Lavender

The lavendar growing alongside the driveway is one of the few things growing in this drought.  Therefore, it deserves to be celebrated. 

Working on a Masterpiece

An uncommon sight...June focused on a project for more than a minute or two.  Here she is (in full makeup) making her magnus opus. 

Ying and Yang

Dreaming of Cooler Weather

I should have shown the non-seam side, but oh, well.  I'm happy to have it done.  Now, it's onto a quick stash-busting skirt for Christa.

Happy Birthday Clare!

Peach Pie!

We love you!



Recent Conversation

Grammy to June:  "What do you want to have for your birthday?  Cake?  Ice cream?"

June:  "Peaches, blueberries and strawberries."

Now, that's my girl! 

PINK!

More New Friends

No wonder we couldn't see it.

The bunny couldn't decide whether it wanted to be tame or wild.  She let June approach her quietly, pick her up and snuggle her for a second or two against her chest.

Yes, our grass is that brown.

Yes!

"Live in the sunshine,
Swim in the sea,
Drink the wild air"
  * Ralph Waldo Emerson

Summer Sounds

The slow, grating rasp of a cicada.

Elephants Afoot

I Needed to Read This Today

With the whole church
I affirm that I am made in God's image,
befriended by Christ,
empowered by the Spirit.
With people everywhere
I affirm God's goodness at the heart of humanity,
planted more deeply than all that is wrong.
With all creation
I celebrate the miracle and wonder of life,
the unfolding purposes of God,
forever at work in ourselves and the world.
-- From The Iona Community Prayer Book 2012

What Did We Do This Weekend?

Made art at Moxie Mornings

Baked a rustic-style blackberry pie

And made oven-dried tomatoes:

• Slice
• Scope
• Season
• Sizzle in a 250 degree oven for as long as it takes.  





No Prizes, No Give Aways, No Press Releases...

but I noticed that other day, that I have more than 1,000 visits to this blog.  Yippee!

Someone or someones are out there looking at this bit of rambling.

Probably mostly me.  The blogger statistics include even my visits to the site to design and/or edit a post.  So I guess thanks are in order....to me....and to the rest of you out there in bloggerland.

I hope you'll keep coming back. 

Penny

Korean Cool

Here's my latest toy, I mean tool, for painting.

It's my name, all 20 characters, compacted into Hangul (Korean) characters.  I had the seal created by this company, in honor of my Korean daughter, Clare.  

I'm very happy with it.  It creates it's own little painting...a painting within a painting. 

And here's the entire painting...

Arran Skyscraper

Can You Spot the Difference(s)?

Old:

New:

Send your guesses in a SASE (remember what that means?) with an entry fee of $100.00 and the winner, chosen randomly from the pile of all 2 entries, will receive an all-expenses trip for you and 40 of your closest friends to the nearest covered bus stop.

You know I'm kidding, right?  Right?

Continuing the Series

Another in the fruit collection I started earlier this year.

What a Difference a Week Makes

One hundred and sixty-eight little hours.  

It's amazing how much our surroundings can change in seven days.

Last week, I picked blackberries on Sunday morning.  Practically popping off the vines, they looked plump, glossy and plentiful.

After a week of scorching temperatures, the picture had changed.  Imagine:

• sun-blasted and dried leaves of orange/brown/red
• stunted and shrivelled up berries no bigger than the end of my pinkie
• slim pickings all around

Like most of the country, we're praying for rain.  For the sake of the farmers, the gardeners, the livestock, the produce, the wild berries.  For all of us.

All of us are in this together.

Thinking about our need for water, I had some Norma Gordon moments that past week.  For those of you who don't know her, Norma is my amazing mother.  She's my mentor, friend and inspiration.  I've learned so much from her over the years.  She still teaches me. 

She's been a conservationist all my life.  In my teens, we were the only folks on the block with a backyard compost pile.  I recall her collection and use of gray water from the kitchen sink and the showers and tubs to water to her garden and herbs.  She used every scrap of food to create a meal and nothing went to waste.  A soup pot often simmered on the back of the stove made of leftover vegetable stock, scraps of meat and vegetable odds/ends thrown into the ever-evolving concoction.  She made her own soap from leftover bits.  We always had a brick in the toilet tank to raise the water level to decrease the amount of water needed for flushing. 

With our own drought here in Missouri, I'm borrowing from Norma's book of common sense.  Plastic jugs have come out of the recycling bin and made their way into our showers and bathtubs.  I created a soup on Saturday night of:

• the nearly burnt sausage patties
• the leaves from the brussel sprout stalk I got from the farmer's market
• some crook-necked squash that only I will eat
• already cooked corn on the cob that was drying up
• several funky looking carrots from the farmer's market
• herbs from my window sill garden
• almost gone asian spinach and kale
• leftover chicken stock
• and some yukon gold potatoes thrown in for good measure

Mom, you do me proud.  Next on my list?

Knitting down the stash.

Who Knew?

... that ordinary beans could be so beautiful?

Thanks God.