In summer, the song sings itself.
—William Carlos Williams, “The Botticellian Trees”
I loafe and invite my Soul;
I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass.
—Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass , 1900
In summer, the song sings itself.
—William Carlos Williams, “The Botticellian Trees”
I loafe and invite my Soul;
I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass.
—Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass , 1900
I’m so far behind on my blogging, and especially on my garden update posts. This will be a whirlwind tour of the garden over the past three weeks. We’ve had downy mildew, hail stones, and rodents munching on unripened squashes. But, we’ve also had delicious zucchinis, cucumbers, and even some ripe red tomatoes! In fact, we had enough tomatoes to make some delicious roasted tomato sauce for our pizza last night. We would have had more if the hail hadn’t taken out at least half of them while they were still green. The only thing we haven’t tried yet are the lemon cucumbers that I had completely forgotten about. I kept thinking, what’s wrong with these cucumbers? why aren’t they turning green? I’ve decided just to be cool and enjoy what time I have left with my little plants before autumn arrives. I’m still pruning out the bad leaves but I’m not going to obsess, especially since everything still seems to be producing vegetables just fine.
One thing I have learned from this gardening experience is that we moderns have it good. I know that there are people who homestead and provide all of their own food — good for them! But, even people who are providing all of their own food are doing it by and large by choice, at least here in the United States. If they absolutely had to, they could go to a supermarket somewhere (even if it was a long drive) and get some food. Our forebears didn’t have supermarkets. If blight took all their tomatoes, they had no tomatoes. Despite its many faults, I am very, very thankful for modern agriculture. I never have to worry that there won’t be any food available (of course, paying for it is an entirely separate issue), and that is something I think we all take for granted.
Zucchini Fritters, adapted from Damn Delicious
1 large zucchini, grated, strained, and dried as much as possible
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
3 tsp minced garlic (you could use less or more depending on your taste)
1 large egg, beaten
salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
Grate the zucchini and dry it out as much as possible. I put it in a colander (as the recipe recommended) and patted/smashed it with paper towels until it seemed dry. I probably could have done it more, as my fritters took a really long time to cook through. In a bowl combine zucchini, flour, parmesan cheese, garlic and egg; add seasonings to taste.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. The original recipe states, “Scoop tablespoons of batter for each fritter, flattening with a spatula, and cook until the underside is nicely golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side, about 1-2 minutes longer.” I apparently missed this step and scooped mine by the 1/4 cup! They took a long time to cook, but they were so good.
“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2014.”
Lillia: This week you have expressed a strong desire to go back to school. For you, I think it’s mostly social. You haven’t seen a lot of your friends this summer, and I know you are really missing them. You really prefer to have one or two close friends, but I think you genuinely miss being in the classroom and having people to chat with about kid stuff. Luckily for you, the wait is almost over. Big changes are ahead — are you ready??? I feel excited for you, and I know you’re going to have a great year! [P.S. You really enjoyed that crazy hail storm we had. You even gathered up some hail and put it in the freezer for posterity. I think it’s still in there!]
Zane: This week you endured more than your fair share of riding in the car. The whole thing started out rather simply: we drove to the Manchester airport to drop Daddy off so he could fly to California for a wedding. However, after three or four delays, they cancelled his flight. He was able to arrange a new flight, but it was leaving out of Boston at 6am the next morning — quite the quandary. We ended up driving back to Manchester to pick up Daddy, then to Boston to stay overnight in a hotel, then up at 4am to drive Daddy to the airport, and then home again (your sister got to skip this part and stayed at Nanny and Papa’s house). You were an angelic traveler, which made the whole thing a lot easier than it could have been.
“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2014.”
Lillia: This week you made a beautiful drawing of fireflies alighting from the ground against a midnight blue background and titled it “Little Souls”. You have really moved into a new artistic phase where you are spending more time conceptualizing and trying out different styles. I think this is a sign of a maturing artist, as you move away from emulation toward something more uniquely your own. Your work is beautiful. I am so proud of you.
Zane: This week you discovered that you can draw things that actually look like, well, things! First you drew a “kayak” and then a human-like figure. After you were finished you exclaimed, “I made a person, it’s called a baby!” You seem to be really interested in representational art. It’s funny how much you and your sister have in common, despite the fact that you are two very different people. I am so happy that you both love to create and express yourselves through art.