Love of Africa

I acquired a new piece of African art at the fair last weekend.
Jeff just chuckled when I told him.
For some reason, I am drawn to this primitive style of art.


My Africa room is going to run out of wall space soon.

I am also reading the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.


It is a delightful series that describes Botswana and its people in intriguing detail. As I read, I can hear in my mind's ear the lilt of the African speech and visualize the landscape and the characters.
Read this paragraph and you will see why I love it:
Mma Ramotswe accepted her large slice of cake and looked at the rich fruit within it. There were at least seven hundred calories in that, she thought, but it did not matter; she was a traditionally built lady and she did not have to worry about such things.

The author lived in Botswana for a number of years and visits the country frequently. His love of the country and its people is apparent. I was doubtful that his facts were accurate, so glowing did they seem, but after consulting Wikipedia (the source of all truth) I am convinced.

I think that I shall go to Botswana. Not only is it one of the few democracies in Africa, but since its independence from Great Britain, Botswana has had one of the fastest growth rates in per capita income in the world. Its standard of living is improving. Not many African countries can lay claim to that.

Maybe the orangutans will have to wait.

But first, Kangaroo Island.

More fireworks

Every year, on the last weekend of July, the city of Newberg puts on its Old Fashioned Festival. When we first moved here, I thought it was a very strange name, but I have become accustomed to it. We enjoy four days of live music, craft and vendor booths, an overpriced carnival, a parade, and FIREWORKS. It was very hot yesterday, but I knew if I chickened out and missed the fireworks I would regret it all year. I know of which I speak, because I have done it before. The July 4th fireworks in Astoria were nice but I love to lie down in the field and have the fireworks be directly overhead. I'm picky that way!
So, at about 8 o'clock, Jeff and I moseyed over to the old Renne field and found a spot next to friends and close to the Baby Boomers Band. Our kind of music.
And waited for Jon and Jenny and the boys to arrive. It was their first Old Fashioned Festival Fireworks.
Here they are, waiting for the show to begin.


I love the photo at the top of Jenny and Jeff. I caught them in the ambient light of the fireworks, no easy feat with the delay on my camera.
It was the best fireworks EVER.
Wait a minute, I say that every year.
But really, it was.

Earlier in the day, Jenny and the boys marched with me in the parade. Our friend, Rob Cornilles, has decided to challenge the long-incumbent Democrat, David Wu. He has a long and difficult row to hoe (farming metaphor there) so we marched to support him. It was my first time in the parade. Usually I sit on the sidelines with kids or grandkids and encourage them in their accumulation of candy. Snitching all of the good chocolate.


Jeff fell asleep towards the end of the parade. According to Jenny, the boys got up at 6am.

Veggie Love

Lots of vegetables from the farm this week.
Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, green beans, zucchini (or courgettes, as my sister calls them), and bonus boysenberries.
I also picked 16lbs of blueberries.
Love summer in Oregon.
I have been roasting vegetables lately. Baby parsnips and carrots from my own garden and beets and cauliflower from the farm. We love them. Roasting brings out the natural sweetness, in case you didn't know. There have been beet converts among my beet-hating friends when they taste them roasted. Basically, you shake the veggies in a ziplock bag that contains olive oil and seasonings. Place them in a roasting pan and cook them at 350 to 400 degrees until they are tender.
If you're not adventurous that way, here is an actual recipe, courtesy of Simplyrecipes.com and Elise, who submitted this four years ago.

Roasted Cauliflower


• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely minced
• Lemon juice (from 1/2 or a whole lemon)
• Olive oil
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Parmesan cheese
1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut cauliflower into florets and put in a single layer in an oven-proof baking dish. Toss in the garlic. Squeeze lemon juice over cauliflower and drizzle each piece with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. 2 Place casserole in the hot oven, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is lightly brown. Test with a fork for desired doneness. Fork tines should be able to easily pierce the cauliflower. Remove from oven and sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

De.Lish.Us.

Note to Jon:
Not one ellipsis.
Not one exclamation point.

The family that blogs together.....

Have you noticed the new blogs on my side bar?
The Good Life is Annie's blog.
Entomophilia is Jon's.
Which may need a name change.
He said he made up the word.
It means "love of bugs."
Unfortunately, some other people thought of it first.
In a not so nice way.
I don't recommend googling "entomophilia."
But check out their blogs.
Prepare to be entertained and informed.
Ignore my son's comments on my blog grammar.
Jon, this is for you.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And.....
the ellipsis is actually a rather subtle device.
So there!

Jon, amused.


Jon, contemplative.

Rampant Garden II

I saved some kabocha squash seeds last year.
Farmer Brown tells me that they may not be true to type because of all of the different varieties of squash they grow at the Mustard Seed.
Oops.
But so far, they're looking pretty true.
And huge.
This bed has two blueberry bushes, about ten apple cucumbers, and one GIGANTIC kabocha in it.


If you look really carefully, you can almost see the plants that are not kabocha.
It is also encroaching on the grape vines, which are over 5 feet tall.


This may not be the best idea I had all year.

On a happier note, my lemon tree is back from the dead.


I was sure that it had died in the cold spell over Christmas.
There was no sign of life at all.
But I kept it watered and sat it in the sun all spring, hoping against all hope that it would revive.
And darned if it didn't!
Jeff calls it my lemon bush.
Maybe next year it will give me lemons again.
If it survives another winter.

Mice:epilogue

Remember the mice?
And the pile of rice?

Go here if you don't.

I'm hoping that the story is finally over.

I was searching in the toy box for Little People figures for Tommy and Jeffrey when I had them over last week. As I got close to the bottom of the box, I found a chewed up piece of stripy t-shirt fabric.
Hmmmm, I thought to myself.
What could this be?
I contemplated, then remembered that it used to be a bean bag.
Filled with.....RICE!!!!!!!
It was a rice bag.
So that's where that pile of rice came from.
It had bothered me ever since the mice incident.

I searched further and found....more chewed bean bags.
Only this time, the beans were still intact.
Apparently, mice don't like kidney beans.
Can't say that I blame them!


And, of course, the box had a healthy layer of mice turds all over the bottom of it.

The toy box is duly cleaned and disinfected.
The story is done.
I hope.

No-picture day.

Today, words will have to do.
I woke up early. Five-ish. It's been in the 90's but cooling down at night, so the sun was shining brightly and a cool breeze was blowing. Have to get up and get while then getting's good. We're having six people over for lunch tomorrow. Barbecue pizza cook-off. Need to clean the house and tidy the garden so that I can impress them. Ha! My house is always neat and tidy. My flowerbeds are always weed-free!
I made Jeff a breakfast sandwich. Ciabatta bread filled with egg, cheese and ham. Men work more willingly when their sweeties feed them well, don'tcha know? He headed over to Bethany and Chris's house to help Chris with his sprinkler system. They're doing a labour swap, my brilliant idea. Figure they'd both work harder and longer if they had help. Which will make Bethany and Sue happy.
Had two Lindor truffles for breakfast after Jeff left.
Then I spent, I swear, two hours working on hotels and flights for our Washington DC trip. What Washington DC trip, you ask? Oh, didn't I tell you about that? There is a Taxpayer Protest March on Capitol Hill on September 12th. Why don't you come too? It is the best-kept secret on conservative talk radio, so I hope the organizers get the participation they are expecting. So, after several hours of research on the net and talking to a very ditzy, myopic, self-absorbed, totally irrelevant travel agent who is supposedly helping people plan their trips (NOT!) we are good to go. Yeah, she was a sweetheart. Does anyone else miss the days when you just called a travel agent when you wanted to go somewhere and they let you know when a good deal turned up. It might have been a bit more expensive, but oh, so much more comforting. I get ulcers with all the decisions I have to make for a trip like this.
Anyway.
By the time that was all done, it was going on 10 o'clock, so I hurried outside and was a weeding, pruning, watering maniac for about three hours. My friend, Robyn, came to bring me some fresh zucchini bread while I was on my knees weeding under the cherry tree. She stood and watched me weed while we gossiped about our kids. It made the time go faster. And when I finally went in the house, sweaty and dehydrated, I ate most of that loaf with about half a gallon of orange juice.
Spent some time waterproofing the grout on the kitchen counter.
Took a much needed shower.
Nap.
Ahhhh.
Except Jeff was home by then and decided he needed a nap too.


We got up in the late afternoon. Jeff vacuumed the house, swept the kitchen, and mowed the lawn. I finished the counters, swept again, and mopped the floor. We rode the Screamer to Quizno's and had two tasty torpedoes. Turkey club for Jeff, roast beef, bacon and cheese for me. Hold the veggies and mayo, thank you. Then we rode out to the Mustard Seed. Oh my, I was huffing and puffing up the hills. Jeff was the man. He put his thighs into high gear and talked me up those stinkin' hills. Not having the brake on helped a lot. That's for you, Ellen! We spent an hour weeding the onions, loaded up on orange cauliflower and striped beets, picked some big, juicy boysenberries, and headed home just as the sun was setting. Finally got to try out those nifty LED lights. They work very efficiently.
Stopped at Safeway on the way home for milk. Had to buy two gallons to get the good price and decided we couldn't ride the bike without tipping over. It's only half a mile or so to home, so we walked. The wind had really picked up by now and we were worried about the awning being out, so I told Jeff to go ahead and I would walk the bike. As he drew ahead of me, carrying a gallon of milk, I thought how it probably looked like we had had a lover's spat. He was pushing ahead in a snit and had left his woman pushing the big old bike. Funny.
I kind of like my life lately, although sometimes I think we work too hard.