Here Comes the Rain Again

It's wet up here.  It's been hot most days, for us, and wetter than usual.  It's not many inches total but some impressive downpours off and on, with a few instances of great thunder and lightning.  In fact, last week or so, there was one of the best instances of thunder and lightning I've ever seen in Connecticut.  And today, not far away, there was an F-0 tornado!  No one was hurt, but some trees went down.

I'm liking the weather--even if 86F and 100% humidity is kinda nasty--but then I get to sit inside with AC.  But with the grey days and the earlier sunset, I can almost sense fall coming.   We had also done a little bit of late-summer planting on Monday evening of a bunch of purple coneflower plants, aka echinacea.  This rain is great for all of those plants.  I'd been seeing the purple coneflowers all over the place--in many yards, in the garden of a local restaurant, even at the Highline two weeks ago--and so when they appeared at a local store, I snatched them up.  Now I just need some black-eyed susans to go with them, since I see the two plants together most of the time.

And then we'll need more rain!

Countdown to Easter

Thursday:
Sis stayed home because the doctor Thursday afternoon said she had probably had the flu and was only just getting over it (strep test negative.)  We lolled around, watching "Glee," our new show (yes, there are a lot of adolescent situations but it gives us a chance to talk--about sex, pleasure, responsibility, feminism, sexism, body issues, bullying, homophobia, acceptance, etc etc etc.)

Bud came home midday (it was just a half day) and we hung out for a bit before running off to an appointment, picking up some dinner, and having some frozen yogurt.

That evening, I was gone for three hours on a night shoot for a new promotional video for the historic house.  I was very self-conscious but eventually settled into my role as narrator and costumed interpreter.  In fact, though it was in no way like a movie, I had some insight into several things--waiting waiting waiting around while lighting, set, props, etc were set up; trying to keep the same lines fresh over and over again without tripping on any words; taking direction to turn my head this way, modulate my voice that way, move a prop another way, and emote half the sentence like I did in the first take and half like the second; getting the giggles when I flubbed a line (cursing, too); becoming super self-conscious of how I looked, sounded, and moved.  But I had a great time and the video turned out pretty well.  (If I know you personally IRL and you want to see a copy of it, I'll send it to you; just email me.)


Friday:
We were kinda dull on Friday, with Sis still recovering and Bud tired after a long week at school (he was probably fighting the virus Sis had without actually developing the flu.)  We had pizza and watched Beetlejuice, which holds up pretty well some thirty years later.  The kids didn't quite get it, but nobody was scared of the ghosts or sad about the deceased.

I finished crocheting a blanket for an old high school buddy with whom I've reconnected and sent it on its way; she's having surgery and I wanted her to know I was thinking of her.  It's my usual Giant Granny Square but with a new edging called the Crab Stitch (mainly reverse single crochet around a row of double crochet.)  The colors in the photo are a little muted because it was overcast--it's actually a lovely lavender, some deeper  light green, and blue.

I did manage some shopping for the last of our Easter grocery needs.  Our final menu includes deviled eggs, pimento cheese, ham, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, cheddar cheese rolls, green peas, and Shaker Lemon pie, with Zinger Sherbet Punch.   And I got some hyacinths and hydrangeas for Ma and for me.


Saturday:
The Easter Penguin came!    There weren't any wet footprints because we don't have carpet anymore, but he did leave the kids a set of Minecraft blocks.  We had asked Bud if he thought the Easter Penguin would come and Bud reiterated that the Easter Penguin was very reliable.

The kids skipped their morning activities, both because they weren't feeling great and because Ma and Gong arrived . . . . so we went to the movies instead!  Yep, went to see Zootopia, which was funny but also a good teachable moment on race, biological determinism, stereotypes, prejudice, free will, the role of police in society--it even had a plot to incriminate the "predators" by poisoning them with toxic flowers (see recent interview excerpts with Nixon lacky Ehrlichman who said the war on drugs was exaggerated to criminalize and oppress African Americans and hippies/war protestors.)  All it needed was #PredatorsLivesMatter.

We had lunch at a new traditional Mexican restaurant which serves fresh tableside-made guacamole, lots of grilled foods (including cactus!),  lots of authentic-seeming dishes, and fresh tortillas (I know, Texans, none of that sounds special but this is Connecticut.)  Some of it was even too spicy for Ma and Gong!

The afternoon was a hodgepodge of "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown," eating apple pie, Bud trying out Gong's tai chi sword, building an Easter nest (there were flowers in bloom this year!!), making origami bunnies and frogs, and eventually saying goodbye to Ma and Gong.

We planted a hydrangea to mark the almost-one-year anniversary of the death of beloved Aunt Sis (today, btw, was the first anniversary since my emergency surgery.)  We had planted two other hydrangeas this spring in her memory, but I think only one survived the winter (and my gardening!)

Then the "work" started!  We pulled out the Easter decorations and purged some of the books and things.  We always find extra egg decorating kits--and so Sis chose plain tab Pas dye and Bud did tie dye.  I drew on a few eggs with a Sharpie and a wax crayon--see my bunny, Bay Max, and Totoro.  Lots of fun.  Then I prepped some dishes while Mama made the traditional last-minute run to the store.  And the kids and I hid some eggs and left a basket for the little girl and boy across the street.

Whew!

And it's not even Easter yet.

Inspiration

As I mentioned in my summary post this morning, I've been doing some work in the garden.

No, that's not it.

That's one of those spaces companies plant and maintain seasonally to make their businesses more attractive . . . . though, it's usually with a single sad hosta surrounded by 6 feet of red mulch or bland white rocks.  But this company, on the corner of a busy town intersection, has done--or more specifically, hired a company to do--so much more.  Look!

Lavender.  Echinacea.  Phlox (the tall kind.)  Day lilies.  Black-eyed susans.  And those are just the ones I can pinpoint.  It kinda reminds me of a cottage garden--bright, tall, all thrown in together (everything reminds me of England these days!  Oh, I'm having withdrawl from a 14 months ago--with perhaps 11 months til our next trip.)

I love it!  I love that they did more than one sad hosta or some poor impatiens or petunias that will just wither.

Sure, the plants are transplanted full grown, in full sun, and have professional year-round tending (weeding, watering, etc.)--meaning it's not something I can easily copy--but I love the look.  The photos look a little dirty or washed out in the full sun and my smartphone camera, but I loved it.

I'll have to plant echinacea and black-eyed susans and tall phlox next year, too.

Or just keep patronizing this business (which is a burger joint.)

Summer Fun: Day Camp

We've been day-camping in the backyard thanks to the very mild weather recently (59F yesterday morning!)  I like to sketch and sip on raspberry shrub at our table while the kids do whatever floats their fancy.  They made origami ninja throwing stars today and then stalked me all over the backyard.  They liked to see if they can follow me without being seen--our yard has lots of rocks and bushes to hide behind.  Yesterday, we just sat talking, reading, and spitting cherry pits as far as possible (I realized that I'm terrible at that.)  We can see and hear the birds and bees, admire the flowers along the rock wall, wave at neighbors on the sidewalk . . . who knows what the days will bring, but you can bet, if the weather isn't too hot or bugs too bad, this is where we'll spend some time. 

Hydrangeas in Memoriam

I think I got the idea about planting memorial hydrangeas in honor of Aunt Sis while sitting in a drive-thru waiting for our food to be brought out to the curb.  I even hopped out and took a picture of the glorious pink and lavender blooms right outside my driver-side window.

Later, I snapped a picture of a town bench, with the idyllic white picket fence and hydrangeas.  Funny, I imagine I can see the sea through the slats--why do we associate hydrangeas with the seaside?  They're all over many coastal towns in New England.

In fact, once I started looking at hydrangeas, they were everywhere.  They're mostly blue here in CT, because our acidic soil creates blue blossoms, though some hard-working gardeners must add alkaline treatments to their soil to get the pink or purple ones.  It's the blue ones I think of when I think of the sea.

And that's when I knew I wanted to plant some hydrangeas for Aunt Sis.  Not that she had hydrangeas--I can't really remember seeing them in Texas at all--but she liked colors and blossoms and had some plants in her own yard, though nothing as formal as a garden.  And she loved the ocean.  We also took her to Mystic, proverbial New England on the water, and so I even think of her up here by the sea.

And so, Mama picked up two hydrangeas, the last of the nursery's stock, on Tuesday, which was Aunt Sis's birthday, and today we planted them, in morning sun and afternoon shade, as suggested, along our rock wall and visible from my kitchen window.  

They look a little forlorn and exhausted now, but I have high hopes for beautiful blossoms next year, in time for her birthday.

Hummingbird!

We have a new resident hummingbird!  We saw it out the window this morning, during the visit with my friend, Miss D; it was sniffing around our big green bushes (not sure what they are--evergreen something.)  And I just saw it again flitting around the honeysuckle bush by our mailbox.  I'll see if I can get a photograph, but they are very fast.  Pretty little things.  We were just a few feet away and could see its colorful plummage and sharp beak.  So small.  Hope we see it again and again.

How Our Garden Grows

Sis has always loved to play in the dirt.  Years ago, she would mix up soups and cakes in the backyard, with mud, leaves, and sticks for spoons.  Then she discovered fairy houses--one time she even dug a swimming pool for hers!  Later, in school, she got into plants, buying all sorts of things at the annual plant sale.  She was, and still is, a better planter than a weeder!  She gets so excited about spring.  This weekend, she and Mama cased the garden store, getting hostas, caladium, and astilbes for our sidewalk deadzone under the big town tree, plus forsythias and some pink perennials for the rock wall garden.  She can't wait to go to the school plant sale tomorrow.  Soon, Sis will be scattering wildflower seeds, planting sunflower seeds, and putting more bulbs in the ground, plus whatever she buys at the plant sale.

And yesterday, she had a gardening lesson from my dear friend from the historic house.  They spent an hour outside identifying various plants; talking about if, how, and when to prune various plants; debating watering techniques; and other gardening things.  Sis loved it and looks forward to another lesson.  A big thank you to Miss J!

Our yard is going to be so colorful this spring!  Thank you, Sis!

Purple Volunteers

I like that all of the plants that surprise us by popping up in the yard are purple!!

Glory of the Snow

Crocus

Grape Hyacinths

Wild Violets

Beginning Blossoms

I love that I went into the hospital when it still felt and looked like winter and that I came home to spring!  We have snow drops, crocuses, new-to-me glory of the snow, and the very first stalks of tulips and daffodils.  Plus, my favorite, favorite hyacinths!!!  I love these flowers, with their bubbly blossoms and amazing scent.  I'll buy the old past-peak ones on discount at the store and then plant the bulbs for the next year. (See, I have to enjoy my flowers outdoors because the cats will eat them and many plants are toxic.)  I think I have 15 coming up in the yard right now.  And even though it is a dreary day, it cheers me to see them coming.  Soon, I'll be able to sit on my favorite bench, after my "surgical shuffle" driveway walk, and breathe in the lovely fragrance.

Rainy-Day Roses

Most of the blossoms in our garden are rotting on their stems because of days of moisture, but these roses, which I neglected to cut back, love it.

Adventures in Cooking Our CSA Share: Looking Back and Forward

It's been four years since our big CSA heyday, in 2009 and 2010, before my back injury.  And, while we aren't returning to that farm (which was wonderful but is almost an hour round-trip), we are returning to a weekly CSA box.  This time, through an aggregator of local farms, so that we get not only fruits and vegetables but also eggs, meat, and a weekly cheese.  It's going to be glorious!  And we are so excited to play with our CSA share again.

And so I looked back over those two years of CSA posts, always titled "Adventures in Cooking Our CSA Share" with the label "CSA."  The first thing that struck me is how limited my recipe repertoire was compared to what we got in the box--no mention of how I prepared or ate so many items, such as kohlrabi, dandelion greens, radishes, beets.  Sure, I didn't post about tomatoes, because I gave them all away, and I didn't need to post about potatoes or green beans or garlic or onions because those are very familiar. Instead, I wrote a lot about greens, from kale to escarole to collards.  Lots of squashes, too.

Here are some of those posts, in alphabetical order:

Bok choi
Collards
Corn
Eggplant
Escarole (and here, though it can be almost any green; also here)
Garlic Scapes (with other recipes for kale and bell peppers; also here)
Kale (here, though it says eggplant, and here and here for soup and here for stir fry)

Spaghetti Squash

Zucchini and summer squash (also here cookies and here for joke and here for even more recipes)

Sis's Vegetable Soup

I also wrote about the lessons we learned, our challenges, and even a sample menu or two.  I even wrote a love letter to our farm.  And in case readers didn't have a CSA, I wrote up some farmer's market tips.

Reading all of this has me rearing to go in a few weeks.  I've relocated all of my old CSA-inspired vegetable cookbooks--Greens, Glorious Greens, From the Kitchen Garden,  More from the Kitchen Garden,  Vegetables Every day,  Farmer John's Cookbook,  Classic Zucchini Cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, The Roasted Vegetable, From Asparagus to Zucchini (plus my vegetarian cookbook collection, from Bloodroot to Claire's Corner Copia and Mollie Katzen)--and pulled out my special Tupperware produce boxes.

And we've even forewarned the kiddos!  (Who didn't exactly groan . . . but they don't remember the last CSA either.)

So, stay tuned for "Adventures in Cooking Our CSA Share" part three.

Yard Art

Putting out our art collection!  Sis had fun distributing them around the yard.  Thanks to Ma and Gong for our new peonies and azalea, to Sis for our Gloxinia ...and Sis also got some pink daisy-like flowers for her gym performance.  Spring is sprung!  It's 68 F and beautiful.

May Days

After a very heavy April "shower" on Wednesday that delivered NYC's 10th rainiest day on record, we are finally seeing green, the good kind, here in Connecticut.  We have some grass, buds on trees, and blossoming buls, including daffodils, hyacinths (I LOVE their scent), and two tulips, down from a half dozen our friend Miss Mary once gave to us.  Our phlox is blooming purplish in our rock wall, but the azaleas are still a few weeks off.  As much as I like snow and winter, and even rain, it's been nice to switch to lighter skirts and sometimes even no jackets.  It's been too damp to picnic outside yet, but the kids and I have played a few games of hide and seek (whereby I stalk them furtively and they run away, never ever caught.)  They've also rediscovered their swingset and have spent lots of time in the backyard.  Sis is itching to plant a garden and has seeds growing in a terrarium-like box on the porch; she keeps wanting to plant outside but local lore says to wait for Mother's Day because of the danger of frost.  She's hoping Gommie, who arrives for Mother's Day weekend (and a little bit more) on Wednesday, will plant with her.  I think she has visions of an flourishing English garden, heaven help us.  At least we have lots of space (for the suburbs) and that nice rock wall feature.  Besides, for me anyway, the joy of gardening is more in the anticipation . . .maybe because our acidic soil (or my brown thumb) often defeats our plans.  Still, it's nice to be outside.

Under the (Almost) Full Moonlight

"Under the full moonlight, we dance
Spirits dance; we dance.
Joining hands, we dance.
Joining souls, rejoice!"

There was enough time and daylight after dinner for the kiddos to continue their playing outside, where they'd been in the hour leading up to dinner already.  Despite the increasing nip in the air, they wouldn't stop to put on long pants.

About 30 minutes later, Sis came running in the house, "Mom, there are BEANS on the plants!"  And she led me outside to see.  Sure enough, there were some beans on our much-ignored pole bean plants.  We also saw that the kale is finally growing, after repeat visits from the local wildlife (which begs the unvoiced question, "Where did the wildlife go?"

Once outside, I was invited to witness several performances--kung fu dances with found sticks as swords, acrobatics on the swings and rings and bar, and some odd slide maneuvers whereby they crawled up backwards, on their stomachs, in something called "the slug."

When they noticed the (almost) full moon rising, they began to dance and sing around the backyard, making up moon songs (one to the tune of "Over the Rainbow"); I sang the lyrics above, myself.  Above their shouts and calls, I could just make out the song of the cicada.  But they were too wild for reverie.  And probably too young.

We stayed out until I saw the first star, before the moon topped the treetops.  I love fall evenings.

Arty Afternoon

I've loved having sunflowers this summer, watching them sprout from seeds into some plants that tower over me.  I've never paid much attention to sunflowers, never grown any, but I am entranced.  And I've noticed the different kinds; we have two, a tall massive plant and thinner delicate plants, and the gas station down the road has a third, tall massive but orangier plant.  I have studied where the seeds are and watched the buds in various phases of growth and decay.  Sure, I've seen Van Gogh's Sunflowers, but I've never really paid that much real attention.  I'll credit "Doctor Who" for encouraging me to think twice about that painting and its commentary on the cycle of life.

So today, we went out into the garden and did some watercolors of our own sunflowers.The first one is Bud's; then it is Sis's, her own design . . .but it still has a sunflower!  The last three are mine (and, as these are actually watercolor notecards, I sent the first one to Miss M, who is quarantined in the hospital for stem cell treatment.)

Not So Secret

Change in the Weather

Mercy, it was steamy hot here in CT while we were in Texas--I can see the damage in my garden, which is saying a lot because a). our garden is pretty wild (I'm not a helicopter gardener!) and b.) I rarely notice.  My basil is almost completely dead.  And it's been so dry!  We keep seeing red clouds on the radar around us, with 70%+ chances of rain, etc., but it always missed us at the last minute.  Until a brief heavy rain yesterday morning, a real "gully-washer," the first rain of the month!  And now it's cool, barely 70F or so outside.  So I went into the garden and salvaged some plants from the rising weeds.  The beans are growing, but something is eating my kale!  And our sunflowers up front in the pot are "as high as an elephant's eye!"  I've called to have some of the hedge trimmed, now that it is 15' or so high and blocking the sun.  The sun which has only recently ever entered the backyard because my neighbor's huge maple blocked it before its untimely demise last month.  Places in my yard that haven't seen sun in 80+ years (the probable age of the tree) are bright for the first time ever.  We might even get grass in the back corner!  And I can certainly detect the change in light in the house.  It's strange but nice.  I'll miss the gorgeous colors of that tree come fall, though.  Until then, there are some pretty gorgeous colors in the wildflowers Sis sowed in May, pinks and purples and yellows.  As my generous friend Miss M said, it's like an English garden.  Well, to an American anyway.

Rain Makes the Garden Grow

It has rained so much we have barely had to take any effort to keep our garden of new plants (or the colonial herb garden at the historic house) watered.  And today when we learned it was going to rain, again, we rushed out and planted the green beans the kiddos got from the historic farm and the pole beans our friend Miss Mary brought over.  Of course, the kids won't eat the beans, but at least they liked planting them!

Our Colonial Bit of Earth

Our Brownie troop planted a colonial-inspired herb garden at the historic house recently.  And they had such fun getting dirty, though they were oppressed by the heat. So now the house has a raised bed with several herbs in it:

• Costmary (chrysanthemum balsamita tanacetoides)  Gray-green serrated leaves used as bookmarks to repel bugs, hence nickname “Bible Leaf.”  Infusion also used to treat coughs.
• Lavender (Lavandula vera) Oil and dried flowers used for perfumes, sachets, and even baked goods.  Also used for pain and to repel mosquitoes.
• Marjoram, Sweet (Marjorana hortensis) Leaf used for flavoring many foods, in perfumes and sachets, and as an infusion for headaches.
• Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) Needle-like leaves used for flavoring teas and food.  Also used for digestive ailments and headaches, as well as to fight germs.
• Sage, Garden (Salvia officinalis) Gray-green leaves used for flavoring poultry stuffing, pork, or in making a medicinal tea to aid digestion.  Native Americans mixed it with bear grease to treat sore throats.
• Savory, Winter (Satureia Montana) Smooth and shiny leaves used for culinary purposes, or to relieve bee stings.
• Thyme (Thymus vulgaris or serpyllum) Leaves used to flavor foods and as a tea.  Oil of thyme is still the basis of a patent cough medicine.

Sis planted the thyme herself.  

My goal is to search out some more obscure herbs--like my favorite, costmary or "Bible Leaf," which we received as a gift from another local historic house.  My wish list includes feverfew, angelica, yarrow, tansy, comfrey, lovage, lemon balm, valerian, chamomile, and the like.  But that will be next year.

We hope to have the girls sign up to take a week to water/weed the garden and then we'll return in the fall to help with more gardening.  We're not the most talented gardeners--our house volunteer noted that the girls didn't know to weed out the dandelions!--but they are enthusiastic.  

It's great combining my two volunteer activities--the girls got to do a major community service project and the house now has an herb garden to share with visitors (which will include all the girls on their third-grade field trips next year!)  I'm not a great gardener,, as you know, but I'm very enthusiastic about an historical garden.  

Now if I could just translate that to our yard!

"Paper Gardener"

I've been pouring over gardening plans and herb types . . . all from the colonial era!  Our Brownie troop is doing some gardening for the local historic house where I work.  And we're putting in a colonial herb garden.  I don't know what put the idea in my head; I'm not much of a gardener.  Hence Mama's new moniker for me--"paper gardener"--because I've been really good at reading about colonial gardens.

So far, I have lavender, sage, rosemary, thyme, winter savory, and the piece de resistance costmary, an honest-to-goodness unusual colonial herb with its own moniker, "Bible Leaf."  Apparently, people used to use the leaves as bookmarks because they repel bugs, like bay leaves repel weevils in my cupboard.  I received a clump of the herb when I visited another local historic house and the gardener had some to spare. Very exciting.

I'd love to get some other less common plants, like valerian, feverfew, chamomile, angelica, yarrow, lovage, marjoram, lemon balm.  I might be able to find the chamomile and marjoram.

There's always next year.  The troop has agreed to keep up with the garden, doing more planting and upkeep.  Which means I'll have plenty of chances to do more than garden on paper.