Lunch from the Garden

Meatloaf and mashed potatoes, green beans with a small chunk of salt pork, sliced tomatoes and cantaloupe, how does that sound for lunch? I grew the green beans, tomatoes, and the bell pepper in my garden. I make really delicious meatloaf, not to brag or anything. The cantaloupe was so sweet and the tomatoes were juicy. I made a pitcher of sweet tea and for dessert, pound cake. What did ya'll have for lunch?

First Fruits

This is the first basket full of the bounty from my garden. I have had tomatoes for breakfast every morning for at least a week, and cooked one pot of green beans. I have already harvested seven zucchini and made them into zucchini bread. I've cooked one pot of collard greens and made green chili cornbread to go with it. This is really satisfying. It makes me feel good.

Delicious Zucchini Bread

Fresh from the oven, my extremely delicious zucchini bread. It smells wonderful. Hey, what else can you do with all that zucchini? This recipe makes two large or three medium loaves. I prefer the medium - you can make more neighbors happy!

Zucchini Bread Recipe
3 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 c. shredded zucchini
1 c. chopped nuts
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray pans with Pam for Baking. Assemble all ingredients. Sift together dry ingredients in one bowl. Cream together eggs, sugar, and oil in larger bowl. Mix in dry ingredients. Add zucchini, nuts, and vanilla, stir until well blended. Divide batter evenly between 2 large or 3 medium loaf pans. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool loaves on wire racks. Cool completely before wrapping in wax paper to give away or slicing to eat.

Dirt Endorphins

Gardening is Therapy. I heard on the news that digging in the dirt releases endorphins. Which makes sense, did you ever see an unhappy kid playing in the mud? Gardening is expensive. Someone wrote a book titled "The $60 Tomato". Mine probably cost that or more, but growing things makes me happy. In the backyard, I have tomatoes, peppers, okra, collard greens, green beans, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, rosemary, lavender, basil, thyme, and giganto sunflowers. In my front flower bed, I have roses, daisies, delphinium, daliahs, marigolds, carnations, lavender, mint, and May night sage. I have been taking pictures of my progress. It has been money well spent, just counting the pleasure and personal satisfaction that it has given me. I totally dig gardening.

Impression in Time

Today . . .
A gift from friends--
Impressions,
Sean's foot-prints
and hand-prints,
His name, a date, 1988.
Sean . . . happy,
Age 7, in wet cement--
Today--rock solid,
In concrete,
Eternal.

Nikki and Ralph,
brought the house--
years ago -- Today,
In kindness -
Unbidden, unasked,
Brought to me
A concrete affirmation
of Sean's existence.

In the rain,
They lugged and dug
And set it there--
In my back yard,
Under the rose tree,
One moment of life -
Frozen in time.

And with only words,
I try to express
How profoundly
It helps me heal--
This lasting impression.

Sean 1981 - 2006

He was my son,
Not my only son,
But my oldest one.

He was difficult;
He was different;
He was beautiful;
He was gifted;
He is gone.

Not gone like,
"I’ll see you later,
Mom."

But gone like,
Ashes in a box
That I keep
On the table
By the sofa
In the living room.

I should call it
Something else now.

This Stuff is Fun!

My second movie. No wonder kids think school is boring. This is fun. Still took a whole afternoon. Mostly to find appropriate pictures to go with the music. But it was really fun. I didn't realize how much time had passed -- and then I was finished. This might be a new hobby. I really do need a new reason not to do laundry, dust, or do lesson plans. This is great.

Enough Already! Journalists Beware--Bread and Circuses

Stop. Do not say, print, or broadcast another word about Anna Nicole Smith. What in the hell is wrong with you people? This is not a news story. And it is damn sure not the story of the century. It's not journalism; it's not even OJ. The semi-accidental death of a stripper who happened to get lucky with some 90 year old billionaire is not worth more than 2" on page 7 of the poorest local rag. Has the entire profession lost their collective minds? You are being manipulated to ignore legitimate stories -- like the 20 tons of hundred dollar bills that were flown to Iraq and lost by whomever was in charge. Don't you think the news might should devote a little more time to Attorney General Gonzales' precarious situation, instead of Miss Smith's untimely death? You are just proving what an ancient Roman philosopher said - "All the people care about is bread and circuses." What he inferred was, that if you can keep the general public happy and full--they will not question anything their government is doing. Wake up, and shut up--unless, of course, you have something to say about something that actually matters.

Turkey Buzzards

My son Trent's birthday was March 18th; he is now a quarter of a century old. That sounds old to me. By some untoward coincidence, that's also the day that turkey buzzards arrive from "somewhere" to roost in Carlsbad--like the swallows come back to Capistrano. Turkey buzzards aren't nearly as romantic as swallows. They are decidedly ugly, but graceful, birds. Every evening for a few weeks, they swoop back and forth in the sky over our neighborhood. They usually roost a block or so north of my house. They seem to prefer the tall pecan trees in the old money block of Riverside Drive--these buzzards have class. I'm not a bird expert, although I know one. I haven't bothered to ask him about the turkey buzzards. Where are they going, and from where do they come? Why is Carlsbad the destination for buzzards, instead of romantic swallows or beautiful songbirds? I'm sure it is just a factor of our wonderful climate, not social commentary.

These particular turkey buzzards settled in my neighbor's tree a couple of evenings ago. Maybe their Riverside Drive roost was under construction, or maybe they were just slumming--who knows? We had a pretty good storm that evening. Maybe they were off course due to the incoming storm. No matter. There is something decidedly creepy about walking outside and spotting them lurking in the tree across the street. I don't suppose they were actually looking at me, but I tried to keep moving while they were there. Spring is here. The evidence is blooming all around us. My backfence neighbor's purple plum is gorgeous. The rain was great for everything--even for the turkey buzzards, I guess.