Weather delay

We are under Severe Thunderstorm Watch. That is a thunderstorm. I know it kind of looks like there is rotation, but I don’t think so. And that is rain coming down straight and hard. I also saw some spectacular cloud to ground lightning.

Bear and I were in the Jeeper coming back from picking up our CSA share. A wild afternoon/evening was forecast and I was keeping an eye on the Doppler all day.

It has been in the upper 80’s. A strong cold front was to whoosh through – colliding with the heat and WHAM! So now it is whamming. Thunder roars and we stay indoors!

At my house, it is just rumbling so far but getting closer and the power has been blipping off and on so I’m shutting down, pulling the plug and moving more interior-ly than my office in the sunroom.

CSA report later or tomorrow due to weather delay.

Brown Bread … maybe Irish Brown Bread?

I’ve not been to Ireland, although I’d love to go…

But, my current reading is based in Ireland and between the references to tea and brown bread…

Brown bread.

It is a yeasted brown bread and since I’m in a wild yeast phase, it is a wild yeast (sourdough) brown bread.

An experiment.

An experiment which was successful!

Salmon, red onion, capers and goat cheese on toasted brown bread.

Cranberry Marmalade on toasted brown bread.

Brown Bread … maybe Irish brown bread. Whatever, delicious!

*** I used King Arthur Irish Style flour and their Irish Common Bread recipe adapted for my wild yeast/sourdough method.

CSA Week 2: I ate all of my vegetables!

Taco bean and beef mix using butter lettuce leaves for taco shells.

My new favorite salad! The original recipe is from Six Seasons: a new way with vegetables , but I bought the book after seeing Dishing Up the Dirt’s post.

Spinach, salami, onion stir fry which I topped with a poached egg.

Fresh Dill!!! Oh, boy – I made some “ranch-ish” dressings with this fresh dill and plenty of black pepper. SO very good.

Hard to see, but there is a burger in there! Hamburger with onion, Fontina cheese, avocado … butter lettuce for the bun… and a side of baked sweet potato “fries”.

A sweet potato/Fontina/Asiago riff on Smitten Kitchen’s Potatoes Anna with a side salad of Spinach and Chickpeas.

An incredible, edible, vegetable week!

Week 3 haul:

Napa Cabbage ( a special “small” version that my farmer found specifically for partial shares!), arugula, baby romaine, sun sprouts, tatsoi, salad radishes and collard greens.

Hiding – sort of underneath the vegetables …is a printed copy of the farm newsletter.

It is wonderful!

In addition to telling about all in the CSA box, there are recipe links AND info on planting, farm issues and generally, information that makes me feel part of the farm experience. I LOVE it!

House Hunting

Actually, it is the aftermath of house hunting. And not looking for a new house … hunting INSIDE the house.

I think the last big mouse invasion was after a very wet Spring.

At any rate, Auggie has been on the job. It is a nighttime job and after several nights of a lot of activity he apparently needed some catch up sleep. Usually he is pestering to go out before I have my coffee made but this morning, even with Bear out and the doors open, he didn’t budge.

In grateful remembrance and with joy for this season

I took the above photo in May 2010.

I’ve looked at it every Memorial Day since.

Memorial Day in the United States has somewhat slid from a somber remembrance day to something between that and a fun-filled kick-off of Summer. I think the balance is good. I want to never forget those that gave their lives in service of their country. No matter what I think about war and violence – they were asked or volunteered and they stepped up. But with any loss … those of us left do a service to the loss by living on with integrity, compassion and joy, i.e. making sure the loss was not in vain.

Although our Memorial Day weekend got off to a rocky start…

with the skunking and clean up and accompanying anxiety which took all of Bear’s energy on Saturday morning…

Sunshine and blue sky – unusual for Memorial Day in Montana … but welcome!

Bear was back to himself by Sunday morning. A little funky smelling still: combination of some skunk and the skunk-off neutralizer. It takes awhile to fully go away, but it is not really noticeable except close up.

Not only do we have unusual sun and clear skies for this Memorial Day weekend, we are also having unusually warm (hot to us!) temperatures. We hit 80F yesterday and it looks to be the same today (Monday) and tomorrow.

The lilacs have bloomed and they are wonderfully fragrant inside and outside. The heat of the sun brings out the fragrance when I walk near them outside.

The fushcia (and blue lobelia) are ok with the warmer temperatures: early sun and shaded afternoon warmth.

We are all feeling this first bit of heat. The behemoth air conditioner and fans were drug out of closets … in May! Bear and I are particular heat wimps but Auggie feels it also and was in early in the afternoon until it started to cool off. I know, in another 3 or 4 weeks, if we get some June 90’s, 80’s will feel “cool”.

Even with the heat, we are enjoying a slow and simple weekend with walks, naps, good food and each other’s company.

Remembering … Honoring the sacrifice by living with Joy: Memorial Day weekend.

Homemade Lemonade

Wednesday, on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe , Mel published a recipe for Homemade Lemonade .

I read the recipe and also comments.

Commenter Kendra wrote:

This looks wonderful! And this post has me singing. If you are not familiar with Tom Chapin and his song ” Homemade Lemonade” you should give it a listen. Your kids are the perfect ages to enjoy his music!

Hmmm. I loved Harry Chapin’s ballads: Taxi Driver, Cat’s in the Cradle, W.O.L.D. and 10,000 pounds of bananas being my top favorites. Harry Chapin was killed in a car crash in 1981. Was Tom Chapin a relative? Yes, his brother. And Tom does ballads also, including “Homemade Lemonade”.

I found this YouTube video and if you can watch this and not be smiling, laughing, singing the chorus and generally feeling glad to be alive, well…

Warning, though – if you watch, you will likely have the chorus in your head for days. I’m not sure how many as it is still rolling around in my head and it continues to make me smile.

Still – WATCH THIS – you will not be sorry. And watch the entire 4 minutes and 26 seconds! It is classic “Chapin” a story song.

I played this for Bear this evening. Bear got skunked on the after supper walk. It was only 6:30 and sunset is after 9:00 p.m. I think there is a den and probably kits… I have the skunk neutralizer which works pretty well. He’s in the house but a bit upset about the entire ordeal.

I wish he liked lemonade. The song was the best I could do.

Homemade Lemonade, not from concentrate!!!