peaches and plums

Farmer Markets make for a satisfying way to spend a morning. Every one of the senses are activated right up until the time you hop into your car to drive home. I do not want to hurry the process and I find myself lingering even after my arms are filled with my choices of the bountiful harvests. Peaches and plums fancied me on this trip.The plums are so juicy they squirt their juice all over your face and clothes when you bite into them. These particular kind of peaches, freestones, are my favorite and upon twisting out the pit their sweetness just exudes summer. After arriving home I tenderly wash each one to display them in this old turquoise dish given to me by my mother when she was moving. It is in fact a canape dish, but its whimsical appearance make it a good choice for holding small portions of fruit too.The dish is quickly emptying itself because when fresh fruit is so available who can resist such goodness! Not me.

Seasonable Books

Some books have seasons. Yes, it is true any book suitable for summer can be just as suitable for winter, but there are certain books I prefer to read in the summer and others I prefer to read in the winter. For example, I still have vivid memories of reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's book, The Longest Winter, to Alan during a particularly stormy winter. Even though the winter in her book was so much more severe, nevertheless, while we read we were cozily wrapped in afghans and staying inside while the harsh winds blew outside our windowpanes. Now reading this book on a sultry 92 degree summer day would not be half so credible. Those are the times I love to get absorbed in books such as Gone Away Lake or Return to Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright. The mosquitoes and long stretch of days without school conjure up reality as I sit reading to my girls on wicker chairs while drinking iced tea with lemon; in other words,"I'm living it". And is not this what a good book intends to do for us?

A Place at His Table

"He has taken me to the banquet hall, and His banner over me is love."
Song Of Songs 2:4



As I was putting up my wedding china, silverware and crystal from the Sunday meal I could not but help think of the day I would sit at His table.

I knew ......so I baked a cake

We have a favorite chocolate pan cake around here that I make quite often because it is so easy and good. The icing alone is worth it all because I always think I am eating fudge . Charlotte is my helper in the most special of ways. She adds the vanilla.
Then with the most coordinated and precise little hands, she turns on the mixer.

Since no one else assisted with this cake, the beater was all Charlotte's!

Chocolate Pan Cake

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks of butter

4 tablespoons of cocoa

1 cup water

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter, cocoa and water together in saucepan. Blend eggs and sugar. Sift together dry ingredients. Add cocoa mixture to eggs and sugar; then add dry ingredients. Mix in buttermilk and vanilla. Pour into greased 9x12 pan and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Icing

Melt 1 stick butter,4 Tablespoons cocoa, and 6 Tablespoons buttermilk in saucepan until melted.

Add 2 cups powdered sugar,1 teaspoon vanilla and a pinch of salt.

Pour onto cooled cake, this icing will harden as it cools.

Serve with a glass of cold milk and be sure to close your eyes as if you are in chocolate heaven! So simple.

Company's Coming!

Bathroom cleaned to a shine.....check

Floors mopped.....check

Fresh towels put out....check

Rosemary sprigs placed in milkglass vase.....check

Homemade soap placed in shell holder.....check

Some very dear friends are visiting for the weekend. Alan is agreeably giving up his room which is especially nice since he has his own bathroom. But boy did I have to clean this room today. And that is all I am going to say about that......! The soap is made by a friend and her daughter. They make a variety of natural soaps in their basement soap kitchen.It is heavenly and I am an addicted customer for life. You can find them at katherinelesliesoaps.

A Perfect Evening

"Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me....."

My handsome husband dined with me tonight in our state's capital. We drove about an hour so our appetites were just where they needed to be upon arrival at this downtown restaurant.My entree of choice was rockfish and risotto. The mood was perfect as we enjoyed our time out together.

Simple Popsicles

Summer would not be summer without pulling out these Tupperware popsicle makers for a cold treat on a hot day. I relive the pleasure of my girlhood as I watch my daughter's excitement with this simple touch of summertime. First, Charlotte had to wash all the winter's dust away then with my assistance they were filled to the brim with Welch's grape juice. Almost any concoction of juices or yogurt will work. I have tried about every one, but for this particular summer afternoon these grape treats were simple and I am all about simple these days.

Sensible Delights

Summer time is for swimming in chlorinated pools...... and swimming lessons. Last year Charlotte had her first swim lesson. She has looked forward to going again all winter. She respectively called her teacher "Mrs. Shark" until I finally convinced her the name was in fact Mrs. Sharpe, not Mrs. Shark.

It was a day for diving into the water and laying on one's back.

Her excitement and joy of the water just couldn't be disguised as she smiled through the entire 30 minute lesson.

Basil is definitely one of my most favorite herbs. Years ago my older son and I had a greenhouse where we so contently grew herbs for our own garden as well as to sell. One of the things I liked to do the best was pinch back the basil plants. I would pinch, gather the tops and stuff them in my pockets. Whatever pockets I possessed at the time....apron, sweater, or jean would be called upon to hold these fragrant leaves. This afternoon I realized a certain plant was in dire need of pinching. This was the conservative harvest from just one plant. Enough for a tomato tart or a small batch of pesto or better yet Green Goddess dressing . This dressing is plain good on anything. I eat it on my green salad and it is delicious on salmon. Just let you imagination run wild with you.
Green Goddess Dressing

1 cup fresh basil
1 cup green onions ( I have used regular onions in a pinch)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons anchovy paste
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Process all ingredients in food processor and add 1 cup of sour cream.

Of course remember not to allow your basil to flower. Pinch back the leaves to where two leaves are growing and your plant will flourish and continue to put out new leaves. Do you see where I have pinched?

Recapturing Moments of a Special Day

I figured the best way to do the cake and it was divine. I made the same moist white cake recipe and froze it so that when cut, the edges would be so much neater. They were and this fluffy new icing was heavenly too! As a special treat for the unmarried bridesmaids, there were four, I placed a little fake diamond ring in the center of one of the individual servings of cake. Traditionally, the one to find the ring in her cake would be the next bride. It just so happens the one to find it in her cake is anticipating a proposal soon!

Speaking of cakes, the bride's cake was beautiful in its simplicity. Note the hydrangeas from my bush.
Nervous Charlotte was the Flower girl. I will not go into how she finally managed to get down the aisle. I shall show her the video later, then maybe I can be brave and watch it too.
First time for everything. At my house we have certain rites of passages. One of them happens to involve coffee; you may drink coffee when you are of the age of sixteen. While at the wedding reception, Rose talked her father in allowing her to have 1/2 of a cup with sugar and lots of cream. She drank it daintly with a straw.
I know I do not have to clarify this statement, but a photographer I am not! But if I only knew how I would, because there are so many pictures in my brain that I can not capture on the camera's lens. But the lights on the table were so enchanting to my eyes.
Ah, the roses! These beauties adorned my luncheon table with their grace and romance.I wanted to give them to the mother- of- the bride to decorate her dining room table since she would have out of town guests for Sunday lunch, but Rose absolutely could not part with them and I shamefully relinquished any gracious sacrifice on my part.

A little favor please

The big day is rapidly approaching and the preparations for the Bridesmaids' Luncheon are almost complete. Today I fixed the tiniest trio of pearls on the favor's ribbons. After all everyone loves presents!

stars and fireflies

"One clear star hung above the orchard and the fireflies were flitting over in Lover's Lane, in and out among the ferns and rustling boughs. Anne watched them as she talked and somehow felt that wind and stars and fireflies were all tangled up together into something unutterably sweet and enchanting."
Anne of Green Gables
Lucy Maud Montgomery

Last night after eating outside, after cleaning the supper dishes, and after putting the children to bed-a story for each of them- My husband and I had some time to go back outside and with the flitting of the fireflies we settled the evening or rather.....the evening settled us.