Prevernal

Thanks to my backdoor neighbor Suzan Windnagel for this beautiful pre - Spring sunrise view, including the back of my garage and house! Look closely and you can see our little pink Christmas / Valentine / Easter tree!

A "cold and mercurial morning . . . "
I think this poem, that I discovered in Wayne Muller's Sabbath might explain why I like to stay up as late as possible instead of going to bed:

Another Loss to Stop For

Against such cold and mercurial mornings,
watch the wind whirl one leaf
across the landscape,
then, in a breath, let it go.
The color in the opaque sky
seems almost not to exist.

Put on a wool sweater.
Wander in the leaves,
underneath healthy elms.
Hold your child in your arms.

After the dishes are washed,
a kiss still warm at your neck,
put down your pen. Turn out the light.

I know how difficult it is,
always balancing and weighing,
it takes years and many transformations;
and always another loss to stop for,
to send you backwards.

Why do you worry so,
when none of us is spared?

~ by Jill Bialosky
American poet, book editor, and novelist

As for being spared:

"We don't receive wisdom;
we must discover it for ourselves
after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us."
Marcel Proust

"There's no basement in the Alamo.
It's not something they teach you in school.
It's one of those things you have to find out for yourself."
Pee Wee Herman

Thousands and Thousands of Uses

Just last week, I was reminiscing with some facebook friends about some of my favorite scenes from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. I remain a fan out of loyalty to Pee Wee's big bicycle because it's the kind that I still ride!

~ 29 August 2012 ~
And my heart is with him at that existentialist moment when he finds out that there is no basement in the Alamo: "Some things they don't teach you in school; some things you just have to learn for yourself."

Another priceless segment of the Alamo Tour (click to view) is the the mini - lesson on "culinary delights of the Southwest," provided by tour guide Tina (Jan Hooks): "The mainstay of the Alamo diet is corn. Corn can be prepared many ways. It can be boiled, shucked, creamed, or, in this case, dried. Corn can also be used to make -- tortillas! . . . Yes, there are thousands and thousands of uses for corn, all of which I will tell you about right now!"

Thousands! Poor Pee Wee! He is running out of patience!

This summer, the mainstay seems to be yellow squash. My cousin Dodie wrote from California to say that "somehow we have all these yellow squash and acorn squash, but no zucchini! How could this happen?" I had to agree; it's the same here in our garden. Though Gerry planted half and half and we usually have a medium amount of each, so far we haven't seen one zucchini, only yellow squash as far as the eye can see!

So yellow squash it is! I don't know a thousand uses, but I do know a good half dozen . . . all of which I will tell you about right now . . .

Shredded Yellow Squash (for fritters or freezing)

Yellow Squash Pickles

Yellow Squash Chutney

Yellow Squash Ratatouille
Yellow Squash Sandwiches, Soups, Salads
I've been cutting the larger ones into slab - size slices, grilling them indoors on a grill pan, and eating them on large wheat rolls -- yummy yellow squash sandwich! I've also cut several up into cubes and stuck them straight into the freezer, no blanching or anything. You can put them into almost any soup or chili throughout the winter. I also have this idea to make three - bean salad, but instead of the yellow wax beans, use little chunks of yellow squash. If we previously held a slight preference for the zucchini, we've gotten over it this summer!

Dodie reminded me of a family favorite, zucchini, shredded and frozen for making bread throughout the winter (nuts and chocolate chips, optional but extra tasty). Maybe this will be the year we try it with yellow squash instead. Who knows, it might be equally delicious. From my brother Bruce's kitchen comes the observation that "while the zucchini is more versatile (holds up better in soups, or when baked), I actually prefer the taste of the yellow squash."

Indeed! Who can forget the taste of yellow and white squash mashed up with tons of butter like the grandmothers used to do! No longer politically correct, I know, but delicious! As Bruce says, "Just like mashed potatoes!" Or, more moderately, "Steamed, with a little butter, salt and pepper." Along the same lines as my squash sandwich, Bruce also points out that a whole portobello mushroom, grilled, with a slice of Swiss or provolone, "makes a dandy sandwich" (but first, check out Catharine Savage Brosman's poem "Portobello Mushrooms" on my Fortnightly post from a couple of months ago: "Hungry Heart" ).

In addition to the poems you'll find there, I'm allowing my wise cousin the last word: "I usually just steam with other veggies or saute and occasionally grill . . . with fresh veggies, simple is always the best."

Lucky Talismans

My Bike & My House
When someone asked me a couple of years ago if I had any lucky talismans, the first thing that came to mind was my big red Pee Wee Herman Bicycle. It's true: I still ride a vintage Leave it to Beaver style of red boys' bicycle that I bought at a yard sale in 1978 (don't know how old it was at that time, maybe 15 years). When I was at Notre Dame (1984), I encountered one of my wackiest professors as I was riding across campus. He hailed me to a stop so that he could admire my bike and said, "This bike must be your talisman." I've never been sure exactly what he meant by that (for one thing, I always thought that a talisman was something small) but the idea has stuck with me -- and so has the bike!

A few years later, also at Notre Dame, I was riding my bike, through the neighborhood near campus, and I encountered another wacky biking professor, who would designate one of his bicycle handles “Life” and the other “Art." This was in the early years of the Walkman, and he was wearing earphones, which he promptly took off and handed to me and said, "Listen." I put the earphones on and, I swear, I could hear nothing. However, as one does in both life and art, I handed them back and said, "Wow, that sounds great!" Knowing full well, I heard nothing . . .

So -- if asked -- for good luck, there's my bike, "an object marked by magic and believed to confer supernatural powers or protection upon its owner" (American Heritage Dictionary). Also my special turquoise earrings and a little pewter Gemini necklace -- both gifts from my older sister on my 19th birthday. The endearing necklace charm resembles not twins so much as it does two parents holding up a baby, an image which continues to hold my attention. As for the earrings, when I was wearing them on a visit to my sister, her granddaughter (8 years old at the time) was drawn to them and kept pushing my hair back to get a closer look. I told her why she was feeling the magic-- because her very own grandmother had picked them out for me twenty - some years before -- very talismanic!

Before the Bike, the Porsche