castles in the air

when i was a younger girl i played on the screened in porch of a second story apartment. the porch was my castle and i was the princess of all i surveyed. my little table held concoctions of cereal mixed with peanut butter and my teacups were filled with cherry koolaid 'tea'. oh how i loved rainy days that perpetuated my illustions of my little island kingdom and even my baby bother (yes, that's how i spelled it back then) couldn't worry me. the siamese cats would weave in and out with their weird meows and crooked eyes. if i was very lucky, i could hear my mother cooking and humming along with the radio.

as i got older, i outgrew that little paradise - my circle of experience widened and soon best friends (forever!) would be invited over for finger sandwiches. we would do crazy things - like handwrite an entire newspaper or open a barber shop in our backyard (don't worry - mom made sure there were no razors in our razors).

still the circle grew and instead of longing for rainy days in a magical solitary kingdom, i prayed for sunny days of catching fireflies and riding my bicycle all over the world. those days are the essence of summer to me...even now, years (and years) later.

today i watched the rain from my little treehouse room. i listened to the pugs snore as i stitched the second row of my pillow top. and i thought of those flickering images in my memories. then the sun came out and light fell across the leaves of the trees. they appeared golden. and i smiled. thankful for both the rain and the sun. because all of those things make up our lives. both can bring comfort - it's just a matter of perspective.

The QC Report

for those that don't know - the qc report is authored by quinn cummings and it's one of the funniest blogs out there. if the name sounds familiar, she is the actor that played lucy in the movie 'the good-bye girl' (one of my favorite movies - i can still watch it today).

quinn has a new book coming out (notes from the underwire) and as part of her book tour, 'all you can blab blog book tour', she is answering questions from bloggers (she even answered mine!).

check her out - the stories regarding lu-pac and cat rescues crack me up.

it's monday - do you know where {fill in the blank}

just a few shots from the past week. variations on a theme if you will. as i've said, when shooting something, i sometimes take a few dozen of the subject until i get a few that i like . . . i think sometimes i need to get rid of the 'out takes' but then sometimes i revisit them.

and that has me thinking about how much i visit out takes in life - the moments that didn't work so well. i do that a lot at times. you know in a movie, they're often the funniest part - but too often they're that wiffle bat to the groin from america's home video kind of funny sometimes. where it's funny while watching later but not so funny while it is happening.

i opened one of my old journals and the quote reads, 'periods of tranquality are seldom prolific of creative achievement. mankind has to be stirred up. - alfred north whitehead' and then i paused and thought if that's true? do we need irritation and chaos to be creative? i don't know if i agree with that.

the weekend was good...fairly quiet but one of those goods that are just that - good. i had the pug herd so, they are very active and adorable.

update: this is the progess on my quilting project. today our assigned task was to cut the squares and figure a layout. i made some alterations to the suggested lay out (just because i like to make things difficult for myself, right?) and cut some 2x2's in addition to 4x4's. and i have started stitching. i am liking the organic feel to this project so far with the handstitching. i'm embellishing random squares as the mood strikes me. i can definitely see me doing more of these as pillows - maybe a full size in the future if i can find a decent used machine at a good price.

yummy

observations - i'm not as young as i used to be and i think, perhaps, that i'm pretty glad about that. of course there are days i complain - like in the morning when i get up and my heel is killing me (the shift to hardwood floors and my bad habit of going barefoot has kicked in a case of plantar fasciitis). so, the quiet gathering last night was a perfect evening. we all brought dishes, laughed on the back patio and watched the almost full moon rise over the treetops as we heard the distant booms of fireworks. (can you believe the size of these strawberries? they were humongous and so sweet)

some of you wanted the recipes for the ranch potatoes - but after making it last night, i'm not sure if i'm happy with it yet. i made some adjustments that didn't quite work yesterday so i'm going to try again. plus, i'm not happy with it's appearance - not attractive. but, wow - the goat cheese spread? soooo yummy. someone offered to lick the bowl last night. it's my friend carol's recipe and i finally snagged it when she participated in the recipe exchange we did about six weeks ago. (next time i'll take photos - but this time i didn't think about it)

ingredients: one or two logs of goat cheese, basil pesto (i used store bought because my basil drowned), one red bell pepper, one orange or yellow bell pepper, golden raisins.
putting it together: about an hour before, place the goat cheese out to soften.

one reason i've hesitated making this dish is that roasting bell peppers has always intimidated me. it was way easier than i thought it would be. put your peppers on a cookie sheet, turn your oven up to broil, and then put the peppers in the oven. (people say you can put the peppers on a fork and do this over a burner, but they drip so the cookie sheet is less messy) let the skins char (blacken) in the oven, turning so all sides are charred. take them out of the oven and immediately place in either a brown paper or plastic bag and let them cool down to room temperature. this steams the skins where they are loose and easily removed. so, peel and de-seed your peppers (if you pull the stem gently - most the seeds come away with the core). lay the peppers flat and chop into a coarse dice.

while the peppers are roasting, unwrap the goat cheese and place in bowl. add a healthy tablespoon of pesto to the cheese and stir together until mixed well. taste to make sure you have enough pesto to make you happy. stir in a good handful of golden raisins (the raisins add a sweet burst of flavor to this dish and a chewy texture; however, if you don't like raisins - you could leave them out.)

after the peppers are chopped, stir them into the cheese mixture. simple, right? if not serving immediately - refrigerate. let it soften a bit before serving so it's easily spread on crackers or bread. i am not kidding - the bowl was scraped clean before dinner.

don't even get me started on the salad nita made with the homemade lavender syrup dressing, the fresh corn salad or the homemade ice cream. serious eating my friends.

gifts from the sea

the loneliness you get by the sea is personal and alive. it doesn't subdue you and make you feel abject. it's stimulating loneliness . . . i feel we are all islands - in a common sea . . .
quotes from anne morrow lindbergh ~ gifts from the sea

i'm sitting in the quiet again and it's peaceful and beautiful - a stimulating loneliness as anne calls it. i'm filled with things that are challenging me and reshaping me. new projects - thoughts about different paths and directions - the upcoming celebration tomorrow. it's a good day.

happy holidays all (or happy weekend - if you're not in the usa). love your family (whether it's the one you're given or the one you make). be safe on the roads and return tired but joyfully. now, i'm going shopping to get the makings of ranch potatoes and carol's goat cheese spread. yum.