A Little of Everything

We had such beautiful weather yesterday, it was perfect for being outside and tackling some more weeds. After picking a big bucketful, I toured the garden taking pictures of every blooming thing, and a few hopefuls.

The clematis are opening in greater numbers now.

The azaleas are taking their place as the current stars of the garden. This is the bright red one near the front door.

This one is a neighbor of the newly-established Gracie Memorial Catnip Garden. It's a bright red as well, but more on the orange side of things.

This is the deep purply-pink one. It has lived in the shadow of a tree and a rhododendron for many years, and so it's one of the smaller azaleas. It packs a colorful punch, however.

This larger one by the corner of the house is starting to show its buds, but none have opened yet.

The lithodora is covered in deep blue flowers now. These are tiny...about the size of a dime.

We have wild strawberries near the herb garden, but we also have the larger and tastier Hood strawberries at the front of the house, and they have started to bloom. The squirrels usually enjoy the strawberries before they are even ripe.

Still no progress on the blooming poppy, but yesterday, I noticed a second bud. Yay!

Ooooh...the lilac is so close. It's covered in flowers this year, and so I can't wait for them to open completely. There might even be enough for lilac blossom jelly...if I needed any more jelly...which I do not.

The dogwood is looking much more promising these days. Its flowers are interesting because there doesn't seem to be any bud. It is tightly closed inside these little pink guard petals, and so it's a bit of a surprise when they open into flowers. It could still be just teasing us, however. I'm not counting its flowers until they actually open.

Four of the five peonies have buds on them now...and lots of them.

This next one is one of the smaller ones. I didn't see the buds at first.

The fourth is the largest of the five. I was a little worried about it because, being the largest, I'd expect to see buds. I couldn't find any until later in the afternoon when I showed it to Mike. It was then that I noticed the first bud. I'll take a picture of it when the weather improves again.

The apple tree is covered in pretty blossoms. We haven't seen a lot of bee activity...partly because we haven't seen a lot of dry weather. We never get more than a few apples from this tree, but it's nice to see it blooming.

The plum tree is covered in flowers. It's not a good time to be blooming since we've seen a lot of rain. Still, we're always hopeful of a good plum crop. I use them to make barbecue sauce, chutney, jelly and a few different desserts.

Matthew and Mike are making good progress with the garden plot. The fence still needs mending. We're getting the greenhouse cleaned out, and I'll start some seeds in there. For now, the garden plot is still in the planning, maintenance, and repair stages. It'll take some time to bring it back after so many years of neglect.

Finally, the bleeding heart is getting more flowers every day. It will grow quite a bit taller before its season is over.

Most of the rest of the afternoon was spent sewing, and I added another row to the bottom. It is now 60% complete. My goal each day has been to add another row of the 16-patch sections, and I'll keep after it today.

I caught an error as I was sewing it together yesterday. Even though I caught it before I was too far along, it was still a bugger to get that one little square taken out, turned, and then sewn back in. They're easy enough to remove, but pretty tricky to return to the flock.

Finally, I tried a different skillet brownie recipe yesterday, and it turned out to be a good one. I neglected to take its picture, so I'm recycling the one from the day before; because there must be pictures, you know.

After studying some of the claimed "gooey" recipes online, I came up with this one that turned out to be a hit. I'll warn you that the batter is stiff and dry, and so you'll want to mix it up with a food processor or hand mixer. The food processor is probably the better choice. Here's how I did mine.

Gooey Skillet Brownie for Two
recipe by Barbara Stanbro
serves 2-4

Ingredients:

1/2 cup flour
pinch table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
Vanilla ice cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. (I used a toaster oven for this.)

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, table salt, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, and cocoa powder.

Add the butter, egg, and vanilla, and pulse to combine.

Fold in the chocolate chips and transfer to a buttered 6-inch cast-iron skillet.

Bake in the oven for 8 – 10 minutes.

Serve warm. If made earlier in the day, warm briefly in the microwave before adding the ice cream.

* * * * *

It wasn't a looker, which was my reason for not taking a picture. I was fully prepared to dump the whole thing and make a skillet cookie instead. We all (the three of us) dipped a spoon into it for a taste and declared it "acceptable." Then, we had it warmed with vanilla ice cream. Oh. My. Gosh. It was completely transformed into a dessert to die for, and easy enough to make on the road. Definitely a keeper.

So, as expected, we're back to our gloomy weather. It's going to be another good day to stay in and sew. I'm close to finishing off my fourth pay-it-forward gift, and so I'm hoping to get it off in the mail tomorrow or the next day. Aside from that, I'll keep going with the poppy. I'm only guessing, but I figure I'll have to finish up that quilt top before the poppy outside will open.