flower power!

My weekend's been full of flowers.  On Friday, I drove our van loaded with flower arrangements out to our friends Melissa and Doug at Brick House Vineyards, for their Memorial Day Open House. You can see more photos here.

On Saturday morning, I went with my friend Suzie 

and her granddaughter Daphne to a magical place called Lonesomeville.

A one-acre garden in the middle of the city, Lonesomeville is a 20 year labor of love that belongs to two talented people, artist Danny Hills and partner Wayne Hughes. Danny and Wayne brought a decrepit old condemned farmhouse and overgrown grounds back to life, infusing it with art and flowers and magic. They also produce stunning pottery in a studio on the grounds.

These amazing tulips were practically the first thing I saw as we entered the garden.

Followed by this incredible blue Iris.

Then I came across this cute little Daphne in a sunny clearing...


The bees were also enjoying the flowers and the warm spring weather.

And Daphne was enjoying the hidden parts of the garden and all its winding paths.

Daphne and her grandma, Suzie.

There were birdhouses and birds everywhere.

And here's my favorite rose in the garden at Camp Cactus.

 It's a crazy climber called Talisman.

Mmmm. Can you smell it? Heavenly!

excuses, excuses...

I haven't been able to write much the last couple of weeks. I have lots of posts started, but I seem unable somehow, to find the time or mental energy to expend on finishing anything. In fact, I've started a lot of things lately, and it seems everywhere I look there's an unfinished project or chore, or a thing that needs doing. 

It's not just me. Dave's got a lot of projects piling up, too. His way of dealing with it is to write notes and put them up in places he'll see them and be reminded. It makes me a little crazy sometimes, because it's not just a note or two here and there for a few days...the notes themselves pile up. (But that's a whole future post, right there...)

On top of all these unfinished projects, I've been trying desperately to keep from being cast as a player in someone else's drama. And (to continue with the theatrical metaphors) yesterday afternoon you could say I cancelled my audition for that particular production, so I suddenly feel a great relief that I won't be embroiled in what looks like a tragicomedy-in-the-making all summer long.

I'll try to get back in the swing of things soon, but meanwhile, here's photographic proof of just a few of the projects piling up around Camp Cactus:

Project No. 1: The Fireplace

(bricks primed back in October, still awaiting a faux finish)

Project No.2 : The Basement Stairs

(read this post for the reason I'm not exactly anxious to repaint)

Project No. 3: The Stairs

(18 years of traffic takes its toll)

Project No. 4: The Kitchen Trim

(eclectically unmatched)

Project No. 5 : The Extreme Studio Makeover

(If I'd hired snails to do it, it would have been done weeks ago)

So there you have it, the excuses reasons I haven't had time to post. Which reminds me, I have a project or five I must go deal with immediately. 

wordless wednesday no. 13

one more!

I just have to play one last note on Thematic Photographic for Carmi's week of musical themes...

Los Angeles, California - 2004

better late than never!

Since last week, Carmi over at Thematic Photographic has been wandering through a musical theme. Time's up on Wednesday at 7:00 pm, so here's a last minute take on the subject from my iPhoto archives:

Cleveland, Ohio - 2007

poverty party: soup course

When I was a kid, I don't recall ever seeing my mother use a cookbook, although I remember we had a few of them on a shelf in the back of the kitchen, like the "Mennonite Community Cookbook" (my mom, an Italian Catholic girl from the Bronx, apparently had eclectic tastes) and the old standby, "The NEW Fannie Farmer Cookbook" which I think was probably published in 1926. 

Some of the recipes in these old cookbooks sound really weird in modern times, but one thing many recipes published back in the 1920s through the 1950s had in common was thrift. Times were bleak and money was tight. It was both necessary and patriotic to stretch the food budget as far as possible to make ends meet.  

(click on photo to enlarge)

Here's a recipe from the Mennonites, called "Toast Flour Soup".  The ingredients called for are milk, fat and flour...Now I could make that one without going shopping, and you just can't get cheaper ingredients than milk, fat and flour, unless you're making Stone Soup.

But now that I think of it, Toast Flour Soup could be a great soup course to bring to Bossy's Poverty Party.

I dare anyone out there to make it. Send me a photo and I'll post it. Really! You don't even have to taste it! 

What's the weirdest and cheapest recipe you've ever encountered?