Spring Bouquet #8 and #9 and Tips for Prolonging the Life of Garden Flowers

This first bouquet is held in a beautiful window vase I received from a friend for Christmas. The silhouette of the bouquet sets off the clear aqua color of the vase.









The combination of spring flowers always makes for an exquisite bouquet in color and scent. With this combination of iris, dame's rockets, columbine, and cat mint you have the best of both color and scent.



I love having cut flowers for my own home, but I 've also sold them at farmer's market and provided bouquets for church, a friend's bed and breakfast, and casual celebrations. People often ask how I prolong the life of flowers from the garden. Part of it always depends on how mature the blooms are when they get to the bouquet. It is best to pick flowers when the bloom has just opened. This is easier said than done. If there is a beautiful rose in bloom I will add it to a bouquet even if it is mature. It just won't last as long.
Actually there is a debate on whether it is better to pick flowers in the morning or evening. The flowers will be less likely to wilt if cut in the morning. The evening is better for me. The plants have been photosynthesizing all day, the stems contain more carbs, which makes them last longer. It is best to wait until the air has cooled.
When you get the flowers inside fill a vase halfway with tepid water. Cut 1 inch from the stems and strip any foliage that will be underwater. Put the cut flowers immediately in water. To prolong vase life you can use this homemade flower preservative:
To 24 oz. of water, add 1 teaspoon vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, and one crushed aspirin tablet. Change water as needed.
I think a bouquet of fresh flowers can bring the garden in to any room in the house. Even if I only have a few flowers blooming I get creative and look for interesting herb leaves, branches of shrubs, and tree leaves to add to a bouquet. The possibilities are endless.

Spinach Harvest and Another From the Recipe Box

Weeks ago the first harvest of rhubarb earned a post. I didn't celebrate our second harvest because the tiny radishes were gobbled up before a photo shoot could be done.

Today our third harvest was spinach. I have a hard time keeping track of when vegetables are ready. The veggies are JEJ's department. I didn't have all the ingredients to make my favorite spring spinach salad, but we enjoyed the tender leaves of spinach in a simple salad. The tomatoes and cucumber did come from the store folks! In this late spring time I love to harvest greens. They haven't bolted. They don't taste bitter. Spinach is still full of flavor and tender. When the heat comes this changes.

I have many spinach salad recipes, but the one below is a nice blend of June berries and vegetables. The recipe is from The Pacific Northwest: The Beautiful Cookbook.

Spinach Salad With Strawberries and Poppy Seed-Berry Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup canola or safflower oil

1/3 cup berry flavored vinegar

Salad:

2 bunches spinach, stemmed

2 cups strawberries, stemmed and quartered

1 cup thin-sliced fresh button mushrooms

1/2 cup thinly cut green onions

1/2 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted

To make the vinaigrette: Place the poppy seeds, mustard and honey in a small bowl and gradually whisk in the oil until all the oil is used and the mixture is the consistency of mayonnaise. Gradually whisk in the berry vinegar to thin the mixture to the consistency of heavy cream.

Place the leaves of spinach in a serving bowl. Toss with the strawberries, mushrooms, green onions, almonds and enough vinaigrette to moisten them. Pass around the extra vinaigrette.

Serves 6-8 Enjoy!

LOCKDOWN!

Today at school we got a call for a lockdown right before 1:00 p.m. I only had my boys in class. The girls were having a special celebration in another room with the counselor. I had just excused them and I asked a student to bring them back. Fortunately they had not left the hallway.

We had practiced where we would go and what we would do. Because I am away from the main building, we get a phone call for lockdown instead of hearing it on the intercom. As I pulled the drapes and locked the doors the boys moved quietly and swiftly to our designated "safety zone." I knew we were planning on having a drill , but that was supposed to be in a week. Was this real? I could see by their faces the boys were wondering the same thing.

I emailed my attendance and placed a green card under the door out to the hall that meant "all okay." I had leftover bottled water from another day so we passed it around and sat quietly in the dark, sipped water, and waited. I was surrounded by a group of young men that I had know since they were five years old. I had many of them for reading in summer school when they were in lower grades. I had watched them grow taller, heard some voices change, and groaned at their silly jokes. I had this mother hen protective feeling as we sat in close proximity on chairs or on the floor. I wanted everyone to be safe.

My mind moved back to Saturday and the shooting that occurred in Moscow, Idaho. I often teach at the university in the summer and know many people that lived in the area around that church. On Sunday my friend B emailed to say she had dropped off a friend close by the church fifteen minutes before the shots were fired . My other friend E was watching the news and thought somebody had lit firecrackers. It was hard for both of them to believe. Like me they were shocked.

As we continued to sit quietly I watched the classroom door. I also remembered Virginia Tech and all those students in classrooms that day. We knew there was an old fallout shelter through a trapdoor in the classroom closet. Could we all go down there if gunshots were heard?

When you sit in a lockdown the time seems to move slowly because of the unknown.The boys got restless and the air got stuffy. Just then the phone rang and we were informed that the drill was over. Relief. We had sat there about ten minutes.

We quietly gathered our things and went down the hall for a debriefing. The girls arrived and described what happened in the main building. They tried to get into one room, but it was locked. A teacher helped them into another room, then the girls heard screams, banging, and a bat slamming on the door. The principal allowed the middle school students to ask questions, talk about what they would have done if they were outside, what worked and what didn't.

The drill planned was for an angry parent to come through the building with a baseball bat. The parent (staged) yelled and tried to get in classrooms. The drill was also held at the end of high school lunch and passing time to see if students could get to safety if they were in the parking lot or heading to class in our building. I was caught off guard which made it very real.

School safety is important. We want to be prepared for all types of emergencies. I understand the purpose for drills, but when I am sitting side by side with a group of boys in a dark room during lockdown I silently pray that they will be protected from violence and the dark forces in our world.
I wanted everyone to be safe.

One Writes to Make a Home for Oneself

One writes to make a home for oneself, on paper,

in time, in others' minds.

Alfred Kazin

JEJ found a like-new scanner at a yard sale for ten bucks last Saturday. I dug through pictures at my mom's house recently in hopes of being able to scan pictures eventually. Perfect timing!

The two children in the photo are myself and my brother Raymond Pert. We were living at 14 E. Portland in Kellogg, Idaho when this photo was taken. I found a fitting poem in my collection that reminded me of that house when I was old enough to hold the memories in my mind.

Bedtime

Sometimes I remember
the good old days

sitting in the kitchen floor
at night with my brother

each on our own squares
of cool linoleum.

I'm fresh from the bath,
wearing baseball pajamas.

Outside the screen door
summer breezes stir.

Mom gives us each two cookies,
a cup of milk, a kiss goodnight.

I still can't imagine
anything better than that.

Ralph Fletcher

Brunch on Tuesday

Before I host any special event I drive myself crazy during the preparation time. I have this desire to have things just right. During any pre-event frenzy I run through a mental checklist of questions carefully. Do plates match napkins? Are flowers picked for the table? Are coffee beans fresh? Do we have ingredients for favorite recipes on hand?

One Sunday night I was going through my getting ready for bed ritual. JEJ was already reading a new book in bed as I was turning off lights, checking doors, and filling dog water dishes. My eye caught the church bulletin from the morning service on the kitchen table. I missed church earlier that day staying home in hopes of getting caught up, knowing I would be leaving Monday for another week teaching away from home. I wanted to catch up on church news so I flipped on the stove light to skim the contents before going to bed. An announcement on the second page caught my attention instantly.
“Tuesday prayer meeting at JEJ's house…. brunch potluck to follow.”

I stopped breathing. My anxiety level hit the ceiling. I rushed to the bedroom door in an attempt to learn more about this unscheduled social event from my husband. I tried breathing again, that deep kind, the breathing that is supposed to calm you down.

“Sweetheart…when were you going to tell me that a prayer meeting and brunch were going to be held here on Tuesday? I won’t be here Tuesday. We aren’t ready to do brunch on Tuesday. I don’t even have coffee beans or paper plates in the house!” As I sputtered out my words the volume and pitch of my voice bordered on hysteria.

Looking up from his book calmly JEJ peered over his reading glasses as I stood in the doorway still finding it difficult to breathe.
“I was not going to tell you dear. Since you weren’t going to be here I thought I would just take care of things myself,” he explained.

“Just take care of things? Have you ever done a brunch? Do you know where to find vases, serving trays, pitchers, all the stuff?”
“It will be fine. We will just sit outside and other people are bringing the food.”
“Outside,” I groaned, “The tablecloth is dirty, the flowers haven’t been deadheaded, the weeds…..”
“My dear, it is a prayer meeting. I’ll just have them close their eyes.”


Recipe for Overnight Breakfast Casserole

( or breakfast casserole that can sit in the frig until Tuesday brunch!)
8 slices sourdough bread
6 eggs
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
(Optional: add 16 oz. of cooked and drained pork sausage, chopped, cooked ham, or cooked bacon)
You can also add ½ cup sautéed onion or celery

Spray 9x13 baking dish with a non-stick cooking spray. Trim crusts from bread, tear slices and place bread on the bottom of the dish. If using meat, spoon over bread. Sprinkle with cheese. Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper in a bowl until blended. Pour over prepared layers; do not stir. Cover and place dish in refrigerator overnight or for at least five hours. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes until set. 6 servings

Sweet, Simple Things of Life

" It is the sweet, simple things of life

which are the real ones after all."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Here are some sweet, simple things in my life today:

a columbine with exquisite color

irises blooming along the picket fence
the bridal wreath spirea bending toward the light a lovely contrast between the flower and the leaf

honeysuckles full of beauty