep those garden photos coming!

Sweetheart and Albino Bunny

This bunny was from our first batch of Mini-Rex babies. Now he's part of the group of generous rabbits who provide fertilizer for my garden. The little girl, my dear daughter Sweetheart, pulls weeds, picks veggies, gives me gardening tips and keeps me company.

front porch

Greenhouse from the register

greenhouse display IV

greenhouse display III

greenhouse display

Queen Anne's Lace

I didn't plant this one; God did. But I love the way it looks. I didn't know there were pink Queen Anne's Lace flowers. Did you?

chickory at the burn can

And a zucchini underneath a pear tree

I decided to make use of the empty space under the fruit trees this year. I'd read in several places that nasturtiums under fruit trees wards off the baddies, so I gave that a shot, but I also grew some zucchini, cantaloupe and watermelon vines under the other trees, and I kinda like it. The only downside is that I shouldn't plant the same type of plants in the same location every year, so I'll have to figure out what else would go well under trees.

Zebrina

I just discovered that this Althea is a hollyhock. I didn't know that! Isn't it lovely? I don't know if they're difficult to grow or not, but this one took right off! It's spreading everywhere already.

Columbine

"Red fox jump into my path
Shining there in the sun
Then he gave me a little laugh
Flipped his tail and run

Blackbird drinking in the watergrass
Twinkle in her eye
Feathers shine all purple-green
Then away she fly

Shady Grove, my little love
Shady Grove I say
Shady Grove, my little love
I'll be back someday

Looking for the One I love
Could that one be you?
Looking for the One I love
One who loves me true

Shady Grove, Shady Grove
Shady Grove, my darling
Shady Grove, my little love
You're the one I'm calling

Do not touch the Columbine
Leave it there in the sun
It'll fade right in your hand
See what you have done

Shady Grove, my little love
Shady Grove I say
Shady Grove, my little love
I'll see you someday"

Shady Grove, Pierce Pettis

thumbergia

Fennel

"With its umbels of tiny yellow flowers and dark green or bronze wispy leaves, fennel is a decorative addition to the herbaceous border where it makes a good background plant. Be warned, however, that many other plants dislike fennel and grow poorly when forced to share space with this strong herb. Never plant fennel near coriander or dill.

Use the leaves with pork, veal and fish. They are also good in fish stock, sauces and stuffings, and in mayonnaise, flavored butters and salad dressings. The dried stalks are placed under grilled or barbecued fish. The seeds are used as a spice, particularly in breads. At the two-leafed stage, the seedlings make a pungent salad, reminiscent of mustard.

A tea made with a few fresh sprigs of fennel or a level teaspoon of seeds will relieve indigestion. An infusion of the seeds is an excellent carminative, especially for babies. Use 1 teaspoon (5ml) of infusion for colic and gas.

Fennel is an effective treatment for respiratory congestion and is a common ingredient in cough remedies.

A tea made from fennel helps to stimulate the flow of breast milk. It is sometimes added to baby formula to aid digestion.

An infusion makes a soothing eyewash.

Chew the seeds as a breath freshener."

From Garden Guides

sunflowers

cantaloupe

onions

I can't believe it...

For the first time in months, it's not even 1:00 A.M. and I'm the only one in the house awake.

Since I began the job at the greenhouse (oh, didn't I tell you about that? I do believe I did. It was Part Seven. Or something. Surely you knew), Some People in this house have let their sleep schedules go completely and totally wonky.

For instance, The Baby, who had come under the care of The Papa (my live-in father), had him totally and completely wrapped around her skinny little finger. I suppose it all started very innocently; he would let her sleep in just a little today. And stay up just a little later the next day. Since she was up late, he'd let her sleep in just a bit. And then, because she wasn't quite tired at bedtime, he'd let her watch a movie. Until, before he knew it (though I sounded my alarms, warnings to which he responded in a manner that should have been accompanied by a very ethnic matronly voice-- "Oh, you can't spoil a baby! Just let her sleep!"), she had established a very consistent sleep schedule...of 3 A.M. to 3 P.M. She was living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and refused to wear clothing. With the unruliness of her hair, she was coming very close to being an authentic Wild Child.

It was completely clear to every other member of the house that my dad had created a monster, but he was unwilling to admit it and very resistant to allowing her to be re-trained. "Awwwww...don't wake her up. Let sleeping babies lie!"

I think that night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after night after very long night of a three-and-a-half year old nudist dragging him to the kitchen for peanut butter and jelly, insisting that they watch Spookly the Square Pumpkin just one. more. time, he snapped.

The Baby came to me in the middle of the night, wandering untethered, as she had begun to do, and informed me that she'd been kicked out of Papa's room. "I'm keeping him awake," she said.

This was insane. It was dangerous, unsafe, and downright annoying.

It was time for reformation.

So, two nights ago, I bribed her. I don't normally give in to this kind of thing, but I thought I'd try starting off in an extremely positive manner. "Stay in your bed all night, and tomorrow we'll go to the thrift store and you can choose any toy you want." That was gonna cost me, what, a quarter? Fifty cents, tops?

She liked the idea. I could see the gleam in her eye. Free toys. Just for sleeping! Even her sixteen-year-old sister, Bard, tried to get in on the action. "If I sleep in my own bed all night, can I have a special prize?" Um. No. Maybe try doing something with a level of difficulty that's a little more in line with who you are? "Uh, no thanks," she said.

But The Baby. Now, that was a different story. She had her eye on the trophy and she was ready. She curled up, kissed me goodnight, listed all the different things she could think of that MIGHT be there for her to buy, and waved to me cheerfully as I threw her a kiss from her doorway.

It didn't work.

It seemed to be working for a little while, but after about ten minutes, I heard the thump, thump, thump of little feet on wood stairs, and I knew she was on her way down. Bo and I looked at each other sadly; our daughter had fallen off the wagon.

Last night, however, I insisted. There would be no getting out of her bed. After all, her room isn't lonely; she shares it with her big sister, Sweetheart, who's seven years old, and with her big brother Monet, who's eleven and has his own room but would rather sleep on the floor with the girls, though he can't admit that his little sister Sweetheart is his best friend in the whole world.

It was a long haul. I spent a lot of time checking on The Baby, making sure that she was still in her own bed. I gave her dollies, and Beanie Babies, and a Special Pillow, and the blanket Penny made for her when she was born. We sang every song we knew, and she sang a few I'd never heard before--a few I doubt she'd known before they started coming out of her mouth--and I prayed for her several times.

And she finally fell asleep. At 3:00 A.M.

So, this morning, at 9:00, I roused her. And she awoke. And she was happy! Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! I felt so good, I awoke everyone else in the house! And everyone very cheerfully congratulated The Baby for her brave and disciplined spirit. "You slept in your own bed! Yahoo!" they cheered. And she ate up every bit of it.

Miraculously, no one took a nap today, and everyone, from my darling hsuband Bo down to The Baby herself, is fast asleep.

If I had more stamina, I'd blog all night. But then, they'd have to reform me, and I'm just not into that.

So, with snores all around, I end this post, with the hopes that I'll remember all I wanted to write, as well as find time for it, tomorrow.

In the meantime, sleep well, lovelies. I know I will.

Fine Art Friday: My First!

Even though it's after midnight, I thought I'd participate in my very first Fine Art Friday. So many of the activities, like Get Real Monday and the Tour of Homes I can't participate in easily because I have to wrangle the laptop away from my husband as soon as he walks in the door so I can upload photos. With this, I can just swipe 'em off the web. :-)

Carl Larsson was a Swedish painter who captured so well my ideal bucolic life but in much richer tones than I could ever hope to live.

I love the bright colors, the candid expressions, and the everyday activities in his pieces, like women making meals, children dressing for church, chickens nesting by a gate, couples painting walls, inside and out. I hope to someday add some of his prints to my home, especially my piano room, which is painted in somewhat Carl Larssonish colors.

Maybe this one?--------------------->

I can just picture it. I think it would look so lovely here...don't you?

This One's for the Lexophiles

1. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

2. A will is a dead giveaway.

3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

4. A backward poet writes inverse.

5. In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.

6. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.

7. If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.

8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.

9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner.

10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

11. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.

12. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.

13. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

14. Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.

15. He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

16. A calendar's days are numbered.

17. A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.

18. A boiled egg is hard to beat.

19. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.

21. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: a small medium at
large.

22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the
end.

23. When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.

24. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.

25. When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

26. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

27. Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

28. Acupuncture: a jab well done.

Here's my gardening fairy caring for my meadow sage.

Creeping Zinnias

I can't remember what these are called, but I love the way they peek through the fence. I think they're a kind of chrysanthemum? Or daisy?

*I finally dug down through the deep jungle that my front garden has become and found the tag for these sweeties. They're Creeping Zinnias, Sanvitalia Gold, and, unfortunately, they are annuals. But I'm fairly sure I will plant these in this location again and again and again, because I just love the way they poke their heads through fences. :-)

Front Flower Bed

This year, I tried something a bit different with my flower beds. Last year, they were filled with tomatillas, basil and a hodge-podge of leftovers. This year, I filled them to the brim with super-tall snapdragons, dusty miller and lobelia. I like the way the dusty miller grew, but I don't think I care for the rest. What I do like, though, are the coreopsis (a former garden transplant), the coneflower and the fennel that sits just by the front steps. Next year, I'm planning to fill the front bed with Little Magnus coneflowers and purple ajuga--I already have them purchased, and my greenhouse boss/friend is caring for them until my annuals are done blooming. I may fill in with a few annuals, too. Any suggestions? One side gets morning sun, and one side gets afternoon sun.

Porch and Husband Garden

My porch is one of my favorite things about our home. When we were in the planning and designing stages, I tried to insist on a full wrap-around porch, but my dear Bo convinced me that it wouldn't work with the lay of our land, so I settled for the porch on two sides. It has three doors into the house--the front door, the computer room door and the kitchen door. I love it! It's very European, very much like Louis Bromfield would have designed it, I think.

Mama and Her Peeps

Well, they're not exactly part of the garden, but they certainly are essential. My chickens scratch around in my garden and eat the nasties (and the occasional tomato) and leave behind rich manure. This was our very first ever set of chicks from a broody hen. I didn't even know she was setting, until one day I went out to the barn and heard the "cheep, cheep, cheep" of tiny peeps! The mama and her babes spent a week in a box in the house, and then another week and a half in the rabbit hutch until they were all ready to fend for themselves.

The Baby, nasturtiums and marigolds

Nasturtiums are awesome. I have them planted under our fruit trees and beneath our sunflowers. I love their sweet intense flavor and their bright colors. I love surprising people with the flavor of a flower. Nasturtiums never go to waste here; if the humans don't eat them, the goats and rabbits certainly will!

Fresh Carrots

I remember picking my grandmothers baby carrots. She would scold me, in her gentle, meek way, but I don't think it really bothered her all that much.

This is the first year we've grown carrots with any success. They've been a bit difficult to pull from the ground, but I've loved eating these sweet babies right there in the garden. I have a faucet very close by, so we rinse them off and start chomping. Makes me feel like Bugs Bunny. Next year, I think I'll add sand to the area where we plant our carrots to make them easier to pull.

Fairy Tale Eggplant

I bought this eggplant from the greenhouse where Bard and I worked this summer. The description from this website says:

"Once you grow this striking eggplant, you’re sure to agree with the All America judges that Fairy Tale is a winner. The sweet, bitter-free eggplants have an elongated shape, with lavender coloring and white stripes running length-wise. Maturing on dwarf, 19–24 inch tall plants, the fruit are best at the baby stage, 4 inches long by 1¾ inches at the shoulder. Fruit set in clusters of 3–5. Great ornamental."

Lavender and Basil Garden

I just love lavender. I think it's second only to basil, which is second only to cilantro. Actually, I think I might like basil even more than cilantro.

Tomato and Pepper Garden

This is the first year that I'm really happy with the placement of my tomatoes. The basic design of this part of the garden was Bo's idea, with a bit of tweaking from me. In the beginning, I planted my lettuces in this spot, surrounding by the then-tiny tomato plants. On either side of the entrance are two clumps of lemon grass. I think I may add some lavender there, too. The tomatoes are growing very happily along the fencing on three sides, and there are Kentucky Wonder peas on the south side. To the north (the right of the picture) are different types of sunflowers, which are all blooming now. Behind the garden is the rabbit hutch, which provides wonderful ready-to-use manure. I show my thanks by giving the rabbits my cast-off lettuces and all the weeds I can pull.

Summer Love/Garden Party

The Baby loves the garden. In particular, she loves the flowers. Even more specifically, she loves dissecting the flowers. Here, we see The Baby in her natural habitat, my vegetable garden, picking (apart) a marigold.

I love my garden, too. For the first time this year, I have a garden environment I'm actually a little proud of. It's humble, but I feel like I'm on the right track. I'm making improvements in my mind in preparation for next year.

How does YOUR garden grow? Would you like to show the blogging world the fruits of your labor? Would you like to take us on a virtual tour?

Let's have a Garden Party in the blogosphere! Show me your summer garden--vegetable, herb, flower, or weed--and I'll show you mine.

Link back here and I'll list you in my Garden Party Tour post, which I'll keep at the top of Today's Lessons until August 15th. 

You Had Me At Hello

When I was a youngster, my best friend was pretty fickle. Though we spent a lot of time together on and off through high school, I'm not really sure what made her the "best" friend I had. After all, it didn't take much for her to change the dynamics of our friendship. Maybe a new girl moved into town, and I wasn't interesting anymore. Maybe she found beer and marijuana, and I didn't partake. Maybe she found high fashion, and I was too Cyndi Lauper. Maybe she found a boyfriend, and I was too female. Maybe her new friend slept with my boyfriend and I was being unreasonable. Maybe she found religion, and I wasn't saved enough.

And then, every once in a while, she would send me a letter, telling me how sorry she was, telling me how important our friendship was to her, but still, in some backhanded way, blaming the problem on me. And I, hungry for friendship, would go crawling back, thankful that she'd bestowed her attention on one so lowly.

Sometime in high school, after years and years of this silly dance and several other friends who based a relationship on whether or not you wore pink to school on the right day, my thick skull cracked open, my old brain oozed out, a new brain took its place, and I discovered that girlfriends aren't always "all that."

But BOYfriends. Now, THAT was a different story. If you could find a really good one, you could leave all of your mediocre girlfriends in the dust. And that, essentially, is what I did.

At sixteen, I met my first serious boyfriend, who then became my first serious fiance. We had a lot of fun together. It was actually much more fun than any of my girl friendships, even with all of the boyfriend/girlfriend problems. But, eventually, it became apparent that some of these were more than your garden variety relationship issues; we were, in fact, highly dysfunctional. Let's say, for example, he didn't want me to have friends. Especially GUY friends...or coworkers, or next door neighbors, or cousins, or classmates or bosses. Aaaaand...he wanted to date other girls, like the girl who had been his best friend before I met him and had remained his best friend while we dated. It didn't seem very balanced, somehow. Unfortunately, we didn't part on good terms.

It was at that point that my second serious boyfriend stepped into the picture.

Bo and I had first met when I was about 15. We'd come to know each other at a youth group retreat. He thought I was drop-dead gorgeous, and he was floored by my winking. I spied him from across a crowded room. Our eyes met. I winked at him. He swooned and died.* It was all uphill from there. Well, there were a few speedbumps, but that's a story for another blog entry. Nothing serious. Don't panic. It all turned out fine in the end.

At that time, we were both too young for a romantic relationship, according to our parents, but we spent a lot of time talking on the phone. Enough time to find out that we really, really liked conversation, especially with each other. He made me think. I encouraged him to feel. I felt so comfortable talking to him. He enjoyed exploring new topics with me.

But, as fate would have it, we parted ways, due to circumstances beyond our control. He dated his serious girlfriend. I dated my serious boyfriend. It wasn't until years later that we found ourselves talking to each other on the phone again. Our serious boyfriend and girlfriend had fallen in love, or lust, or something like that, and we were trying to figure the whole mess out. It was easy to slip back into conversation with Bo, as if we'd never stopped talking. It was so freeing and refreshing. There was no jealousy, no competition, no suspicion--just an easy, mutually-interesting conversation.

That's what I love about my Bo. He's willing to talk. He's willing to listen. Conversation with each other is our very favorite past-time. Evening will often find us dreaming about our future, solving our problems (or, at least, trying to), evaluating our family's needs, making some kind of home-improvement plans, or just remembering those days when we were first dating and passionately in love, sometimes until we see the sun peeking over the hillside through our bedroom window. There's nowhere else in the world I would rather be than near my darling husband, talking, planning, listening, dreaming, evaluating. I count the hours while he's away. We touch base with each other several times during the workday. He respects me, encourages me, advises me, indulges me, and puts up with me. He. Completes. Me.

Today, I'm going to spend some time with some new buddies, a couple of girlfriends with whom I can laugh and converse and be light-hearted, and I'm very thankful for that. They're women out of whom I hope to make old friends, who don't care whether or not I wear pink on Friday or show up ten minutes late to our brunch date. They fill a need I have to giggle about silly things, like the difficulty of finding the perfect bra and the need for just the right perennial, though our perennial beds are full. Those friends are important to me.

But there will never, ever, ever be a girlfriend that comes close to being as wonderful and as bestest as my very mostest bestest friend in the whole wide world EVER, my dearest Bo. He's completely and totally irreplaceable.

I love you, you weenie. You. Complete. Me.

Now bring me a surprise.

*This was a popular youth-group game which I now inflict upon my children and their friends. It was called "Assassin," a game where one person is assigned to be the killer, and, in a dimly lit room, he or she winks at the others, who, in turn, die dramatically until someone who is still "living" can identify the killer.

The Zucchini are IN!

Three zucchini from my garden so far, and more, more, more on the way. Oh, YES! I can just TASTE the zucchini bread. I think I'll start with this recipe for the Zucchini Bars from Betty Crocker. I may have to alter the frosting, though. It absolutely MUST have cream cheese in it! Amy over at Angry Chicken found this link with a staggering number of zucchini recipes.

Zucchini Bars

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup shredded zucchini, drained
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Spice Frosting (See Below)

1 . Heat oven to 350F. Grease bottom and sides of square pan, 9x9x2 or 8x8x2 inches.
2 . Mix brown sugar, butter, vanilla and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Spread in pan.
3 . Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Frost with Spice Frosting. For 24 bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows.

Spice Frosting

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3 to 4 teaspoons milk

1 . Mix all ingredients until smooth and spreadable.

This one's for you, Sarah K!

Sarah K. asked for the recipe for mint and honey tea, so I'm going to give you ALL the instructions for concocting this very simple, very yummy, gotta-be-good-for-ya tea!

First, you have to grow or have access to your own fresh mint. I have a little mint garden that Houdin and I made by taking some recycled landscaping tubs (the kind that bushes, shrubs and trees come in from the nursery) and digging holes the size of the tubs so that, when finished, the tubs would encircle our water hydrant (which is a country faucet, of sorts). That way, the mints can be readily identified if they're inside the tubs, and they won't be so quick to spread all over the lawn. Plus, being under the hydrant, they'll get watered regularly by the drip, drip, dripping that comes when I water my garden.

In the mint garden, I planted pineapple mint, Kentucky Colonel mint, Robert Mitchum peppermint, chocolate mint, candy mint, and spearmint. There may be a few others in there, too, like apple mint, but I can't remember for sure. In the middle of the ring, I planted mountain mint, which is not invasive like other mints. So if you want to grow mint but don't want it to take over, you can:

• Bury recycled tubs or chimney flus (buy at a place that sells block and brick, or find someone who doesn't need theirs) and plant the mint in that;
• Plant it in big pots on your patio or other sunny location (mints like sun);
• Select a non-invasive mint, such as Mountain Mint, lemon mint, anise hyssop (not a mint, but has a pleasant licorice flavor). You can also make teas out of sages, catnip, bee balm, chamomile, fennel, catmint and other yummies. You can also choose to plant Stevia or another sweet plant along with your tea herbs for a no-calorie natural sweetener.

Now, to make the tea.

1. I go out, or send one of the kids out, to pick a basketful of mint herbs. I don't really pick just one kind; I use a bit of this and a bit of that, but my favorite is a combination of mints.
2. Then, I put a pot of water or tea kettle on to boil.
3. While the water's heating, I rinse the herbs gently with cool water.
4. After they've been rinsed, I put them through my salad spinner. I LOVE my OXO salad spinner, but you can also use a clean pillowcase to dry your herbs, or you can blot them with paper towels.
5. Next, I take a clean quart jar and begin picking through my mint leaves. I just make sure there aren't any renegade bugs or yucky-looking leaves.
6. As I pick through the leaves, I take the good ones and bruise them, which basically means rubbing them between your palms a couple of times, which helps to release the oils.
7. Now, in order to get as much mint flavor as I like, I totally PACK that quart jar to the top with mint leaves.
8. By this time, the water's boiling, so I pour the boiling water into the quart jar, over the leaves, and make sure the leaves are covered.
9. I get a clean spoon (which can sometimes take as long as the whole 1-8 process) and stir the leaves a bit.
10. I put a regular canning lid and band on the jar.
11. Of course, there's always waiting. The tea should steep for about 8 minutes. In my opinion, if it steeps longer, it gets bitter.
12. While I'm waiting, I get gallon my pitcher ready (because this makes a gallon of tea). I put about 1/3 cup of raw honey in the pitcher, or 1/3 cup dehydrated cane juice, but you could use any sweetener you like, and you can adjust it to your taste.
13. When the timer goes off (oh boy! it's almost time!) I unscrew the band, take off the lid, and replace it with a clean square of cheesecloth, replace the band, and USING A CLOTH OR HOTPAD (because a quart jar full of previously boiling water is HOT. Duh.), I pour the tea concentrate ('cause that's what you just made) into the pitcher. This is because I like clear tea. Some people don't strain it, but just leave the leaves right in. You can do that. It's fine with me. You can even use something different to strain it. Whatever floats your boat. In China, Bard says, they leave the leaves (ha) in the tea and when you get one in your mouth, you just chew it up and swallow it. I think they call it "eating tea," not drinking it.
14. I stir up the concentrate really well to dissolve the sugar or incorporate the honey,
15. then I add two to three quarts of cold water,
16. then I fill the pitcher to the top with ice,
17. then I go bonkers drinking my awesome tea.

If you want you can take the concentrate, either with or without the leaves in it, and put it in the fridge for later. When you're ready for tea, just take some out and add water and ice to your taste. Add lemon, if you want. Whatever. I don't, but it's your tea.

If this is beyond your capabilities, see if you can find Sweet Leaf Tea near you. Uh, can I just say, YUM?!? Bard likes the Sweetened Peach , but I'm totally into the sweetened Mint and Honey Green Tea.

Are you still here? Why aren't you making tea yet? Go! Shoo! Scram! Scat! Your life is waiting for you! And don't forget to thank Sarah K. for prompting this post.

In a Pickle

On this day, when it's too hot to do much more than think--and even that's a challenge--I did something so totally wild and crazy that even I can't believe I did it.

I canned pickles.

What better way to spend an incredibly hot and humid day than to add to the heat and humidity by boiling huge pots of water on the stove? I mean, if you're already miserably sticky, there's not much harm in getting even more miserably sticky.

And what could I do, anyway? When life hands you cucumbers, large and green and cool, you make pickles. In this case, it was one of my Amish neighbors who offered me her surplus cukes, a basketful of potential.

Yesterday, I washed, sliced, salted and soaked the cukes, along with onions from the garden and garlic from the store (I attempted to grow my own garlic once and failed miserably. I'll try again someday), and there they sat for the night, their blanket of ice turning me green with envy. I'm not all that interested in being brined, though, so I left them to soak while the fam and I went to friend San's air-conditioned house for the evening (thanks, San!) since ours is still currently un-cool (keep clicking those google ads! I'm already 1/25th of the way there!).

And today, after an adventurous excursion into the deepest depths of the fruit cellar in search of my canning supplies, I came up empty-handed. Funny how every year I have everything to do my canning except that one very important thing, like the canning jars, or the vinegar, or the lids; this year, it was the actual canning pot. The lid was there. The jar rack was there. But the pot itself? Gone. I don't even want to attempt to imagine where it might be and what use it might be serving.

So I packed The Baby into the superheated van (also un-cool due to a bad compressor that would cost half as much as it cost to buy the whole entire vehicle).

Let me say this wonderful thing about Stuff*Mart; it's completely and totally cool, which is to say that as I walked in, a delightful chilly breeze greeted me and wooed me into a false sense of fair-weatherness. While ambling around in there, I actually began to believe that it felt this wonderful everywhere in Ohio.

Of course, I was quite abruptly reminded of the truth the moment I hauled my purchases out to the car. There's no way around it; it's just too doggone hot.

Once home, I started using my mad skills to rinse the cukes, make the syrup and sterilize the jars. Bard and Houdin helped me put the lids on, and soon I was placing water-bath canned pints of pickles on a washcloth on my butcher-block. Just moments after they were out of the pot, I began to hear that incredibly satisfying series of pops that indicate that the jars have sealed. Yes!

We celebrated by making some fresh mint and honey tea, which, of course, required boiling water. But what the heck. It was so very worth it.

Here, for your culinary pleasure, is the recipe I used. Now if you'll excuse me I think I'll go brine myself.

Grandma's Bread and Butter Pickles
from thatsmyhome.com

4 quarts sliced cucumbers

6 white medium onions peeled and cut in thin slices

1/3 C. coarse salt

Do not pare cucumbers, just wash them and cut them in thin slices. I use a crock for these, while preparing. Mix cucumbers, onion (*NOTE: Thicket Dweller added three whole cloves of garlic to this mix) and add salt. Cover with ice. Let set overnight. You may have to add more ice. You want them to stay very cold. When ready to prepare, (REMOVE GARLIC CLOVES) and rinse them very well.

Syrup:

3 C. sugar

1 1/2 t. turmeric

1 1/2 t. celery seed

2 T. mustard seed

3 C. white vinegar

Combine syrup and bring to a boil. When sugar is dissolved, add cucumbers. Heat to boiling. Pack into hot, sterilized jars. Remove air bubbles. Process for 10 minutes in a hot water bath.

Lady in the Water comment

Here is a response I wrote to this review of Lady in the Water. More to come.

"While I agree that some of the plot lines were a bit weak, I completely disagree with the rest of your review. Lady in the Water is original, funny, heartfelt and thought-provoking. There is not a single inconsequential thing here, at least not for the movie-goer who pays attention. Each person in the film has a purpose, just as each part of this film has a reason. It is filled with analogy, metaphor and spiritual allusion. Far more than just a simple fairy tale told to his daughters (Thank God there are still fathers out there spending time with their girls), or a shock-inducing horror film, Lady in the Water is a message of hope, a letter of encouragement, a parable of warning. It's saying, "It's time to pay attention to the Story, folks. It's time to write the Story, believe the Story, care about the Story, protect the Story, remember the Story and retell the Story." If all of us, regardless of our culture or history, embrace our roles in helping the Story along, we can get it off the ground, give it wings, give it freedom and glory.

Good for Shyamalan for keeping it realno matter the cost. The critics hated Serling, too!"