Today's picture/Pawprints

Matthew got a new four-wheeler, and very kindly lets Tom use his old one. Every day Tom and Lucy go for a 'wheeler ride,' giving terrific exercise to our energetic Labrador. They stop up at an opening in the woods where Tom has set up a couple old chairs. Lucy prowls around and swims in any water holes she can find. Yesterday Tom saw this. Lucy's print on the left, and a black bear print on the right. It was just lucky that she happened to step there so you can see the comparison.

My Friend Rockefeller - 2015 movie

Can you imagine a situation where you met someone and assumed he was the person he said he was, and then found out that everything he told you was a lie? What if he had been your friend, a business associate, a boyfriend, or indeed, even a husband? I would feel so ashamed, so betrayed, so stupid. Most of us think we are pretty good judges of character. But how do we really know?

If this is intrigues you, you might like to see a documentary film which is on Netflix streaming. It is called My Friend Rockefeller. I was riveted. I sat down expecting to just give it a try, and maybe quit after a few minutes, but I watched it straight through.

You may read more about it on various internet sites, including the IMDB site here. Click there only if you don't mind knowing the plot before you watch. I had just a very vague memory of hearing something about "Clark Rockefeller." There have been a few other tellings of this tale, including a couple fictional versions, but this is the real deal, the real story which is incredible and strange.

The official website is here, but again much is revealed. The story takes us from Germany to California, New York, Connecticut, Boston, and New Hampshire. It is done very well, and I was fascinated.

Today's picture/Week four CSA flowers

Usually we take care of Hazel Nina on Tuesdays and Fridays, but this week her mother had to work today as well, so she came with us to get the CSA flowers. The woman who runs the farm is a friend of Margaret's and so Hazel knows her and was excited to go. The bouquets are all set out on the table, wrapped in paper, soaking in water. They are all pretty much the same, but we can pick the one we want. Hazel chose this week's bouquet and on the way home after five minutes in the car, she was asleep,

as was Lucy in the front seat!

Tom drove us home, I put the flowers in water, and off we went again for an hour, driving the back roads in air-conditioned comfort on this very hot day.

On Monday, I made two little bouquets from the flowers that were left from last week.

And here are this week's flowers!

More about the flower CSA here.

What I Learned From TV - July 9

Each time I do a post about What I Learned From TV, I’ll begin with the explanation from the first posting:

Now that my kids are grown, and Tom has retired, I’ve been able to go back to my natural sleep pattern which is to stay up late and get up late. Tom’s natural rhythm is just the opposite. So, he’s the lark and I’m the owl. 

And what this owl does in the late hours is watch television- not in the traditional way but through Netflix, TunnelBear, and Acorn TV, and my own DVDs. Most of the shows are British, though I am a great fan of a few American television shows, and have been watching some from other countries now that we have TunnelBear. Some of these shows Tom will watch in the mornings, but some of them are all mine. So, when I hear a great quote from a show I know he’s not going to watch, I’ll leave him little post-it notes near the computer keyboard. I had a notion this morning to begin a new ‘letter topic’ called What I Learned From TV so I can put up some virtual post-its for you to read and, hopefully, enjoy. Some are funny, some are educational, some are wise.

From Grace and Frankie, two seasons now streaming on Netflix:

Frankie: "I'd give my good knee for a cigarette."

Grace: "Me, too. I haven't had a cigarette since smoking was good for you."

Frankie and Grace together: "Shall we?"

From As Time Goes By,which I watch on my DVDs: 

Lionel says about his father: "I'm not a child. I don't need his help."

Jean replies: "It won't do you any harm. I wish I had someone to help me. ... Parents; even when you're, well, older, you never stop missing them. You never get used to the fact that you can't go to someone and say, 'What shall I do?'"

From Inspector Lewis, which I watch on my DVDs: 

A man has been found dead with a rifle beside him.

Hathaway: "I, er... wouldn't read too much into the absence of a 'goodbye cruel world,' sir. Statistically, suicide notes in Grahame's demographic are in the 12-20% range."

Lewis: "Where do you get this stuff?"

Hathaway: "The back of cereal boxes."

Lewis: "What? Let's just say some days I'm grateful you're on our side."

When series seven of Inspector Morse came along, both John Thaw and Kevin Whately had other projects on the horizon so there were fewer episodes offered for the last years. For two years, Kevin Whately played Dr. Jack Kerruish in a drama called Peak Practice, which I am watching on my DVDs. (Yes, I buy old British television shows on DVD from amazon.uk) I thought this was a funny line in Peak Practice, offering an homage to Whately's Lewis character:

Jack thinks someone is stealing a car, but he isn't. His brother-in-law says: "Good job you're a doctor - you'd make a bloody lousy copper."

Today's picture/Week three CSA flowers

Note the basil! This is the second week basil has been part of the bouquet, and I use it. Today there was also a free head of romaine lettuce. Such a fun stop each Wednesday. There's more about the flower CSA here.

Today's picture/Look who I found on the porch tonight

Today's picture/Peony bouquets

Today I cleaned up my peony garden.

You may well ask, why should she subscribe to a flower CSA if she grows her own peonies? As I picked the last of them today, the answer was very clear; because mine are full of bugs - ants, earwigs, on and on. I don't want to bring them into the house.

Product placement/Little Secrets

Another product placement as my offering to Weekend Cooking.

A little mantra of my food life is that there is always an alternative. If a product is full of artificial colors and preservatives, there is a healthier choice. When I was 20 the only place to buy such alternatives was in so-called health food stores. Now, most every store offers these choices.

Recently Hazel Nina discovered the delights of M&Ms. She says "Emmam." As the natural foods eating Nana, I was so very happy to see a display rack at my local co-op of an M&M alternative. 

Here are the ones that are the M&M variety: the only one they offer in milk chocolate, which is good because that's what the kids are used to.

From the look of the rack, the dark and milk chocolate are the most popular.

This is the ingredient list for the milk chocolate variety

The website for Little Secrets which you may visit here, says this on their FAQ page:

These colors are crazy gorgeous. You’re sure you’re not using Yellow No. 5?We’re sure, and we’d never do that to you. We use turmeric to make yellow, beet juice for red, spirulina for blue, pumpkin, carrot, and radish for orange, and red cabbage juice for purple. We realize that sounds like an intense drink at a juice bar, but we promise our candy doesn’t taste like the produce section at the farmer’s market.

Both times I have checked out with some, the young men at the cash register raved about how great they were. And the best thing is that Hazel Nina loves them. She walks in and points to the shelf asking for 'little secets.' Today I put them in a jar, which I think will delight her. She might want to try the other ones, too, the ones her grandparents think are delicious.

Today's picture - Raya and Lucy

As I sat reading in the waning daylight, this was the sight across the room.

Flower CSA

I've joined a local flower CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Food CSAs have been around quite a while in our area. You pay a subscription upfront, which allows the farmers to have money to spend on improving their farms. The grower is a young woman who works with her father on family land in a nearby town. This is only the second year the program has been offered. Here is what she says about it:

Your CSA membership will help us continue to invest in our first greenhouse that we will be building next spring. Our growing season is limited to a small window of time. Greenhouses allow us to extended our season by up to 8 weeks and grow more varieties of flowers, giving them the warmth and protection they need. In turn, we will be able to provide you with many more beautiful bouquets! Last year’s CSA provided funds for additional seeds, fertilizer, and equipment for three new planting plots, including the ground for our greenhouse.

You can get a half-share or a full-share. I signed up for the full, and am so happy to be part of this. So far, we've gotten two beautiful bouquets.

Each week they are a little different depending what is in bloom. These flowers have enriched our lives. They are worth every penny just for the pleasure they give. And they are worth it because they support a local grower in her work.

Product placement/Dave's Killer Bread

I really mean to put up a Weekend Cooking post each week, but it has been quite busy lately and I haven't had much time to read blogs or write postings.


As you may know if you've been reading my letters for a while I bake my own bread. I usually make it twice a week, but when I don't have a chance I always have a couple loaves of store-bought bread in my freezer. It is difficult to find organic, whole wheat (or mostly whole wheat) bread, but recently I came upon a new display in my local co-op for Dave's Killer Bread.

This company makes several kinds, including a regular white version

This bread is packed with nutrition!

What is special about this bread, besides the fact that it is so healthy, is what I learned from the label.

My co-op is a small store in a little town so if Dave's Killer Bread is available here, it must be all over the country. I'm happy and proud to be buying this product. It is delicious bread toasted or in sandwiches. Healthy for me, and good for society.

You may visit the website here.

It was twenty years ago today

On June 22, 1996, Tom's parents took the whole family on a wonderful week-long cruise from New York City to Bermuda.

All the pictures are photos of photos so not such good quality. We didn't have a digital camera then!

Some of us

Tom and I and his folks.

This was our Christmas card that year.

Such fun dancing in the evening.

The cousins in front of the ship

There were 1427 passengers!

We went on a horse-drawn carriage ride in St. George,

and saw a moon arch.

In Hamilton we visited a most beautiful beach

and went on a glass-bottom boat ride.

Tom and Michael, Margaret and me in one of the rooms.

That guy on the top left is not in our family. I have no idea why or how he got into the photo!

I've been thinking about this trip a lot lately. I am now the exact age that Nina, Tom's mother, was then. We went as four married couples, two of whom had two children each. In the 20 years since, we've had one death, Nina's husband. She remarried and she and her husband, now 88 and almost 93 are going strong. In our little group there have been divorces, and marriages, and now three births in these twenty years.

Washing dishes

A few weeks ago our dishwasher stopped working. The repair person has come three times, and yesterday it was fixed. It was still under warranty so there was no charge to us for the $400 repair. This is the first time this dishwasher has broken down, but not the first dishwasher we've had trouble with. It seems like every few years we have to get a new one. We've had all brands and none of them were perfect.

Whenever one has broken down I have wondered if I could get along without it. I usually did okay, but when it was repaired or we've gotten a new one, I got right back into the swing of loading and unloading.

But not this time. I am mystified as to the reason, but I have come to love washing dishes by hand. I realized that I would begin to hum every time I filled the sink and began washing. I felt a contentment, almost a meditative state, as I washed and looked out the window.

I kept waiting for reality to set in. I was sure there would be an evening when I wished the dishwasher was working. But no. Not even when there were a lot of dishes, or 'difficult' dishes like the bread bowl. I liked every minute, every time. I went to Mr and Mrs Amazon and bought a nice new rack.

If there are more dishes than it will hold at once, I put them in the soapy water to soak a while. I go off and do something else, and then come and put away the dry ones, and begin to wash the others. Tom just shakes his head in amazement. The other night he said if he saw all those dishes to wash he'd be longing for the dishwasher. Not me. I actually looked forward to settling down to washing them and humming whatever song came into my head. He has offered to help but honestly I like doing them alone.

I know how strange this sounds, and indeed it is to me, but all I know is that it makes me happy. And the detergent I use? The same brand I've used for ages.

I've read that it is more economical, more 'green' to use a dishwasher. I'm not quite convinced this is true when our dishwasher would run for almost three hours for a normal load. But even if it is true, the water comes from our ever-flowing spring, and our hot water heater isn't set for terribly hot water. The electric bill went down by over 20 dollars this month. Probably a coincidence, but I wonder.

Quote du jour/Jean and Lionel in As Time Goes By

Jean has put a booklet together about their wedding arrangements. She hears Lionel muttering: "On page six - get curtains cleaned."
Jean: "Well, we must."
Lionel: "Why?"
Jean: " 'Cause they're filthy. Don't want my wedding guests looking at my curtains saying how filthy they are."
Lionel: "They look perfectly clean to me."
Jean: "That's 'cause you don't look."
Lionel: "Well, I don't peer at them, if that's what you mean."

A variation of this scene plays out in my home quite regularly.

Today's picture - mother and daughter

How I love my girls!!

An Afternoon with Campbell Walker and Indy Thomas - June 5, 2016

Yesterday we had another afternoon with the grandsons. This time Michael and Estée went out for lunch together - I think for the first time alone since the boys were born.

When we arrived Indy Thomas was asleep so we had an extended time alone with Campbell Walker. He wasn't a bit concerned that his parents left. One time he did look around the house saying, 'baby,' but we said Indy was asleep so all was fine. The big deal was Play-Doh. They keep it in a basket and he wanted each of the little cups, one by one. 'More Play-Doh' he would say after he'd opened one.

Working hard and very patiently to get it out.

And so happy when he did it.

I have a wonderful little movie of him saying 'ta-da' when he got it out. I wish I could post it without it having to be on youtube.

For his second birthday, Margaret's friend, the queen of paper mache who made the wedding 'cake' for Matthew and Margaret, made Campbell a Daniel Tiger which he loves.

She made a Postman Pat for Hazel's second birthday.

For Indy's first birthday we commissioned a Curious George. Both Hazel and Campbell got them for their firsts as well, Hazel a pug, and Campbell a dog playing piano. We'll probably stop after Indy turns two, but they are sure fun to look at, and love.

We spent a lot of time doing 'cheers.'

I went up to peek in at Indy, and he was just waking up.

I put this on Instagram and called it 'Pop sandwich.'

Can you tell that Indy is crying? We all went downstairs, and Tom and Campbell watched Sarah & Duck, while I went out into the three-season room so we could hear the rain, and I sang and sang for about half an hour until his parents came home. At first he couldn't stop crying, and then he began to settle down until he just cried a tiny bit. I felt good that I was able to soothe this little fellow who had only been alone with me twice.

So, the little things that make up an afternoon in childhood. They seem little, but they are the building blocks of a happy, contented life. Tom and I had a wonderful time.