A CUCUMBER BAG & A RECIPE

If you've never experienced
the joy of accomplishing more
 than you can imagine, plant
a garden....

~Robert Brault

....and learn to knit.

I completed my  cucumber bag,
and am already using it.  It
was nice to mindlessly knit
something that turned
out to be so useful. I might
have to have one of these
on the needles at all times.

Tried this with all the fresh
cucumbers that have been
harvested. I have plans to
make it again and serve it
with toasted pita chips.

What is your favorite way to
serve cucumbers?
xx

WEEKEND: REUNION

You don't choose your family. 
 They are God's gift to you,
as you are to them. 

~Desmond Tutu

weekending, my favorite part of the week. a time to relax, live, love, just to be. if you'd like to share your weekend either with words, photographs, or both, leave a link to a weekend post in the comments.
This weekend was...

A family reunion for my
beloved's family and
getting to visit with my 
favorite aunt of his. We
talked and laughed
for hours. She 'gets' me!
Being amazed [still] at
how large his family is
when mine is so small.
Sunday was spent walking
with the camera, enjoying
all the changes that are happening
as we head into summer.
Finally finishing the body of
my produce bag and casting
on the handle. Continuing to
water the garden and
wondering when rain will come.
Preparing for a cookout on
Monday and getting ready
for the first week of our
summer holiday as Cloverdale
Academy is closed for the
summer. 
xx

Happy Memorial Day

Linking with Amanda.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. xx

A WISH

"All you need is deep withing you
 waiting to unfold and reveal itself.
 All you have to do is be still and
 take time to seek for what is within,
 and you will surely find it."

~ Eileen Caddy

I wish you time ~

to watch a sunrise:
to enjoy a bird sing:
to feel the breeze on your face:
to watch a flower unfold:
to be still and dream:
to be still and pray.

Happy Thursday.
xx

YARN ALONG

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Linking with Ginny ~Small Things

I am still knitting along

on my produce bag.

There is no pattern:

I cast on

stitches:
not counting:

join:

mindlessly
knit while
watching the
pressure cooker
gauge until
I think its big

enough :

cast off.

Handles will be

completed the

same.

I am just starting

to read:

Heaven is for Real.

It is about a four

year old little boy

who, while having

surgery, enters heaven.

He survives the surgery

and later begins telling

what happened when

he was in heaven. He

describes Jesus, angels,

relatives long deceased

and God. I now know why

this book is on Amazon's

bestseller list. An

excellent read.

xx

[ZUCCHINI] CUPCAKES

The first gatherings of the garden in May
of salads, radishes and herbs made me feel
like a mother about her baby -
 how could anything so beautiful

 be mine.  And this emotion
of wonder filled me for each vegetable

as it was gathered every year.  There is
nothing that is comparable to it,

as satisfactory or as thrilling, as gathering

 the vegetables one has grown. ...

~ Alice B. Toklas

...And then baking something
[truly] wonderful with them.
I linked to it yesterday,
but after listening to
the [compliments] and
seeing how fast they
disappeared, I thought
I should link [again] just
to be sure you didn't miss it.
[Now] if I could just grow the
metabolism of a teenage
boy!
xx

WEEKENDING: SILENCE

Everybody should have his personal sounds
 to listen for - sounds that will make him
exhilarated and alive or quite and calm....
 One of the greatest sounds of them all -
 and to me it is a sound - is utter,
complete silence. 

 ~Andre Kostelanetz

weekending, my favorite part of the week. a time to relax, live, love, just to be. if you'd like to share your weekend either with words, photographs, or both, leave a link to a weekend post in the comments.
This weekend was...

Bright blue skies and the
return of temperatures in
the 90's.
Beloved working out of town
and the children off to  different
events so the house was
mine [and the dogs].
There was silence...no
cells phone ringing, music
or television playing...
just a peaceful silence.
There was a lot of hose
dragging to water the gardens
and blueberry bushes...
Have I told told you how dry
we are? So dry that I have
'crunchie' grass in May!
We need rain ...bad.
Two dozen more jars 
of green beans were put up.
Baking these for when the
guys all return home and
planning this for dinner.
Having no coffee at all in
preparation for the cleanse
I have started today.
There was time for long walks
and time to 'smell the roses.'
How was your's?
xx

Joining with Amanda ~ the habit of being for her
weekending post.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. xx

STRAWBERRY

"The Strawberry: 'Doubtless God
 could have made a better berry,
 but doubtless God never did."

~ Dr. William Butler
17th Century English Writer

Strawberry season is
drawing to a close
for another year.
They were good
although the season
always seems so short.

Our best way to
enjoy a strawberry?
Stand in the  middle
of the strawberry patch,
pick and eat...
Sweet and Simple.!
xx

YARN ALONG

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Linking with Ginny

 I am still knitting the cardigan
and at this rate probably will
for years and years. I needed
something that was a little smaller
to throw in my bag when I take
a car ride. I decided to make
another produce bag since I
am discovering I need a few more.
This one is in a green cotton with
white string running through it. I
plan on using it to hold cucumbers
since that is what it looks like,
don't you think?

I am reading The Crazy Sexy Diet on
my Kindle and my daughter is
reading the book. We are getting
ready to start the 21 day cleanse on
Monday.  It looks pretty easy since
this is the way I usualy eat...except
I have to give up coffee!
There might be a problem.
xx

What are you up to this week?

GRANDMOTHER [OLIE] AND DONUTS

"If God had intended us to follow recipes,
 He wouldn't have given us Grandmother's."

~ Linda Henley

She asks every morning for one
and every morning  I say No...
until now. 

I found a recipe for the two
of us to follow...I am a grandmother
so it's in my job description....
and we set to work.

Everyone  should have a donut
at least once in a lifetime. xx

DONUTS:
2 packages yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup coconut oil
5 cups all - purpose flour
oil

Dissolve yeast in warm water until bubbly, about 10 minutes.
Add sugar, milk, salt , eggs, and oil. Mix well. Slowly add flour
mixing well. Knead until smooth. Cover and let rise until double,
about 1-11/2 hours.
Roll  1/2 inch thick and cut out donuts [I used a biscuit cutter and the top to a spice bottle].
Let rise 30 minutes.
Heat oil to 350 degrees. Fry in small batches, turning to brown both sides.

Dip in icing:
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2-4 tablespoons hot water.
Mix well until smooth.

WEEKENDING: PRESERVING

“Cookery, or the art of preparing good and wholesome food,
and of preserving all sorts of alimentary substances in
a state fit for human sustenance, or rendering that agreeable
 to the taste which is essential to the support of life, and of
pleasing the palate without injury to the system, is, strictly
speaking, a branch of chemistry; but, important
as it is both to our enjoyments and our health,
it is also one of the latest cultivated branches of the science.”

~Frederick Accum (1769-1838)

weekending, my favorite part of the week. a time to relax, live, love, just to be. if you'd like to share your weekend either with words, photographs, or both, leave a link to a weekend post in the comments.
This weekend was...

Cutting off the air conditioner,
opening the windows and feeling
the cool breeze blow through the
back screen door...thank you!
Harvesting beets, greenbeans,
squash, tomatoes and peppers.
Making fresh tomato sauce instead
of canned to bake our pizza .
Washing a million [!] jars and
 running the pressure cooker
nonstop to preserve food for winter..
and feeling very Ma Ingalls.
Starting a new book  to prepare
for a 21 day cleanse my daughter
and I will be starting next Monday.
Watching the season finale of
Survivor and my guy not winning.
XX

How was your weekend?

Linking with Amanda ~the habit of being

YARN ALONG

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Linking with Ginny.
xx

The knitting of my cardi 
continues e-v-e-r so slowly.
I knit and knit and knit,
then I take a look and it's
hard to see where I have made
much progress. It's kind
of discouraging, but I'm
still knitting!

On the reading end
I am extremely happy.
I am reading
The Red Scarf and
loving it! I picked it
up three day's ago
and have almost finished
all 470 pages! It is about
two women in a Russian
labor camp and what
happens when one escapes
to help the other woman
who is ill. The language
is crude in places, but
the story is very gripping.
I seem to to be on a
Russian theme since
I just watched The Way Back
which I also enjoyed.

CHICKIE BABIES

"We can see a thousand miracles
 around us every day. What is more
 supernatural than an egg yolk
 turning into a chicken?"

~ S. Parkes Cadman

Exactly twenty one days-
eight eggs hatched-
four Rhode Island Red-
four Araucana.
We are now picking names-

Duckie
Ann Baxter
Joan Crawford
Greta Garbo
Billie Burke

Still three to go!
Want to help?...
Please!
I am keeping postive
thoughts that all eight
are hens! xx

WEEKEND: GARDENING

"I used to visit and revisi it a dozen times a day,
 and stand in deep contemplation over my
 vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could
 store or conceive of who had never taken part in
 the process of creation.  It is one of the most
 bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill
 of beans thursting aside the soil, or a rose of
 early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace
 a line of delicate green."

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

weekending, my favorite part of the week. a time to relax, live, love, just to be. if you'd like to share your weekend either with words, photographs, or both, leave a link to a weekend post in the comments.
This weekend was...

Mostly spent outdoors...
weeding the garden-
raking the garden-
watering the garden-
picking vegetables from the garden-
a complete dinner from the garden
for which I am deeply thankful.

There were fresh flowers in
cut crystal vases,
lovely Mother's Day cards
and even lovelier hugs.
Sleeping until 7:00 a.m.-
Pioneer woman's Knock you naked brownies-
A pedicure and new polish-
A nap in the warm sun
with songbirds singing in the background.

A day of work-
A day of relaxation-
Perfect. xx

How was your weekend?

Linking with Amanda.