Nice Quote

Happy are they who take life day by day, complain very little, and are thankful for the little things in life.

Anonymous

Happy Weekend!

Peach or Raspberry Ice Tea

I started making this several years ago.  For years, I have put to much sugar in our ice tea.  I came up with this idea and most people like it and usually ask how I made it.  That's my ice tea pitcher and I guessing it's about half a gallon.  I put 6 cups of water in a sauce pan with 3 family size tea bags.  When the water boils I turn in off and put on the lid and let it sit for about 20 minutes.  I then add one can of either Welch's White Grape Raspberry or White Grape Peach.  I add two cans of water from the juice can into the pitcher and then add the tea.  It almost fills up my pitcher. 

I like both flavors but my favorite is the peach.  There is no sugar in the Welch's juice so you have a good refreshing drink that taste sweetened but it's not.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

One of my dear cousins passed from this life last week and my sister and I drove to Stilwell, Oklahoma on Friday to attend her funeral.  This cousin is on my dad's side of the family and it was wonderful seeing other family members that we don't get to see that often.  This cousin was particularly close to my sister and I.  She was a wonderful school teacher but a homemaker at heart.  We have wonderful memories of their farm and the strawberry festivals that we attended as children in Stilwell, Oklahoma. 

After attending the service and saying our goodbyes, I asked my sister if she would like to go home by way of the lake.  Of course she said, "yes."   Lake Tenkiller is about 30 miles west of Stilwell.  I grew up going to that lake.  When I was about 8 or 9 years old I have a vivid memory of the day we found this piece of property.  My dad purchased it that day for $300.00.  The first picture is the view from our cabin that we enjoyed for many years. 

Eastern Oklahoma is beautiful with rolling hills and lots of black jack and oak trees.  In the spring, there is always a beautiful display of red bud and dog wood trees.   It's been a long time since I've been to this part of the state and I had forgotten how beautiful it is.  They have had lots of rain this spring and the lake was up and the shades of green were breath taking.  I could feel the bitter sweetness of this place filling up my heart.  A large portion of my life is filled with such happy memories with dear family and friends at this place that to go back and see it all once again was harder than I realized.  We visited the places where we would dock our boat and swim and fish.  When we got to the cabin and I saw that view, I felt like Anne of Green Gables.  I just wanted to sit for a while and "drink in" all the memories.  My heart was so heavy as I smelled the woods, remembered all the laughter, the skiing, the cliff diving, getting up at dawn and going fishing with my dad, the summer lunches spread out over the rocks and devoured, nothing ever tasted that good we were so hungry.  These were my vacations!  I never traveled to other states with my parents but that was ok, I had a wonderful time doing this year after year.

My dad built our cabin.  It was nothing like the picture you see above.  After my dad passed, my mom sold the cabin.  It is owned now by a lawyer from Tulsa.  He left the foundation and the walls and rebuilt the inside and changed the windows on the front deck.  My mom's iris are still growing in the front yard in front of the brick retaining wall.

As I have gotten older, I have embrace change and realized that life is about change but as we drove away there was a space in my heart that was saying I wish things could always stay the same and that the people we love would never have to die.

His Last Dance

My daughter is doing her nurses training and is doing clinicals at a local hospital.  She has mentioned to me several times about how sad it is that there are so many people who do not have anyone.  Last night, she told me such a sweet story that I started crying. 

She has been taking care of a man in his mid to late eighties and he has no family, no children, no siblings only a close male friend and his son.   They occasional visit but not a lot. The patient told my daughter that he had been married several times but it never worked out.  This man is terminally ill and my daughter said she can tell that he gets anxious.  Wouldn't we all get anxious left alone with our thoughts and no one around who really cared.  He always welcomes company and he just enjoys the presence of a human being with him.  Yesterday, they found a radio for him and when she went in to check on him, there was an old Chet Atkins tune playing.  She was writing in his chart and they were talking and she started tapping her foot while writing.  He told her, "you know, I used to dance and I was a good dancer."  She said, "I bet you were."  The next thing she knew, he shot straight out of bed and took her hand and said, "let's do a little two step."  They danced around the room until the song stopped playing.  I was bawling as she told me the story.  It so surprised her, because he is so sick and weak.

After we talked, I thought about this man all evening.  My heart just went out to him.  Just stop a minute and think about being alone like that with no one.  I can hardly imagine that.  My daughter says the nursing staff doesn't have the time to spend with patients who need just a smiling face and a listening ear.

I have been asking for some time, "what's my purpose now?"  Going to a nursing home or hospital is not what I really had in mind but from the way I felt in my heart, I know my path seems to be leading in that direction. 

Basil Chile Garlic Vinegar

This is probably my favorite vinegar.  It's so good in a lot of things but it's wonderful on fresh sliced tomatoes from the garden.  I had to show you how beautiful the basil is, the colors are so vibrant.

Fill a jar 2/3 full of fresh basil and you can use various varieties of basil.  Peeled cloves of 2 to 3 heads of garlic.  I love garlic so I used 3.  Then about 6-15 dried red chiles.  I've got about 12 in my jar.  Cover with heat red wine vinegar and put the lid on.  I covered my lid with a plastic baggie because you don't want the vinegar to be touching any metal.

This vinegar is wonderful in salad dressings, beef or chicken marinade with the addition of olive oil.  Add a dash to a glass of tomato juice.  Delicious in beef stew, spaghetti sauce and tomato soup.  :)

I hungry right now.  I can't wait until it's done.

Herb Vinegars

I usually make three herb vinegars or I should say I try too make these every year but I don't always get all three made.  The three I make is Basil Chile Garlic Vinegar, Dilly Vinegar and Chive Vinegar.  The two above are on the left Dilly Vinegar and Chive Vinegar on the right.  These vinegars are really easy to make and they add wonderful flavor to steamed vegetables, salad dressings, marinades, fish, chicken, beef, spaghetti sauce, beef stew and many other things.

Always use enamel or stainless steel pans when heating vinegar.   Vinegar will react adversely to aluminum.  Also do not use metal lids or canning tops, funnels, spoons or strainers.  Sterilize jars and bottles by pouring boiling water into them letting them stand for 10 minutes.  Sterilize corks by boiling them and then dry them in a low oven. 

Twist or wring bunches of fresh herbs to release their volatile oils and cover them with vinegar that has been heated (but never boiled.)  Then I allow the jars of herb vinegars to steep for several weeks stirring occasionally.  Then strain the vinegar through a coffee filter. Now you can put the vinegar in a pretty sculptured bottle and add a dill seed head or the chive blossom.  These really  make wonderful gifts for people who enjoy cooking.  I usually attach a little tag around the neck of the bottle explaining how the herb vinegar can be used.  This will give you the most clarity.  For the best flavor store in a cool dark place and use within 6-8 months. 

To prevent clouding, make sure that the herbs are dry (free of moisture) before you pour the heated vinegar over them. 

Chive Vinegar
Fill a jar 1/2 full of chives; a combination of other herbs may be added as well but I usually just add chives.  Cover with heated white wine vinegar and remember to use the chive blossom, it will impart a delicate pinkish color.  You can use this over steamed vegetables, in salad dressing and marinades.

Dilly Vinegar
Fill jar 2/3 full of fresh dill, stems and you can use flower heads also.  A few teaspoons of dill seeds can be added. I usually add a spiral of lemon peel but that is optional.  I also add peeled garlic cloves from one head or several chopped shallots ( I like garlic the best.)  Cover with heated white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar.  After you have stained the vinegar, you'll see that the golden dill
flower head looks lovely in the bottle.  This vinegar is good in salad dressing or marinade but especially good with fish.  Enhances potato salad, cold slaw and cucumber salad.  Good drizzled over broccoli, cabbage, beets and carrots.  Also good in soups made with the vegetables.

Tomorrow I'll post the recipe for basil chile  garlic vinegar.  It's my favorite!  I didn't get it made today. 

My Daddy

This was life at the Mills' home years ago, wonderful memories to last me my lifetime.  As I have gotten older, I have realized what a wonderful childhood I had and what loving parents I was blessed to have.  Believe me, I don't take that for granted.  I have come to realize I was in the minority.

This is me with my mom and dad.  My dad passed from this life a little over 30 years ago and there are not many days that I don't think of him.  He was the most patient man I've ever known.

I love you dad!

A Nifty Garden Idea

I think this is such a clever idea.  You can usually pick up old wooden ladders at garage sales and vintage antique stores.  If you bought four ladders and made a square and used the ladders like this picture and planted herbs in these spaces and then used the inside of the square to plant a little garden.  You could have several tomato plants, greens, some squash.  Actually, you could plant more than you would realize.  You could also make a triangle instead of a square.  I think this is such a cute idea and a great one for the backyard gardener who doesn't has a lot of room.

In the spaces in the ladder you could use herbs and flowers.  Have two ladders flowers and two herbs.  I can see this little garden in my mind's eye and I see a tall tripod in the center with green beans or some vining plant growing up the tripod or a small group of tall sunflowers or a pedestal with a concrete statue on it. 

You can take something as simple as this and turn it into a darling garden that you would love visually and the food and herbs and flowers would send you soaring!

Happy Friday!  xo

Mosaic Pot Planted and Placed in Flower Bed

My pot is finally in the flower bed and planted.  My dear friend was down for lunch a week ago and she brought me a beautiful Esperanza.  It was filled with beautiful striking bright yellow tubular flowers.  But with all the wind we had from thunderstorms, they were blown off.  But there are already new buds forming.  This plant blooms all summer and bees and butterflies love the nectar.  It will be beautiful in the pot when it blooms again.  I'm so glad to have this finished.  Now on to the next project. 

First batch of basil pesto.  Man, I love this stuff!

Northern Farm by Henry Beston

This is a beautiful story of a year of country life on Henry Beston's farm in Maine.  He paints a beautiful picture of the seasons and life and nature on his beloved farm.  He loved and honored this older world and wanted it preserved but knew that this life and man's relationship to nature was quickly becoming a relic.  This book was written in the forties but as I read the ending of the book it reminded me of today.  I wanted to share his closing words with you.

"What has come over our age is an alienation from Nature unexampled in human history. It has cost us our sense of reality and all but cost us our humanity.  With the passing of a relation to Nature worthy both of Nature and the human spirit, with the slow burning down of the poetic sense together with the noble sense of religious reverence to which it is allied, man has almost ceased to be man.  Torn from earth and unaware, having neither the inheritance and awareness of man nor the other sureness and integrity of the animal, we have become vagrants in space, desperate for the meaninglessness which has closed about us.  True humanity is no inherent and abstract right but an achievement, and only through the fullness of human experience may we be as one with all who have been and all who are yet to be, sharers and brethren and partakers of the mystery of living, reaching to the full of human peace and the full of human joy."

White Bean and Rosemary Stew

This is an easy and healthy stew to make.  It has a good flavor but after eating it, I thought that shards of fresh Parmesan would really be good as a garnish and add a little richness.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can vegetable broth
1 can (19 ounce) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
11/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large red bell pepper
1 large yellow bell pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add chopped onion and garlic and cook stirring until tender about 5 minutes.  Stir in vegetable broth and bring mixture to a boil over high heat.  Stir in beans, rosemary and pepper.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir in roasted peppers and vinegar and cook for 3 more minutes.  Ladle stew into shallow bowls and serve.

I roasted the peppers in the oven on broil for about 15 minutes.  I would turn the peppers as they would get roasted making sure all sides got roasted.  Then put the peppers in a plastic bag and let the peppers set for about 15 minutes.  Then remove the skins and julienne the peppers.

I also added two cans of beans one didn't seem enough to me.  I served this with baguette bread with chive butter and a spinach salad.

This recipes serves 4.

The Mosaic Pot is FINISHED!!!!!!!

This has been a long project, only because I made it that way.  But I'm finished and so happy with the finished product.  I put the grout in on Tuesday and today I will finish wiping it done and I am going to put a sealer on the grout.  I decided to use black grout and I'm happy I did.  At one point, I was considering a sand color but I thought the black would make the yellow pop more and it does.

I don't have any experience doing grout but I will have to say it took me about 4 hours to grout this pot.  This is totally different from grouting a shower or counter top.  These little tiles have sharp edges and it is not a smooth and flat surface so it does take some time getting the grout in all the little nooks and crannies.

I'm going to work on a pot now for my vegetable garden area and I'm hoping it won't take me 2 years to finish it.   :)

The Garden is Producing!!!!

I was happily surprised when I went to the garden this morning and saw these tomatoes.  Several of them were ready to pick.  I don't think I have ever had tomatoes to ripen this early.  There is nothing like the taste of a home grown tomato.  I just get so excited about tomatoes! I know, it doesn't take much to excite me.  :)

The basket has sugar snap peas under all that Swiss chard.  I'll be using the Swiss chard for juicing and salads.  I haven't taken any pictures but our spinach has done great also.

I'm so thankful for this fresh food.  I want you to know at the beginning of spring,  I was discouraged and I wanted to quit.  This year with the freeze, no rain, gophers and rabbits have been taking their share and then the wind has been ruthless.  I would stand at the kitchen window and watch the paper I had put around the bottom of all the tomato plants flying across the pasture and then the straw was blown everywhere except around the tomato plant.  It has been work on top of work and I wanted to cry.  There were times when I would go outside to survey the damage and under my breath I was cussing and saying,"this isn't worth it."  But it is!  It is worth all the toil and back breaking labor when you put that first tomato or crisp chard or tender spinach in your mouth for the first time.  

I can't wait to see the watermelons and cantaloupes.  I feel like I'm a real farmer growing watermelon and cantaloupes.  Laughing.

Well, I'm a little burned and somewhat tired this evening after a wonderful day in my garden!

Windows

I love windows!  In the houses that I have lived in for any length of time, they have always had big windows with lots of natural light.  I could never live in a house that doesn't have a lot of natural light and I have always been that way.  As I am typing this, when I just typed natural light I started to put natural life.  I think natural light does bring life (or a good energy) into a home.  Good energy that you feel in someone's home does come from the folks who live there but natural light does play a  role. 

Wow! I said all that to say, I love these windows!  I love the corners that are totally glass.  The pane glass in the middle adds variety and design.  If your home is on the dark side, consider cutting out a window or maybe removing a wall to open up a space that might bring in light from another room.  Also, you don't always have to cover windows with drapes.  Look for architectural design pieces that you can put in your windows in place of curtains or drapes.  This one I have in my window.

I also think glass shelves in a big window with plants looks great.  You can also have a mix of plants with pretty colored glass pieces.  The natural light shining through plants and glass are really attractive.  Also stained glass looks very attractive in windows.  This is a piece in our breakfast room.

Cute Idea for Summer Picnics

I thought this was a cute and easy idea for summer picnics. There is no expense in this.  I have picked up over the years these old aluminum pans painted white with red trim.  But you could use a white or red bowl. 

Just a clever idea for summer that's cute, easy and inexpensive.