Fun, People and Cookies

   June is surely a party month.  Weddings, graduations, birthdays.  Father’s Day.  Any excuse to have people and food, what fun! 
   Our excuse was my granddaughter’s graduation from high school. E is a beautiful star; appearance, personality and talent.  I have been printing note cards from her paintings since she was six.  She will be attending Herron Art School, IUPPI in Indianapolis this fall. 

The Big Day

One of her paintings made into a card

   It makes us pause, where did our years go? How long ago it was that we were handed our black diplomas.  How will her dreams compare with her reality?
  For now, we will find joy in the dreams of our children and pray for their wellbeing.  At E‘s party.  we shared stories with family and friends; played with the little ones and enjoyed the food. 
   I was struck by a beautiful tray of cookies supplied by family friend, K.
The almond flavored gems were delicious and I wanted the recipe. 
   And there by lies a story. 
K’s Mom was a student at a University in Ohio long ago, where she was a member of a Sorority.  She met her husband there and they went on to have four children.  Life wasn’t easy, as so often happens, but K’s Mom knew how to make lemons into lemon aid.  At the age of 50, she found herself divorced and job hunting.   She had been employed most of her adult life, except when her children were little, but at this stage of life she was looking for a new start.  Remembering the fun and rewards of sorority life, she was encouraged to try being a house “Mom” at a sorority.  That is how she became  a House Mom at a Sorority at an Indiana college.  Fifty girls to plan for, to console and to encourage.  There were dances, parties, and naturally, cookies to be baked.  K’s Mom didn’t leave all that for the kitchen staff.  She pitched right in when needed and baked those cookies.

   .
   That is where this recipe comes from, and why I will call them “Sorority Sugar Cookies.”  They are thin, delicate and pretty to look at. 
.  No doubt she had fun on her job as House Mom and her cookies were a great success with all her girls. 
  K’s Mom  was not only a baker and a charmer, but a mother.  She passed along her knowledge and ambition to her children. 
   Her daughter K earned her doctorate and another daughter became an accomplished nurse.  Many people have benefited from their dedication to their work to help others.
   K, now retired, recalls with admiration the work of her mother.  She has her mother’s special   cookie recipe that she shares with friends.  K, much like her mother, knows the value of encouragement and is quick to praise the work of young people.
   This sugar cookie recipe is time consuming, but worth it, tasting like a delicious wedding cake.  It is to be saved for special occasions, like a graduation party  or a sorority dance.

                               Sorority Sugar Cookies
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, soft but not runny
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Combine and mix well P. sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract and egg.
Add dry ingredients that have been sifted together. 
Beat, but do not over beat.
Cover and chill for at least 4 hours.
Oven temperature 340. (Ovens vary, may need higher temp.)
On lightly floured parchment paper roll out a portion. Roll ¼ inch thick. Keeping rolling pin dusted with flour, cut cookies leaving space between.
Remove dough between cookies, slide parchment paper onto cookie sheet and bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are beginning to brown. Do not over bake.  Cool.
Cookies may be decorated with colored sugar before baking or with a glaze.
                        Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
3-7 teaspoons milk
1/3 cup almond slices (toasted or plain)-sprinkle a few on top of each glazed cookie.

Travel and The Gardens

     Pink and turquoise plastic birds decorate the grounds of Newfield. Not only that, there is plastic every where.  Plastic snails in the halls of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. No! Yes!
 These displays are "Cracking Art" and were produced in Italy.  A select few museums are incorporating them with other art.
   Plastic developed from petroleum is molded into birds, snails, bears, wolves and an elephant. 

   There is an environmental connection between each of the creatures and art; all on display at Newfields

   Indianapolis Museum of Art is one part of  152 acre Newfields, which includes the Lily House Estate and Gardens, Greenhouse, and the Virginia Fairbanks Art and Nature Park (along White River)   There is an interesting history lesson found in learning
the development of Newfields.
   The walk from the museum to the greenhouse is extensive, but worth it.
Along the way we saw volunteer gardeners (Master Gardeners) replanting beds with cannas, coleus and begonias.  I was struck by the vegetable garden, resplendent with rhubarb, asparagus, cabbage ready to harvest and potatoes two feet high.
   One vegetable bed was surrounded by a wattle fence to ward off the rabbits.  A wattle fence is a construction of intertwined sapling poles.
How they kept rabbits from the garden that was not similarly enclosed I have no idea.
  We saw unfamiliar plants; acanthus and bottlebrush buckeye which covered a large bank.  (We asked the volunteers)

   The greenhouse was a bevy of tropicals; orchids, bromeliads, succulents and others I did not recognize.
   Visiting the Art and Nature Park would have to wait for another trip.
   My gardening trip did not end on that high note.
   From Indy we traveled to Rockville, (Parke County Covered Bridge Festival). E and I toured the  friends' private garden. It has been an attraction for friends for years.  No wonder.  It must have taken years to develop this remarkable place.

   A goldfish pool with water lilies; a gazebo and all sorts of plants.

It is a garden to admire but  not try to duplicate.  A smart person knows when to enjoy the work of others ;and to be satisfied with what he has.
  It’s all right to continue weeding, don’t rest on your laurels.
  The Cracking Art will be on display at the museum and grounds until August.