Blue Yonder

The More Things Change...

Candles in jelly jars, to me at least, mean young love. 

My husband and I, before we were married, used to have dinner picnics on the floor of his apartment. I took very seriously, you see, that old adage about finding your way to a man's heart through his stomach. I'd spend half the day cooking at my parent's house and then I'd carry it all over to his place in a basket. 

We'd spread a blanket on the floor and eat by the light of candles in jelly jars. I always wished that the moment wouldn't end... that I could stay, instead of having to go home. 

These days jelly jars still mean young love... of a different sort. And they still find me wishing that a moment will never end... 

A Lunch Worth Driving For

Yesterday we drove through parched brown fields, the scraggly remains of a corn harvest, and miles of cotton. We passed countless truckloads of hay bales piled dangerously high and busy grain silos with their lines of 18 wheelers. We had lunch at a little cafe... just us and the cheery waitress, the oil rig hands and the farmers. 

And why? Why would we drive two hours for lunch? 

Well because that cafe makes a truly fine chicken fried steak, of course.

That, and the fact that my aunt drove 2 hours from the other direction to meet us there, and brought with her some very precious cargo... my granny. 

We had a very sweet lunch - great gobs of southern cooking and swapping tales over the table. We got the low down on all our country relations and we brought along a few city stories to trade. The corn dog and ice cream eating antics of my boys illicited more than a few smiles from the work-weary faces that surrounded us. 

When we had talked and eaten all we could, we piled Granny's things in our car and brought her home with us. We get to keep her for a whole week!

There has been much fussing over making Ryder's room into Granny's room (we had to girl it up with some quilts and flowers and a little tea station - the boys thought we should hang new curtains and paint the walls pink, but settled for floral pillow cases and a milk glass lamp :-). And poor Granny has listened so patiently to an endless stream of "Granny come see this... look at my room... this is my reader... here's how I do my karate forms... look at my drawing... want to see my toys?... "

My guys are reveling in sharing their world with a woman that they adore... and really, isn't that the dream of every young man? 

I hope you get to share your world with someone special today too. 

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p.s. Several of you have asked, so I'm working on a homeschooling post (which may bleed into two). Stay tuned! 

Traveling Lily

Months ago, I came home from a trip to Granny's with a scraggly, grassy bundle, wrapped in damp paper towels. Daylillies from her yard. 

They were first in my Momo's yard. Then in Granny's and I believe that there have been some transplanted daylilies in the yard of every single house that I lived in as a child, and we got around a good bit! 

We moved. My mother planted daylilies. We put down our roots wherever we roamed. 

I had yet to plant any as an adult though. Mainly, this is because I kill nearly every plant I touch and it seemed a sacrilege to risk the slaughter of my great grandmother's daylilies. 

Finally though, wanting so much to have a living piece of there, here, (and with my Granny's laughing promise, "Honey even you CAN NOT kill these things, not even if you want to!") I brought home my paper-wrapped bundle and eased them, along with my prayers, into new ground. Hopeful. 

Mostly, my scraggly bunch of daylillies has looked brown around the edges, pale, suicidal. 

So imagine my surprise when we pulled into the drive after our long ride home from Granny's house and were greeted with our very first audacious orange blossom. 

In that moment, when I had been feeling so sad to have left the country and my kin behind, it felt like one of the big, breath-stopping hugs that my Momo always gave me when we arrived at her house for a visit. I half expected to find tamales cooking in my kitchen and Johnny Cash on the radio; to see her wearing her apron and her smile, waiting for me. I sat right down and cried.

I think I know now why my mother always planted daylilies. 

Our Weekend In the Woods

Well, we made it back to suburbia from our jaunt in the woods. And while the woods were just as unbearably hot, the time spent with lots of family and few distractions was just what we needed. 

We worked puzzles around the crowded kitchen table, and we crammed too many bodies into one bed to watch movies. We laughed until our cheeks hurt and we cried some too. We suckered an uncle into building a fire in the camp shack for a weenie roast, despite the heat. We harvested what is likely the end of the tomato crop. We found some good excuses to use the beloved pocket knives. We roamed cow fields in a golf cart. We went to town to cruise the Walmart and visit the planetarium. We sat around the table telling old tales, catching up on local gossip and comparing notes on the relentless business of aging. 

I was reminded, again, how good it is to be a part of a clan. Each time my youngest heard how he talks almost as much as my great grandmother did; every time my oldest heard how his grandpa would be proud that he can play Wildwood Flower on the fiddle, just like he did; when my middle boy was told that his great grandpa picked a guitar and laughed all the time too... well I couldn't help but feel like my men are beginning to understand what it means to belong. 

I take a lot of comfort in the fact that as ridiculous as it is that my husband and I were just 20 and now we're approaching 40 (well, HE is approaching 40.... I am an undisclosed number of years behind him :-), as hard as it is to watch my granny moving slower and tiring more easily, as strange as it is to be at the grown-up's table talking about ailments and the economy, it's going to be alright. Behind us, there is a new generation... a group of young boys who are slowly but surely growing to love their place and their people. It is as it should be. 

So yes, we soaked it all in. We stayed up too late. We ate too much, and the time went all too fast. We miss it already. 

We missed it as soon as we couldn't see Granny in the review mirror anymore. 

Here's a little taste of our brand of heaven:

We hope y'all have found as many reasons to take some long deep breaths and enjoy right here, right now. 

Granny's Garden, Update #3

Well we surely can't come back from Granny's without giving you an update on the birthday garden. 

Last month, we were so impressed by how quickly our little seedlings had grown. Gardens are a bit like children I think...  you don't notice how quickly they are growing if  you live with them each day, but if you are apart a while, it just takes your breath away to see how fast they've grown up. 

So after the long drive to Granny's house, when we rounded the corner to her drive, everyone unbuckled and pressed themselves up against the car windows to see how the garden was progressing. There were many squeals, bustling and pushing out of the car, snacks and suitcases falling to the ground, and then a full sprint to look under the plants for a harvest - like looking under the Christmas tree for a gift with your name on it. 

Granny, smart cookie that she is, had let some zucchini grow to a ridiculous size so that her boys would be duly impressed. 

Oh and they WERE! "Well you don't ever see a zucchini like THAT in the grocery store, do you?"

I'm kind of thinking that the garden itself is not the fullness of the birthday present that we gave to Granny... I think the real gift is the chance that she's getting to work on a project alongside some fellas that she kinda digs, and to watch their utter delight in the rewards of their efforts. 

We cut into those monster zukes straight away and made stuffed, baked zucchini. I think that we first saw this on a Paula Deen show, but I can't find the recipe, so we tried winging it. 

Here's what we did: 

We used two giant zucchini, so I'm thinking four regular sized ones would do. We slice them right down the middle, long ways, and laid them face down in a casserole dish with a little bit of water. Then we microwaved them for a few minutes until the centers were soft. 

Then, we scooped out the centers, leaving little boats made of the skins. We mashed up the cooked zucchini and added two cups of Pepperidge Farm seasoned bread cubes, a cup of sour cream and a cup of sharp cheddar. We sprinkled in some extra salt and pepper too. 

Then we loaded it all back into the shells and baked it for about 30 minutes I think... maybe 20? 

It was VERY yummy! I think you could even add in a little sausage and some sauteed onion or mushrooms if you wanted to get fancy. 

My boys were tickled pink to cook up something that they grew. Now, of course, they are waiting most impatiently for our trip to Granny's next month, when hopefully there will be tomatoes for a tomato pie (see all the green ones in the photo above?)! 

If you've got any great zucchini or tomato recipes, we'd love to have 'em!

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Take a look at my young man's amazing (if I do say so myself) foray into lepidopterology today at the Magnifying Glass.