refreshing lavender honey infusion

I don't know about you, but I get sick of drinking water in the summer when it's so hot. And there's only so much iced tea a person can drink. I've been trying to come up with other options, which led to today's experiment. I had a bunch of lavender growing and couldn't figure out what to do with it, so I decided to try a beverage infusion with that and honey, inspired by honey lavender ice cream I recently tried. It turned out great - a healthy refreshing drink for only 20 calories per eight ounce glass. Here's how to make it.

First, gather a giant glass jar, fresh lavender leaves, organic honey, and a lime or two. Next, separate the lavender leaves from the stems and measure 1/2 cup of leaves, packed down.

Put these into the jar and mash them against the edge with a big spoon to release some of the oils.

Add 16 cups of water to the jar. Stir well, swirling the leaves around. Put the lid on the jar and place it outside in the sun for about 8 hours. Bring inside.

Strain the liquid through a coffee filter to remove leaves. Put 5 Tablespoons of honey into the liquid, stirring to dissolve. Place the jar in the fridge to chill.

Sip over ice, garnishing with a lavender sprig is desired. You may want to squeeze a lime wedge into the glass for another flavor option. With or without the lime, you will find happiness in every sip. Sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy!

button bracelet

There is something so relaxing about making jewelry. Last year, in writing class we had to pick a word for the year, kind of like a personal theme or goal. Mine was calm. I had to repeat calm this year due to disappointing progress. Calm is hard to learn. You can't try too hard, because then you won't be calm - you will be hyper, and anxious about not being calm enough. It's a tangled web. Lackadaisical people do not know how lucky they are. As soon as I start making headway on calm, I get all cocky and forget to keep practicing. But, I am not a natural and will always need to practice. Crafts, yoga, breathing, prayer, herbal tea - all good. 

Here's how to make a button bracelet, which would make an excellent gift for just about anybody. (With the possible exception of Queen Elizabeth.) This bracelet has tons of variations. You can use all the same size buttons or mix it up. I added beads, which is optional. Also, you could use 4 hole buttons and run two parallel lines of thread to add stability. Gather Stretch Magic elastic, buttons, and beads.

Cut 2 pieces of Stretch Magic nearly double the length you want the bracelet to be. Knot them together to hold in place. Don't pull the knot too tight, as you'll need to undo it later. Slip the first button in between the threads, and then loop the top thread down the first hole, and up the second. The thread on the bottom will do just the opposite, up the first hole and down the second. Now it should look like the picture below.

 Slide a bead onto the top thread as in below.

 Now, repeat what you did above - top thread down and up, bottom thread down then up.

Slide a bead onto top thread. Keep repeating this procedure till you have the amount of buttons to fit your wrist - or that of the intended recipient.

Now, untie the know you started with and loop onto the end, so that you pull the threads to the underside to knot them all together. Knot well and trim threads. Enjoy! If you make one, email me a picture and I'll post it here.

kind of a miracle

Something really cool happened to me yesterday; I may have been subjected to a miracle.

Here's what happened. I was talking to my sister, Lisa, on the phone about the pain stabbing me underneath the scapula, which showed up Friday morning as I innocently flat ironed my hair. I've had that exact pain before and it always takes weeks, if not months, to jigger its way out, so I was mentally bracing myself to be a toughie for the duration. Anyhow, Lisa is a physical therapy assistant in a hospital, so she knows about pain, body mechanics, and such like. She is my medical guru. I told her my shoulder problem may have been from the side planks I did on Thursday night. She agreed, giving me sympathetic comments. We hung up, and I headed to my room to lie on a heating pad.

Ten minutes later, she calls back, saying she was praying for God to give her an idea about how to help me. Boom, Zappa, into her mind pops a specific exercise involving a broom handle and overhead maneuvers. She then realized this exercise is the exact countermeasure to the compression involved in the evil side plank. Of course, I immediately grabbed my broom and started lifting, ever so carefully. The pain eased a bit. Rest and repeat. More easing. Before bed, I repeated it again, and today - wallah - no pain. I am so incredibly thankful. Thank you, God! Once you've been in pain, absence of pain seems like an exciting holiday. Lisa is my angel.

It is amazing how life is like a web weaving us all together to hold each other up. That's all, except for this poem which I found lurking around in my brain this weekend. Tomorrow is craft day. I will show you how to make an interesting bracelet out of buttons. Goodbye, friend.

Etching

Layers,

layers,
endless
layers
flake and
fall, flake
and fall,
each
scratch
unveiling
me writ
large in
white
stacked
bones.

the whole shebang

 Got an oil can, anybody? Yesterday, I got a crook in my shoulder. I feel like I'm squeaking like the tin man. Sometimes that happens since the accident, but eventually the spare parts always jigger back to a better hidey hole and it goes away. I am in the waiting stage now and trying to ignore it. I'm done complaining now.

Say, how about those opening ceremonies? Our buddies, Lance and Pat, had a London-themed watching party where all the guests happily imbibed traditional English pub beers and libations, fish and chips, and English cheeses. I'd not had Stilton before - it is luscious - so pungent, and it sure delivers on the flava flav. I'm thinking of starting a Stilton fan club. Want to join?

The food and company were great; the opening ceremonies were... interesting. Perplexing, random, bizarre, hilarious, quirky- pick your adjective. I had a hard time staying awake, and I blame it on the floating beds. They looked so cozy. All except for the one with the giant floating baby's head. What was that about? Perhaps I am not sophisticated enough to understand the wit behind the whole shebang.

what Fred said

I love Mister Rogers. I know he is dead, but he still means a great deal to me because of all I have learned from his words. Most mornings, I read a page from The World According to Mister Rogers. Today's page said this:

How great it is when we come to know that times of dissapointment can be followed by times of fulfillment; that sorrow can be followed by joy; that guilt over falling short of our ideals can be replaced by pride in doing all that we can; and that anger can be channeled into creative achievements . . . and into dreams that we can make come true.

Mister Rogers, if you are looking down from heaven, thank you. I have two friends dealing with depression, another who just lost her husband of thirty years to sudden heart attack, and two others who just had cancer surgery. Life is tough. Sometimes all you can do is wait for things to get better. And pray. When I have troubles and can't sleep, I like to picture myself laying in the center of God's humongous cushiony strong hand. I picture God's eyes on me, like the gentle morning sunshine. That helps. And friends help. I want to take away my friends' pain, but sometimes all you can do is bring chili and wait together for the morning light.

tiny food day

Good day, beautiful people. I've been editing a cookbook lately, so I find myself constantly mulling over possible recipes. Especially recipes for tiny foods. Why this particular fascination? I don't know, but it could have something to do with the adorable and festive nature of bite-sized snacks. They are a party waiting to happen. Really. Make some, and you might just find yourself at the head of a neighborhood conga line.

My goal is to squeeze the perfect combo of textures and flavors with a soupcon of bada-boom bada-bing into one bite-sized nugget of bliss. Here's an egg-stuffed tomato snack I've come up with. It really sings. (I think the song is Walking on Sunshine.) You can eat these for lunch or bring them to your next gathering to wow all your friends. They are easy to make. Here's how:

Tomato Egglettes

(This recipe is for one generous lunch-sized portion. If you are making for a crowd, then multiply accordingly.) Gather 2 hard boiled eggs, yellow mustard, low fat mayonnaise, a jar of bread and butter pickles, sea salt, turmeric, a sliced American cheese, and 3 Campari tomatoes. (If you can't find Campari, then get any cocktail or cherry tomatoes, though you will need more if you use cherry.)

Shell and chop the eggs in a bowl. Add 2 Tablespoons on the mayo, 1/2 teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon of the pickle juice, 1/8 teaspoon tumeric, and 1/8 teaspoon of salt.

Mix this up and set aside. Slice the tomatoes in half, as if you were slicing across the equator if the stem were the North Pole. If the non-stem side is not fairly flat on the bottom, you may need to slice off the tip so that it will stand up like a cup. Cut out the guts, then scoop the seeds out as well. Fill the cavity with the egg salad. Chop up three of the pickle slices, and divide among tomatoes, placing on top of egg mixture. Now top with a piece of cheese slice to cover. Fire up the broiler, and place these underneath till the cheese is melted to seal over the top. You can eat warm, or chill to be eaten later that day.

the good news and the bad news

The good news is that QG and I will have been married thirty years in December, and are heading to Hawaii to celebrate. This promises to be more scenic than our honeymoon: a four day stint at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. With December not exactly being their peak and us being poor, it was the perfect match. But, that was then. Yay, Hawaii now!

The bad news is that this calls for a new swimsuit. I've been waiting for the big sale. Today was the day. Oy. Let's just say I need to do more crunches. Lots more crunches. Really, is there anyone over thirty that actually enjoys swimsuit shopping? And, oh my Lord, the lights. I think they'd sell a heck of a lot more suits if they dimmed the blasted things down to a rosy glow. Right? Am I right, people?

Perhaps we should just look at some pretty pictures now. Yesterday morning, my camera Anges and I headed out at seven to capture our town. Two hours and 427 photos later, we returned home happy. Our town is a good one. We even found bugs.

People and their Passions, part 1

My neighbor John, something of a jack of all trades career-wise, has recently fulfilled a dream which has been dogging him for forty years. Lots of people have such a passion, that fondest desire residing in their hearts which refuses to diminish, but not everyone manages to turn theirs into reality, like John did.
"The first time I laid my eyes on radio equipment, I said, I gotta do that." Says John, recalling the time a high school buddy let him into KAND radio station, in Corsicana Texas, where the buddy worked. By his senior year, John was manning the boards as DJ every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at KAND. John had found his first love, and her name was radio. This was the old days, he explains, when every second while the songs played was spent scurrying to queue tapes and albums, rewind others, and shuffle equipment. The only thing that allowed him to use the restroom was "American Pie," or one of the few other long ballads.

After high school, John moved to Dallas, working at KMAP (105.3), KLIF (mighty 1190), then on to New Orleans at WTIX, WOLF, and WSMB.
By 1973, John had returned to Dallas, and switched to television, working for channel 4 (CBS). This led him into the movie business, where he worked as a production manager on movies like Home Alone III and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. During this time, he moonlighted as a reserve officer and police academy instructor. In 1997, to spend more time with his family, he left the movie business to be a full time Dallas constable, where he has been since, rising through the ranks.

Since he left radio in '73, John has nursed the idea of having his own in-home station, one with the old-school control board and tapes like he'd started with. Several months ago, he found a gentleman in Connecticut, who refurbishes just such equipment, and had a system ready to go. With the addition of an antanae, some turntables, CD's, and odds and ends, John's radio station WYNR 1390 AM was born.
He can be found at the controls every Saturday and Sunday night from 7-9 broadcasting hits from the 60's, 70's, and 80's for all of his fans in our neighborhood and the five miles surrounding it.

WYNR is an awesone station. It even has it's own authentic retro jingle from Pam's Jingle House. John is a regular guy in a regular house in the suburbs, only this guy has his own radio station.

I know there are stories like John's on every block. Stories of people who have managed to toss their lariat into the sky and lasso their passion. I want to tell those stories. If you have one, let me know.