Black raspberries!

Rows and rows of them!

Aren’t they beautiful?

I was going to make something with them, but by the time I got home this evening, Frank had eaten half of the quart.

I still have a couple cups of fresh red currants.

All of the bushes and canes were surrounded in poison ivy.  We washed immediately after – but I’m still praying that none of us get it.

Does anyone have a recipe for red currants?  Fresh red currants?

I’d love to make something with them, but the internet recipes are rather sparse- and my recipe books all call for dried currants.

I was thinking of incorporating them into a simple syrup and then using them in cookies and drinks – frozen of refrigerated , they would keep for a good while.

But I’d rather follow a fantastic recipe for a time honored favorite or a new creation.- Anyone have such a thing they would like to share?

They are lovely – I’m glad I picked them just to look at them!

But I’d like to eat them even more.

Echinacea at Stan Hywet

It has arrived.

It has been hot.

The flowers and veggies (and weeds) and grass are all growing.

But I haven’t really acknowledged it until Saturday.

Summer! SUMMER!  SUMMER!!!

I’ve been somewhere else in my mind… and I’m just now getting into the framework of summertime. 

Iced tea on the porch with a plateful of sugar cookies on the table to munch.

Afternoons spent walking around the gardens- paying close attention to the floral and insect displays- looking at the standout blossoms and taking in the wide panorama of green.

And watching the little ones splash in water.

Summer is not just a season.  It is a viewpoint- a state of mind- a relaxing of boundaries- an enjoyment of the senses- in a sense- time out of time.

It takes me a while to reach it- this summer state of mind.  As a child, I was there pretty much all year long.  As a young adult it was not far from view, but now it is a journey.  And I don’t always recognize how far I am away until June is almost over.  Then suddenly, like an epiphany it comes to me.

Slow down- pay attention- savor these moments.

Because now is the time to grow and ripen and be fruitful.

It’s SUMMER!!!

Sourdough starter= demanding!

Look how bad I’ve been.  Actually just busy and now down with a nasty head cold that generated a cough that shakes and rattles my head and hurts my chest.

But I HAVE neglected my starter something terrible.  So today I determined to use it and feed it and stick it back into the dark recesses of my refrigerator to work on digesting a new batch of flour.

I ended up with a delightful cottage loaf.  It is a little underbaked, but I’m going to freeze it and finish baking it later- I can’t eat a whole loaf of rye bread before it goes bad in this humid weather.

It really is quite lovely!  It didn’t blow up or lean over or split it sides or anything.

And I made some white bread for Frank- he doesn’t like healthy full grain breads.

So here is tomorrow’s toast for him.

Tomorrow I’m going to start on the recipes for the enemies presence feast.

The funny thing about going to Chincoteague in the Autumn, Winter and Spring is that I probably won’t be spending much time there in the summer.

And going in the other seasons is beautiful, but I need to go with someone who isn’t so difficult to talk into a couple of fun diversions rather than just WORK< WORK< WORK!   My dear husband is great for getting stuff done, but not much for going to the beach or even out for a seafood dinner.

So, when I was scanning Robin’s photos of her garden, I ran into some from Chincoteague and it started all kinds of memories of time spent there with her.

Robin and I always had a good time- no matter what we were doing.  Jobs became times of good fellowship, long car trips were spent in planning and speculating on what we could do in the future and marathon prayer sessions, and when we  got together to plan or organize an event, the brainstorming discussions  were exciting.  But when we were on vacation- everything just was easy.  Times and outings and adventures flowed.  No problems, no disagreements- just acceptance and compromise and good times.  Looking at these pictures brought back that special time in that special place- and I was looking at Chincoteague with new/old eyes.

I thought you might enjoy seeing the island rather than just the house.

Enjoy!

The first two pictures were Robin’s – I didn’t scan in as many as I thought.

The last three are from last summer- before Meredith bought the house.

Just a little taste of the island this June 11, 2010.

Happy thoughts.

I went to a birthday party for my friend Mary Jo, today.

I wasn’t going to go.

I have social inhibitions and driving phobias.

Mostly I stay in comfortable and close proximity to my home.

Usually, I am driven, rather than driving.

Normally,  I would have come up with an excuse and stayed home.

But – I’ve been pondering on this all week, crafting good excuses, feigning illness, pretending I couldn’t afford it- and it finally came down to today .

And I kept hearing Robin’s voice in the back of my head.   Giving me advice.  Actually, giving me direction.

“Go!”

And then a dry low chuckle, ” Just go.  Mary Jo is your friend.  You should go and enjoy yourself.  What kind of a friend are you that you don’t want to go?  JUST GO!”

So I went.

All the way there, I kept talking to her.

Whining, actually.

“I hate driving.  And it’s raining.  I love Mary Jo, but she wouldn’t have really missed me.  I could have baked her some bread and made her a card and taken it over to her house and that would have been fine.  I don’t like to do lunches. Well, I like lunches.  I just don’t like lunches with lots of people there.

And if this is such a good idea why didn’t you stick around and do it yourself?”

OK- I recognize that this is not rational.

But it is real.

Tomorrow will be the 12th anniversary of  the day Robin died and I’m still talking to her and taking her advice.

Because I did go, and I DID enjoy myself.  And I think I am a real friend.

Just a little crazy.

I was born in June- the flower for that month is roses- and for years I was unhappy that the flower for June was not the ox- eye daisy.  You have seen the ox-eye daisy – it grows wild on the side of the road.  The clumps dot the landscape, especially when you are driving on the PA turnpike.  There they look like decorations set out for Spring and early Summer frivolities- like fairy cotillions or ring around the maypole dances for young children.

I can’t find a picture of the daisies right now- although I’ve been trolling about the internet- actually I’ve found some beautiful pictures but don’t have the expertise to upload/download one- so you will just have to do with a picture in your own imagination.  Because – although I LOVE daisies, I’m beginning to have a real appreciation for roses.  And that is what I want to concentrate on anyway.

I think my problem with roses has been the sheer untouchable beauty of them.  They have an intimidating look to them that I associate with fashion models and women who have that look of being well “put together”.  Do you know the look I mean- hair,makeup, clothes, shoes, jewelry all coordinated to the  point that they are nearly perfect?  I am like a blow-away dandelion next to these tea rose ladies.

But roses in wild abandon- those that grow on bushes that are a little unkempt and unpruned- now those I can relate to and enjoy!

Sometimes they have perfect blossoms, but they are not preening or highlighted – just blooming because that is their nature.

Blooming because it is their time. 

Blooming because they must.

Blooming to the glory of God, their maker.

Blooming to blaze the earth with beauty conceived in eternity.

Blazing roses!

*** Appearing now in a neighborhood near you!***

I borrowed this idea from Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

It is fun to have a look at other’s interests and gadgets (I LOVE gadgets!)

In my kitchen

…I have all kinds of wooden utensils .

Peels and steamers, pastry cutters, spoons and a couple mortar and pestles,

I didn’t put any rolling pins into the picture, but I love my kitchen wand in the center of the wooden spoons- the handle has been turned on a lathe and the end is just long and thin- it’s so great for stirring in skinny spaces.

In my kitchen

there are oils – EVOO, sesame, rice, grapeseed, and flavored oils of Peruvian lime, basil, lemon- most of them in beautiful glass bottles!

In my kitchen

…are glass measuring cups and glasses.

In my kitchen

…is fresh ground Indian cornmeal- and corn pudding.

In my kitchen

…is a hand worked stone grinder.  I use it for whole wheat berries- but I’m going to see how it works on corn.

In my kitchen

is a wonderful tea pot and a generous supply of Royal Milk Tea

(thanks to Meredith!).

In my kitchen

…are packets of vanilla beans and homemade vanilla.

What is unique and fun in YOUR kitchen?

Do you see it?

I didn’t.

NOW I see it.

But he keeps doing this – leaving stuff around that will bite, trip, entangle or hit me in the head.  And then he tells me I’m accident-prone.

Seriously, this hammer is lurking about-waiting to get me again.

I think it liked the taste of my blood.

I may be accident-prone- but that doesn’t mean he isn’t out to get me.

OUCH!!!