Easter Wishes

 Whether you celebrate Easter as a Christian holiday or as a celebration of Spring's return, (or Autumn's, for you all in the Southern Hemisphere,). or don't celebrate it at all, may this day be a perfect one for you.

Easter weekend is always a big one here at the farm. Family and friends began gathering Friday and we celebrated Justin and Claui's engagement (again) that night.

Yesterday the barn got decorated, the pork got cooked , and even more friends arrived.  And there was more food and more celebration. 

And today is the actual Easter party and annual egg hunt..  All of which is to explain why I haven't been round visiting.

I'll share pictures of the party (s)  later. . . 

 Meanwhile, Happy Easter, Passover, Spring, Autumn to you, every one!

 

Under the Never Sky

 One of my students brought me this book after I'd gone on at Some Length about how much I'd enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy. There are definite similarities -- a strong heroine, a dysfunctional future world. . .

This is the publisher's book description: "Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse. 

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive. 

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky. "

 

While it didn't enthrall me to the extent that Hunger Games did, this was still a very good read with a unique premise about this future world.  I'll look for sequels when they come. 

What I found very interesting was that this is a debut novel and it's received publication in 25 countries, as well as being optioned for film. 

Sometimes dreams do come true!

 

After the Ball...

 Sun and Rain and Wind -- all have had their way with the tree peonies,

Those brazen huzzies -- weary and bedraggled . . .
 
Silken finery, drooping, fading . . .

 Reduced to crimson tatters . . .

That linger briefly but, at last, must fall.

 

Cream of Spring

 We had asparagus and spinach  in the garden, as well as a gracious plenty of garlic chives. And over where the mushroom logs are, there were some nice shitakes.  Plus I had some really tasty broth in the freezer that I'd made by simmering the woody ends of the asparagus we'd feasted on earlier  in the week with onion, garlic, and the carcass of a roast chicken, also from earlier.

First I sauteed a chopped onion in about four tablespoons of butter then stirred in the chopped mushrooms and asparagus.  When the onion was translucent, I sprinkled in about a tablespoon of flour and stirred till it was blended in.

 In another pot, I heated the broth (two cans of chicken broth would work almost as well) and stirred in the chopped garlic chives and spinach. When the spinach began to wilt, I strained most of the hot broth into the vegetable/flour mixture in the other pot and stirred to blend.

The remaining spinach and chives went into the food processor to make a bright green puree -- which then got stirred into the mix in the other pot.

The soup was quite good at this point but a tad too salty for my taste -- I'd been heavy handed with the salt when I made the broth.  So I stirred in some of Silverbell's lovely thick cream. Yoghurt or milk would have worked too. 

  

Accompanied by a quesadilla (Muenster cheese on corn tortilla,) the soup made a nice spring lunch.

 

(I wish I'd taken time to get a better shot of the final product here, but it's kind of a sin to keep hot food waiting...)

 

Here and There

 l

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tree Peony

I've been following her progress over the past two weeks . . .

She starts out shy, sealed tight in gray-green, but as the sun caresses her
she slowly unveils a tantalizing glimpse of pink silk . . . 

She is helpless to resist his heated demands . . . 

Every day she grows bolder, spreading her petals . . .  

Wider and wider till her golden inmost parts smile back at the sun  . . .

Her sisters are equally shameless . . .

Garden floozies, the lot of them . . .

 

Oh, you torrid tree peonies!  

 

Powerless

Yesterday Blogger was being cooperative and let me post a bunch of pictures in a draft ... I figured I'd write something later in the evening. The we had a huge rain storm and our power was off from about 5pm till 5:30 this morning. 

So, after getting last night dishes done and laundry started, I sat down to finish today's post...

And the power went off again.  

After about an hour and a half it came back on.

But I'm not taking chances -- I'm posting this now.

 

No Foolin'

After trying repeatedly to load multiple pictures, I'm giving up and following the lead of the brown dogs.  The past few days have been hectic  -- spring can be so gorgeous and so busy.. . 

I hope Blogger will be in a better mood and allow me to post more pictures tomorrow.