A Captive Feather

I am often surprised by things that turn up in pictures--things I hadn't noticed when I took the picture.

I wouldn't call it photo-bombing--maybe photo-serendipity.

Josie and Cranky Meema

Aunt Fay sent me another person for my castle. She is the fairy elf Surah and she has a fancy horse.

I put her with Mr. King and Mrs. Queen and Miss Lady. They are having snacks. 

 Surah has wings.

I gave her a ride on one of my trucks.

She likes it here.

I love my friends.

Then we went to check on my Scarlet Runner Bean.

It is very tall and has lots of blossoms.

It also had three beans big enough to pick and we did.

Meema cooked them for my lunch. I wasn't sure if I would like them.

But I did! 

Later in The Room I had to get ready to drive the kids to school. I had to stand on Philly to put on my makeup and brush my hair. Don't worry, Philly stays very still and I am careful.

I use Ruby's brush. 

Meema was a little cranky in the afternoon because we both lay down but I Would Not take a nap and got up. When we went back to the living room, she sat on the sofa and said she would just close her eyes for five minutes while I played. So I got out my music stuff. 

Later, when we were out on the porch with the play dough, she was a little cranky and I asked her why. She said it was because Someone played a xylophone and maracas and tambourine and rang a bell while her grandmother was trying to take a little nap. "And banged a drum," I reminded her. 

But she didn't stay cranky for long. We went back in to do some drawing and I showed her that I am learning to make letters. I already could make an O but I did A, B, C (it is sometimes backwards but that's okay,) D (I put a straight line on the backward C to make D,) E and F, I (that is the easy one,) J (also sometimes backwards,) L, M (or W depending on how you hold the paper,) P, T, and U and X and Y. I also made a S but it was hard and I didn't try again.

Maybe soon I will write my name.

What! Monday Already?

More Summertime Easy Livin'

Too many too-ripe bananas so it was time for banana bread--my grandmother's recipe and my grandmother's cooling rack. 

Once it was in the oven, I realized I'd misread the recipe and put in twice as much banana as was called for. Oddly enough, it turned out just fine--and perhaps closer to the original that I remember. I always wondered why my banana bread wasn't quite as good as hers.

Then it was time to deal with the cucumbers. These are the pickling cukes, salted and resting under ice while I made an equally large bowl of cucumbers in sour cream using the long  thin Oriental cukes.

I haven't made pickles in a while and I'd forgotten how satisfying the little dance of filling the hot jars is: lift from the hot water and empty the jar; set in in a bowl with a little hot water in the bottom; fill with hot pickles and juice; wipe rim; retrieve lid and ring from hot water and screw down on filled jar; return filled jar to large kettle; repeat.

I first made bread and butter pickles over forty years ago, under the tutelage of my dear neighbor Louise Freeman. I still enjoy the pleasure of setting out the processed jars and listening for the tiny ping that says they've sealed.

It Must Be Late Summer

When the Joe Pye Weed flaunts its mauve blooms . . .

And the Milkweed pods ripen. . .

And the wild Virgin's Bower clematis twinkles like a flowery galaxy . . .

And a Maple drops reminders of what's to come. . . 

 

.. . . and the Livin' is Easy

A.M.--pick corn, tomatoes, cukes, and zucchini. Shuck, sort, and wash.

This lunker is an Amish Paste tomato. The plant was passed on by Ginny Koranek and I am IMPRESSED.  I'll be saving seed for next year. 

The long skinny cucumbers will go into a marinated salad. The others will become bread and butter pickles.

Noon:the ideal lunch--a sandwich of fat slices of perfectly ripe Cherokee Purple tomato with homemade mayonnaise. Accompanied by iced tea, the house wine of the South. (Though I break with tradition by preferring it unsweetened.)

P.M. Blanch and freeze corn, roast cherry tomatoes, make a sauce with the other maters, save cukes for another day.

Eat dinner and count my blessings.

Down the Road

Our late neighbor Mearl used to say dismissively of some folks that they were "bad to go down the road." In other words, they were running around rather than staying home and tending their gardens.

I've never been bad to go down the road--but the pandemic (and John's willingness to do the grocery shopping) has raised my stay-at-homeness to a new level.  Apart from one socially distanced outdoor dinner with friends last month, and two trips to the car mechanics  plus one to hand off Josie to her momma in Asheville (where I never got out of the car,) I've not left the farm. 

On Tuesday, however, I answered a request from our wonderful library to come and be recorded reading some children's books for their online program of community readers. This was the FIRST time I have gone anywhere that required putting on a mask.  The mask was required to walk through the library-- we did the recording outside. 

And as long as I was out, I proceeded along to the Board of Elections to pick up some forms for requesting absentee ballots. The county offices are closed to the public but phone numbers are posted on the doors and you can call and make your request and someone in a mask will come to the door and hand over the forms. Nice! 

And done. It was pleasant to see the river again and to notice the flowers of late summer coming on. But at no point did I feel the urge to do anything else.  I'm afraid this Covid thing has outed me as a natural born recluse. 

Of course, John and Josie and her family are a regular part of my life, as well as my social media friends. I keep up with Ethan and Aileen and other family via Facebook and email. 

 So not a total recluse perhaps.  

What Elegant Fowl!

I still get excited at seeing wild turkeys. These photos were all taken through the not very clean windshield, of my car, alas, but what a joy to have captured these birds at all. 

Josie Has Some Surprises

Hey, it's me Josie.

I have an Upstairs Snugglepuppy and a Downstairs one. I brought the Downstairs one Up so they could play together.

They liked being together.

Also, I used Bobadog's comb on them. 

I made candy with my play dough. We are getting ready for a birthday party for the Snuggles.

                            

It looks very good but you must not eat it.

Here's the first surprise. The beans that Louise gave me and I planted are making baby beans. When they get big, Meema will cook them and I will help. Also I will eat them.

Down at the pond, two frogs were having a conversation. They say Ribbit and KneeDeep to each other. 

I don't know what that means and neither does Meema.

When it was lunchtime, there was another surprise--corn from the garden! I liked it except for the way it stuck in my teeth and then I had to use dental floss to get it out.

The last surprise is this: I have a baby in my belly.

On Monday I told Meema there were four babies there--two boys and two girls.  But today, there is only one and SURPRISE! he is a cardinal and he's coming out!