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Friday's Hunt v2.3

I love it when I can share a photo that captures all three items in Friday's Hunt , hosted by Teresa of Eden Hills . This week the items are 1) starts with C, 2) week's favorite, and 3) unique perspective. The best part about this photo is that it came together all of a sudden this morning when I decided to de-pit a bunch of tart cherries with my nifty cherry de-pitter tool. No doubt there is a proper name for the tool, but I don't feel like doing a Google search for it. I don't know what I'll do with the de-pitted cherries. Any suggestions? To participate in the photo hunt and/or to see other participants' finds, please click here .

The Mama's Apples

Two of Mama's apple trees are producing quite a lot of fruit this year, unlike the past two or three years. Some of you already know about the story of her apple trees. So, please bear with me as I say again that the Mama's apple trees started from seeds of apples that the Mama ate about 28 years ago. The Mama was told: "They'll never grow into trees."   "They'll never bear fruit."   "You won't be around long enough for the trees to grow and bear fruit." Ha. Ha. And, Ha! The Mama tasted many years worth of apples from her trees. Today begins a new round of the alphabet at ABC Wednesday , a delightful weekly meme started by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt and continuing under the administration of Roger Green and his ABCW team.  Click here to join in or to check out what bloggers are writing about the letter A .

Some Are Growing, Summer Eating

This morning I plucked the orange cherry tomatoes in the photo from the limbs of Jo . Yes, those are tiny orange tomatoes. When the first ones ripened, I wondered why they weren't getting red. It's a good thing the short-term memory box of mine kicked in before the fruits dropped off their branches. Led Zeppelin and Valerie are producing fruit, too. Barely. They're bravely keeping their tiny fruit going. I haven't been very good about remembering to water the trio, especially during the hot days. When I do water them, I don't promise that I'll be better about the task. I hate breaking promises. The yellow fruit in the photo are Asian pears, which are from our small tree.  It has produced a big crop this year because of the winter rains. I'm picking the fruit as they ripen. I wish the Mama was here to enjoy them. I'm sharing today's post at Seasons , a fun weekly meme hosted by Jeanette of St Germain's Blog . Please click here to join in

The Three Amigas

Photos for this week's Friday's Hunt , hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills , include: • Starts with T • Week's favorite • Evening   My favorite photo is of the three different types of tomato plants that are now residing together in my first veggie garden in a long time.  Meet Jo, Led Zeppelin, and Valerie, from left to right.  Jo is already sporting a tiny tomato. Yaay! Led Zeppelin is quite a survivor, having almost dried up. And, Valerie is a volunteer and quite a fuzzy gal. The three amigas are nightshade plants. Nightshade, evening. Close enough.    To join in on the fun and/or see what photos other participants are sharing, please click here . 

Surprise: Apple Blossoms!

When Molly the Cat and I opened the curtains in the living room this morning, the first thing we noticed was the puddle of water on the patio. "Look, Molly! It rained during the night." Noticing the white petals in the puddle, I glanced up at the apple tree. "Apple blossoms!" Molly the Cat looked out the window, posed in her So are we going outside to explore further stance. She didn't seem as pleased about the apple blossoms as the Mama and the Husband did when I told them. It may be a good year for apples from that tree, which the Mama planted from seeds 28 years ago. I'm hooking up with Seasons , a new weekly meme hosted by Jeanette at St Germain's Blog. Click here to check out other participants.

Eden Hills Friday's Hunt v1.10

It's time to get back into the swing of participating in Teresa's Friday photo hunt meme at her blog, Eden Hills . This week the hunt was for photos interpreting the letter J, week's favorite, and a cuppa. A Cuppa Joe I drank a sweet, amazing cup of mocha this afternoon, the first taste of coffee in more than three weeks. As I sipped my personality quickly changed to big smiles, floating contentment, and yakity-yak. Ahhhhhhh. If some of you are wondering, I'm still on my No-this, No-that food program. After 16 days, I'm  allowing myself a treat now and then. So, while we were doing our Saturday errands, the Husband and I stopped at our favorite cafe, Vertigo Coffee , in San Juan Bautista. The above photo isn't of today's wonderful creations by Ryan, but of the amazing mocha's that we had on my birthday in December. If you're ever in San Juan Bautista or passing through the area, check out Vertigo Coffee. The cafe also serves delicious artis

Day Nine

"Hey, kid, you want me." That loaf of sweet French bread jumped out at me as I entered the kitchen. "One slice won't hurt you," it purred, smiling seductively from the kitchen counter. Sigh.  Deep breath. Ignoring my yearning for a taste of the bread, I gathered ingredients to make sandwiches for the Mama's and the Husband's lunch. I simply pretended that I didn't like bread.  It worked, thank goodness. Turns out I still don't know better. Nine days ago, I started to limit the foods that I can eat because I was lethargic and scatterbrained. For the last two months, I had been consuming too many desserts, bread, potato chips, and beer without doing any worthwhile exercise to offset the yummy calories. In addition, my eczema was constantly raging and, frighteningly, an insect bite turned into an ugly fungal infection, which was a first for me.  Burp. Burp. Yeah, a lot of those, too. So, no gluten foods.  No fried foods. No desser

Boinggg. . . .!

Boing! Boing! Boing! Its boingness is more so since I only drink it now and then. Boing! Boing! Boing! Yesterday was my day of Boing! I brewed coffee for the Mama, the Husband, and me to sip as we ate old-fashioned doughnuts. Yummmmmmm.  Boing! It's the letter B on ABC Wednesday , the weekly meme started by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt and continued today by Roger Green and his ABC Wednesday team. Click here to participate and/or to check out other participants.

Recalling The Best Thing Done with Lemons

The memory of the best lemon meringue pie I ever ate Still makes me smile. Still gets me goofy with a sugar high. Still makes me feel weak at the knees. A sigh of deliciousness. That slice of the best lemon meringue pie is very long-time gone. Back in 1984. In a red building in a small shopping center in the middle of cowboy country. On The Big Island of Hawaii. A sigh of deliciousness.

Persimmons!

The Mama's persimmon tree gave us an abundant crop this year. We're sharing the fruit on the top branches with the birds and squirrels. I told them to leave the lower branches for us. So far, so good.

Patiently Waiting

Our original avocado tree has about 30 fruits. The Mama and I counted them a few weeks ago. I learned that avocados start to ripen once they're picked, and the best place to store avocados are on their trees. Up until a point. And, that's when they look like they're about to shrivel, which means they'll soon fall. Those we won't want to eat. I'm sure the Mama would still say, "Nothing wrong with them." Anyway, I don't want the avocados to get to that point. Maybe after Thanksgiving, we can pick an avocado and see if it'll ripen in two weeks. Yummmm. Knock on wood.

Experimenting with My Diet

You know how sometimes you wake up one morning and you decide to be good about what you eat. That was this morning for me. I haven't analyzed the why-fors. Maybe I won't. I just went with the mood. Not that we have a lot of junk food in our refrigerator and pantry. The "worse" is a half bag of potato chips and a bunch of blueberry cheese pastry bits. The latter is the Mama's, which the Husband and I help consume, otherwise they go stale. This morning, I chose to forgo my usual breakfast selections -- peanut butter and jam sandwich or peanut butter, apple, and raisins rice bowl. Peanut butter, processed grains, and food loaded with sugar could be contributing culprits for my eczema flare ups. Hence, none of those foods for awhile. What did I eat for breakfast then? I made a salad out of organic baby spring lettuces, leftover roasted sweet potato rounds, and a handful of almonds that I topped with balsamic vinegar. Someone told me that the sweet potato satisfies

Peppers & Persimmons

Sounds like a nice title for something -- Peppers & Persimmons. Or, perhaps, Persimmons & Peppers. Maybe without the ampersand, and italicized: Peppers and Persimmons ; or, Persimmons and Peppers. The pepper plants have been kind to us this year. Three of four fruits every couple of weeks. The persimmons are slowly ripening on the tree. We're going to have an extra good crop this year.  See you tomorrow.

Success!

Hurrah! The Husband and I found a market yesterday in Santa Cruz that sells beef liver and beef soup bones that I can trust. The Mama has been wanting soup-bone soup lately, too. We bought three half-pound frozen containers of liver. Two containers went into the freezer, while the liver in third one was cooked with onions, garlic powder, salt, and soy sauce for the Mama's and my dinner last night. The Husband does not eat liver, no matter how much I tell him I cook so he'd think it was steak. He won't bite. So, he got leftover Chinese food to eat. This morning, I asked the Mama if she liked the liver. "Yes," she said. "I feel stronger."  Yay!

Gotta Laugh

This is what I saw in one of the Mexican grocery stores in town this morning. Hasta mañana.

Gilroy Garlic Festival

My Alphabe Thursday theme—Places I've Been If you loooooooooove the taste and aroma of garlic, then the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California is for you. I finally experienced the garlic extravaganza a few years ago. As I grow older, I sometimes get overwhelmed by crowds so I don't go to as many festivals as once upon a time. I'm starting to understand the Mama's response of "I've been there before." when we ask if she'd like to go with us to nearly anywhere. The garlic festival was fun with loads to see and buy. Lots of cooking demonstrations.  And, lots of arts, crafts, and vendors. Best of all, this food festival had lots of food loaded with the food it features—garlic! There were the usual yummies, such as garlic bread, and the unusual—hello, garlic ice cream, which I remember as being rather delicious. Celebrating its 37th year, the three-day festival will be July 24 to 26, 2015. It has always been in Gilroy, about a

Day 21 with Tilda-Hilda

The hot dog, four 4-ounce samples of different craft beer, garlic fries, grilled sirloin tips, and gooey chocolate cake with ice cream that I consumed late yesterday afternoon was my inspiration to sweat off some calories this morning. I pedaled Tilda-Hilda nearly 13 1/2 miles in 75 minutes. That's the longest we've traveled in both miles and minutes. Whooo-hooo! Yesterday was the Husband's and my 23rd-of-the-month date. Thus, all the food. We shared everything but the hot dog and beer. The hot dogs we ate as we watched Spy , starring Melissa McCarthy, and the rest of the food we had after the movie. Spy , by the way, is a very funny and wonderful movie. I like to think that I would be McCarthy's character if I was a spy. All sweet and helpful, but a bad-ass, as in don't you dare get in my way when I need to get something done now! Onward and upward.

The Wonderful, Wondrous Work of the Wizardess

My ABC Wednesday theme: The Mama and Her Authentic Green Thumbs. . .and Fingers Three weeks ago, I showed you, dear readers, a photo of my tomato plant that got broken by the wind and the Mama put back into the soil. Quite a few of you expressed faith that the Mama's wizardy would help nurture it back to life. Well, here's what the tomato plant looks like as of yesterday evening. Vibrant! I helped a bit by plucking off the dead leaves that you see in the top photo. Maybe I inherited some of the Mama's authentic green thumb and fingers gene. I want to show you another wonder in the Mama's garden—the Blenheim apricot trees. She started with one tree, which is the one on the right with all the drooping branches full of apricots. The first two or three years that the tree produced, the Mama collected many of the apricot pits and planted them around the backyard. See that tree on the left with the lone apricot. That's the first fruit of the second generatio

Tomato Plants

My ABC Wednesday theme: The Mama and Her Authentic Green Thumbs. . .and Fingers Today, I'm showing you photos of the Mama's tomato plants.  She has one huge tomato plant growing in her squash patch. That's it in the above photo. She says the plant has two tiny fruits. The Mama has four tomato patches in various parts of the yard. The tomatoes all started as seedlings in this box. In other words, these are the plants that did not get transplanted else where. All the patches of transplants are quite healthy. Here's one of the patches. Then, there's my tomato plant. This was supposed to be a pot of milkweed for the monarchs. Ha! A week ago, the wind blew the tomato plant's container on its side breaking off the branch. The Mama, fortunately, came along and stuck the branch back into the pot. The tomato plant just might make it. It's ABC Wednesday . That's where I'm linking up today. Click here to check out other participants wit

Blenheim Apricots

Hopefully, in a few weeks we'll be eating these Blenheim apricots from the backyard. It being Friday, I'm participating in The Weekend in Black and White , which is hosted by Dragonstar. To see other participants, please click here .