Three Breezy Thoughts for Thursday

Posted on April 19, 2012 by jphilo

After a week of wind, the weather finally settled down. To celebrate the fact that residents of our fair town are no longer in danger of wind surfing down the street each time they unzip their coats, here are three breezy thoughts for this spring Thursday:

Two weeks into the war against allergens, we’re engaged in a battle against dust mites. So far the mites are winning.
After 16 weeks, my name made the top of the library’s waiting list for the new Catherine the Great biography. Twenty pages in, after reading about her father (in his 30s) marrying her mother (in her early teens) in a match not made in heaven, it’s already obvious poor Sophie (aka: Catherine the Great) doesn’t have a chance for a normal life.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if the wind expired along with the wind advisories?

What kind of weather would you consider lovely this spring?

Grandma Josie’s Strawberry Shortcake

Posted on April 18, 2012 by jphilo

We celebrated Hiram’s birthday last month with grilled steak (thanks to our unusually warm weather) and strawberry shortcake (thanks to his determination to cut down on sugar due to advancing age). To prove I’m still young, I cut loose. Instead of using the recipe from the old Betty Crocker cookbook, I used my Grandma Josie’s recipe instead. Her recipe was a little sketchy, so below you’ll find her original recipe (submitted to our family cookbook by Cousin Danelle) and then my version of it.

Grandma Josie’s Original Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

1 small cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking power
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter

Stir in rich milk until semi-stiff. Bake at 350 degrees until golden and toothpick comes out clean. Top with fresh strawberries. Recipe can be doubled to fit in a 10 inch pan.

Grandma Josie’s Strawberry Shortcake

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup softened butter
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1 quart strawberries, washed, hulled, sliced and mixed with 2 tablespoons sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Cut in butter. Add eggs and milk. Mix with a fork until all ingredients are moistened. Pour into a 9 inch square pan. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. Top with fresh strawberries.

Top 10 Reasons to Eat Supper as a Family

Posted on April 17, 2012 by jphilo

Have you heard or read the studies about the studies that say family mealtime is the an important factor in the future well-being of children? That eating meals together is an effective deterrent against drugs, smoking, alcohol and the like? Those studies weren’t around when our kids were little, but we had a few reasons of our own for eating together at least once a day. This weekend, when some of our kids were here visiting, a couple more came to mind. So here are my top ten reasons families should eat meals together.

10. The table doesn’t accumulate as much junk if it has to be cleared before supper.

9. Setting and clearing the table provide opportunities to earn stickers on chore charts.

8. Someday all that table setting and clearing will lead one of your children to believe parents only have kids because they want slaves to do all their work.

7. How else are little boys and girls supposed to learn knives can be used for more than stabbing bad guys?

6. Mealtime provides a captive audience for telling goofy family stories and thus preserving family history.

5. Mealtime is a perfect venue for creating new family stories – perhaps a story about a daughter who frequently fell off her chair or a son who found giggles in the applesauce.

4. Kids who eat meals with their parents want to know how to cook what they’re eating.

3. Kids who eat meals with their parents learn to cook what they like to eat.

2. Kids who eat meals with their parents eventually cook supper for their parents.

1. Once the kids are cooking meals, the parents have accomplished the ulterior and secret motive of getting ~~the kids~~ slaves to do all their work.

What do you want to add to the list? Leave a comment!

Marpril: Lovely, Deceptive, and Dangerous

Posted on April 16, 2012 by jphilo

Ever since The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper created the word “prevening” to refer the hours in late afternoon hours and early evening, I’ve been waiting for a chance to coin a word, too. The crazy weather of the last six weeks – our April-like March and now our March-like April – provided the perfect opportunity to combine the two into one new month.

I call it Marpril.

The original plan was to flip flop the order of the two months, putting April in front of March from now on. It seemed like a good solution last week during March-in-April when three nights of hard frost did damage to the magnolia tree’s leaves rather than to the blossoms as usually happens. But this year, the magnolia tree bloomed and dropped it’s petals during April-in-March. But, the flip flop plan died during this past weekend’s normal rootin’ tootin’ April weather display, complete with wind, thunder, lightning, rain, and tornadoes. Hence, my elegant, new word solution emerged.

Marpril

A lovely word, don’t you think? But a dark side hides behind the loveliness. In Marpril, frost can shrivel magnolia leaves. It can turn crab apple blossoms brown,

put an end to dreams of cherry picking in June,

blacken some peony buds while leaving others untouched,

and fill the rain barrel over and over and over.

Lovely, deceptive, and dangerous.

That’s our Marpril.

A month not to be trifled with nor savored. A month which seduce with warm temperatures during the prevening hours, then ushers in a cold front the minute your back is turned. A two month period, which could stretch into three. In which case I’m ready with another new word.

Maypril.

My words are gonna make the next edition of Webster’s. You can count on it. Which is more than can be said for ~~March and April~~ Marpril.

Downton Abbey or Downton Arby’s?

Posted on April 13, 2012 by jphilo

Attention all Downton Abbey wannabes! You know who I mean.

The career woman ashamed to admit her childhood dream was to be a princess and live in a castle when she grew up.
The mom who saving up for mother-daughter Belle gowns from the Disney catalog.
The hunter who secretly wishes he could wear a scarlet coat and riding britches instead of a fluorescent orange vest when deer season opens.
The husband who dreams of a life where he can ditch his wife and spend the evening smoking cigars and drinking cognac with his posh buddies.

Yup, we’re the people who make the Masterpiece Theater creators eyes shine with ~~dollar~~ pound signs once we’re hooked on a show like Downton Abbey.

But it’s very, very important for us wannabes to avoid taking ourselves too seriously. Otherwise, we won’t have the emotional energy needed to remain suspended on the season two finale’s cliffhanger, worrying about what really matters. Things like:

Will Matthew and Mary really tie the knot?
Will Mr. Bates go to prison?
Will Thomas quit smoking?
Will the Dowager Countess of Grantham (aka: Maggie Smith) turn quickly and knock someone over with her hat?
Will the wardrobe mistress ever let Edith wear a pretty dress?

Those issues weighed heavily on me until a friend and fellow wannabe sent a link to a YouTube video. Those who take themselves and Downton Abbey too seriously should be prepared to be indignant. Everybody else, be prepared to laugh at this spoof entitled Downton Arby’s.

Three Thoughts for Thursday

Posted on April 12, 2012 by jphilo

rhubarb 300x200 Three Thoughts for Thursday

Hiram and I spent the week running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to stay ahead of spring chores. With all the lawn mowing, porch cleaning, and flower bed weeding, I’ve hardly had time to think of three thoughts for Thursday. That said, here’s my best shot:

The onslaught of spring chores makes me very, very grateful for the innovation hailed by Target in their pre-Easter ad. How did I get anything done before ready-to-cook eggs came on the scene?
My husband runs several times a week. I walk miles each morning. Still, our day spent weeding flower beds left us gimpy and slow. Is this a sign of advancing age of of the intricate, cunning, and sadistic nature of the human body?
Despite hard frosts the past three nights, the rhubarb survived and is almost ready to pick. I can hardly wait to bake some rhubarb desserts again. My fave is strawberry-rhubarb crisp. Yours?

Clean Out the Fridge Fried Rice

Posted on April 11, 2012 by jphilo

A few days before we went on vacation last month, I cleaned out the fridge and made supper in one fell swoop. How was such a feat of daring and skill accomplished? By using the leftover vegetables and meat in the refrigerator to make fried rice.

Because this dish uses leftovers the recipe is very adaptable. I’ve done my best to create oodles of options in the instructions below. But you can add your own touches, too. Vegetarians can leave out the meat. Onion haters can leave out my favorite vegetable while onion lovers can add more. The only thing you have to include is the rice!

Clean Out the Fridge Fried Rice

1 cup uncooked rice
3 tablespoons olive oil
Any combination of the following vegetables, about 1/2 – 1 cup of each: peas, corn, chopped broccoli, onion, sweet pepper, green beans, cabbage, or carrots
3 eggs
1/2 – 1 cup of one the following cooked, finely chopped meats: ham, bacon, pork, turkey, chicken, or beef
1/4 – 1/3 soy sauce

In medium sauce pan, cook rice according to package directions.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Break eggs into a bowl and beat well. Pour into frying pan and scramble. Transfer cooked eggs back into bowl.

Heat remaining oil in frying pan over medium-high heat. Add veggies, one kind at a time, starting with the carrots and broccoli. Stir fry for half a minute, then add next kind of veggie until all are in pan. Add meat and stir fry for about a minute more.

Add cooked rice. Stir fry and mix well. Pour in soy sauce. Stir fry until rice mixture is evenly coated. Add cooked eggs and mix well. Serve hot. (But the leftovers are delicious cold, too!)

Ten Reasons to Walk on Spring Mornings

Posted on April 10, 2012 by jphilo

I’m an early riser and try to start each day with a walk. The practice is good exercise in every season, but a spring stroll is also a delight to the senses. Here are ten reasons I love to walk outside on a fresh spring morning.

10. Sunrise.

9. The yellow-green tree leaves are such a happy color.

8. The red buds blooming in the wild ravine down by the bridge.

7. Frogs singing in a pond dappled with early morning sunshine.

6. Knock-kneed fawns running every which way when their mothers turn tail and run.

5. Wild plum trees blooming along the fence rows.

4. The scent of lilacs on the breeze.

3. Cardinals singing in the treetops.

2. Crab apple petals turning the air pink and white as they float through the air.

1. The new growth surrounds me with the promise of Easter – new life in Christ.

The Fairy Ring

Posted on April 9, 2012 by jphilo

Lilacs 300x200 The Fairy Ring

The lilacs are blooming,
Blossoms purple against deep green leaves.
Their scent rises in greeting this morning
As I walk down the lane.

I welcome these old friends,
Who visit briefly each spring,
Then wave good-bye in the wind,
With never a backward glance at the branches that bore them.

My daughter loved their circle of branches,
A fairy ring just big enough
For one small girl and her dolls
To hold a tea party on summer afternoons.

I look for my sweet, shy daughter
And the circle of branches
In the lilacs,
But both are gone.

The fairy ring is overgrown,
Filled with tender, new lilac shoots.
My daughter is grown,
Filled with tender love for her new husband.

Still, the lilacs blossoms
Return each spring.
My daughter and her husband
Return when they can.

When they turn into our lane,
The lonely branches wave
To greet the shy, sweet girl
Who once nestled in the safety
Of a fairy ring.

March Madness at our House

Posted on April 6, 2012 by jphilo

For most of the country, March Madness 2012 ended with last weekend’s championship game. For many Iowans, like my husband, the madness ended in the second round when the Iowa State Cyclones, the team that beat the reigning champs in the first round, lost to Kentucky in the second.

But for other Iowans, like me, the March madness continues, not on the basketball court, but in our flowerbeds. This year’s mild weather was mentioned in a previous post, and afterwards spring marched through March like mad. In fact, so unbeleivable was spring’s onslaught that on the last day of the month, I used my camera to make a record of the mad, mad, mad, mad spring of 2012. Crazy stuff, unheard of in Central Iowa. Stuff like

bleeding hearts blooming in March,

along with tulips,

and more tulips,

and violets.

Not to mention buds on the clematis

and the lilacs, too,

rhubarb almost ready to be picked,

and the roses in full leaf.

Only the wild plum tree blossoms, usually the first of the spring flowers to bloom, waited until their usual time to appear.

Surrounded by the many evidences of this mad spring, the plum tree nearly escaped my notice, until the fragrance of the blossoms wafted on the breeze and tickled my nose. A lovely March Madness I pray will rule at our house until the end of May.