“She started running water over the cereal bowls, with bits and pieces of cereal already hardened on them, and the sippy cups, smelling like grape juice. Sweet. Sickening smell, she thought. And the stickiness drove her mad. After she placed the dishes in the dishwasher, She looked out the window. Yes, that’s there I’ll plant my hummingbird garden, in that corner. Just a small space at first. Nasturtiums along the fence. Foxglove, Cosmos—and what else did Bea tell her? Hmmm. Dahlia. Oh yes, Annie loved Dahlias. She thought she’d get some red Dahlias if she could find them. A nice bright little red feeder in the middle of it all. “ —from Scrapbook of Secrets.
In the every day ordinariness of life, we all need spaces of joy, spaces where our minds are free just a bit—just like Annie, in the passage above. Sometimes we need to look up, glance out the window, and escape for a moment.
For me, that place has always been outside and many times, in my own garden. Don’t get anything fancy in mind. I love growing herbs, vegetables and a few flowers. One of my favorite plants in my Bleeding Heart, which I bought from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. I’d love to have a hummingbird garden like Beatrice in my book has—the one Annie is longing to plant. Just the idea of the garden soothes Annie as she goes about her daily chores. I really get that.
It’s so important for each one of us to find that thing—whether it’s gardening, scrapbooking, or knitting. Whatever brings us joy. A place where we’re not judged, a place where we feel safe, where the rest of the world melts away.
Even in today’s “connected” world where we have to participate in almost warped speed, it’s important to step back from it all sometimes and shrug. Stand firmly in your skin. Breathe fresh air. Remember who you are.
What is your thing? How do you connect to yourself? Or even escape from reality from time to time?
Showing posts with label Garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garden. Show all posts
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Recipes, Please!
Okay, I admit it. I’m a mediocre cook. Maybe even worse.
I wasn’t always this way. I used to experiment with all kinds of recipes, and actually came up with some pretty good meals. But I tried to keep them relatively healthy, which didn’t always please my sons. There were certain things they liked, and others they snubbed. Now they’re grown and living on their own anyway, so it’s just my husband and me around. My husband is one wonderful and tolerant guy, so when I take shortcuts in what I serve, he’s fine with it.
But now I’m faced with a dilemma. Some very dear friends have planted a garden in our spacious backyard since they live in a condo with relatively little room for planting. The garden is bearing a lot of great veggies now, but because of some unexpected family issues our friends are traveling at the moment.
Which means that I need to figure out how to serve some of these veggies that are now ripe and won’t survive till their return--although we will give some to other friends, relatives and neighbors. But we want to eat some ourselves, of course.
Help!
If you can point me to recipes you particularly like, whether online or otherwise, I’d really appreciate it. Or post them here in comments. Please!
For what? Well, although there are tomatoes in the garden, I’m definitely not a tomato aficionado so I won’t cook with them or otherwise eat them. I know how to cook the green beans and have done so--and love them. The corn ripened before, and, yes, I knew how to cook it, too.
But what I need is good recipes for peppers (yellow ones that are supposed to turn pink when ripe... although they seem pretty ripe to me). Also, we’ve an abundance of eggplants and are beginning to get some zucchini. The Brussels sprouts aren’t ready yet, and I’m not sure the artichokes will ever be.
One other thing. As you probably figured, I’m really into doing things the easy way these days. The fewer ingredients and steps there are in recipes, the more likely I am to try them.
And, yes, I know there are numerous culinary cozy mystery series that are devoted to cooks, chefs, shops that specialize in certain kinds of edibles (like cheese shops and coffeehouses), and others involved with food who solve murders, too. If I ever got an idea for one of them I’d relive my olden days of enjoying cooking so I could include recipes with my story, as many of these series do.
But as you know, I write my mysteries about pets, not plants or food. The best recipe for dealing with pets is love, not cooking (unless you want to cook your pets’ food, of course).
As a result, any suggestions would be welcome!
So... what’s your favorite recipe for eggplant, zucchinis or peppers?
I wasn’t always this way. I used to experiment with all kinds of recipes, and actually came up with some pretty good meals. But I tried to keep them relatively healthy, which didn’t always please my sons. There were certain things they liked, and others they snubbed. Now they’re grown and living on their own anyway, so it’s just my husband and me around. My husband is one wonderful and tolerant guy, so when I take shortcuts in what I serve, he’s fine with it.
But now I’m faced with a dilemma. Some very dear friends have planted a garden in our spacious backyard since they live in a condo with relatively little room for planting. The garden is bearing a lot of great veggies now, but because of some unexpected family issues our friends are traveling at the moment.
Which means that I need to figure out how to serve some of these veggies that are now ripe and won’t survive till their return--although we will give some to other friends, relatives and neighbors. But we want to eat some ourselves, of course.
Help!
If you can point me to recipes you particularly like, whether online or otherwise, I’d really appreciate it. Or post them here in comments. Please!
For what? Well, although there are tomatoes in the garden, I’m definitely not a tomato aficionado so I won’t cook with them or otherwise eat them. I know how to cook the green beans and have done so--and love them. The corn ripened before, and, yes, I knew how to cook it, too.
But what I need is good recipes for peppers (yellow ones that are supposed to turn pink when ripe... although they seem pretty ripe to me). Also, we’ve an abundance of eggplants and are beginning to get some zucchini. The Brussels sprouts aren’t ready yet, and I’m not sure the artichokes will ever be.
One other thing. As you probably figured, I’m really into doing things the easy way these days. The fewer ingredients and steps there are in recipes, the more likely I am to try them.
And, yes, I know there are numerous culinary cozy mystery series that are devoted to cooks, chefs, shops that specialize in certain kinds of edibles (like cheese shops and coffeehouses), and others involved with food who solve murders, too. If I ever got an idea for one of them I’d relive my olden days of enjoying cooking so I could include recipes with my story, as many of these series do.
But as you know, I write my mysteries about pets, not plants or food. The best recipe for dealing with pets is love, not cooking (unless you want to cook your pets’ food, of course).
As a result, any suggestions would be welcome!
So... what’s your favorite recipe for eggplant, zucchinis or peppers?
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