Garden Performance

The threatening rain clouds held off for Charlotte's Ballet Garden Performance.

Behind the charming old train depot, under stately oak trees, beside a bright red caboose

our little blue-skirted ballerina danced prettily.

Witt and Claire joined us on the blankets

And brought fresh-cut roses from the garden, tied with white satin ribbons

I enjoy these things that life are made of.

Rose plays with new camera

If you're happy and you know it then your face should surely show it...

Lemon-Herb Dressing

Experimenting with fresh herbs to make salad dressings for upcoming dinner to be served on a bed of fresh greens.

This simple dressing was declared a winner.

1/3 cup olive oil, or canola oil if that is your taste preference
1 Tablespoon honey mustard
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1-2 Tablespoon fresh basil

Whisk all ingredients together until well blended.

Try substituting other fresh herbs: mint, tarragon, chives

Whoopie Pies

It seemed like the most sensible thing to do; nothing should be allowed to besmirch this rainy day.

Whoopie pies from Everyday Food, improvisation being a necessary norm, strawberry jam was folded into the whipped cream.

Rose asked, " Mama, what are you making?"

"Whoopie cushions."

They were then served to the afternoon Girls' Bible Study Group.

...the Whoopie pies that is.

A week-long post

There most definitely should be a word to describe my days of late. This word should be colorful, active and with many letters of the alphabet swirling all through it. There is a tufted titmouse that has built a nest in our basketball goal's stand. She flies in and out all day tending to her little flock of birdies. She is busy, watchful and purposeful. I can think of no better comparison of a thing that portrays a portion of my life at the present.

Rose's fourteenth birthday was celebrated in style. A very good friend who lives out of town showed up to stay for a few days in the middle of all the birthday activity. But she is a tried and tested friend, the sort of friend that rolls with the punches, whatever is going on in my household at the time, she fits right in. I can go to her house and it would be the same way. Therefore, when she woke up that morning I handed her a cup of coffee first then stated, " Today, we are going to bake a cheesecake." She did not even bat an eye. Together we learned how to make a Brownie Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake. It was scrumptious! And neither of us are cheesecake bakers.

Mother's Day was spent with three of my four, not perfect because we missed Alan tremendously, but still nothing ruined my day with the three of them. After lunch we visited Witt's place. It is so charming since Claire's feminine hand has waved over every inch of it. They will be living there together as husband and wife in two more weeks.

I especially loved the window boxes she suggested and he obliged.

Our 50+ guests will meandered through this rose garden on their way to the Rehearsal Dinner that will be served under a tent on the other side.

Certainly the song that goes "And you got to have friends....." has been proven over and over, I have a very full supply. This week it occurred in the form of a friend in encouraging me, "Yes, we can make the table cloth overlays for the tables..."all 80 inches per tablecloth. We set up long rectangle tables in the middle of her new kitchen and we measured, sewed seams, and rolled hemmed the edges. All pressed and waiting now between my foyer and dining room. These tablecloth will make the tables pop with the pink and orange color scheme,
I am dizzy already.

Sidelines

If there ever was a month that describes a saying,"I have been running since my feet hit the floor this morning", then it must depict the merry month of May in levels and opportunities of activity.



On the sidelines of a long stretch of activity this week:


I found myself in a strawberry patch picking strawberries and in the kitchen flipping pancakes and baking strawberry bread. A new sweetener was brought to my attention this week which I must report is quite marvelous. I was even able to pour it over my pancakes instead of syrup and it received an A+ for texture and taste. A little experimenting with strawberry bread, one loaf with the agave syrup and one loaf with sugar, and no difference could be found.

• The amount of liquid in your recipe must be reduced by 1/4,
  
• you must lower your oven's temperature by 25 degrees,
  
• add 2/3 to 3/4 less agave syrup than sugar called for in your recipe.

There is a quirk that creeps up on me every once in while. I have learned to live with it and there are even times I can make something creative and tangible come about as a result of it. This seeming quirk clears the overwhelming fog that I may get lost in when there is so much to do. It rather goes with my own little saying, "It will all get done by and by."

So one foggy day I embroidered wispy wildflowers on a piece of felt, the outside of a colored pencil holder for Charlotte.


You can find the directions in Amanda Soule's, The Creative Family. I thought I would edge the outside of my holder with a black blanket stitch to complement the rolled spirals with a bit of snappiness.

Girlish and useful, for an almost seven-year-old artist in residence.

Homemade Deodorant

I have been on a quest for a natural deodorant for some time now, one that could be made fairly simple at home from ingredients found in the kitchen or in the bathroom, not difficult to find items. And the most important factor of all, obviously, was that it was effective.

I have been testing one particular formula of homemade deodorant now for over a week and feel as if I can at least make a statement about it from my own experience.

1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup cornstarch
2-3 drops of essential lavender oil

These are the total ingredients for the deodorant I prefer. The baking soda deodorizes while the cornstarch acts as a mild antiperspirant. If a less powdery and more moist deodorant is what you desire, you may add about 5-6 tablespoons of coconut oil. But be warned that this gives it an oily, moist texture and you will need to be careful of not getting it on your clothes. You could try blotting after an application to help. Also, adding a few drops of tea tree oil is an option I plan to try on my next batch, especially since I believe in the benefits of tea tree oil and an item I keep in my bathroom cupboard.

Using a cotton ball to apply the powder works fine. I made a cotton crocheted applicator, and even though the powder adheres to it nicely, it lacks softness. It will need some perfecting before I pass on the "how to". Now I know the powder puff came by its name for a reason!



This totally wonderful concoction of homemade daintiness rests in a jelly jar on my bathroom counter. I use it daily, with pleasure.

make mine fancy, please

Four more weeks. You could ask Claire and she would tell you the exact amount of days, yet days are way too short for me...I must think in weeks.

The Rehearsal Dinner invitations were signed, sealed and delivered recently. Only one return due to lack of proper postage, it happened to be traveling to Canada and I unknowingly mailed it with the group of those not venturing abroad.

On my list of things I would like to do one day:

Take a calligraphy class at the Community College.

Meanwhile, I am self taught. So all my "fancy nancy" penmanship needs must be done in this manner.

But it works for me!

entomology moments

Once upon a time I was absorbed in a world of bugs, or insects, if I am in any form attempting to appear technical. Witt, Alan and I scrounged hills, trees, logs, meadows, and back stoops to find any sort of bug we could find in order to identify and add to our specimen boxes. An ongoing treasure hunt that brought hours of successful fun at certain times of the year.

Today, and remember this is my fourth go round, Charlotte began her own insect collection. With a find like this dragonfly we could hardly wait to preserve him for bug posterity's sake. So I I pulled out a Riker box and moth ball flakes to begin the process.

I found a few of Witt's old insect collection boxes to show Charlotte and she was suitably impressed. I thought since I had the moth flakes out I might as well refresh them since I could see obvious signs of insect infestation. The moth balls will aid in the prevention of live insects eating your collection of dead bugs for awhile.

Who would not be suitably impressed upon seeing an Eastern Hercules Beetle, even a dead one, I might ask? I still recall when this bug was found on our back stoop one spring morning in 1997. A beautiful thing that remains as a wrinkle in the gray matter only to emerge 13 years later.

Now that is a treasure.

Lemony and French-styled

It has been mentioned before that I have cravings for lemon- flavored things from time to time, sometimes of gargantuan heights even. A glance through a recipe book recently presented a recipe that set my mouth watering. Therefore, this past weekend I knew I was destined to bake this simple dessert.

It meets the needs of any lemon craving, it contains yogurt, howbeit, whole milk, and has the most appealing name of "French-style". Claire likes anything French which is delightful since she spent a year in Paris several years ago.

This cake was amazing! One layer bursting with lemon and sugar in every bite. The recipe called for plain yogurt that was not fat free or nonfat. This was a small challenge, I altered the recipe by using Stoneyfield's French Vanilla (there's the French once again) whole cream on top yogurt. I thought anything that tasted that marvelous out of the container had to make a fantastic cake.

We carried it with us to visit my in-laws yesterday afternoon. Every last crumb was devoured. Now I will just have to make another one!

Zippy Butterfly Dress

Sewing for me usually involves dresses for Charlotte. And usually those dresses are cut out, pleated, then smocked and sewn with collars, sleeves, and sashes.

In my world one dress may take many weeks to complete.

That is why when I found myself sewing this dress for Charlotte this week, I could not believe how quickly it was made from beginning to end.

Zip- zippeddy- do!

But every rainbow has a cloud lurking somewhere, and for me it was the shirring that was done in three places on this dress. That is the place I invested the most time by far.

But Charlotte wore the dress as she took a short spin around the block on her bicycle after dinner tonight. She said she felt like a butterfly.