Regaining appreciation and feeling groovy

I sometimes hold onto ideas, desires, or dreams too long.

I get in a rut of thinking about something in a single-minded way.

You know, for years.

It was one of these standpoints that I changed my attitude about recently.

When we moved into our house, 45 years ago, the kitchen had just been remodeled.  The built-in oven/cook top, the highly-grained, varnished cabinets, the dropped ceiling and lighting, the brick-look floor tiles and the laminate counter tops were in style, modern, up-to-date.

Oh, so 1970's.

As these things go, the appliances have been replaced, ditto the flooring, sink, and faucet.

Not long ago, the dropped ceiling was raised back up, and redone with tongue and groove boards.  New lights were added.

But the 1970 "Daisy" counter tops still greet me every morning.

"Good morning, flower child".

How many times have I wiped those counters off?  Thousands and thousands, to be sure.

So many times that I've worn the pattern off in high use areas.

Those kitchen counters and I have a lot of history together.

In addition to preparing tons of food, and cleaning up from the making and eating of it, I have:

Bathed my babies on them,

Taught cooking on them,

Arranged flowers,

Rolled cookies,

Kneaded dough on them.

I've used them as a buffet table to serve food,

Taught responsibility using them... "(Fill in the blank with a child's name), it's 

your night to wash dishes."  Moaning and tears follow.

I've canned tomatoes, apricots, frozen boysenberries, green beans, and zucchini on them.

Various science experiments have been conducted on them.

Hot glue has been dotted it.

Yet, in spite of all the memories and many people urging me to NEVER replace the vintage counters, I have been "done" with the pattern and material for years.

The other day I received an advertisement email from Country Living magazine showing a new laminate countertop material from Wilsonart, the very company that made my countertop material.

Always dreaming of replacing the old, I went to the Wilsonart website to window shop.  While there, and out of curiosity, I looked to see if my 45 year old laminate pattern was archived. 

No, it's not.

It is still for sale!

Has this pattern come full circle or did they have so much of it stockpiled they decided to keep selling it until it's all gone?  Whatever it is, seeing it there pushed my thinking out of the trench it had been in.

I came around to appreciate this outdated part of my kitchen once again.

I still love that stunning slab of granite I saw in a Texas kitchen, with its vein of blue running river-like through it.  I love my daughter's butcher block counters.

There are many good looking surfaces to be admired. But mine is unique, and although dated, I think I'd miss it, if it was replaced.

So for now, the best counter tops for me are

"Autumn Lights Daisy" Wilsonart Y0039.

Groovy, huh?

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol

Connecting the sinking of the Lusitania and the memories from the Georgic.

I just finished reading Dead Wake by journalist and nonfiction author Erik Larson.

This nonfiction story is about the last transatlantic crossing of the luxury ocean liner, the Lusitania, in 1915.  Larson takes all the documented history and weaves it so that it reads like fiction.   He brings vitality to a cast of factual characters:

the passengers on board,

the crew,

the captains of both the Lusitania and 

the submarine, U-20, that sank it,

President Woodrow Wilson,

the secret group of Room 40, 

and the ship itself.

Larson elevates history from boring to exciting.

The first book I read of his was The Devil in the White City.  This story takes place in Chicago and reading it before going to Chicago on vacation a few years ago greatly enriched that trip.  This Lusitania story sent me on a journey of sorts, as well.

In 1950 my English mother and I crossed the 

Atlantic from New York to Liverpool aboard the Cunard Line M.V. Georgic. This was the same route that the Lusitania sailed.

Like the Georgic, the Lusitania was owned by Cunard Line.  The only reason I know the name of the ship I traveled on is because I have a menu from a tea party I attended while on board. 

The inward trip that Larson's Lusitania story launched me on is one of questions and reflections.  The questions will probably ever be answered, as my mother died 10 years ago, and my 94 year old father's memory is stuck on a few of his favorite stories.  (Plus he did not make the journey with us.)

There is not a single photo from this trip.  Can you imagine?  How I wish there was a snapshot of me on deck!  Or better yet, a picture of me and my mom together, sea breezes blowing our hair and smiles on our faces. 

We were in England for months and yet there are no photos of either of us from this time.  This makes me so sad.  The only thing I have from this trip is the tea party menu and two brief stories my mother told me.

I cannot remember my mother taking any photos in her life time.  I have no recollection of her ever having a camera in her hands.

In the photo-snapping times of now, this would never happen.

  No photos from such a trip seems beyond grasp.

There are so many questions I want to ask my mother.  Why didn't I think of them while she was alive?  (If I did ask her for details about her stories, she would brush them aside as unimportant.)

How I wish I would have been more persistent in finding out more about her experiences as an English war bride,

a young mother,

the early years of her being in this her new country, knowing no one other than my father,

and, of course, our seafaring adventure and visit to her family in England when I was 3 years old. 

I have already explored a little about the Georgic.  There is even a YouTube video of it.  And because I want to know more about this trip and my mother's early marriage, I may start digging into more resources.

I've heard you shouldn't live in the past, but it sure is nice to visit it. 

If photographs unlock memories, I'm glad I'll leave so many for my children and grandchildren. 

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol

A lesson from the chickens or easy caterpillar removal

                     
If you are squirmy about wormies, this probably isn't the blog post for you...


 I love to learn new things.   I am open to any teacher, be it 

my 5 year old granddaughter teaching me an art technique, a formal classroom learning opportunity, or

my chickens teaching me how to remove cabbage looper caterpillars from my lettuce leaves.

Last week, being so preoccupied with keeping my lettuce comfortable in the 90 degree heat we were having here in Southern California, I neglected to notice that the big, beautiful leaves of my Black seeded Simpson lettuce were looking more like doilies than vegetables.  I started looking for the culprits.  There was the frass evidence that they were eating and digesting my future salads.   And sure enough, and although their green color matched the lettuce perfectly, I spotted them.  
Cabbage loopers.  

 Being an organic gardener, I began picking the worms off the leaves.  I put them in a box to be delivered to my hens.  Some of the lettuce was so holey, I picked off an entire perforated leaf, with the caterpillars still attached, and added it to the Nellie and Amelia picnic hamper.  I picked 62 of the little gluttons off 18 plants.   (Yes, I counted the smooth, green inchworm-like caterpillars as I plucked them off.  I wanted to tell someone about how many had been on the plants and I thought an actual number made for a more realistic story. Plus worm picking can get boring, so I needed something to keep my mind involved.)  

I delivered the box lunch...

and watched as the girls enjoyed their delicacies.   I also observed that the hens would pick up a leaf and give it a shake before eating it.  The shaking caused the worms to fly off and then the hen would run to eat it before her coop-mate could get it.  This process surprised me, because when I pick cabbage caterpillars off plants they kind of grasp onto the plant and then cling to my fingers with their hairy little feet.  I didn't think a hen head-shake would dislodge them from the leaves.  And how did the hens know to do this?

I was out picking more loopers this afternoon.  I thought about the 
method the hens had shown me the day before.  I  gave the lettuce heads a  tap-tap with my hand.
 Sure enough, the gentle ruffling knocked the caterpillars off the leaves.  They fell off the plants and onto the dirt where they were both visible and easier to pick up.  Teeny-tiny caterpillars I would have never seen on the plants were easily seen on the soil.

I like the saying,

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."    Kalam

It is true and I hope I will always be a student open to all teachers.

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol

                                         

leprechauns don't like our house

posted by:  jennifer

it is the day after Saint Patrick's Day... my youngest went out into the living room first thing this morning and looked around.    (just like she had done yesterday morning, and when she came home from school yesterday)

she came to the kitchen and announced "leprechauns don't like our house."  
I didn't say a word.
then "you know why they don't like our house?   because it's not clean, and so they can't mess it up."
hmmm.


when did Saint Patrick's Day get so out of hand?   I have never particularly like the day.  I hated the whole "you are going to get pinched if you don't wear green" shenanigans when I was in school, and still do. But I think when I was growing up, that is about all involved in the day.
By the way, my kids asked yesterday morning if I was wearing green.  I said no.  and then I said I don't like St. Patrick's Day.... but as I thought about it throughout the day, it is more I don't celebrate it.  

these days though, the leprechauns come into the classrooms at school, and overturn trash cans, leave green footprints all over desks.
I have heard that they even go to houses, pee in the toilet (did you know they have green pee?) and forget to flush.  well, that's the word in the hallways at the elementary school.

now, in all honesty, for a couple of years, I felt the pressure.  The leprechauns did show up here a couple of times... they sprinkled some glitter and left some chocolate coins.

but I think they have got the point.  this is not a good house to hit.  
and it is okay.  Because I don't think ankle breaking size holes, that have been covered with grass, in hopes of trapping a leprechaun, that are dug in the backyard (in the pathway no less) should be encouraged.   

so, long story short, if you want to keep leprechauns away from your house, keep it messy. 
thank goodness they don't like messy houses, because all I need is another creature reeking havoc up in here.

word!

motherhood tourettes

posted by: jennifer


it is
   a crazy morning.

breakfast for three
lunches for two

no work space on the countertop
    s     
      cat         ed
           ter
       dirty dishes.

should have
would have
   .....but Downton

and
   wet laundry sits in the washer.

so now,
  random thoughts bubbling to the surface
of my brain
   s        
     c att     
                er        d
                        e  

and
i yell out 
to no one in particular
or maybe just to me?
   BAGEL!
                   LITTER BOX!
                                    P.E. CLOTHES!
     LAUNDRY!
                EPSOM SALTS!

it is.

Art Journal

 

a scattering, smidgen of, sample, snippet,,,
some pages from my journal

 

XO, April

 

 



 

Reducing guilt and fat one apple at a time

Apples

Apples make me think of

pie

back to school

the height of a Smurf

keeping the doctor away

Johnny Appleseed

and

that twinge of guilt I used to feel whenever I threw away an old apple.

You know, the very ones that kept being passed by.  Who's going to choose the soft, mealy, bruised fruit when sitting right next to it is a crisp, juicy, and firm beauty?  Not me.  (Oh dear, I suddenly see an analogy here between youth and old age!)

So those less than desirable apples in my larder used to roll around in the bin until they were so wrinkly, I could finally send them to the mulch pile.  I looked the other way when I tossed them to minimize the remorse.  Food waste denial.

I have a dear friend who told me years ago that she made applesauce from her "old" apples.  This sounded both very frugal and a lot of work.  Despite her insistence that "it is so easy",  I continued tossing apples and buying jarred applesauce.  I double-downed on my regret whenever I threw out leftover applesauce gone fuzzy.

A few years ago for some unknown reason (too much time on my hands?),  I decided to make applesauce from some poor old apples.   It WAS easy and I continue to do it. 

 I have an apple peeler/corer, which makes a snap out of the prep work. 

  

The peeled and cored apple slices go into a pot all by themselves. No water, sugar, or seasonings. 

I turn low heat under the pot and the apples cook while I do something else.

I stir the pot occasionally and smash the softening apple pieces with my wooden stirring spoon to create a puree.  The puree is sometimes chunky and sometimes pulverized, depending on my mood.

When all the apples are soft and mashed, I turn off the heat and let the sauce cool.

Then I measure the sauce into 1 cup packages and put them into the freezer.

6 apples made 1 1/4 cup applesauce.

The frozen applesauce thaws quickly.

That's the reducing guilt part of the story.  Now here's the reducing fat part, which further reduces guilt.  Really this is a win-win effort.

You can reduce the amount of fat in baked goodies by substituting applesauce for some of the fat.  

My favorite recipe for doing this is for Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup butter is what is called for, but I only use 1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1 egg

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tea. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup applesauce is what is called for, but I increase it to 1 cup applesauce

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup oatmeal (not instant)

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Cream butter, gradually add brown sugar and cream until light and fluffy.  Add egg and beat well.  Mix well next 5 ingredients and add alternately with applesauce to creamed mixture, stirring well.  Add next 3 ingredients and mix well.  Spoon into 12 baking cups which are lining muffin tin cups.  Bake in preheated 350○ oven for 25-30 minutes.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

This works deliciously. I have used this method successfully for Gingerbread, 

Zucchini Bread, Pumpkin Bars, Chocolate Cake, well, you get the idea.


I guess this is proof that I am getting saucier as I get older.

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol