A Good Day For Flowers

                           A Good Day For Flowers
 
   It’s been a good day; I was able to work in the flower garden, who could ask for more?   The garden seems to have gotten “out of hand.”   The day lilies need divided.  The spent daffodils are smothering the iris.  The tulips are dropping their last petals.   When was it at its peak?  Did I miss something?
  Oh, the poppies are just coming on and they are gorgeous.  Lilies of the Valley hide their charm beneath mounds of green foliage.

   If I am looking for perfection in the garden, it’s not to be had.  There is always a weed (or several) that need attention;  a flower that needs dead-headed.
   For thirty-five years I have toiled and worried over this garden.  Bought, planted, shared and despaired.  It has been worth every minute.
   From my vantage point on the swing I can see forget-me-nots given to me by Jane; a fern from Edith’s garden; iris from Sandy, I don’t remember who gave me the feverfew.  It has been so faithful; returning every year, sometimes bringing the children.

   When was my garden at its best?
    I remember those first years.
Before the land was ours, that plot had been the chicken lot.  The chicken house at the end was proof.  We made it into a vegetable garden.  But it was too large for me.   As I sat at my kitchen table and looked out the window I wanted something pretty to look at.
   When I consulted Mary and Shari they agreed half of the garden  was enough for food and half would be great for flowers.  (They sell flowers).
   Spirea bushes across the middle became the dividing line;  Then we added a pergola and a swing.  A gift of peonies and I bought daffodils and tulips-but it still wasn’t a garden.
   One of those early years I confided to Mary that the garden club was coming and I had nothing blooming.  What could I do?  Her reply was, “Have a wonderful dessert”:
   A flower garden takes awhile.  There are mistakes to be made.  Foxglove and delphinium do not grow in this garden.  Believe me. I have tried.  
   Garden books had beautiful pictures of roses and clematis climbing happily together.  I planted New Dawn Rose  and Sweet Autumn Clematis.  For years I had beautiful Sweet Autumn Clematis.  Just last year when I cut the clematis to the ground did the rose have a chance.  Finally I had pink roses climbing over the pergola in June and clematis in white splendor in August.  Thirty-four years.
   Part of the joy of gardening is bringing flowers in for the kitchen table or the dining room table.  A bouquet can be sight to behold or an eye-catcher.  
I lean toward the eye- catcher.  

Vase with chicken wire for frog.

Teach Your Children To Cook

                                               Teach Your Children To Cook

   Children are beset with so many activities that for many learning to cook is not an option.  If a parent can share the experiences of shopping for food and its preparation the rewards will be great.
   Pre-schoolers can help in the selection of fruits and vegetables.  Then they may be aware of the process involved in getting food on the table.
   Older children can learn more details from school Home Economics classes, participation in 4-H Baking groups and grandparents.
   I know it is often easier to do it yourself than to have a child help, but the rewards of having your child looking on as you cook are great.
   Years ago I worked as an Activities Director in a retirement center.
One of the residents, Irma, was a charmer.  She regaled me with the story of how she baked a cake while her mother was working in the field with her father.  The child was not yet in school and was left alone in the country home. This must have been  about 1920.  Bored, she decided to bake a cake for the family meal. She stoked the fire in the wood burning cook-stove.  Got out the ingredients, (no doubt, lard was one), a big bowl and a wooden spoon.  She needed no recipe, she had watched her mother.  And the cake was in the oven.  On her mother’s return, she was shocked to learn that the child had indeed baked a cake.
   The really good part of the story is the joy Irma still felt in telling of her childhood accomplishments.
   Easter is a time of family get-togethers.  You are blessed if when the children come home, they come bearing  nutritious, beautiful food.
The food may be prepared in a different way, it may even be better.
Our daughter prepared this fruit tart.                      

Our daughter prepared this fruit tart.
    I am the s.l.t.t.n.r. (she likes to try new recipes) We change as we age.
When the children were growing up, biscuits were an easy step with Bisquick.  When they were older I learned to make dinner rolls, they were a staple for family dinners.  As energy slackened and s.l.t..t.n.r. abounded I found a recipe for Angel Biscuits.  They looked beautiful in the pictures, a combination of yeast, baking powder and soda.  Despite my best efforts they turned out heavy.
   Live and Learn, next time it will be the super market, Bisquick, or a new recipe.

   Even at this age, I am not done learning.
   Chocolate Meringue Pie was a holiday dessert.  Thanks to tips from Milk Street Magazine and an old clipping from Heloise here is my take on the pie.

                         Chocolate Meringue Pie
The filling
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, separated
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
Heat milk in heavy pan over medium burner.  Combine sugar, cornstarch and cocoa in bowl.  Add a little of milk to make a paste, then add to pan.  With fork beat lightly egg yolks in a small bowl.  Add small amount of hot filling to egg, stir , then add to filling.  Cook until thick. Leave in hot pan while you prepare meringue.
3 egg whites at room temp.(this is important)
6 level tablespoons  sugar
tiny smidgen of salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch          
  The method is the tricky part.  Sugar must be completely dissolved in egg white.  To accomplish this you must have perfectly clean bowl and beaters.
Combine sugar, salt and cornstarch.  Beat egg whites until foamy throughout, beater on medium, add sugar slowly, tablespoon at a time, still on medium speed. Beat until satiny and smooth.  Do not over beat.
 Put hot filling in cooled crust. Spread meringue, touching crust on all sides.
Bake in 325 oven, middle rack until beginning to brown. Turn off oven and leave oven door ajar.  When cool, keep out of drafts.  It should be perfect, and still be nice the next day.  

   

Travel-Savannah, Georgia

 

Savannah, Georgia

   Dreams don’t cost anything but realizing those dreams takes time, money, and the cooperation of many people.  I’m thankful my dream of a trip to Savannah, Georgia became a reality, and it was wonderful.
   The pictures of Savannah in the Southern Living have always intrigued me.  It took years of looking at magazines before I actually made the trip and discovered the pictures didn’t do it justice.
    What is known as the historic district was planned by General Oglethorpe in the early 1720’s.  He laid the city out with 20 some squares; 22 squares or parks remain.  Preservation of the buildings was enhanced in the 1950’s by Lucy Barrow McIntire and her committee of 6 women.  It was their leadership that provide the charm of today.
   In the 1970’s Savannah College of Art and Design was established.  Instead of building new buildings they have repurposed over 60 for use as classrooms and dorms.  Their students continue to add to the beauty of the place.
   Chinese Fringe trees were in bloom but it is the Live Oak with its dripping Spanish Moss that is outstanding.  Magnolia trees with large shiny leaves added to the setting.

   Trolley drivers serve as tour guides; they told us that it was neither Spanish nor moss, but in the pineapple family.  Don’t be tempted to take some home in your suitcase because it is full of chiggers.
   Eating and shopping were part of the fun.  “Goose Feathers Café,” located in City Market was a favorite with our group.  Food and service were outstanding at “The Old Pink House.”   “The Paris Market” had pink macaroons to die for.

   We took advantage of the pedicab; our driver was so helpful, telling us about the favorite places and taking us there.  If you go be prepared for lots of walking or  call the pedicab company.   The trolleys with their on and off options were good, too.

   The fountain at Forsyth Square has become the symbol of the city.  Movies and postcards celebrate the place.  That is where you want to get your “selfie.”

   We made the trip to nearby Tybee Island to see the long, sandy beach.  Sunbathers enjoyed the 80 degree weather but the ocean water was cold.
   Travel is rewarding, even if you need a walking stick, (which I did) so dust off your dreams and go.47                                  

A good time was had by all

Chinese Proverb and Novel

                                 Chinese Proverb
   An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the end of a pole, which she carried across her neck.
   One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
   At the end of the  long walk from he stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
   For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.
   Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.  But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
   After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.
   “I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side casues water to leak out all the way back to your house.”
   The old woman smiled, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?”
   “That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.”
   “For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.  Without you we would have no beauty to grace the house.”

   Each of us has our own unique flaw.  But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.  You’ve just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
   So, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path.
                                                                   Anon
 
     We are so alike, yet so different.  That is what I discovered when I read the novel, The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds by author Selina Siak Chin Yoke.  The book covers a lifetime, from the late 1890's to 1941.
   If you read it do not be deterred by the Chinese names, she writes from
The history of her ancestors.  They are not Ma ry and Jack, but they are believable.  Some novels are so contrived I stop reading them after two chapters.  Others are believable, and like a real life trip, take you on a journey where you meet interesting people, see how they live, and eturn home having had a good time.  This novel does just that, but it is heart-rending.