A birthday party, old friends and happy hunting grounds....

A golden dawning of the day and Charles was up early to catch a gorgeous sunrise, while I lazed in bed.

We had plans for the day.  Another friend had reached the venerable age of eighty five and her children had made arrangements for a birthday luncheon, to which we had been invited.

A beautiful morning, and Charles and I set off to pick up two very dear friends with whom we have shared a lifetime of experiences.

We were all young together, planting orchards on a dusty sagebrush benchland under a Veteran's Land Project in 1951, - having families, tending vegetables until the orchards came into production., all of us facing the same predicaments economically, but full of enthusiasm and a tremendous feeling of companionship.  Lovely parties in half finished houses, so many evenings of bridge, dances in the Community Hall and each of us part of a wonderful spirit in that decade after the war.

Now, alas, there are few of the veterans left, and their wives cling together as we all grow older and we lunch and reminisce.  Charles is only one of a very few who are left from all those wonderful, brave young men who planted the Cawston Bench, and we share him and cherish him and he is kind and charming to us all.  And I hope we give him some comfort in a loneliness he feels, having lost all the friends who have gone before him....

We dined al fresco on wonderful seafood quiches and salads and Barefoot bubbly wine, and when, in mid afternoon, we had talked ourselves out,  happy and replete we took the long way home along the roads of memory.  The Veteran's project, which was named Fairview Heights, is now farmed mainly by East Indians, but as we passed the very modern orchards with mini trees and sophisticated sprinkler systems,  in our minds' eyes we saw the Benchland as it was when we transformed it from hot sageland to cooling orchards, and we heard the voices of our children as they roamed the hills and rode the trails on bicycles and horses, were little trojans in the orchards and grew up in the most wonderful country way.

Do you remember?  Do you remember?  What a lovely drive it was through shrouds of tangled memory as we drove from one end to the other, and beyond into the lower valley.

Many Happy Returns of a lovely Day Glenys

Skywatch Friday

September 3rd, 2010

Smokey days in the Similkameen

and fabulous clouds as the sun slid down below the western horizon

For more wonderful worldly skies visit here at Skywatch Friday.

" September;  it was the most beautiful of words, he'd always felt, evoking orange flowers, swallows and regret.  Alexander Therous, 1981

Migrating Swallows - Carl Brender

I love September.

I always have.

It causes me to make lists, to dream dreams

The cool crisp air touches my heart

and stirs my spirit.

after the languid summer 

I am suddenly full of enthusiasm and energy

and I long to make beautiful things.....

to plunge into the midst of  a creative life.

If I could I would be a small child, off to school, with the whole world

opening, - so much to learn, so much to experience.

But now that I am ancient I am grateful for time and awareness

and for all the wonderful senses that allow me to enjoy the small and miraculous.

I love the great exuberance of the 'orange' flowers, - the small birds that rise and fly 

from the midst of the little grove of sunflowers when they are disturbed.

I love the warm sun on my back and the cool breeze that stirs the leaves

as I work in the garden and move the great daylilies to a

spot where they can spread their lovely blooms and leave room for

their erstwhile neighbours to do the same.

"Lord, it is time.  The summer was very big.  Lay thy shadow on the sundials,

and on the meadows let the winds go loose.

Command the last fruits that they shall be full; give them another

two more southerly days, press them on to fulfilment and drive

the last sweetness into the heavenly wine."

Rainer Maria Rilke

ABC Wednesday

The letter this week is G

G is for Gingerbread Men

And here are the hefty little fellows doing The Haka, a Maori War Dance seemingly associated these days with Rugby Games and Hairy Warriors.



For more interesting G's visit here at ABC Wednesday with thanks to those who maintain this popular meme and those who participate in it.

The Bay of Naples, home of fabulous pastries and desserts

Elegant Neapolitans or The Soda Cracker Dessert

.....the dessert de celebre in this pastoral valley half a world away from Naples where Neapolitans were first concocted by the Little Nuns of the convento Trentatre on the Via Pisanelli.

Via Pisenalli

Is there to be a wedding?

A fancy tea?

An evening dessert party?

Nothing deters the ladies who cater for charity in the Similkameen from providing this exquisite dessert that never palls and is always welcomed.

Sometimes making the Soda Cracker dessert is a group effort, but Thursday morning in my humble kitchen and with humble ingredients I set about making a nine by thirteen glass* (important) pan of this delicious concoction for a Saturday wedding reception.

I assembled the soda crackers, the quart of milk, two large packages of instant pudding mix and a large tub of Cool Whip.

I put on a pot of homemade soup to warm while Charles hung for fifteen minutes before lunch (this is another story altogether only mentioned here in reference to time!!)

Here we go!

I combined the quart of milk and the two large packages of vanilla instant pudding, whisking them together for two minutes until the mixture is of pudding like consistency.

I gave the container of Cool Whip a little stir to add some air and fluffiness.

Then I began the assembly, covering the bottom of the glass* pan with rows of unsalted soda crackers.

I eyed the pudding mix, dividing it in three and spread one third of it over the crackers, followed by one third of the tub of Cool Whip.  The I started again with soda crackers, pudding and cool whip, three times in all.

I covered the pan with Saran Wrap and slid it into the fridge where it has been sitting for forty-eight hours and magically morphing into the most delectable Neapolitan dessert - all ready to be cut into squares, topped with a fruit sauce and served on fine china with sterling silver dessert forks or paper plates and plastic spoons - depending upon the occasion.

It goes without saying that this dessert has unending possibilities.

Would you like lemon with a raspberry sauce, chocolate with blackberries or cherries, vanilla with an almond peach sauce, or a lovely apricot?

Soda crackers have magical qualities, - they get sweeter as you chew them and over a two day period in the fridge  become a fine Italian pastry - amazing!

I finished my magic-making just as Charles came for lunch - speedy alchemy....

Skywatch Friday

August 27th, 2010

August skies in the Similkameen

For more exciting skies from all around the world visit Skywatch and enjoy the efforts of the people who maintain this wonderful meme and those who take part in it.

ABC Wednesday

The letter this week is F

F is for Figs, Fig trees and Fig Newtons, among other amazing things

A large Fig tree at Moreton Bay near Brisbane

and the figs that grow on it

Fig Newtons are more ancient than you might think.  It was probably the early Egyptians 'who invented the fig roll in its early form as a confection of preserved figs wrapped in a flour-based dough' and traded by traveling sailors and explorers.

Fig rolls were the ideal answer for early physicians who believed that most illnesses were related to digestion problems and recommended a daily intake of biscuits and fruit.

Charles M. Roser was the modern cookie maker who boosted the Fig Newton to its place of glory.

James Henry Mitchell invented a machine in 1891 that worked like a funnel within a funnel;  the inside funnel supplied jam, while the outside funnel pumped out the dough, producing an endless length of filled cookie that was then cut into smaller pieces.

Eventually Nabisco came into the picture and the fig rolls were trademarked as "Fig Newtons"

If you yearn to make your own Fig Newtons here is a handy recipe!

Make the dough by combining 3 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 tsp of salt. 3/4 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon with 1 1/2 sticks of butter cut into pieces.  Whisk together 3 eggs and add to the dough.
Refrigerate for a couple of hours while you make the filling.  Well, it won't take you a couple of hours to make the filling, but fit it in sometime while the dough is resting.....

Combine in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until all the liquid is absorbed and the mixture is thick, stirring occasionally while cooking..... 2 cups of chopped figs, 1 cup of orange juice, 1 cup of apple juice, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 4 tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of orange peal.  Let the filling cool slightly then puree until smooth, and refrigerate.

Now, when you are ready to bake, heat the oven to 375F and make an egg wash by whisking an egg with 2 tsp of water.

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and on a lightly floured surface roll out each portion into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick (one piece at a time)  Cut the dough lengthwise into strips about 2 1/2 inches wide.  Paint around the edges of each strip with egg wash and spoon the fig filling down the centre of the strip, then fold the dough over to enclose the filling.  Place the tubes, seam side down on a greased cookie sheet - or on parchment paper (much easier) and press down lightly to flatten.

Brush the newtons with the egg wash and bake until light golden brown (about 15 minutes).  When they are cool cut with a sharp knife into appropriate lengths, depending upon whether they are destined for the lunch box or a fancy tea.....

If you want to learn more about the letter F click here to go to ABC Wednesday, with thanks to those who maintain this informative and entertaining meme.

Skywatch Friday

August 20th, 2010

An August Sunrise in the Similkameen

For more beautiful skies from around the world visit Skywatch Friday and enjoy.

The answers to What?

What Delights Me?

At this very moment a book I picked up at the local outreach shop (the Bargain Centre where I put in hours).

A Treasure of Terms & Literary Quotations for Readers & Writers.

The Describer's Dictionary by David Grambs.

I don't plan to write a review but I have to say that what appeals to me most about the book is the accompanying descriptive passages from a diverse number of writers from

novelists to naturalists and other non-fiction writers.

I adore descriptive writing - a good paragraph which paints an evocative literary image

 gives me quite as much pleasure as a well done portrait or landscape.

I open the book at random and find these words from Nostromo by Joseph Conrad

"Then, as the midday sun withdraws from the gulf the shadow of the mountains the clouds begin to roll out of the lower valleys.  They swathe in sombre tatters the naked crags of precipices above the wooded slopes, hide the peaks, smoke in stormy trails across the snows of Higuerota.  The Cordillera is gone from you as if it had dissolved itself into great piles of grey and black vapours that travel out slowly to seaward and vanish into thin air all along the front before the blazing heat of the day."

Marvelous, - just like opening a box of candy and having it filled with all your favourites!

What Lightens my Heart?

News that my sister will finally be able to leave the Intensive Care Unit where she has been since the 4th of June after a serious heart operation, and that the depression which has oppressed her for all this time has finally lifted and she is once again enthusiastic about living, ready to regain her strengthen and take up her ties to those who love her.  I am impatient for her move to a Ward where the Internet is one of the perks, and we can once again enjoy the marvels of modern communication, - two old ladies sending instant messages up and over the Rocky Mountains!!

What is it that Dismays me?

I am currently reading Chris Hedges 'Empire of Illusion' and this I am accomplishing in fits and snatches.  A snatch is about all I can stand before I have a fit of despair at the picture he paints of the state of affairs in the United States of America.  A regular Jeremiah, and I am hoping the glass is not as empty as he makes out..

I am sorry you cannot click to look inside!  It is his sub-title that drew me to the book - 'The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle'.  It is a concept I am quite in agreement with.  I shudder at Facebook and Twitter and at the minimal use of actual words in the communications they host.  To say nothing of adjectives or adverbs or any other kind of civilized and entertaining epistles.

And when you consider the Triumph of Spectacle, alas, his examples are all too blatant and pernicious.

Hedges describes a certain meanness that feeds the Celebrity Ego, and a diminishing of generosity and civility throughout society.

I sigh, and put the book aside, horrified that what he says may be true - to the extent that he says it is!

Here is the little dog, enquiring about a walk in the dusk, and so we will put cares aside and go out into the coolness of the evening and the sweet scented path through the garden, and all will be well......all will be well.

ABC Wednesday

The enchanting letter this week is E

E is for Enchantment

If we can keep the wonder and enchantment of childhood with us all our long life through, what a wonderful  antidote to cynicism it is!  Wordsworth's concept of 'trailing clouds of glory' is pure enchantment.....

It is the dim haze of mystery that lends Enchantment to the pursuit.  Antoine Rivario

Rosetti

...and life's Enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim

Lord Byron

the Enchanted kingdoms of childhood

........and the Enchantment of Gardens

the Enchanted Garden

Waterhouse

the Enchantment of Music

'music's pure algebra of Enchantment' Conrad Potter Aiken

The Lady of Shallot  

Waterhouse   

and the Enchantment of story and myth and poetry

A Song of Enchantment

A song of Enchantment I sang me there,

in a green-green wood, by waters fair,

Just as the words came up to me

I sang it under the wild wood tree.

Widdershins turned I, singing it low,

Watching the wild birds come and go'

No cloud in the deep dark blue to be seen

Under the thick-thatched branches green.

Twilight came; silence came;

The plant of Evening's silver flame;

By darkening paths I wandered through

Thickets trembling with drops of dew.

But the music is lost and the words are gone

Of the song I sang as I sat along,

Ages and Ages have fallen on me -

On the wood and the pool and the elder tree.

Walter de la Mare

For more enchanting E's visit ABC Wednesday. with thanks to all who maintain this Extraordinary meme

A bedtime treat

Caspar and Miss Callie and I go out for a last stroll down the driveway and are enchanted, as always, by the delicate fragrance of the night-scented stock.  A wispy and insignificant little flower by day, planted in a pot surrounded by sweet-peas and sweet alyssum close to the doorway, - at night its magical perfume keeps us lingering in the still night air.

The Garden by Moonlight

Amy Lowell

A black cat among roses,
Phlox, lilac-misted under a first-quarter moon,
The sweet smells of heliotrope and night-scented stock.
The garden is very still,
It is dazed with moonlight,
Contented with perfume,
Dreaming the opium dreams of its folded poppies.
Firefly lights open and vanish
High as the tip buds of the golden glow
Low as the sweet alyssum flowers at my feet.
Moon-shimmer on leaves and trellises,
Moon-spikes shafting through the snowball bush.
Only the little faces of the ladies' delight are alert and staring,
Only the cat, padding between the roses,
Shakes a branch and breaks the chequered pattern
As water is broken by the falling of a leaf.
Then you come,
And you are quiet like the garden,
And white like the alyssum flowers,
And beautiful as the silent sparks of the fireflies.
Ah, Beloved, do you see those orange lilies?
They knew my mother,
But who belonging to me will they know
When I am gone.