Hope is the Thing that

What is that quote, anyway? "Hope is the thing with feathers that sits on your shoulder and...what?"

I guess I should look it up, it's Emily Dickenson?

LOL.

Anyway, usually I am a very optimistic person but this past weekend that begins summer each year is rather sad for me, missing people who are gone now, missing the tiny children I once had, now big and busy. Missing my beloved doggy who I adopted on Memorial Day weekend one year....

My son like his grandpa has become interested in gardening. We've been experimenting with daylilies and other lilies, his favorite, and again my dad's fave, too. My dad had the entire front bank of his Cape Cod yard, all along the gravelly road, filled with exotic and common (brought from Illinois roadsides!) lilies.

NOT my dad's roadside! But the same idea/
google pix

And you may recall I enjoy "forcing" bulbs indoors, so when I saw Peruvian daffodils at the market, I just had to try them.

I had them in a glass hyacinth jar for weeks; they grew but....Then I transplanted them into potting soil a few weeks ago, and Oh MY! Overnight the P.Daffs burst into bloom.

In the house! Off-season.

Aren't they wonderful and so exciting and so---hopeful?

Here's a fun post from my dear friend Lisa  at Unexpected Information. Her "bulbs'' sprouted too..maybe it's just a purple onion, just like in my mom's fridge! But to me it is so brave, so hopeful and so green, growing there in the cold dark of her Arizona fridge. If that's not a sign of hope and rebirth, I don't know what is....

PS What have we learned about lilies so far? Bulbs planted in the fall in containers will not survive. They will freeze and decay. BUT lilies that are container-planted in their growing stage, whether store bought as plants or started indoors in the spring, will winter just fine (I think I am zone 7? here). My pink stargazer lilies and baby yellow daylilies from last year look amazing, soon to bloom! We are thrilled.

last summer, 2010 lily

The quote: "Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.”
 hhhhmmmm...creepy? Or, uh, hopeful?

And it is from Emily Dickenson, the young woman with the scary eyebrows on your Kindle screensaver...apropos of nothing.

love

       lizzy 

 gone to the beach......

Shopping Local

Hi everyone! Do you love the farmers market? I know I do!

There is something wonderful about saying hello to the nice young woman who grew that gorgeous butter lettuce on her family farm!

Just picked this morning!

Today she had broccolini, butter lettuce, and tiny fragrant red strawberries....

I used the lettuce tonight, in a light salad with slivered strawberries, blue cheese and a champagne vinegrette from Trader Joe's.

The rest of the strawberries will be for desserts this week, just dipped into yogurt or a bit of sugar? [Splenda, really!]..

And isn't this the most beautiful bread!

An artisan baked sourdough whole wheat.

Along with yummy fresh butter and marinated olives...all for weekend deck nibbles.

                         

Plus some mushroom ravs for another night..

Tonight I made lamb meatballs (the ground lamb unused because of gale-hampered BBQ last weekend). I made them with feta cheese and fresh dill and mint, served them with a yogurt cucumber sauce and TJ's delicious white bean hummus.

Broccolini [above], lightly steam-sauteed on the side (I start with a bit of water and olive oil, cover the non-stick pan, cook on high quickly. The steam blanches the veggies then the olive oil jazzes it all up, especially with a sprinkle of fresh black pepper and a smidge of Parm?

Because my market sells only locally grown items, there are no cut flowers right now. Lovely herbs and  annuals, but I wanted something for the house too. These are stocks, from Trader Joe's! Very old-fashioned and charming, I think...

The grocery store  and TJ's both had exceptional cut flowers, how to choose! Bells of Ireland! Peonies! Pale blue and chartreuse  hydrangeas, cut orchids, teeny tiny roses.

Oh I wish I could buy them all and fill my house with flowers every week.
But no.

So the stocks were my much pondered choice! Because, other than in my dad's garden...I don't think Ive ever seem them, and never  to buy.

Have a lovely week! Buy local if you get a chance!

love

           lizzy

gone to the beach...........

Little Miss Grumpy Cheers Up

What, what?! Memorial Day? The pool is filled, the lifeguards are in their highchairs (oh you know what I mean, although they do seem younger every year!) High. chairs.
With a view.

[Because out of towners always manage to drown each summer, sigh.]*

It was hot, it was muggy, there was thunder and lightening. Many people appeared on my beach!!! Eeeew!

my pale winter feet
I don't know those people!

Summer is here? How is that possible? Did we not just buy pumpkins? X shopping days til Christmas? Snowstorm alert, better stock up!
I'm not ready! I didn't piece---or even cut out---my planned winter quilt project! Nor did I paint the living room....
I didn't buy a new swimsuit yet. Or flipflops!
I did get these awesome beads, to made a special summer necklace, just for me:

From Kristy at Seashaped: one is a grey beach pebble! The other is two slivers of seaglass!! Check out  Seashaped 's etsy shop, her pix are way better than mine! I want every single thing in her shop. Awesome, perfect....

Time seems to fly these days.

                      

So I must be having fun.

The good news is, lots of my hearts were sold! Yay! And thanks! Don't they look so adorable in their travel outfits and tags?

  

now back to my summertime rant:


*Please only swim near a lifeguard stand (with lifeguards on duty); pls don't let your kids wade in rough surf, especially at dusk. I think 22 people drowned on my area beaches last year!

*Please respect, and teach your kids to respect, our shorebirds and other marine creatures. An ancient horseshoe crab is not a football for drunken teens to hurl around. The birds have babies to protect and feed...it's not easy, is it, parents? Let's have some empathy here. And human intruders give seals panic attacks; then they get sick. The tadpoles in the swale are infant endangered spadefoot toads...let them stay and live; no neon buckets please.

*And stay off the dunes! They are a fragile ecosystem that protects the rest of this tiny island. Your kids don't need to climb them and build a fort.(And there are ticks! Lyme disease, so...please.)

*Take your garbage home with you.

                     

Try to be good guests. You're sitting, uninvited, in my usuallly pristine front yard!
 

[smile]

love


           lizzy


           gone to the beach