Yellow Tomato Salsa

     These Lemon Boys are deceptive. A perennial favorite that we grow in our garden, the tomatoes are quite tasty. However, the eye would lead you to a foregone conclusion, an expectation of some other taste entirely, especially when using conventional tomato recipes. But this salsa, spiced with jalapeño and chili peppers, also fresh from the garden, has a wonderful bright taste, similar but just a tad different from regular red tomatoes. We look forward to BLTs and salad later in the week, too!

Rocking Chair Redo

     The previous post showed the improvements made in our computer room earlier in the summer. This week the rocking chair that sits by the front window in that room got a new look as well. I had tossed around the idea of covering the cushions but wasn't sure if I wanted a solid or a patterned fabric. A trip to Walmart with the hubby for golf balls and cat litter took me by a bin of sale-priced bolts and of course, I had to stop and browse. Lo and behold, on the very top was a length of duck cloth, in a dark gray and white grapevine print that was similar to toile. I was immediately sold, especially at three dollars per yard!

     It was easy to duplicate the cushion dimensions, tucks and tabs. Sewing was simple as well and instead of zippers, I just slip-stitched the openings closed (easily removed and resewn if the covers ever need washing.) Now to sit or just admire?!

The New Gray Room

     This is the room we call our computer room, although it serves other purposes as well. It is a smallish room that was once our son's bedroom and the color scheme has remained the same since he occupied it more than twenty years ago. Time for a complete change, I decided, and painted the white walls over with a light gray. Painting isn't exactly fun, but I don't mind if I have the necessary supplies, like a tall Bloody Mary and some furry company. Another plus is getting nostalgic over little things like the grandson's signature on the closet door - initially I didn't want to paint over the little Picasso's work but figured a photograph would preserve it better.

Also the newly painted doors are much prettier (and you can see here another purpose the room serves - golf bag storage - not my idea but half the time they are in hubby's truck anyway.)   

     The opposite wall contributes to the storage of another accoutrement of hubby's hobbies - his electric guitar, which I don't mind because it is attractive and the black accent harmonizes (!) quite well with the rest of the room. (Note the pet portraits on each wall. We picked favorite photos of our past and present beloved pets, enlarged and framed them. The mismatched frames were bought at various estate or garage sales, then painted with a bright white enamel and I think they coordinate nicely.)

  

   The curtains are custom made by moi because I searched high and low and far and wide for ready-made, and could find nothing that appealed. Then began a similarly fruitless quest to find fabric - all I wanted was a large gray and white buffalo check - and finally found a website that had something that looked promising and was reasonably priced. The results were not only satisfactory but beyond my expectations; I love them and so does Dunc!

     Carpeting was the last step and the old brown plush was replaced with a lighter-colored, tweedy Berber that is low looped and durable. Again, I think Dunc approves; we all love spending time in this room that grandson dubbed, "very restful".

Elephant Ear Drop

    

      A very light rainfall this morning was not enough to quench the thirst of the dry gardens and lawn, but it was enough to create this charming little drop on a newly-formed elephant ear. I was enchanted with the reflective mini-sphere and had to run back into the house for my camera.

Fourth of July Parade, 60's style

     In the first few years of the 1960s, July third was a busy day for kids on St. Michael Street. We gathered up crepe paper, ribbons, flags and assorted other simple materials with which we decorated our bicycles. (There were not enough bikes for all six of the seven siblings in my family who participated, so the younger ones had to use Radio Flyers, which actually was ideal for that meant the toddlers got to partake in the fun too.) On the morning of Independence Day, we put on hats, tied cans to the bikes for some sound effects, and lined up in the front yard. Then we took off down the street and around the court, pedaling up the hill a lot slower than we went down!
     Fireworks after dusk were, of course, the highlight of the day. But those plain and simple patriotic parades were a priceless and delightful fragment of our childhood.
   

Pickle-n-Bologna

     As a child there was very little that I didn't like but I disdained bologna and especially a mixture that I was sure my mom must have invented - bologna and dill pickles that were ground up and mixed with mayonnaise. Funny thing was that even though I wouldn't eat it, I loved watching her make it. A cast metal meat grinder attached to the counter and a handle was turned that cranked the grinding mechanism. Of course, modern cooks use food processors, which are quick and easy to use, but that old grinder was fascinating. First she put in some big chunks of bologna, then a few pickles and finally mixed in a big dollop of Miracle Whip. This was spread between two slices of white bread, put in a waxed sandwich bag, and then into a lunchbox to take to school (times four or five - however many kids happened to be in grade school at the time.)

     When I happened recently upon a sale at the market deli that featured bologna, I bought an unsliced pound, got out my processor and made some pickle-n-bologna. Served on crackers during a Sunday afternoon of TV football, I found that Hubby liked it (rather unenthusiastically) and surprised myself by enjoying it. Perhaps it was just nostalgia for Mom and her grinder.

Alfred P. Phillips - From England to America

    In the winter of 1853, a baby boy named Alfred (my great-grandfather) was born to Robert and Sarah Anne Phillips. The family lived in Weston Supermare, a small village on the Bristol Channel (that would eventually become a seaside resort). Robert was a boot maker and his children, William, David, Ellen, Alfred and Sarah were scholars. It is evident that Will immigrated to the United States as a young man and worked as a baker in Detroit, Michigan. Alfred probably yearned to join his brother in the New World and his mother must have wanted a better life for him as well. (It would have been difficult for a mother to send a young son alone, across an ocean to a big unknown country - either  the boys were very convincing or life in the village was without promise - maybe it was a combination of both.) Anyway, Will and his new wife were ready to accept Alf in their home.

     However, as the photo commentary explains, the wife and her baby died, so Alf stayed with a farm family until he took up his own trade, shoe making, following in his father's footsteps. In time, the rest of the family came to America and all were united under one roof until Will married again and Alf found his own bride - a pert, pretty Irish girl named Nellie Long.