National Poetry Month, Poem #14

Counting-Out Rhyme

Silver bark of beech, and sallow
Bark of yellow birch and yellow
Twig of willow.

Stripe of green in moosewood maple,
Color seen in leaf of apple,
Bark of popple.

Wood of popple pale as moonbeam,
Wood of oak for yoke and barn-beam
Wood of hornbeam.

Silver bark of beech, and hollow
Stem of elder, tall and yellow
Twig of willow.

-Edna St. Vincent Millay

These pictures show my weeping willow and trees from our ten mile drive. I love the poetic sounds that blend in this poem.

A Keeper From the Recipe Box: Sibling Assignment #18

The sibling writing assignment this week with Raymond Pert and Silver Valley Girl: A chapter in my cookbook will be titled “Sibling Memories and Recipes.” Share a favorite recipe/memoir piece for the chapter.

“Good recipes like good books are often those that come to us from someone else, recommended both for what they are and the relevance they hold in our lives.” -L. Critchley and H. Windrath
I love to collect recipes. Sometimes I cut recipes out of the paper or off food containers knowing I may never use them. I just like recipes. I have boxes, files, and baskets of recipes. Some have stories behind them. Some are written in the original writing of the people that shared them. Others remind me of a party or event that it was part of. As I gather around the table with fresh brewed coffee, good conversation, and a group of friends recipes always creep into the conversation.

My mom has a friend See that is a retired home ec teacher. See has a collection of great recipes which she loves to share. When I see a recipe from See lying on Mom’s table I know it will be a keeper. A couple of summers ago the “Honey Bun Cake” recipe appeared on my mother’s table. I guess a sample had been brought over before, but that part was vague. All the people that had tried it raved about the cake.The name stuck with me because it sounded like the song from South Pacific, a favorite family musical:
“A hundred and one pounds of fun,
That's my little honey bun!
Get a load of honey bun tonight.”

I was helping teach a summer writing course for teachers and was in charge of a “treat” for the first day. I was ready to take a risk and make something new and different. The recipe looked easy. The ingredients were available and didn’t need to be purchased at a speciality store. What made the Honey Bun Cake even more memorable was driving to Coeur d' Alene with the warm cake resting next to me in the front seat. The smell was heavenly.

I keep a recipe if people eat it, give favorable feedback, and/or ask for the recipe. The “Honey Bun Cake” was a big hit. Not only did all of it get eaten, but it got favorable feedback and the group asked for the recipe! It is a good dish to serve like coffee cake at a brunch. It goes great with coffee or tea. I am sure it would also work well as a snacking cake. One person said, "with the warm glaze the cake reminded me of a warm Krispy Kreme doughnut."
Last fall I served it at a staff breakfast and got similar reviews. Yes, this one is a keeper. Try it and let me know what you think!

Honey Bun Cake
Mix together:
1 yellow cake mix
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
8 oz. sour cream
Topping: In a smaller bowl mix together 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon,1 cup chopped nuts. Pour half cake batter into a greased 9x13 pan. add half of the topping. Gently swirl with knife and repeat with the other half of batter and topping.
Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Loosen cake and pierce holes all over the top of the cake with toothpick. Pour the glaze below over hot cake.
Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

National Poetry Month, Poem #13

Manual for the Deaf

In lesson 33 we learn
the world, which is a circle
made of both hands, and
we learn direction, north,
one hand rising straight
toward heaven. There is
debt here, too, but only
as much as one palm, open,
can hold.

Praise is here and promise,
that finger to the mouth
as if to tell a child
his sister sleeps
beyond an open door.

But the word that leaves us breathless
is faith: faith,
the palm that lies up, floating,
the palm that waits for the other
to fall to it and tighten as if
to press and save a wet leaf, mothwing,
heart made of paper.

-Marti Mihalyi

I have a framed copy of this poem hanging on a wall in my house. This poet is a dear friend of mine. I remember listening to Marti do a reading in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho a few years ago and how she brought this poem to life with her expressive voice and graceful movements .

Small Celebrations in Gardening

I return to gardening year after year because of the small celebrations each and every day. It doesn't matter the size of your garden or what you choose to plant, there are always changes, surprises and celebrations on a daily basis.

I am not a life-long gardener. I pulled weeds growing up sometimes. I appreciated the beauty of the flowers in my grandmothers' gardens. Fresh vegetables were a special treat when we visited relatives' houses that had gardens. I dabbled with containers and annuals early in my adult life. It wasn't until after I turned forty and moved to where I live now that I took on gardening as a yearlong passion.

Early in the week I celebrated the rhubarb. Our rhubarb is always hardy, but this plant creates a beautiful leaf color that brightens up the garden border. Yesterday I celebrated green onions. These remained in the garden last fall and JEJ harvested them yesterday before he tilled the garden. What a surprise to come home to the fresh smell of newly harvested vegetables .

Today I have two things to celebrate. One is the ritual of seed planting. The first vegetable seeds were finally sowed today because the weather has cooperated! They were placed in organized rows with markers. JEJ is in charge of the vegetables. He did his own sketch of this garden plot. The second small celebration was the blue sky and sunshine. It only takes a few days of weather that warms up in the afternoon to bring tulips and azaleas to life.

Another reason to celebrate gardening is that it trains you to pay attention. Each day I do a garden tour and know I will observe new growth, grieve over a lost rose, or celebrate the birth of a returning plant. These small celebrations give this gardener much to look forward to each day.

National Poetry Month, Poem #12

A Room in the Past

It’s a kitchen, its curtains fill
with a morning light as bright
you can’t see beyond its windows
Into the afternoon. A kitchen
falling through time with its things
In their places, the dishes jingling
up in the cupboard, the bucket
of drinking water rippled as if
a truck had just gone past, but that truck
was thirty years. No one’s at home
In this room. Its counter is wiped,
and the dishrag hangs from the nail,
a dry leaf. In housedresses of mist,
blue aprons of rain, my grandmother
moved through this life like a ghost,
and when she had finished her years,
she put them all back in their places
and wiped out the sink, turning her back
on the rest of us, forever.

-Ted Kooser

The Forgotten Plants and Spring Gardening Notes to Self

As the gardens begin to come to life each spring I have surprises every day. No matter how many garden journals I attempt, or how many notes I keep, during the winter season I just forget what I have planted. Each day now I go out and have this inner dialogue like this: " That's right, I planted tulips there in the fall." "Wow! When did we get that peony and plant it there." "Oh... that's right. We moved the plants in front of the hostas last fall and need something new there." It creates a sense of childlike wonder, but it is really pathetic!

Every single year... my gardening memory is like an annual plant. The seed is planted in the spring, it warms up and sprouts as the weather gets warmer, and finally by June my memory springs to full life. Now that I have a digital camera I do plan to keep better track of when things bloom and where they are located to assist in my annual winter memory loss.

Last year I reminded myself to dig up the tulips that never bloomed. They just sat in the bed with sick looking leaves all spring. Guess what? The same sick leaves are out there right now. I know those bulbs won't bloom. I also remembered some small spring bulbs were hidden behind bigger plants and I needed to move them after they bloomed. You are starting to catch on... they will be hidden soon.

As a gardener I always have good intentions. Right now is a good time to study the "bones" of your garden. Just as things are leafing out you can decide what needs to be divided, what should be moved after it blooms, and what is just a nuisance plant and needs to go. It is also easier to see ground covers that have run wild, weeds that have taken on a life of their own, and roses that need to be pruned.

I like this month in the garden beds. It is that birth of the gardening season. Plants change overnight and the colors shift each day. My gardens have already moved from brown to green to yellow. Now the weather needs to warm up! It was 28 degrees this morning.

Spring Gardening Notes to Self:

1.Take pictures of garden beds at different stages.

2.Dig up tulip plants that didn't ever bloom!

3.Mark a day soon to pull weeds. Fortify self with good coffee, chocolate, and deep breathing.

4.Just use common sense on pruning roses. ( I have read articles, studied pictures, researched online and there are many different opinions on pruning roses. The common thread is to cut out the dead stuff).

5. Visualize what each garden bed will look like in five weeks ( this is when my gardening brain will be in full bloom) and plan placement of annual seeds or plants.

6. Cook a favorite breakfast for husband JEJ before announcing that it is plant/shrub/tree rearranging day.

7. Harvest flowers just before they open so they last longer in the house.

8. Use sunscreen.

My gardening memory continues to germinate. I can't wait until May!