Spring Sunday

     Early spring Sundays that feature a bit of warm, dry sunshine are a rare treat. Yard work is out of the question because it is way too soon to work in the soil or make any plantings, so the only thing to do is relax and enjoy! Out to the patio I brought a cold drink and a beautiful new gardening book from the library. Within minutes I heard an unfamiliar bird call so the binoculars and my trusty old Roger Tory Peterson bird book were also necessary accouterments. Not again till midsummer will there be the luxury of a long afternoon of leisure. (Oh and the bird turned out to be a very familiar Flicker with an unrecognizable song -perhaps he was immature or just from another part of the country).

Apple Oats

     Spring in the St. Louis area is so variable that in April and early May, some folks vacillate between the furnace and the air-conditioner every few days. We don't, in our house, alternate in such extreme measures and the air-conditioner is not even uncovered until mid-May. Ceiling fans and open windows are welcome elements after a long stuffy closed-in winter. However on one of the last few chilly mornings, we enjoy a hot breakfast that is a winter weekday staple: apple oatmeal. Before cooking the rolled oats (not the instant or fast-cook variety!), I peel and chop an apple. The apple pieces are popped into a saucepan along with the oats, water and a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar. In a few minutes, the house smells heavenly and breakfast is ready to serve. The oats are creamy, the apples stewed and the cinnamon tantalizing - a final winter meal that just might be missed!

Hello Grape Hyacinths

     In the past few years, I have become very interested in low maintenance gardening, or perhaps I should say lower maintenance, since every spring I still like to get my hands in the dirt. (I also still  like to start several plants from seed, which probably arises from my frugal creative nature that covets making something from nothing.) But a lot of the landscaping that I redid several years ago has matured and there is less barren area to fill in with annuals. These grape hyacinths are a case in point - they emerge every year on a warm spring day, bloom for a couple of weeks and then die back, soon to be replaced by the foliage of swiftly growing liriope (actually another variety of the species Muscari) - almost like armchair gardening!

Red Velvet Cookies

     Red Velvet cake seems to be popular at the moment, and now there is even a boxed mix available at the grocer's (or perhaps I just never noticed it before). When those boxes were on sale recently, I picked one up and decided to make cookies with it. Cake-mix cookies are fail-safe, easy and adaptable. Mixing up the three ingredients - dry mix, eggs and shortening - was a breeze. Shaping the dough into balls and then rolling them in powdered sugar was also a breeze. Washing the abundance of red dye off my hands was a little horrifying. However the cookies were good and thankfully, there was no sign of red dye on anyone's lips or tongue after dessert that night.



Add caption



Snow Kids

     In rereading the previous post, another winter escapade came to mind (none of us were bad children, but it seems at the time, we must have really tried the patience of our parents!) Because the subdivision in which we lived was fairly new, none of the large backyards were fenced yet, so four adjacent lots afforded a long gentle slope that was adequate for sledding. That is, it was good if the snow was of the variety that had a slick surface, otherwise the incline was just not steep enough for a very thrilling ride. The ice caper in our yard that year inspired neighbor children to follow suit and sprinkle water over their snow; soon it was frozen and that slope was not quite so safe, but oh my, was it fun! The only problem was that in our house  there were seven of us children and only one sled plus a couple of saucers. In order for all of us to enjoy the action, we searched for alternative sliding devices - something smooth, flat and large enough to hold the little kids - and found them in Mom's kitchen. Her cookie sheets were perfect!
     Well they were perfect until we returned them to their respective cabinets, thinking Mom would never notice. Unfortunately they were curved and dimpled and not at all suitable for future cookie baking.
Admonishment followed, of course, but ultimately in our favor, the battle-scarred sheets were retired from the kitchen and carried not cookies but only little snow-suited bottoms for the rest of that winter.

The Ice Caper

     The ice skating rink at the local recreation center is a popular winter place for children, teens and very fit adults. It is a few blocks from the house and sometimes a west wind will carry the happy sound of music and laughter, or the shouts and cracks of a fierce hockey game. Recently the rink closed for the season and now stands silent and empty.

     I often think back to my own childhood when skating was allowed at a little pond not too far from the house, or at a nearby park atop a baseball field flooded by the local fire department. It wasn't often cold enough for either, so lacing up the skates was always a treat. One year we took a risk, pulled the garden hose out of the garage, and flooded half of our own backyard. (Why risky? Because Dad was meticulous about his lawn. Even with seven children and assorted neighbors, he managed to maintain a lovely carpet of luxurious green. Our gentle father supervised the mowing and trimming with drill sergeant finesse!) The homemade rink was small and very lumpy but served its purpose and garnered a full afternoon of entertainment. The expected reprimand was dispensed at the dinner table that evening and we all went to bed with reminders of proper care of garden hoses and a raised awareness of grass-damaging behaviour. However before slumber overtook us, we heard a slight commotion in the backyard. Peering out the second story windows of our bedroom, we spied Dad with his deluxe garden hose in hand, spraying new layers of water on our rink, that would quickly become a fine smooth, level arena. With conspiratorial grins, we climbed back under our covers. Nothing would be said, but tomorrow held the unbelievable promise of even more winter fun than today!