...((SIGH))

Kinda broke my heart to leave these 4 oak beauties behind during our walk ( in another town) last night...
So full of potential. Alas, it just wasn't meant to be.

...amethyst!

Saturday, J & I stopped for a quick walk on my new favorite seaglass beach.  HE of course 'scored'!  Our first ever piece of AMETHYST... and a L-A-R-G-E one at that!

...do you know what TODAY is?!

I'll give you a few hints...

(OUR TRUMPET VINE HAS F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. BLOSSOMED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME EVER - YEH!!!)

(BERRIES ARE A BIT EARLY THIS YEAR... BUT THAT'S OKAY IN MY BOOK!)

have you guessed?

IT IS 'SUMMER SOLSTICE' FOLKS!

SUMMER IS 'OFFICIALLY ' HERE.

...Daddy's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

 HAEGER 2012 #1 ($5) 

(Is that right? Can you believe that I made it SIX Freakin' months, and JUST.NOW broke and brought home my First piece of HAEGER?!  I'm blamin' Mom!  We saw it at a sale last weekend, It was LOVE at first site - but I was trying to be strong and I walked away from it once, the people having the sale thought it was because of the price, so they knocked 50% off, it was C.H.E.A.P. originally, then @ 50% off it couldn't be left there... Mom gave it to J and I as "an early anniversary gift" 8-) 

(NO, the 'Pink' isn't part of it.  it is an upside down planter that I am currently using as a 'pedestal for it!  Yes, it is secure by Museum adhesive.)

...and

The verdict is in on the ' GARLIC SCAPES'...

We tried them four different ways...

1. Straight from the garden - VERY strong garlic flavored!!!  Be warned!
2. Made into a Pesto, no Basil used - on bread (far left) YUMMY!
3. Made into a Marinade in food processor with a bit of Soy Sauce for Pork (Center) - Garlic flavor definitely mellows when cooked!
4. Sauted whole with fresh Asparagus with a bit of EVOO - tasty, but again, hardly any Garlic flavor.

Overall SCAPES are a Keeper!!  Best added at the end of cooking if you like the flavor of garlic - which we LOVE!  Anybody out there ever had any experience with them???

Have a GREAT DAY!

...scapes!

Things have been 'a-bustle' around 'Chez-SVELTE' with graduation parties, the annual family garage sale and the MANY preparations for summer...  so needless to say, 'STUFFING-IT' has been a low priority item! 

I did get out to a few sales with my parents during their visit last weekend.  This sweet basket (with original contents!)followed us home.  It put me in a 'MARKET' frame of mind.

Was it any wonder that I HAD to do a 'U-turn' on my way to work yesterday when I spotted signs for my favorite Summertime Farmers Market?!

 

 Now, this is a small market, and they don't have anything amazing... it's open every Wednesday... in the town next to where I work.  Why do I like it? I'm not sure.  Yes, it has LOTS of Yummy Mennonite Baked goods, but that's not it.  I think that it is because of it's close proximity to the canal, and how relaxing and peaceful the park that it is held in is... (and the baked goods don't hurt!)

 While I was there perusing the stands, I noticed people scooping up bags of these 'curled greens'.  I went in for a closer look. GARLIC SCAPES. I had seen these before on the plants in my garden - but never 'FOR SALE'!?!!  I HAD to ask 'Why?' 'What for?'  The Gardener/Vendor was more than happy to go into detail about how to prepare, saute' in a stir fry w/ terriyaki or make into a pesto sauce...  Hmmmmm

So after work, off I went to our garden...

...and there are PLENTY more where these came from if we decide to try other recipes!!

...'Mrs. B.'

I don't think I mentioned last Fall, on my birthday, our old Ukranian neighborhood lost one of it's matriarchs - 'Mrs. B.'.  Her name had Way.Too.Many c-z-y-ski's for any of us to pronounce,( and after all of her years in the U.S. her deep accent was still so strong that we couldn't pronounce her name properly if we tried) so she was ever known as 'Mrs. B'

 Her sons have been cleaning out her house, the home they grew up in, and are having an estate sale this Saturday. M is in charge, and the sweetheart that he is, has been inviting neighbors over for early previews (WOO HOO!).  I really didn't know what to expect.  Mrs. B. was a 'no-frills',gruff old homebody type, always out in her 'spotless'gardens, with a babooshka around her head - a cane in one hand and clippers in the other! OH, but she did have a weak spot for PINK FLAMINGOS of all things!! NO other lawn ornaments or decorations...
  My main hope was to find something as a remembrance of her...  what it was going to be, I 'really' didn't know!

UNTIL I walked into the dining room, and then I KNEW!  There sat several Ukranian Easter Eggs - similiar to the PYSANKY EGG that I painted - THAT'S IT!!!

Of course, you KNOW that I didn't get out of there with just a couple of GORGEOUS eggs! There was that elegant glass candelabra, and jadeite batter bowl, and halloween blow-mold, and... a LARGE EGG?!?

 I spotted this piece of pottery on the floor in the corner, on the floor over by the TV, and it was L.O.V.E. at first site.  Don't ask me why.  I think it looks like a LARGE EGG.  J thinks it looks like an abstract turkey or duck. Whatever.  I have been trying to research it.  The only thing I have to go by is the impressed marks 'St. Joseph' 'BC?' and 'CARTIER' that I was able to get by doing a rubbing of the bottom...  I think it is a piece of Beauceware Pottery of Quebec.  The thing I don't know is what the shape is or what it was for?!! (Kinda scarey how much most of the Beauceware line looks like HAEGER!!)

Any ideas?  Anyone???

I did pick up a lawn Pink Flamingo... just 'cause, along with a few old soda crate with great patina and the only 'bling' to be found anywhere - a crystal doorknob!