Saturday Morning at the Library

 

When I was 5 years old, I was forced to take dancing lessons while the Brother was forced to take accordion lessons. I hated dancing class. The Knights of Columbus Hall where the classes were given had no heat or it wasn't turned on. I hated wearing the pink beginner tights. I liked clacking around in the tap shoes, but Ma wouldn't let me practice inside the house on the wood floors. I spent most of my time in class being miserable and crying. Eventually, I was taken out of class.

While the Brother still had to endure accordion lessons, Dad took me to the library. He would leave me upstairs in the children's library where I could look at the books and choose to take some books home with my own library card. As I got older, I would go downstairs to the adult library and wander among the stacks enjoying the scent of the books before going to find Dad in the reference area consulting the law books and catching up on his work.

So for the next several weeks, a list of my favorite books, some I have read as a child, others as an adult and some  I have read more than once.

This week, Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence. If you haven't read this book, you can read a preview here. You can also find this book in your local library or favorite bookstore.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week

1. Got 3 "meals" from the first  zucchini of the season. Sautéed some, spiralized some for a casserole, and made Flo's zucchini bread

2. New phone and Apple changed their lightning cord to a USB C. The new phone came with the cord, but didn't come with a plug. The new phone doesn't have the right goesinta for the plug or USB car jack. Why Toyota can't use Bluetooth is beyond me. Anyway, the Young One  found the right size dongle adapter. And in blue!

3. While cleaning, I found a dollar on the floor

4. Today is day 3 of another heatwave!

5. We got an invitation to the Grand-Nephew's first birthday at the end of the month.

How was your week?

Flo's Zucchini Bread Recipe

 

Iris asked for the zucchini bread recipe. Flo (Prissy on the blog) was very generous and I don't think she would mind if I shared her recipe especially since today would have been Flo's 95th birthday.

The recipe makes two loaves and is a sweet bread. You can probably cut down on the amount of sugar.

Ingredients:

3 cups All-Purpose Flour

2 cups Sugar

1 cup Vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground cloves

2 1/2 - 3 cups grated zucchini

1 cup walnuts (optional)

1 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 oF.

Grease two 9 x 4 inch loaf pans

In a bowl, grate zucchini and drain well. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.

In a second bowl beat eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients in the large mixing bowl. Stir to combine.

Fold in zucchini, walnuts, raisins.

Divide batter between 2 loaf pans.

Bake on middle rack in oven 45 - 60 minutes until a cake tester poked into the loaves comes out dry.

Remove loaves from oven and allow to cool 15 minutes.

Turn out loaves onto a cooling rack and allow to cool thoroughly.

Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee.  Happy Birthday, Flo! ☕💐 I really miss you.

Whatcha Doin?

 

I used part of the zucchini Himself grew and baked some zucchini bread. I used the recipe given to me by my neighbor, Prissy. When we first moved here 35 years ago, She gave me zucchini from her garden and her recipe for zucchini bread.

We were nearly finished with the first loaf when I remembered I needed a picture for the blog post. Prissy's recipe makes two loaves. I'm really missing the old girl because I would have called her up, told her to put the kettle on, and then brought the second loaf over to have tea with her. And now missing her even more as I look at the date. On 12. August, she would have been 95 years old. Happy Birthday, Prissy! 💐

Whatcha doin?

T Stands for A Day in the Life Journal Page

 I combined techniques from three of the Workshop Week 2021 workshops to create this journal page. Draw Your Day in Shapes with Samantha Dion Baker, Creative Journaling with Amy Tangerine, and Learn to Sketchnote with Emily Mills.

Follow the grey path to see how I spent my day. I really enjoyed these workshops especially the sketchnoting. I borrowed the cloud-shapes from sketchnoting to make the draw your day in shapes. 

Capturing the day in pictures reminds me of  our dear friend, Eileen's planner from The Artful Crafter In memory of Eileen, how many beverage cups did you find?

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.

Society of Scribes Workshop - Brush Lettering

 

The Italic Brush Lettering workshop was taught by Massimo Pollelo. I watched the video several times and took notes.  I'm transferring my notes to my art journal using the Sketchnote technique I have mentioned before.

Massimo recommended using a Winsor Newton series 995 3/4 in. flat brush. He liked this brush because it keeps a crisp edge while remaining flexible. I had a Sceptre Gold II 1/4 in. (6mm) flat brush and that's what I used. The brush requires a different grip which was a little awkward to get used to after working with a steel nib for so long. But the awkwardness will fade with practice.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

 

Some new fairy garden stakes I found.

Carrying home wishes

Tiptoe

Blowing in the wind

Leaping over a wish. Oh, dear. Somebody needs to weed the garden.

Himself was complaining that one of MY burrowing critters has been eating the blossoms from Audrey 2

But I think it's because Audrey 2 is sprouting zucchinis

An Update on Mysterious Bird Death from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has recommended that bird feeders and bird baths can be put back outside. The number of bird deaths hasn't increased and the disease hasn't been seen beyond the mid-Atlantic , mid-West and Southern states. Though there isn't a definitive answer to what caused the bird deaths, there is some thinking that the deaths corresponded to the periodical cicadas. Either the insects were infected with a fungus or people had tried to eradicate the bugs with pesticide. All that to say that it would be safe to put the bird feeder and bird baths back in the garden.

Cherry tomatoes. My favorite!

A morning glory seeded itself in the middle of the backyard.

The first zucchini of the season

Beautiful sunset that

made the sky look like it was on fire.

Himself got to the tomato before Timex did. The tomato was delicious.

And the birds are back.

How does your garden grow?