Patterns everywhere

Over the years I have taken pictures that I thought I would use for making fabric backgrounds for some art quilts. Well, that has not happened and probably won't. But it was a good idea!



With all the rain and moisture, there has been all sorts of stuff growing on the trees and on the ground. My son could tell me the name of all of these fungus type things and probably tell me which ones I could eat. I think I'll stick to Whole Foods though!




The designs the tree trunks are just amazing.











I wanted to get some more pictures now that we have had a few days of sunshine. And I wanted moving water. I figured that with all the rain, there should be some good pictures.






So we took a drive to Errol, New Hampshire. We drove through Grafton Notch and stopped at Screw Auger Falls. It was a beautiful day. The falls were falling. We stopped at a diner for lunch. I had the meatloaf special and Jack had shepherd's pie. We needed naps when we got home. Way too much food!


I am getting the recipes back that I lost during my technically difficult time and should be posting again soon. Thanks for your patience!

There is no place like home - except the cabin

I overheard this the other day and thought it had some meaning for us. Now that it looks like we have a few days of sunny weather, the cabin is much happier. We did our trip to North Conway today. Shopping is great over there and we have favorite places to stop in and browse.



I made the mistake of upgrading to IE8 and found that my blogging days seemed to be coming to an end. I couldn't arrange pictures, copy text or any of the other "stuff" I had been doing. So I changed to FireFox and the blogging is a little smoother. However, there is a learning curve with that as well.

So stay tuned as I recover from all this emotional, technical trauma. Thank you.

my flowers don't look like this.....

I think I have solved some of the technical issues!
The recipe for Crispy Cukes should have been in yesterday's post but here they are. These are just wonderful. The recipe makes small batches. My boys could eat a pint jar with a sandwich and often did.

Crispy Cukes

16 4-inch pickling cukes
2 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon mustard seed
1 Tablespoon mixed pickling spice (with red pepper flakes removed) tied securely in a small cheesecloth bag

Wash and dry cucumbers. Slice the cucumbers very thinly (3mm disk on Cuisinart) Bring remaining ingredients to a boil in a large stainless steels or enameled pan. Add the sliced cucumbers and bring to a boil again. Boil for only 2 minutes. Remove cheesecloth bag and ladle pickles into hot sterilized jars. Seal according to manufacturer’s directions. Yields 4-5 pints.

I was talking about Sweet Laurel yesterday. Again Dee has the best flowers and plants. Her husband Sam makes wonderful bentwood chairs and trellises. And in the gift shop are the best caramels and other candies in the world.

sunny skies for a while

I am not sure if this is a butterfly or a moth. I tried looking it up but I didn't find anything close. The marigolds are wonderful. I usually have them in my garden because they help repel the bugs.

We finally had a day of sunshine yesterday and I got some pictures! I always get my flowers from Sweet Laurel in Naples. Dee has a way of combining colors in pretty pots. I have to do container gardening at the cabin. I do have 4 tomato plants and 3 cucumber plants in a raised bed next to the cabin but everything else is window box or planter. So yesterday when we had sun, I went to Dee's and took pictures of her flowers. She is the definition of "green thumb". She also paints colorful pictures that are seen on houses throughout the area.

I love snapdragons - cheerful and colorful.

Today I will bustle around the cabin and then try to get some weeds out of the garden. I will go on a slug safari as well. Tomorrow we will go to Sherman Farms and get tomatoes. It is almost time to make green tomato relish and crispy cukes. I am still having technical difficulties so bear with me. I will get the cabin picked up first because once I get into the computer stuff the day just goes!

I am not singing in this rain.....

I would think the heavens would be empty by now. Tempers are a little short and things that would normally be amusing are annoying. My garden is pretty much a disaster and all I can say is that the slugs are having a good summer. We have so much standing water on the side of the cabin that Jack may launch his kayak there. If the kayak weren't so heavy, we would carry it there and take a picture which might be amusing but most likely would be annoying. OK, enough of that.


Tonight would have been a good night for chowder or soup. I didn't have what I needed to make white bean soup. This soup would be my version of Tuscan. I think I will get the ingredients together for one night next week. I visualize white beans (cannelini), spinach, mushrooms, sausage, onions and garlic. White wine would be an essential ingredient as well.

A few years back I found lentils du Puy. I read about them years ago - what a delicacy - hard to find - the only ingredient that could be used and so forth. So I bought the little box and had no idea what I wanted to do with them. Jack found a recipe in Food and Wine. Wonderful!


Sausage and Lentils with Fennel

1 cup lentils (lentils du Puy)
4 ½ cups water
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 medium fennel bulb (discard stalks, save fronds)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, cut in 1/4 inch dice
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
1 1/4 pounds sweet Italian sausage links
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Extra-virgin olive for drizzling


Bring lentils, water, and ½ teaspoon salt to a boil in a heavy 2 quart sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer until tender but not falling apart - about 20 minutes. While the lentils are simmering cut fennel bulb into 1/4 inch dice. Chop enough of the fronds to measure 2 tablespoons. Heat olive oil in a saute pan until hot but not smoking and stir in onion, carrot, fennel, fennel seeds and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook vegetables until very tender - about 10 minutes Prick sausage and cook or grill while vegetables and lentils are cooking. Drain cooked lentils in a sieve set over a bowl. Reserve cooking liquid. Stir lentils into vegetables and add about 1/4 cup cooking liquid to moisten. Stir in vinegar, 1 tablespoon fennel fronds, pepper and parsley. Cut sausages diagonally into 1/4 inch slices. Serve lentils topped with sausages and sprinkled with remaining fennel fronds. Drizzle all over with very good olive oil.







The picture at the top of the page was taken on a sunny day. Wonderful hollyhocks and the flag was painted by the owner of the house.



I had some technical difficulties today so only one picture. I will try again tomorrow!