garden

271:365


It's raining. I am still sick. I have discovered some paperwork that I thought was taken care of... is indeed not. And I still have some to do (*or do again as it were). It is frustrating.
And so... even though it was chilly and rainy... my niece and her 3 kids and I went and worked in a local garden... cleaning and picking and salvaging veggies. And tonight.... I am making home-made spaghetti sauce.

Two of the 10 books I have read over the course of this month had to do with food. One was "Eat, Pray, Love"... which was good... but somehow I felt a little let down after hearing all the hype around the book and the movie. The 2nd book, was by Molly Wizenberg and is called "A Homemade Life." This was great. Ms. Wizenberg has a really interesting writing style, and I love that she included family recipes at the end of each chapter. So... in homage to that...

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Spaghetti Sauce a la Potter County

-as many cherry tomatoes as I could pick, plus some farmer's market heirloom tomatoes that were left over in the fridge.
All were washed, and de-stemmed.
(Normally, I would have pureed them in the blender at this point...
but my niece prefers them not pureed)
- 2 medium sized cans of organic tomato paste
- 2 small organic onions, chopped fine
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped fine
- about 6 little peppers. Some were ordinary green bell peppers, some looked like chile verde, a couple were banana peppers. All from the garden... washed, no seeds, chopped fine.
- 1 small can of diced mushrooms (it was in the cupboard... so why not)
- garlic. Lots. I used the whole big hunk of garlic... which was about 6 cloves. I like garlic.
- Oregano. Thyme. Basil. About 2-3 tbs each.
-2 tbsp sugar
-salt and pepper to taste.


It's been cooking on low heat for about 3hrs now... in a huge chili pot... and it has been stirred frequently so as not to burn on the bottom. About 1/3 of it has reduced... and I have most all of the tomatoes smashed into bits so that everything is chunky, but thick ... and I am letting it cool down.
Then it will go into containers and be stored in the freezer for an easy pasta topping in the future.
**UPDATE** --this batch yielded 15 pints

252:365


As Batman says in "Batman: The Movie"... "...some days you can't get rid of a bomb!"
Today felt like that in alot of ways. It was one of those days when things just kept cropping up... and no matter how much you think you already did... there was always more. Actually... yesterday was worse..... so everything in perspective.
Some days are like that.

On the plus side... when we were "hanging out" at one of the doctor appointments, there was a huge window that gave us the view of a lovely garden... and we had a great time watching all the birds, as well as several chipmunks flitting about.

I think we are beginning to make some head-way on what seems to be an endless list of people and organizations that need notified after the death of a loved one. There is just a little bit more to go. Some of the info needs to be changed via snail mail... so that is coming as well.

And at night, as there is no TV here... and quite often no internet (ie: at my mother's house); I have been reading. This is not a bad thing. I have read several books as of late... most recently finishing one called "A HomeMade Life" by Molly Wizenberg. It was a very good read. As a bonus... each chapter includes at least one delicious recipe... which is just awesome. Makes me wish I was a better cook... or at least... at home. At any rate... I highly recommend it.
And now I am reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. So far... really good.
Both of these books talk about food... travel... and enriching your life in ways that are meaningful to you. Life is so short... and can really be complicated at times... and how wonderful is it that even in the worst of times, something as simple as a well made cup of tea ... or a scone... or even a salad... can make the whole day seem a bit more hopeful.



*photos by Elaine A. Russell

234:365


The logistics of things when a loved one passes away are interesting. There are so many little details that need taken care of... and yet, for most people; it is a time when the last thing they can realistically do is to make any kind of decision.
It's just too much.

Fortunately, my parents were open to these kind of discussions several months ago.. and we were able to "flesh out" some of the little things... what songs they like... what kind of service they like... what kind of headstone... where the burial plots are... cremation... memorial services... we even talked about flowers and places for people to make donations should they want to. We talked about dispensation of personal belongings.. and so much more. It was difficult... but at the same time... I can't imagine trying to make some of the decisions we have been faced with these past couple of days... if we had not had that kind of input from my father.

And so... this week is filled with those kind of tasks.... writing of obituaries, selection of songs/ verses/ and the formalities of memorial services... etc. The phone has been ringing almost constantly with the well wishes of family and friends... people whose lives have been touched by the kindness and generosity of spirit that my dad showed to everyone he met.

I have been trying to take my mom on a short drive daily... just to get her out of the house and away from some of the chaos and such. Today we drove a little around town, and happened to stop at a local church garden to see the flowers. The photos for today's post are from that garden.

When I saw the bee in the top photo... I was devastated because I thought he was dead. He was so big and round and perfectly adorable-- and I was crushed to think of one more being dying right now. And so... I gently touched him... and was surprised when he sat up and started to climb up the lens of my camera.
I am not sure if bees dream... but this little guy sure was taking a little siesta amongst the zinnias :)


*photos by Elaine A. Russell

perseverance

photo by Elaine A. Russell


When I was little ... growing up in the backwoods of PA...I had a neighbor up the street who had the most beautiful gardens. He and his wife were already "old" by my childhood standards .. and spent their days working in their gardens, drinking cocktails in the evenings and throwing garden parties for their friends at night. The man was a descendant of one of the first settlers in our area, and the house was a veritable museum of taxidermy animals, old books, and great china. I remember they had a taxidermy Great Horned owl that sat in one of the big windows.. and even though I knew it was there.. it always startled me. One of the first jobs I ever was "babysitting" their geese flock for a couple weeks when they went on vacation. But I digress.

I think my love of plants started then. They owned the whole back hillside as well as the property across from the dirt road by their house. This property consisted of a sizable hill full of forest, a creek, a couple ponds, an underground spring, lots of bear/ deer/ wild critters... and tons of wildflowers.

On the flat area across from their house, they had planted extensive flower gardens. One of the most brilliant flowers there was a very tall variety of tiger lily. I remember that the lady called them "turkish nightcaps".. and I imagined that little Turkish elves would come at night, dressed in all their woodland finery.. and wear the flowers as caps. I imagined that the lady elves would be wearing skirts of day lily petals in yellow and orange and red... and they would dance by the ponds under the stars when no one else was about.


Just this summer I went again to visit these woods. The properties are all "suburban" now... it was sold and divided years ago, and now there are 4 houses where gardens once stood. It is very sad to me... and yet.... I was surprised to see this one lone stalk of tiger lily pushing itself out of the ground and raising its petals to the sky...


*I just found out that one of my photos is now published in the Schmap Guide to ABQ ( see link on the right ) WOOT !

Goddess approved....


---------------------photo by Elaine A. Russell with Holga digital effects

Usually I clean the house on Mondays.. but I have been pretty sick lately, and just wasn't up to it. So, fortunately, the laundry is mostly caught up, the dishes are caught up.. and my daughter swept the floors for me.
I got to thinking about things that I really really enjoy doing. I am a gardener. I love to dig my hands in the soil. Now, if you saw my yard, you would probably question my ability to actually do this... but.
At christmas time instead of have a large real tree, or a fake tree (last year I gave our tree and most all our decorations away to a family that needed it)....we got a 2 foot tall real pin tree in a pot from Home Depot. I have been trying to figure out the best place to put it in the yard... and the best place was always seeming to be where our peach tree was(it died last year). I really wanted to put the pine tree there.. but was afraid I wouldn't be able to pull up all the roots necessary to get the pine tree in.
Well ---- low and behold.. I went to try to dig up the roots... and it went surprisingly well. Apparently I had given the roots enough time to sufficiently rot so that they were easy to pull up. So. I got the little baby tree in the ground, pulled some weeds that were trying to come up in the area... and watered it.
Just as I finished, a very gentle rain came down and assisted in watering the baby tree.... Goddess approved.