My Little Orange Kitchen

Love Nest

A 

My friend Kim and I are a strange duo. I can honestly say we are the most different exactly alike pair ever. So many aspects of our personalities contrast, yet it seems that we are often freakishly in-tune. Sometimes I think we wouldn't even have to have a conversation. . .words don't seem needed when you just get someone's vibe in a second or two. 

I was recently inspired by watching this and knew that Kim would be game for doing a little nature art installation of our own.

I asked her if she wanted to meet at the beach to create something like a nest and I had no idea what we'd end up with. Of course, she was all over it and she brought her daughter Molly along for the fun.

The base of the nest was made from gathered driftwood and I think it would have looked pretty all by itself, however, I was feeling so happy and dare I say, "Lovey!" that when Molly gave her final approval on the love nest idea and set about collecting red rocks for the heart in the middle...my own heart soared. I love that we took it to the next level.

Kim and I busied ourselves collecting white rocks to fill the nest and let me tell you...she's a saint because I made it very clear at a certain point that walking on sand and picking up shirt baskets filled with rocks was a workout. I may have made it clear more than once! :)

While we were working on the project, Kim and I chatted about everything from having babies and selkie stories to our struggles and positive personal realizations.

Molly eventually tired of red rock collecting, but gave me a gorgeous peice of sea pottery she found and you know this made my day! She also wandered a bit and made friends with a little girl playing nearby. The sun was shining, it was warm and we had such a nice afternoon. I just love how much Kim gives her the space she needs to explore and grow.

It was a nice time and I love that we made something impermanent, out of found materials and within a short period of time.  I hope people walking on the beach see it and get a smile.

Speaking of which...this little smiley bird in the nest was worth all the rock hauling in the world!!

Flower Fairies

This is a long post--you may want to get a cup of coffee or tea!

Things have been hectic here and the rush to get our condo on the market, prepare for Art Street and stay on top of special orders for wedding wallets is all very exciting and fun, but the condo work in particular takes a toll.

I'm not a great fixer-upper and neither is Mark---actually, we seem to have some sort of block and it takes us days to paint what other people get done in hours. Fortunately, our place is finally ready (just a few more chores) and will be listed here on Friday. Our agent Jane wants me to stop stressing out over every little thing. 

Last Sunday I was having an early morning melt-down about cleaning our garage and when Mark decided to sleep-in I decided not to go at it alone. I called my mom and headed for services at the White Star Church in Door County.  The church sits on a vortex and when we gently drive over the gravel and grass to park the car, I always feel my energy shift.  It's green, peaceful and even though it has been a few years since I attended services, I felt like I was coming home.

Now, the truth is, I like the land (there's a small outdoor medicine wheel and fire pit) and the little white church more than anything else, so the service is just an added bonus.  There are usually only 10-30 people in attendance and Mary (the pastor) leads people through a meditation, lesson and then delivers spirit messages. This week there was an added bonus of a flower spirit meditation.

Mary has a spectacular flower garden in Kewaunee and her husband Dale spent the early morning carefully cutting flowers and then completely decorating the altar with glass bowls and vases filled with evey variety...orange, red and yellow roses, lilies of every color, geraniums, phlox, sweet peas, daisies, gerbera daisies, pansies and many others I can't name.

We were invited to come up the altar and choose a flower to hold during our meditation. I chose a cluster of pink sweet peas and it was wrapped around a single deep violet pansy.  As Mary led us into a meadow (in our minds) we were asked to gaze upon our flowers and connect with their energy.

At first I saw nothing and settled for just looking at the pretty colors, but gradually each one began to glow and suddenly I was face to face with a tiny pink and a tiny violet fairy! They weren't making any sounds, but I heard this high pitched but pleasant singing coming from around them and suddenly it seemed to settle into them, like they channeled some sort of universal song so they could sing it.  They looked at me with the strangest eyes I've ever seen...not like fairy eyes in pictures, more like large alien eyes, but in soft pink and violet.  It was at this moment that Mary's voice crept in reminding us to let our fairy(ies) know that we were especially open to any messages they may have for us. 

This was not my first encounter with fairies, but it was the first that felt so personal...they seemed so compassionate and attuned to my energy. I can't say that I heard them, but I felt their message and the word regeneration kept coming into mind. They seemed to be trying to get me to understand that I am transforming and that I need to believe in my ability to regenerate and grow healthy cells throughout my entire body...that soon I will have the deep rest I need and that my body and spirit will heal. At first I was alarmed, I wondered if they were telling me I had cancer or something! However, it soon became apparent that they meant my overall health and that I needed to be patient and a little kinder to myself (I've found it difficult to make time to cook/eat well this summer) and that soon I would have time to rest and regenerate.

Then they faded away and I came back into the church and Mary gave spirit messages to six people. Mary can't give messages to everyone, but tries to give as many as possible. I was especially moved by a woman who came up to the altar to receive her message from her mother (through Mary) regarding self-esteem.

After the services, both Mary and Cyndy (the president of the church) commented about my sweet peas and how even though I didn't receive a spirit message from Mary, that the sweet peas were perfect for me...since I am after all, the sweetest of sweet peas. :) I looked them up and the extended meaning is:   

Departure, Blissful pleasure, Thanks for a lovely time

It seems perfect for someone soon to be leaving their Green Bay home, friends and family.  I haven't thought too much about moving away from friends here, I've been too busy, but perhaps it hasn't sunk it yet.

Another flower connection happened when my good friend Christine won Petal Pusher's flower giveaway and asked that they be given to me!

Mark picked up this lovely vase of dahlias (the picture at the top is a close-up) and wow...talk about flower spirit energy!

They were one of the first things the realtor commented on as we walked into our dining area.  Thank you to Christine and to Petal Pusher.

Oh, and that reminds me...Petal Pusher does more than flowers, they have gourmet dips and dressings, jewelry, candles, purses and a whole slew of eco-friendIy gifts, I found this flower tote for my grandmother there.  She loves purple flowers.

Trendi totes are made by my fellow Aquarius friend (we even have the exact same birth-date)! Andrea from old billboards! I never knew that billboards are made from vinyl. I guess it makes sense because of the exposure to the elements, but somehow I always thought they were paper.

One of my favorite Petal Pusher items is the glass bubbles filled with plants and baubles. My grandmother will be happy with hers since it is low maintenance and she won't have to worry too much about it. Petal Pusher still has a nice selection of Little Orange Kitchen Wallets and passport cases too. 

Rose wrapped everything so nicely and I love the brown signature petal ribbon.

Grandma will pleased with her items...these will last about a day:

And in closing....I'm loving my black-eyed Susan vine...it makes me think of this blogging friend.

Note: I won't be attending the Farmer's Market On Broadway today...there is a mermaid blue hallway just calling out to be painted white by this evening. 

P.S. I've added a link in my sidebar to Healthy Thoughts on-line...lots of good articles.

Rubies Of The Field

I almost called this post "We Got The Beet", but I know there are so many variations in blogland on beety titles, that I skipped it...(but,of course, I couldn't skip mentioning it!).

Speaking of skipping...I can't believe a week has gone by since the last post. When I first started reading blogs, I was always annoyed when a blogger disappeared without any notice. I was all "Come on! Your public awaits and that includes me, so get to it, I have to see what you bought at the thrift shops in Astoria or wherever!" Now, I see it's easy to lose time.  Not that I have a public who awaits, BUT there are a few of you out there. :) I'm sorry...I do have a few posts planned for this week and of course want to get over to your blogs and into my email to respond to your comments.

OK...lots to tell, and also a recipe, so here's the long story made short:

• Always a bride, never a bachelorette. Mark still hasn't made the full transition to his new place and I'm getting antsy...sorry babe, but I was looking forward to hosting a Christmas in July bash sooner rather than later.
• These are the latest item in the studio...look for lots made from maps this week.
• Golf courses at midnight. My friend Kelly and I celebrated her birthday and part of it was spent sneaking on a golf course at midnight after a thunderstorm and walking on perfectly soft grass in bare feet. The best reflexology ever and we didn't get arrested! Score!  Really, I'll never forget it. Oh, and she also had us walking on a nature trail in the dark carrying sticks of sandalwood incense...heading back to the car and picking up the wisps of sandalwood we'd left behind was fairly incredible.
• The June Food Project was a flop. I didn't plan well and meals went haywire. Try and try again. Though eating local is going great.
• I have no idea what I did to earn the good favor of a vendor at Farmer's Market, but she heaps bags upon bags of produce on me and refuses to take any money.  This week she gave me four heads of root-on butter lettuce, three bunches of green onions, three bunches of radishes, kale, beets and cilantro!
• In other news, my father in-law celebrated a birthday and we survived an unusual display of his fury over being seated close to the kitchen of the first restaurant we went to. Notice I said the first restaurant. Yikes! He's never made a scene in public before, so we cut him lots of slack.  My brother and nephews are in town, my weight is up and I found some awesome paper to make wallets out of! Whew.

The Recipe:

OK. I love the idea of red velvet cake, but not the food coloring....in fact, I've always been appalled by it, especially when it bleeds onto the traditional white frosting.  A a few years ago when I was at the White Star Psychic Science Church, Reverend Mary Larson Taylor came in with a pretty heart shaped cake that was chocolate at first look, but kind of maroon at another. She explained it was a beet cake. A natural Red Velvet Cake? Be still my beeting heart. :)

I've been thinking of it for awhile and since I was recently gifted beets, I decided now was my chance. I did some Internet checking to see what recipes were out there because I needed to check my memory against them...Mary had told me, but I wanted to be sure.  I found lots, but none seemed right, so improvisation works wonders.

Here we go:

Preheat oven to 325.

• 2 cups pureed beets (cook as you want-either boil, steam, roast or microwave...I peeled and roasted mine in a pan with some water. Or just puree two standard sized cans of beets-I had to use one in combination with my roasted baby beets in the pic above)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 sticks melted butter
• 1.5 cups plus 2 tbsps sifted flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (do not use melted baking chocolate)
• 3 eggs

Combine sugar, eggs, water and cream of tartar...mix until smooth and creamy.

Combine rest of dry ingredients and slowly add them to wet ingredients...I used a food processor and the mix was so velvety smooth and rich that I was almost afraid to add the beets, it already seemed so perfect.

Add your pureed beets.

Mix gently until combined. Pour into prepared (in my case heavily buttered) pans (I used 2 nine inch rounds, but this would make a 13x9 or 24 cupcakes). 

Notice the pretty maroon shade of the batter.

    
Bake for 30 minutes (less or more depending on your pan)...Mine took about 25-30 minutes. I checked them a lot because I was afraid my improvising could result in a cake that never "set-up."

Remove from oven and cool.

I frosted one layer and gave the other away plain. I was out of cream cheese, so I just used confectioner's sugar, butter and milk. However, you could use any frosting or skip it all together.

If the next picture fails to turn you on, you must be a Taurus, like Mark. Taurus men and women are such sensualists that they think frosting ruins a good cake.

To be fair, the cake, when finished, was brown in natural light and only slightly maroon in bright light...but, let me tell you that this cake was the best cake ever! So moist and rich I almost fell on the floor twice!  Plus, it contains almost two pounds of beets and you'd never know it! 

It could be tweaked to get the sugar and butter content down and even though I used organic unbleached flour, wheat could work too. Intuition made me go with cocoa powder because it seemed like a better binding agent than melted chocolate, but who knows...just trust me...this was amazing.  I wish I had a better picture of the color, but you can see how that little crumb on the top in the frosting is maroon-ish. Though, no one will exclaim over how red it is...which was OK with me.  

 
Tips:

You could mash your beets with a potato masher if you do not have a food processor, just add a little bit of water.

This cake is so moist that it does have a sticky top, so you could always dust it with confectioner's sugar before frosting if you want a flawless finish...I didn't.

I also wanted to make you all aware of an awesome project...Guerrilla Gardening. It started in the U.K. and is now happening in cities all over the world! 

Take back vacant and untended city land and make it beautiful...it's against the law in some areas and this is ridiculous. Imagine having to creep out at midnight and have a lookout while you quickly try to get flowers in the ground in front of a crack house in the hopes you don't get arrested!     

OK, most of it isn't that extreme and they've only been hassled by the police once.  This is a rather non-serious segment on it, but you get this gist and check out the site if you want to be inspired.

Yellow Poppies

I've been loving some new color combinations lately...pinks with orange and yellows with blues. The poppies are from my garden and were the only two poppies flowering, but I broke their stems while weeding, so inside they came. The tablecloth is an Ebay find...the only thing that would make it even more perfect for my new phase would be if it happened to be trimmed with pink or orange pom-poms (pons?) or heavy fringe. I'm loving pom-poms lately too.

I want to share some shocking news with you.

Pepperidge Farm lied to us!

I know. You guys already knew this, but even being the label reader I am and ever suspicious of corporate marketing strategies, I still bought the whole Pepperidge Farm is like good old fashioned homemade song and dance for almost thirty years.

Maybe it's because of those 70's/80's  commercials...."Pep-ridge Faaaaaaaam remembuhs" or perhaps because the cakes and cookies seemed so natural looking compared to Oreos and Hydrox, I just assumed the products were all natural with the exception of a few preservatives. HMPF! I knew they were owned by a corporation, but had no idea that they put such crap in some their products!

I noticed a display in the grocery store today and picked up a frozen cake, turned it over and was floored to read that not only does it contain high fructose corn syrup and Lake number 5, but it also has three grams of trans fats per serving! It has partially hydrogenated oils! And not in such minute quantities that it gets to skirt the labeling and put 0 on the box. I was stunned.

I came home and went to the website and sent a horrified message.  They do have some natural crackers, but it's the cakes that were such a special treat when I was a kid. My mom would pick one up once in a blue moon and my brother and I loved how perfect and square they were, the icing super smooth and the best part was eating our pieces slightly frozen. Oh well. I had no business even looking at the frozen cakes anyway, but I'm glad I did (it was their key lime cake that pulled me away from frozen berries). Does anyone else remember those commercials and how they made it seem like everything was so pure and old fashioned? 

OK...Blog Anniversary Give-Away Number Three! Remember this?

Well, I've loved it long enough and now think it needs to be passed on to someone else who needs to remember to "Breathe" now and again too. You know the drill...just leave a comment by Friday. You don't need to have a blog and you can be a first-time commenter...really, it's OK. I know there are many lurkers out there!  Don't be shy! Comment early and often (agaahaha). 

You can comment on any of the Giveaway posts by Friday 11:59 pm central...I'll do drawings for everything on Saturday. 

Now for more good news! My Etsy shop is being featured on Rachael's Miles Away in France blog on Tuesday!!!!! Please go check it out. I love it when sellers and bloggers help other sellers and bloggers! Thanks so much Rachael. She makes such nice things herself...this little lady came all the way from France to amuse Mark by doing yoga on our DVDS.  Oh, and Rachael's daughter happens to be named  Laura...what's not to love?  :)

I love her dress and it reminds me of the kind my mom made for me when I was a girl. 

   

Pretty In Pink

Just a few pictures of what's happening around the condo...I can't bear to kill the dandelions, though our board sprayed  pesticides without notice (again)...I hope the dandelions have mutated and that they spread all over...I can't believe they spray when we have so many dogs here!!

Thank goodness my organic nasturtiums  (for salads when when they flower) were not outside when they did it. The seedlings are doing well and I just put them in pots outside, so they missed the toxin bath.

 

Crystal Visions

I can't be the only one who thinks this crystal looks delighted to nestle in the soft green wood violets after a recent rain.  It amazes me, but things are still flowering over here. This is Wisconsin people!!!!

It's almost 3:00 a.m. and I have a full workday tomorrow (today)...but I've been up doing some baking and just overall getting things done. I just made a cup of Sleepy Time tea and am headed off for a few hours of rest.  Sleep tight all...or in reality, Rise & Shine!

Love Apples

Tomatoes used to be called love apples because of their rumored aphrodisiac qualities....just a little tid-bit I learned when I was about eight, but one that wowed my very un-wowable dad when I mentioned this on a camping trip when I was sixteen.

I've been thinking about that trip a lot lately. We camped on Pleasant Island in Maine and it was just the two of us until we met up with his girlfriend and headed for New Jersey. My dad made us tortellini with pesto sauce on his tiny one burner backpacking stove. I spent most of the trip writing letters (that I'd mail later) to my new boyfriend in Chicago and not as much time bonding with my dad as I wish now.  Though, it was on a long walk that he mentioned a poem and quoted a line about love apples when I said, "Tomatoes, right?."  My dad stopped walking, raised his eyebrows and exclaimed, "Verrrrrrrrrrry good!"...This was high praise in my mind since usually he just expected me to know things. Let's just say my brother and I weren't kids who got rewarded for good report cards. To him, it was ridiculous to reward us for something that was expected.  I'm not sure I agree, but that's how it was.  A few years before he died he gave me a card (Girl With The Pearl Earring) and wrote in it that he was proud of the person I'd become.  I'd had a hard adolescence/early adulthood and went way way way off the path of straight and narrow for many years...so that card meant a lot.      

Anyway...this little tomato plucked right off a vine in my garden doesn't have flawless skin, but is so sweetly heart shaped that I had to post it.       

Fruits of the Harvest

Three posts in two days! I'm on a roll and I'm not even off of work. My other tomatoes didn't do all that well this year, but the Romas are always a sure win. Next year I may just keep them in pots on our patio because our condo neighbors are not happy about my tomato cages lining the side of our unit. I've mentioned before that for the most part, we have a very flexible condo board, but one of the men on it doesn't care for me too much and this summer has made it clear. Yesterday I arrived home to find over half of my 15 year old climbing rose bush gone.

He's in charge of the grounds (we have a nice rather park-like setting and can basically decorate as we please) and had warned me against training my rosebush to climb the gutters (the previous owners started the process). I told him that I planned to trim it because part of it was dying anyway, but to be honest, I have not had the time.  Rich is the kind of guy who likes to wield his power and instead of just calling me up and telling me that either I trim it or he does, he hired someone to cut it way down.

I'm hard on myself when things like this happen.  I often feel defensive about my new gardening skills.  Our end unit affords me more space than many here and I'm still learning. Often our garden looks scraggly and messy.  This is because I still have not found the perfect mix of plants that will bloom all summer long, we've only been here for two years and there were no plants other than the rosebush and peonies when we moved in.  My friend Sherry is a master gardener and said it takes three years for a perennial garden to really come into its own, so I filled in the empty spots with tomatoes which pleases me, but most of the residents here are older and moved here to retire after having had spectacular gardens, so my efforts aren't always appreciated.

The sad part is that this makes me feel shame...Isn't that odd? If I'm outside watering or weeding and a group of them pass by on their way to the pool, I feel disapproval and this makes me feel embarrassed. Plus, Mark and I don't park both cars in the garage most of the time, and they hate this.  It's funny to realize that I give them so much power...it's really odd to feel shame over something that shouldn't be a big deal.  Besides, we're the youngest residents (by years and years) and frankly, we just live differently.   

When I arrived home yesterday to see my rose bush cut in half, I felt angry because I just knew it was done to teach me a lesson, not just because it needed to be done.  I spent the morning tidying up our patio, porch and front walk because all the sudden I felt judged. It was good to get things tidied up for fall, but I did it for the wrong reasons. I have to work on this part of myself.

I'm going to take the opposite stance and thank the Universe for providing someone to do the work that I should've.  Maybe I'll share my newfound reflections with Rich when he walks by and smugly asks me how I like my "new rosebush."    

Speaking of fall...I took this picture of the field/woods next to our house (condo) and can see that fall is fast approaching. I cross my fingers that we'll get the full blaze of orange, crimson and gold this year. Last year, fall came early and we went from green to brown almost instantly.

Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday and fall my favorite season, but I'll confess that whenever I find a new blog I usually head straight for the December archives to see how the blogger spent the winter holidays...I love learning how people celebrate and what foods/gifts/family and spiritual rituals  are most important to them. I'm looking forward to posting more this fall and winter myself.

Off to work!                  

Tinkerbell

 

I get annoyed if someone refers to me as "cutesy", but I'm thirty-eight years old and look at my purse.  Sigh. What can I say?  This is less about the purse and more about the fairy. At some point in our lives we have to cop to what we believe and at about twenty-four, I copped to the fact that yes, I believe in fairies.  Ethereal, earthy, or cutesy; I love them all.  Fairies fall a little behind my true obsession (mermaids), but I believe more in fairies...but, aren't little ocean sprites kind of like mermaids anyway?

I've never seen a fairy, but I know they are out there.  When I'm outside I feel all kinds of swirly little beings and while I'll admit I might be startled if I actually saw one indisputably real and in full fairy regalia, I'm very happy with the wispy little sparks seen out of the corner of my eye.

It looks like we are going to have a bumper organic tomato crop (I use the term loosely, we have three whole plants) this year.

The Roma's are doing the best and are growing super fast!

This German variety is said to be excellent for sauces. I like the shape:

The grape variety hasn't bloomed yet, but I heard they start late. I've never been one to call tomatoes fruit and even though I know technically they are, they'll aways be thought of as a vegetable in my little world.

I seem to do well with purple, pink and orange flowers.  Here are some of the pinks:

I'm off to Chicago until Thursday. It's my grandmother's 85th birthday and she's celebrating with her best friend Almeda who came in from New York for the occasion.  They've been friends for over sixty years! They both admit it hasn't been easy. They met when they were wild single mothers in the 40's, so you can just imagine. Plus, their interracial friendship was not always appreciated.  Almeda is a lot of fun and it's nice to visit with someone who always sees me as perfect.  She's very warm and even Mark, who is normally fairly reserved, fell in love with her. She thinks he's the bee's knees too. Hmm...maybe it's a good thing she lives in New York.

My grandmother loves pink and brown (orange too...she recently reminded me that she had the first little orange kitchen in the family) so I made her a pink and brown wallet and some other things, plus I'm giving her the only things she really cares about...Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!! I put a few in this recycled bakery box and then made her a brown paper origami crane. I made a ton of them for Christmas gifts last year.

OK all!  I'm off! Back on Thursday!  I'll close with a picture of my favorite purse...can you guess which one it is?  Nothing like a little overkill!

It really is a great purse...

Seeds Are For The Birds...

What I know about gardening couldn't fill an eggcup.  I've managed to make a garden (or rather, do some landscaping) with the help of Sherry and Joan.  However, one thing I've learned is that usually...if you plant it, it will bloom.  I love how the things I put in last year popped up this year with no help at all.  It blows me away to know that I didn't cone my roses, protect things from freezing, or do anything special and everything is popping up like crazy!

Jill mentioned the other night that seeds don't seem to work for her. Seeds-shmeeds is my motto. I don't want anything to do with seeds. Just give me the plants. I know skipping ahead in the growth cycle isn't always wise, but let me tell you, in this case it isn't self-sabotage. 

When Mark and I got our first apartment on Denis Place (which to this day, my grandmother still calls Penis Avenue) fourteen years ago for $300.00 a month, I was thrilled to have my first postage stamp sized backyard. I planned an herb garden and maybe just a few easy vegetables like corn and pumpkins.  I had fantasies of inviting all the underprivileged kids in the neighborhood to come over around Halloween to pick out a free pumpkin.  Of course, press would be invited (not by me, but by a neighbor who thought the whole town needed to know what I was doing "for the kids") and I imagined how goddessy I'd look as I smiled down on an especially scrawny set of freckled twins with grateful tears in their eyes as I handed them each a pumpkin.  A publisher would invite me to pen a memoir about the whole gardening experience and it would be an instant bestseller.  I had big dreams.  Anything was possible.                      

The first nice day in Spring, I went out armed with an old spoon and a rake to clear about three feet of the grass.  After fifteen minutes (it seemed the pyramids could have been built in less time) of pulling grass out of the still frozen earth, I wasn't quite sure gardening was all it was cracked up to be.  I decided that having plants come up with the grass was more natural and abandoned any idea of clearing space. I raked around a bit, but soon I got bored with the whole planting in rows idea and decided straight lines were for suckers and I wasn't buying.  I sprinkled my seeds and hoped for the best.

I was thrilled when I saw a few sprouts about two weeks later, but then our landlord came by and I guess he wasn't as invested in the joyous smiles of small children as I was because he mowed the whole yard!!!! All that was left was a tiny green bean plant, which I tied to a piece of doweling in the middle of the yard to protect it from future visits from the blades of death.  By the end of the summer we harvested exactly one tiny brownish yellow curl of a bean.  So much for fame, fortune and my um...strictly altruistic plans. 

I tried again ten years later at Mico Femina and rallied the girls into landscaping around the store.  The first thing I did was clear all the scraggly weeds from around the parking lot only to have Naomi and her mom inform me that I had just ripped out lilys! Then, I picked up some wildflower seeds because I thought it might be cool to have a wildflower garden in front of the shop and Naomi's mom told us that wildflowers might take three years to actually flower.  I'm an instant gratification type of person and that just wasn't going to cut it.  I planted some sunflower seeds in cups and when they didn't make it through the transplant, I decided to throw in the trowel. 

I gave the girls (my employees) a meager budget and let them do what they wanted. As far as I was concerned, the bloom was officially off the gardening rose.

Almost three years ago we moved here (to our end unit condo) and somehow the garden muses found me.  Friends gifted me with already established plants and Janet turned me onto free stones found at construction sites and my small garden was born.  I enjoy being outside with my herbs and flowers and have made some peace with my inner gardener.  However, I never plant seeds. I don't follow rules. I never wonder why my annuals keep coming back. I never spray chemicals on the plants and all in all I enjoy and let it happen. I win some, lose some and I can't name half the plants I have flowering, but that's OK.  I have three foot high weeds I'm not pulling just in case they're late summer bloomers and I don't care what our fellow condo owners think.  It's fun and other than watering them, I follow no rules.

Well, maybe just one.  The only tiny rule I've made for myself is to look at it everyday. Gardens change moment by moment and if you look away, you just might miss things like this:

Look at the baby on the bottom reaching up for its mom!

Bluebells are my favorite!

Climbing Roses!

\

Ready for outdoor smudging...

Just because I don't follow the rules doesn't mean I don't admire people who know them. Leslie Land has been a hero of mine for years and I love her humor and her approach to both gardening and cooking.  She's someone who knows the rules, but isn't rigid and I soooooo think everyone should visit her blog. And if you can ever read the book and watch her PBS special titled The 3000 Mile Garden, you'll be romanticizing mulch ham for the rest of your life.

Ok...off to bed.

The Trip To Bountiful...Before & After

Ready for minimal processing...

Minimally processed...

I braved the Bellin Run traffic to get to Farmer's Market before work this morning. The market is looking good this year and I was happy to see more vendors.  I'm hoping the atmosphere begins to feel more festive and upbeat.  When we lived in Madison I was able to get to the Dane County Farmer's Market at the Capital quite a few times and miss it.  Fruits, vegetables, crafts, jewelry, ethnic foods, cheesecake, music, baked good and tons of plants...a good time was had by all.  I loved the excitement I felt and picked up from other people as we made our way through the crowds.  In Green Bay, the crowds are less (a plus) but it lacks the celebratory atmosphere I associate with Farmer's Markets.  However, this year we're off to a good start...more crafters, plant and prepared food vendors for sure.

Before I opened my old store (Mico Femina) I had a small space in a shop directly across from the Farmer's Market lot. I assumed our traffic would be unusually heavy on Saturdays and was disappointed when it wasn't. I'd walk through the market passing out soap samples and pointing out the shop across the street and while everyone was nice, it was clear I wasn't getting with the program; swoop in, pick out your vegetables and get the hell out of the "dangerous downtown area". There aren't even any picnic tables to encourage coffee drinking/muffin sharing/people watching.  I remember telling my mom that the people in Green Bay were "a bunch of duds!!!!!!!!."  No hate mail please...I'm a convert, but it was how I felt at the time.  Things have changed and with the number of vendors this early in the season I'm optimistic. 

On the way home I stopped at a garage sale.  I guess the guy who owned the overloaded house enlisted his male friends to help him lighten his load (he was clearly quite a collector/hoarder).  None of these guys looked like they'd ever seen easy times and to be honest, some looked fairly rough/roughed up.  However, they were pleasant and I was very touched by the idea that these scratchy faced toughies in the "dangerous downtown area" would put bubble wrap around my vintage items (all for $12.00...not exactly the deal of the century, but a pretty good one!)

I love that old fashioned glass refrigerator storage dish so much better than the plastic stuff.  I try to get them cheap whenever I can. 

Goodnight all! 

A Rare Appearance...

Her leg over the leaf just kills me!

As does the placement of this stone over my patch of thyme.

Wish You Were Here!

OK, first I apologize for the blurry picture ... I tried but couldn't get a better one. My camera wouldn't focus and perhaps that's symbolic of my life lately. I'm having a hard time focusing on much and who knows? Maybe it's a good thing.  I've had a terrible few days and probably need to turn my attention to better things...   

I love old postcards and usually choose them for the pictures not for what's written on the back, but I found a stack at Somewhere in Time this morning and began reading through them. Most were fairly boring and rather formal. Apparently people sent out cards just to say "give mother and father my best."  Few were newsy, no one wished anyone was there and none held my attention until I read the back of the one shown above.

It was written in 1938 by a woman named Helen and sent from Springfield, MA to the wild west...Oconto, WI. It reads:

Hello out west--I'm certainly progressing by leaps and bounds--if not financially, at least geographically! Moving north again on Tues. Hope you're well, say hello to mom! Love, Helen   

She's a woman traveling alone in 1938 and she clearly has a sense of humor. Plus, I get the feeling Mrs. C.R. Keith was not impressed. Helen's card, when held in your hand, gives off the energy of one who is thrilled to be on an adventure and is pretending not to realize the people at home don't approve. This made my day.

Then I found some thrifter's gold...linen that is, vintage and over a yard!! Perfect for some throw pillows and maybe small bag for Farmer's Market. Nancy? Will you help me sew?

Later, I turned away from my computer and saw my small painting/drawing/crafting corner with new eyes...tiny and messy, but homey and me.

Then sight of my Bleeding Hearts made me keel over in awe! This was a 4 inch plant two weeks ago!!! If you look closely, you'll see I'm not the only one who was knocked out!

   

My garden is coming up all on it's own!!! I love perennials!

Then I made a key lime pie, had a great phone call with a friend, and am going to bed in about 15 minutes. I have tomorrow off and only a few chores to do around here.  Really, in spite of all my recent inner angst, the outside of my life is actually looking pretty good.  So, what can I say, but more of this please.

Hey, would anyone be offended if referred to my blog readers (all 12) as my Kitchenettes?  AGHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAAHA!
Goodnight all.       

Happy Birthday Dad!

My father died unexpectedly almost 8 years ago.  A few days later, his girlfriend Joan brought home a box of his belongings from his office (they worked together).  This vase was among his things and Joan told me my father had taken to bringing flowers into the office...a quality of life upgrade kind of thing (no doubt encouraged by Joan who is a master gardener and who probably supplied most of the flowers). He put them in jars or various non-flower-meant-for containers and finally a man he worked with decided he should have a proper vase and gave him this one. I love it and love that my father, at sixty years old, decided to keep something so pretty on his desk. And that his male employee contributed a vase to his efforts. It touches me.  This vase and its story means everything.

The tulips were supposed to be purple, but they came up pink.  As my dad would say, "Oh well, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye."
 

       

Hokey-Dokey

I’m not a super-duper fan of lawn ornaments (especially the hokey wood ones that look like little old ladies bending over with their bloomers showing), but somehow the people who love me think I’m just a lawn ornament kind of gal.  I get new ones every spring and I even got two this year at Christmas. Hmm…we never see ourselves as clearly as others do.  Are they misreading me or am I misreading me?

This one was a gift from my grandmother whose almost 28 year hiatus from cancer ended yesterday.  She called me last night very shaken up. In spite of the fact that she has been feeling well, the results from a check up I took her to last week were bad.  She’s scared, but she’s also tough…we shall see.

Anyway, today was gorgeous here and I was at Home Depot looking around and found a plant with tiny purple flowers called Fairy Thimbles…what’s not to love?  I decided that grandma’s gift (which would have remained stashed in the garage until who knows when) needed to come out for the summer. 

She’s hokey, but I do adore her…and the fairy too.