Today's song/Boat Drinks, and recipes

For those of us in the wintry climes, I thought this would be a perfect song! "I gotta fly to St. Somewhere."

Addendum: None of the old Blog Radio music works anymore.

I haven't tried all of these, but they sound tropically wonderful.

Bay Breeze

1 1/2 measures vodka
2 measures pineapple juice
3 measures cranberry juice
1 lime wedge

Almost fill a highball glass with ice cubes. Add vodka, pineapple juice, and cranberry juice. Stir well. Garnish with lime wedge.

Grass Skirt

1 1/2 measures gin
1 measure triple sec or Cointreau
1 measure pineapple juice
1/2 t. grenadine
1 pineapple slice

Half-fill the shaker with ice cubes. Add the gin, triple sec or Cointreau, pineapple juice, and grenadine. Shake well and pour unstrained into an old-fashioned glass and garnish with the pineapple slice.

Honeysuckle (this one I've had and it's delicious!)

1 oz. tequila
1/2 oz. peach schnapps
1/2 oz. coconut-flavored rum
2 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. cranberry juice
Lime slice, for garnish

Fill a shaker with ice, and add tequila, schnapps, rum, and fruit juices. Shake four times and strain into a martini-style glass. Garnish with the lime slice.

Tequila Sunrise (different from other recipes, and very good)

2 oz. tequila
2 oz. peach schnapps
juice of an orange (or for a pale sunrise, juice of a lemon)

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the tequila, schnapps, and orange or lemon juice and shake ten times. Strain mixture into a glass.

Apocalypso (another good one- my version, modified from the book)

2 oz. coconut rum
4 oz. pineapple juice
juice of one lemon
splash of ginger ale

Fill large Collins glass with ice. Add rum, lemon juice, pineapple juice, and ginger ale in that order and stir. Garnish with pineapple wedge if you wish.

So those should keep you going till the weather warms up!

Books by the month

I love to read books that are divided into months. A while back, I read Richardson Wright's The Gardener's Bed-Book, published in 1929, which is not only by the month, but by the day of the month. Each night before bed, for an entire year, I read that day's entry. It was a delightful reading experience.


One of the best, and most encouraging books as a woman begins to age, is From The Orange Mailbox, Notes From a Few Country Acres by A. Carman Clark, a woman from Maine. She recently died, but was still gardening and writing up until the end. The book contains a year of wonderful monthly essays that cover gardening and life itself.



Another New England gardening writer, this one from New Hampshire, is Henry Hohmeyer. He has a book called Notes From the Garden, Reflections and Observations of an Organic Gardener. A book like this is my bread and butter, my sustenance, my text for gardening information.


Most of Gladys Taber's books are written by the month. They are filled with seasonal delights, quotes, ruminations on weather and country living.

Currently I am reading an author I first heard of in a book of gardening essays edited by Jane Garmey called The Writer in the Garden.


I was delighted by the writing and sense of humor of Henry Mitchell who wrote gardening pieces for the Washington Post. I've just begun his One Man's Garden, and will read January and February, and then each month as it comes. I love the idea of it sitting in my book basket in the kitchen right through next December.

The reading table

Ever since Cornflower posted this Carl Larsson painting on her blog, I've been thinking about how to set up a reading table in my house.



I didn't have room in the kitchen, where I do most of my reading, so I put it in the study. I decided to use it for my own personal challenge books, a dozen books from my shelves that I want to read this year.



At Home With Beatrix Potter by Susan Denyer
Beatrix Potter A Life in Nature by Linda Lear
My Day, The Best of Eleanor Roosevelt's Acclaimed Newspaper Columns by Eleanor Roosevelt
Let Me Finish by Roger Angell
English Journey by J.B. Priestley
Deep in the Green by Anne Raver
English Journey by Beryl Bainbridge
Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
Rumpole and the Reign of Terror by John Mortimer
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
American Bloomsbury by Susan Cheever
Rudyard Kipling in Vermont by Stuart Murray

Mrs Bale reports the final tally 2/15/07

21 inches! And some people in the area got even more.

Mrs Bale's 7 pm report

Right now we have seventeen inches and it is still coming down! They've already called at least a two-hour school delay for tomorrow. Here are some more photos from today.

Crunchy Oatmeal Pie

Before baking


After baking


I got this recipe years ago from an online cooking list. It is fantastic! Today I added some chocolate chips on top in honor of St. Valentine's Day.

Crunchy Oatmeal Pie

3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup softened butter

Mix all together, and leave in a cold place for an hour. Press it out into a greased pie pan.

Place on top:

1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup (or a 10 oz. package) frozen or fresh strawberries
2 Tablespoons sugar

Bake for 30 minutes in a 400º F. oven.

Days lyrics

Last month I chose this song as a "today's video" showing the Kinks singing it a long time ago, and Ray Davies singing it more recently. I thought I'd post the words for those who may never have heard or read them. Beautiful, and very,very moving. And as I wrote to a person who commented, it is meaningful for all kinds of love on this day devoted to love. Although the stores try to push the romantic angle, I like to think of St. Valentine's Day as a time for celebrating love between people in all kinds of relationships.

Days
Ray Davies

Thank you for the days,
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me.
I'm thinking of the days,
I won't forget a single day, believe me.

I bless the light,
I bless the light that shines on you believe me.
And though you're gone,
You're with me every single day, believe me.

Days I'll remember all my life,
Days when you can't see wrong from right.
You took my life,
But then I knew that very soon you'd leave me,
But it's all right,
Now I'm not frightened of this world, believe me.

I wish today could be tomorrow,
The night is dark,
It just brings sorrow, let it wait.

Thank you for the days,
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me.
I'm thinking of the days,
I won't forget a single day, believe me.

Days I'll remember all my life,
Days when you can't see wrong from right.
You took my life,
But then I knew that very soon you'd leave me,
But it's all right,
Now I'm not frightened of this world, believe me.
Days.

Thank you for the days,
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me.
I'm thinking of the days,
I won't forget a single day, believe me.

I bless the light,
I bless the light that shines on you believe me.
And though you're gone,
You're with me every single day, believe me.
Days.

February TBR Challenge book review

My February book in the 2007 TBR Challenge is A Right To Die by Rex Stout. This is a 1964 entry in the great oeuvre of Nero Wolfe detective stories. The tales are told to the reader by his assistant, Archie Goodwin. I delight in these books, and view each one as another slice of life in the old brownstone on West 35th Street in NYC. I enjoy hearing the old familiar details, like how many steps up to that brownstone, how Wolfe hates to leave his home, all the descriptions of meals - he is a gourmand, Archie and his love of milk and pretty girls, Wolfe's mistrust of machines, Archie's walks all over the city, the books Wolfe is reading, and how reluctantly Wolfe accepts new cases. He does so only to support his two passions, food and orchids.

A few quotes:

Wolfe is convinced that when real trouble comes the first thing to do is eat.

...a guest is a jewel on the cushion of hospitality.

A client tells Archie he lied to the police, and Archie says, "If I had a dime for every lie I've told them I'd be on my yacht in the Caribbean."

My morning fog begins to let little streaks of light through as I sip my orange juice, and with my second cup of coffee, it's all clear.

There was a hint of feeling in his look and voice as he greeted me, as there always is when I return safe and sound from a trip in long-distance machines.

It doesn't really matter to me what the case is about. The joy comes in seeing how Wolfe, who describes himself as "merely a genius," solves it, and reading about how beautifully Wolfe and Archie work together. Archie brings many abilities to this partnership, not the least being his gift for recalling every word of a conversation. I like some books/cases better than others, but am never disappointed in the two men. Along with P.G. Wodehouse and John Mortimer, Rex Stout is one of my holy trinity of writers. I am happy each time I enter the worlds they have created. I gave this book an A-.

Mrs Bale reports on the white stuff 2/14/07

We are in the midst of the St. Valentine's Day blizzard of aught seven. We've gotten ten inches already, and there's no sign of it slowing down at all. The wind is now picking up. Mrs Bale will try and stop by later with a further report.

New books

I made a little deal with myself. As I was driving down Main St., I thought, if there is a parking place in front of the bookstore, I'll go in. Well, there was, and I ended up buying three new books!

Today's poem - The Last Uncle by Linda Pastan

The Last Uncle
by Linda Pastan

The last uncle is pushing off
in his funeral skiff (the usual
black limo) having locked
the doors behind him
on a whole generation.

And look, we are the elders now
with our torn scraps
of history, alone
on the mapless shore
of this raw, new century.

Mrs Bale reports 2/13/07

Very, very cold at 7:30 this morning, but bright and sunny. We're supposed to have a big storm starting in the wee hours of tomorrow morning. They're saying up to a foot of snow. We'll see. Sometimes those forecasts are completely wrong.

Quote du jour/Douglas MacArthur

I promise to keep on living as though I expected to live forever. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul.
Douglas MacArthur

Today's cd/Sacred/Today's video My Way

Los Lonely Boys/Sacred/2006

I love these guys! This is the second album.

Quote du jour/Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day - like writing a poem, or saying a prayer.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh


Some of the leaves in the February flowers began to wilt. When I removed them, the flowers no longer fit well in the pitcher so I made two bouquets from the one. There's a metaphor for life in this small activity. The flowers were lovely on Friday, but a change occurred which forced me to rearrange. The result is different from the original, but equally beautiful.

Piece o' cake

Ah, the power of suggestion! This morning I was reading some blogs, and came across Cornflower's photo of a piece of chocolate cake. Suddenly, I knew what I wanted to do today. I had been going in many different directions, not knowing which one to settle on. But once I saw that cake, baking was the order of the day.


Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Cream together well in an electric mixer:
1 cup very soft butter
3 cups sugar

Add 1/2 cup cocoa
Add 4 eggs
and mix well.

Add 3 cups grated zucchini (including the skin)
and continue mixing.

In a separate bowl mix:
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Then add the above to the mixture at a lower speed.
Pour into greased 15 x 10 pan, and bake about an hour at 350 F.
Cool completely on a cooling rack.

Sour Cream Frosting

1/4 cup soft butter
1/3 cup sour cream
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt, if desired
2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Beat well, and frost.

Return of the dear deer

Around 8 o'clock this morning, the mother and two babies came walking out of the woods, down the hill.

February flowers

Quote du jour/P.G. Wodehouse

To continue with yesterday's telephone theme:

To ignore a ringing telephone is one of the few feats of which humanity has so far proved incapable.
P.G. Wodehouse, Hot Water

Things look different in black and white

I love the old black and white photos at Keep The Coffee Coming. There's a quality that just doesn't come through in color pictures. Same with old movies. Casablanca and Notorious wouldn't be the same in color.

All the black & whites on this entry were taken by my son over the years. He'll often choose b&w or sepia for photographs. I really must get brave and try more. So be on the lookout for a new look, at least once in a while. Not for flowers, though. :<)