First trick or treat for this dude!

Cowboy Clay didn't want to wear his cowboy hat...or his cowboy boots...or carry his six-shooter, but he was still stinkin' cute when we took him out trick-or-treating tonight.

I'll have to admit it was a better night for it than last night would have been, with the wind batting the leaves around and howling through the hills...Mmmaybe.

Anyway, we had a good time checkin' out all the other little kiddies in their costumes and just walking around town in the cool fresh air.

First raw days of fall are great for being cozy--and grateful!

I've had a pretty busy day considering it's my day off.

Yes, Wednesdays have become my new weekend since I began this news editor gig at the Citizen Voice and Times.

You see, Mondays and Tuesdays are long days as I finish several news stories and we prepare the paper for sending to the press.  Because these days are so long, the office is closed on Wednesdays.  I'm learning to allow my brain to relax on this day of the week, at least.

One of my favorite ways to restore my mind, body and soul is to spend time in the kitchen--and with Clayton Cash, WHO WILL BE TWO TOMORROW!

Thinking back to a much warmer fall day just before the day Clay was born, we had no idea what a ride his arrival was about to launch us on.

A rollercoaster ride it's been, full of highs and lows and twists and turns. But you know what?  The little booger has been worth every second of pulse-pounding fear and mind-numbing worry.

His irrepressible personality has brought joy and love and delight to so many people.

So, while Hannah and I messed and gommed in the kitchen all day, making pepper jelly and drying apples and cooking a big homegrown supper, I enjoyed the heck out of singing him silly songs while we "worked" and taking plenty of play breaks to read him stories and such.

Clay's rebounding quickly now from that last surgery and the respiratory infection.  He seems to feel good and is obviously happy--and he is no longer throwing up!

These pictures are from his birthday party last Sunday.  

 Yay!  New books!

 A cake by Aunt Pam...

And a big boy who's growing up so fast.

Thank you, thank you, Lord, for every good and perfect gift.

Stop and photograph the flowers

We've been very busy in the vegetable gardens, so I hadn't really taken the time to pause and watch the many butterflies that have been feasting from the row of zinnias I planted a few months ago--until today. 

The blooms and flutterbies were so bright, but butterflies are a bit of a challenge to capture because they'll take off about the time you get your camera focused. 

I did manage to snap a few shots that I'm pretty satisfied with, though. 

Here are a few, for your viewing pleasure. 

 

I was a bit surprised at how many of the butterflies have ragged wings.  I wonder why?  Do they fight amongst themselves?  Did they barely escape the clutches of a mean ol' cat? 

Whichever the case, they are very beautiful!

Three inches of rain, and we've got water everywhere

We haven't had many strong storms this spring, but boy, did we ever have some thunderstorms last night. 

When I went to bed, thunder was rumbling and I woke this morning to lightning and loud claps of thunder. 

I love a good rumbly storm, but some of the thunderclaps sounded too close for comfort.  They rattled our windows. 

After a series of downpours and by the time it was light enough outside to see, the peaceful little brook that runs down the holler and by our yard was wild. 

Now the creek is spreadin out in the valley, and I'm thinking of those poor turkey hens whose nests are getting flooded. 

Nature can be so cruel. 

What a difference a week makes

Last Tuesday we had near-record low temperatures of around 25 degrees.  Today, one week later, we're inching toward record highs. 

Kentucky weather is always predictably unpredictable, that's for sure. 

I'm lovin' what the warm days are doing to the landscape, though--as in producing some very welcome COLOR. 

See what I mean? 

                                           I think it beats the heck out of snow.

Eat those pesky weeds!

I’ve been reading about all the edible plants, flowers, mushrooms, even tree leaves, that are free for the taking right from our back yards. 

I’ve pulled a lot of henbit, chickweed and dead nettles from my flower beds in times past, and I never once considered that I might be throwing away perfectly good food, but apparently I was.    

Dandelions are considered some of the peskiest weeds in the yard, but every part of them is edible-- blooms, leaves, even the roots. 

Dandelion roots can be dried and brewed to make a coffee-like drink.  The leaves can be mixed with other wild greens and cooked, or they can be mixed with other greens in a salad. 

Tonight I tried frying some of the blossoms, as one of my aunts used to do.     

They weren’t too bad at all—kind of reminded me of fried summer squash, actually. 

I picked a couple of handfuls of the yellow blooms and trimmed away as much of their green stems as I could.

(Try to do your foraging somewhere that you know hasn’t been sprayed with herbicides (but keep in mind that most of what you buy from the store has been sprayed repeatedly.))

I rinsed the flowers in a colander under running water and spread them on a paper towel in the dish drainer to dry. 

A couple of hours later, I dipped the bright blossoms in beaten egg and dusted them with flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper.  I fried some in olive oil and a few in canola oil.  I couldn’t tell a lot of difference in the taste, but the canola oil didn’t overheat as easily. 

Some of the dandelion flowers began to fall apart because I cut too much of the green part away, so I just mixed the egg, flour, cornmeal and a bit of milk into a batter and stirred the dandelions into that.  I poured the batter into a hot oiled skillet and made fritters from those. 

Both the fried blossoms and the fritters were pretty tasty.  I topped a big green salad with the fried dandelions, some green onions and an oil and vinegar dressing.  I garnished the salad with a few fresh violets, which are also edible. 

Not only was the salad fresh and healthy, but I thought it looked very pretty. 

 

What do you think? 

Have you every foraged for what most folks now consider non-traditional foods? 

 

Fresh air and sunshine

Finally!  Two straight days to get outside and enjoy fresh air and sunshine! 

...and pick some fresh green grass. 

Hurray for spring!