How Does Your Garden Grow?

Early morning moon through the trees

Martha bedazzled his walker

Red sky in the morning

Inside the hydroponics garden: cherry tomatoes

potential eggplants

lettuce and dill

This morning the red sky warning is snow.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Line Rider - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy - Tchaikovsky

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I saw a red-headed woodpecker at the bird feeder

2. The Young One sent me a recipe for sausage and chickpea soup. So delicious

3. I visited Teague on Tuesday instead of Thursday because weather and being under the weather kept us away for two weeks. We had a fun day catching up, going out to lunch, and visiting a bakery.

4. I've been wondering where the cardinal pair has been. I saw the female cardinal in the Japanese maple tree so I'm glad the cardinals are still around.

5. A month or so ago, I bought an item for some Christmas presents, but couldn't for the life of me remember where I had put them. I looked all over. I looked 4 times in the place I thought I had put them, but the fifth time was a charm! Now I can finish packing up the box to send to the Young One and her SO

How was your week?

TBT Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

  In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Stamp of the Weeble

We had just dropped the Eldest off at work.

"I need to go to the post office."

Himself paused a the edge of the parking lot, tongue sticking out, brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to figure out which direction the post office was in.

"The Sutton post office."

He snorted.

"What?"

"You sound just like your mother! 'You have to take me to the Framingham post office,'" he mimicked.

"Hey! It's not like I'm mailing a sweepstakes entry or sending a request to Nostradamus! I have to make the 3pm truck." I had an oversized package to mail to a client.

He laughed .

"Jan will take care of me."

He laughed again.

"Shut up, and take me to the post office."

"Yes, your Weebleness."

Artist Christmas Trees

 

T Stands for Festively Cozy

 

Last year in a Christmas card,  I was gifted with a sachet of Twinings Gingerbread Joy tea. It's a black tea flavored with spices that taste like gingerbread. Ginger, cinnamon, cloves,  nutmeg. Festive, warm, and cozy all in a cup.

I was thrilled to find a couple of boxes of the tea at a discount store. Since the tea is only available for a limited time, I ordered a couple of boxes from Twinings.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monet and Me

 

Monet virtually poses with the Simmer Pot jar at Grandmaster E's house.

For my Italian Thanksgiving, Grandmaster E sent a jar of her delicious, meatball and sausage gravy. 

After I washed out the jar, I wondered what I could make to send the jar back. I was taught if someone sent a plate or container of food and the item was to be returned, it should never be returned empty.

What to send? Cookies? Candy? Grandmaster E is a world-class, Food Master, and my skills are no where near her level.

A search on what to put in a mason jar came up with a Simmer Pot. Perfect because last Christmas, Grandmaster E showed her simmering orange rinds, cinnamon sticks, etc. on her stovetop.

I already had some of the ingredients in the pantry. Cinnamon sticks, whole cloves. A trip to the grocery store for some whole cranberries, and cardamom pods. I could have bought some oranges and dried the peels, but that would have taken too long as the jar was to be returned when Himself went to help Master Beef at the Master in the Morning Class. So I ordered dried oranges and star anise.

The jar is very easy to assemble and there's really no right or wrong to the ingredients. Just scents that you like. The ingredients are layered or dumped into the jar. I used a Christmas napkin to cover the jar lid. I found the Christmas pick when I was looking for a doodad to use on Ink's wreath. Festively tied together with red and white baker's twine. I even found a free, printable, tag with directions online.

Grandmaster E loved the Simmer Pot and thought it would be too pretty to use. I told her to take a picture so she would always have it.