Summer Painting

Local arts council group painting wine bottles, outdoors, at picnic tables by the lake at Sharon's place on a lovely August day last week.

These painted bottles can be used as candle holders, especially nice with metal inserts to hold the candles, or when craftingly drilled, will hold a small strand of christmas-style lights in the bottle to plug in for a soft nightlight effect.

Talented and interesting women and a tasty potluck lunch. Later some sitting by the dock while others swam or boated -- me in the sit-upon kayak and Andrea in the paddleboat.

What a special fun day!

A Magical Place in Gilbertsville

This upstate NY yard is the work of an artist named Alberta.
Past the fence, through the arbor, there are paved paths with urns and flowers,
painted birdhouses on posts, a colorful swing, and the Lotus House.
Her work is featured in the Mystical Mandala Coloring Book (Dover), 2007).

Book Review - The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

 My book review of  The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake was recently posted at Story Circle Book reviews

The style of Aimee Bender's new book The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake has been described as magical realism. It is that and quirky, ambiguous, and entertaining as well. Here thoughts run together into dialogue without quotations, descriptions are often sparse and pointed (e.g. "...their smiles sewn up with an edge of fishing line."), and the characters rich. Rose's father won't go into hospitals, her aging grandmother sends Rose's mother packages of chairs and stale crackers, her brother's only friend pays more attention to her than her science-obsessed brother does, her mother finds new fulfillment in woodworking. But our primary focus is Rose, who is on the cusp of nine years old and for the first time tastes people's feelings—feelings that they are not necessarily aware of themselves—in the food that they cook. This is an ability that understandably makes certain things inedible and Rose's life complicated. Secrets and the unspoken are often mingled with the other ingredients. As Rose ages, she develops an understanding of how this sensitivity sets her apart from others and she struggles to accept and ultimately find some pleasure in this unusual talent.
Bender's book is more than the story of the connections and distances in what we therapists call "family dysfunction." It is full of quixotic metaphors. In an online interview, author Bender stated that she wasn't interested in diagnosing her characters, only in describing them. But for this reader, the relationship between sister Rose and brother Joseph, especially in a series of confusing interactions, illuminated the thin line that sometimes exists between sane survival and mental illness. An underlying theme is that the quirky skills and perspectives that individuals in a family possess can either help them understand and navigate their world or can cause them to be overwhelmed by it.
As soon as I finished reading this book, I ordered copies of Aimee Bender's other publications (a novel and a book of short stories). I hope that they are as tasty as I found The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.

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Aimee Bender is the author of four books: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt (1998), which was a NY Times Notable Book; An Invisible Sign of My Own (2000), which was an L.A. Times pick of the year; Willful Creatures (2005), which was nominated by The Believer as one of the best books of the year; and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2010). Her short fiction has been published in Granta, GQ, Harper's, Tin House, McSweeney's, The Paris Review, and many more places, as well as heard on PRI's "This American Life" and "Selected Shorts." Bender has received two Pushcart prizes and her fiction has been translated into ten languages. She lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches creative writing at USC. Visit her colorfully-illustrated website.

More Summertime

It's August...loving the days of mild temps., mid 70s, and full of flowers and veggies.

That first photo...one of my favorite bouquets this summer. Bought at the Ithaca Farmer's Market. They spray paint soup cans, and fill to the rim, rounded top with tall grasses with little hangers.

Followed by our onion harvest, drying on the deck bench.

Summer Salads

One of my favorite things to eat in the summer is salads made of whatever is fresh from the garden right now. Then I often add something from the fridge that needs to be used up, or some other local goodies.

Greens plus steamed asparagus, walnuts, and hard-boiled eggs with local dressing

Greens plus fresh herbs, carrots, radishes, olives, asparagus, celery, and crumbled goat cheese

Leftover salad from above plus local cheddar and local bread with goat cheese and slow-fried garlic cloves

Spinach plus asparagus, broccoli, potatoes, hard-boiled eggs (done like this so they are still a bit soft) dressed with oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper

What's your favorite summer thing to eat?

Fresh Blueberry Pie

As promised...and with folks gently reminding me...below is the scrumptious and easy Fresh Blueberry Pie recipe.
I don't have a photo of mine and can't seem to link to any photos online (lots of photos available of double-crusted blueberry pies but this one is open-faced. For a glimpse look at the one at Open-Faced Blueberry Pie...although the recipe there deviates from my easier version).

FRESH BLUEBERRY PIE
INGREDIENTS
Pastry for Single-Crust Pie

1 cup fresh blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cold water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water

** 1 8-ounce package, cream cheese softened
2 tablespoons milk
3 cups fresh blueberries

(**I often substitute approx. 6-7 ounces of neufchatel cheese -- similar to cream cheese with lower fat content) 

DIRECTIONS
Prepare single pie crust -- from scratch or store-bought
(I've even served this pie made with a store-bought graham cracker crust -- got great reviews but I think the taste is better with a pastry crust)

Stir together 1 cup blueberries, the sugar, and 3/4 cup water in a medium saucepan.
Bring to boiling, stirring occasionally.
Cook uncovered about 2 minutes or till the berries begin to pop.
Combine cornstarch and 1/4 cup water; add to saucepan.
Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly; cook and stir 2 minutes more.
Transfer to a bowl; cover with plastic wrap.
Cool for 1 hour without stirring.

Stir together cream (or neufchatel) cheese and milk in a small bowl.
Spread in the bottom of the (cooled) pie crust.
Add half of the 3 cups blueberries followed by half of the blueberry sauce; repeat layers.
Cover and chill at least 2 hours.

Serve all by itself but it's even more delicious with ice cream or whipped cream. Enjoy!

Summertime Musings

(SUMMER PHOTOS -- Top, Veggies from our Garden; Bottom, Wonderful color hydrangeas spotted on our recent trip to CT)

I try not to grasp at summer...lamenting its fleeting nature... to enjoy it thoroughly while remembering that certain activities have their windows of opportunity, windows of varying size. I may be able to partake in some activities for months – bicycling or gardening – and yet enjoy others only on certain days or weeks – like eating the last of the asparagus harvest (usually stop picking it by July 4th) or go to local events like the Afton Craft Fair or Unadilla Days. There are only a few days each summer that the weather is perfect for kayaking and swimming at Sharon’s place on Gerry Lake on one of my days off. There are certain weeks I have to notice the hummingbirds or the fireflies or to grill freshly picked zucchini or snip cilantro, when it is full yet before it flowers, to add to a corn-black bean salad.

I hear the anxieties and regrets of others. August is starting...the fall horizon is not so distant...school will start in countable days and they haven’t yet read a beach-book or scrapbooked last summer’s vacation. Stressing starts early. And the line between leisurely preparation and pressure seems so thin – like those prancing or rushing to get to shop when the displays are new and the most choices of colorful towels and bedding for college dorms are available. Or for me to just sit and smell the roses without looking for the pruner to cut back the bush.

I intend to not grasp summer. And I’ll try not to complain when it is SO hot and humid...to remember that this summer weather is what I crave when months later I’ll complain about icy winter roads. But now I want to get outdoors to breathe in the summer air, to pick a few weeds out of the garden, to pluck a few berries off a backyard bush to top my cereal, to read on the back deck. Summertime...the living is easy...the time is now.