June 2010 Archives

Tidbits

on June 23, 2010 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I finally got into the garden along the sidewalk on Monday. I filled TWO wheelbarrows overflowing with the daisies I ripped out, and I'm only halfway done. I deadheaded half of the coreopsis. The rest will have to wait for the weekend.

I'm suffering finger problems. In May I was treated for a fungal problem. The antibiotic worked....for a bit, and then the problem seemed to rage back, and other fingers became infected. It seems that this time I have a bacterial infection, so I'm on more antibiotics and a topical cream. No gardening for a couple of days.

BUT, I don't mind so much, because my oldest sis is taking me to hear the Dixie Chicks and the Eagles in St. Louis. Frankie, my youngest sis is also going. We'll come back for the weekend, and then Frankie and I will go to Indy to hear Michael Buble sing. I have never been to a rock concert, and I haven't been to see a performance other than Mozart for years and years, and now, in the space of less than a week, I'll get to go to TWO! Thank you, my dearest sisters!

I was working at the computer in the living room earlier this week and out of the corner of my eye saw a young deer walk around the corner of the house. I think it must have been the same deer that Frankie saw when she was walking her dog, Sidney, this weekend. I think it's also the same deer that has helped itself to a beautiful, tall rudbeckia in the herb garden that was just blooming! I was looking forward to the contrast of the golden blooms against a dark purple clematis on the arbor and now all that you can see are the chewed off stalks. Hmpf!

An on-line friend, Mike, from Scotland, had bypass surgery this past week. I've been waiting to see him pop up on-line again to reassure me that he came through the surgery well. It's really tough to sit on the sideline as on-line friends go through troubles like this, and not be able to keep track of their progress. If you believe, would you please say a prayer for his well-being? If not, I'd be happy if you think positive thoughts and send that energy his way. Mike....I hope all is well!

Friday night my washer died in the rinse cycle with a load of Dear Husband's work clothes left soaking. This was just as guests were coming for the weekend. We had a full house until 9:30 on Sunday. Monday, we bought a new washer, and took TWELVE loads of laundry to the laundromat. We brought them all home to dry, and on the first load, the drier died. I feel rather like the character Al Capp drew who had the storm cloud that followed him around. The washer was delivered today, and the drier was repaired. All is well in time for me to go to the rock concert!

I hope you're all faring well, with the storms coming through, and the heat. Remember to hydrate!

Leftovers

Buffy

on June 13, 2010 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This has been a leftover weekend. When Dear Husband goes to sail for a weekend, I try not to cook. I eat salads and sandwiches, fruit, and junk food. (My bad.....I'm still working on that junk food habit.) THIS weekend, I've had an abundance of leftovers from two meals that were eaten out.

Yesterday, I heated up the garlicky poor boy sandwiches for lunch. At dinner, I had the second half of Frankie's Shrimp Caprese from Olive Garden: shrimp and angel hair pasta with tomatoes, butter and garlic. I also had a slightly wilted salad that came home with that meal, and the fruit salad I had made on Friday night.

Today, there was just one little box left (thank God!). I had half a serving of Shrimp and Asparagus Rissoto, and a slice of the pugliese bread from Trader Joe's.

I now have eaten enough garlic to have a lifetime immunity to werewolves, and I may have single-handedly supported the Wisconsin dairy industry with all the butter in those meals.

Come to think of it, the AMA may be collectively rubbing their hands, thinking of the money they will make from either re-educating me about eating habits, or caring for me if I keep this up.

But, I'm really glad that I didn't have to cook, and I wasn't restricted to a simple sandwich.

Food.....glorious food.....

Sister Time

Buffy

on June 12, 2010 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am very blessed to have had the chance to spend three days with my youngest sister this weekend. You may know her as Frankie, of Just My Opinion. Frankie teaches kids at risk, and August through May, her calendar is SO booked up that it's tough to get more than a day or two together other than major holidays, and even those can be tough to schedule.

She arrived on Wednesday afternoon, and we kibitzed and caught up on family news, and then Dear Husband fixed his famous Caesar salad with marinated chicken chunks. I added bowls of strawberries, mandarin oranges, and a plate with tomatoes and olives. It's a good thing dinner was light because the food really flowed the next two days!

Frankie and I went out about 7:30 and worked in the gardens for three hours. She helped me to dead-head the peonies and cut back iris. I pulled weeds and she hoed out some invasive clover. Each time we drove by that garden for the rest of her stay, I slowed the car so that we could "Oooooh and Aaaaahhhhh" over how beautiful the garden looks now!

We were going to work on her quilt top on Thursday afternoon, but we seemed to need a bit of couch potato-ing instead. We read magazines and sat with feet elevated, and schmoozed. We collected my stepson and Dear Husband and went to Olive Garden for dinner. Our waitress must be good at pinball. She was incapable of setting something on the table without hitting something else. Luckily, nothing was spilled.

Friday morning we went to my regular exercise class, cleaned up and headed down to visit with Elegante Mother. On the way, we stopped at Trader Joes. I want to tell you that it is NOT MY FAULT that I bought all that candy. This was the second time in a week that I got to visit Trader Joes. The first time I brought home chocolate covered raspberry sticks and English Toffee. This time, I replaced the toffee that mysteriously disappeared, and also picked up chocolate covered peanuts, and praline pecans. Ohhhhh, isn't a sugar high wonderful while it lasts???

Elegante Mother is doing relatively well. She still has a little cough, but even that has improved. Frankie brought her new pictures of her family, and we also gave her a lovely apricot colored miniature rose, and a purple orchid from Trader Joes. The orchid really made a hit.

I have to tell you that Frankie is VERY careful about what she eats. She doesn't binge, and she doesn't eat empty calories, and she doesn't overeat. She's very selective about what she puts into her body, so it can be difficult to decide what to cook when she comes to visit. She, on the other hand, chooses to give up those restrictions when she comes to visit. That's how we ended up at Merishka's having garlic poor boys for lunch. The buns were just soaked in a garlic-butter mix, and the sandwiches were so oversized that we could have purchased just one. We each ate half our sandwich and brought the rest home. Thank you, dear Sis, for the garrrrrrrlicky lunch!

Our next stop was a quilt fabric shop to see if we could match a piece of fabric. You know that the answer was NO....and you probably also know that we both left the store with about seven yards of fabric unrelated to the projects on which we are working. (We just couldn't resist! Frankie is already planning her return visit.)

The last stop of the day was Caputo's Fresh Market. It's a store that carries virtually every fruit and veggie that you could want, as well as an amazing array of Italian foods. The deli area alone really deserves an hour or two to peruse.

Dear Husband broiled flank steak for us. Frankie sautéed mushrooms, I made a fruit salad and baked potatoes, and we cut into a loaf of bread from Trader Joes. Mmmmmmmmmm! Hit the spot.

I had to say goodbye to both Dear Husband (who went to sail for the weekend) and Frankie, early this morning. Frankie would have liked to stay one more day, but there were two engagements calling her at home. Her social calendar is astonishing!

Sooooooooo.....What does a girl do on a free, rainy day?? (Grins)

Fresh Oregano

Buffy

on June 12, 2010 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have five oregano plants in my herb garden. Each of the five would like to multiply, but I've discovered that five oregano plants provide enough oregano to supply all of the collar counties around Chicago, so I'm pretty ruthless about ripping out new starts.

Our weather is running at least two weeks early in terms of temperature this year, so it was time to trim back the oregano. A master gardener who specializes in herbs told me that you can cut back a third of a plant at a time and still have a viable plant. A few years ago I asked Frankie to trim back the oregano and she took it back to a mound about three inches tall and the plant was actually healthier for the haircut. In all fairness, I had not trimmed for the previous two years, so the plants really needed that cleanup.

Thursday morning, we cut back chives, oregano and catnip when we worked in the herb garden. I have an over-abundance of oregano and catnip. I put together fifteen large bunches of the oregano and took them to share with the members of my exercise class. I surfed for some information on how to use fresh oregano, and shared that along with several recipes.

In addition to what I've already given away, I have TWENTY-TWO bunches of oregano and ten bunches of catnip. They are bundled and tied to an old-fashioned wooden drying rack that's sitting in my dining room. The entire house has an Italian smell to it.

If you wish to dry oregano, tie the stems together and hang them in a warm, dry, well-ventilated place. You can store the branches of dried oregano in a paper bag, in a dark place, and then crumble the leaves off as you need them. Storing whole branches helps to keep the volatile oils intact. If you don't have the space, you can crumble the oregano once it's fully dried and then store it in a glass jar out of sunlight.

If you are fortunate to have fresh oregano, try toasting the leaves lightly in a pan and add them to your favorite chili or taco recipe. You can sprinkle oregano leaves over feta, drizzle with olive oil and serve with olives. You could grill slices of provolone cheese that have been sprinkled with oregano. When the cheese is warmed and starts to melt, spread it on crusty fresh bread. Or, you can add fresh oregano to salsa, or to sautéed zucchini and onions.

Here's a link to a recipe for fingerling potatoes with Oregano Pesto that I'll be trying this summer. Get out there and harvest your oregano, or find a friend who will share. There are loads of great recipes that use oregano!

Doin' The Happy Dance

Buffy

on June 8, 2010 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My youngest sis, Frankie, of Just My Opinion, is coming to visit tomorrow. Yippee!!!! She'll be with us for several days before she has to get back to her family.

A year ago, she called me from a fabric store and said, "They're having a fabric sale. How much should I buy?!" She picked out fabrics for a Log Cabin Quilt, and brought with her a book called "Quilt in a Day." Now, there are SOME people who can actually make a quilt in a day, but I'm really not one of them, and it seems Frankie isn't either. We've been working on the top of this quilt for the past year, with two hours here and two hours there, separated by months of other activities.

I believe that we may actually finish the quilt top this week, and Frankie plans to send it off to my favorite professional machine quilter. She'll be able to wrap up in this quilt within a month or so.

YEAH!!! I just love finishing projects! I've been clearing them off my shelves right and left this year. I won't ever run out of unfinished projects, but I'd like to get them to the point where they are more manageable, and they don't take up so much room. THEN....I can start using up my fabric making MORE QUILTS!!

I love it when plan comes together. See ya tomorrow, sissy!

Deadheading

Buffy

on June 3, 2010 8:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

According to Wikipedia:

"Deadheading can refer to the following:

* Pruning in landscaping and other plant care.
* Deadheading (aviation) - the transport of off-duty crew to their next assignment.
* Deadheading (railroads) - the movement of non-revenue personnel or equipment to a position required by schedule."

This is the season for deadheading iris and peonies. We dead head the iris for aesthetic reasons. The stalks with shriveled, dead flowers are not the prettiest sight, so once we have gotten to the end of the bloom time, I cut back the stalks and dispose of them.

The peonies, if not dead headed, will create a seed pod. Rather than have the plant put the effort into making seed that I don't want, I cut off spent blooms so that the plant itself will grow and become hardier. Elegante Mother taught me to cut the stems back to shape the plant for the summer.

Soon, I'll need to deadhead coreopsis plants to encourage them to continue to bloom.

I should be deadheading the daisies, but instead, I plant to either dig them up and give them away, or I'm going to prune them back so severely that it would be considered more than deadheading. We have masses of them this year, and with the recent rain, and the heat of summer coming early, they have gotten lanky and are leaning out from the center of the pods. There are so many of them that you can hardly get up the sidewalk.

So, I have my work cut out for me (no pun intended). The gardens will look better, and the plants I want to keep will be healthier. We'll have greater air circulation and each plant will get more sunshine.

Summer's here.....and it's time to be in the gardens!

« May 2010 | Main Index | Archives | July 2010 »