Vee, We Shall Miss You!

Remembering

Oh, I am so very sorry to receive the news that a lovely blogging friend Vee from Haven for Vee passed away. I 'met' Vee years ago through blogging. She was a joy to follow, and I was always glad for her sparkling and thoughtful comments on my own blog. Vee's presence here will be greatly missed. I learned something new upon reading her obituary - her name is Vickie. I'll always remember her as Vee.

My heart condolences to all her family and friends. God bless Vee, and God bless those who mourn her passing. What a reunion for Vee and John, now both safely with the Lord.

Click HERE for the link to her obituary.

❦

Heart hugs,

Brenda

Photo credits:

(Top) Image by Beverly Buckley from Pixabay

Potato Salad Season: Three Favourites

Potato salad is very personal;

everyone makes theirs differently.

TRISHA YEARWOOD

found on quotely.org

I've always loved a good potato salad. And it still is a family summertime favourite. Doing a Google search, I was somewhat surprised to learn how often potato salad is mentioned when people share their childhood summer memories. An integral part of the family tradition. Every family probably has their favourite version of it. My mom used to make a creamy dilled salad that I loved, and still do – with cooked potatoes, hardboiled eggs, cucumber, celery, tomatoes, in a creamy dill mayo dressing. I do enjoy making potato salad: chopping the potatoes, boiling the eggs, putting the dressing together and pouring it over still warm potatoes. Sampling as I go. 

Today I share two longtime favourites plus a new-to-me French Potato Salad which is declared a new favourite in our household.

Sour Cream Potato Salad

This recipe is based on the traditional mayo dressing with a twist. It became an instant favourite when a work colleague brought it to a staff luncheon years ago. It's the dressing that makes this recipe especially yummy. I love the contrast of the sweet-tart from the vinegar-mustard-brown sugar combo, and the sour cream mixed with the mayo makes it lighter and really creamy.

Salad Ingredients

3/4 cup diced cucumber

1/4 cup chopped green onions

6 cups diced potatoes

4 hard-cooked eggs (Once cooked, separate the yolks and whites.

Chop whites, add to salad. Mash yolks, add to dressing.)

Salad Dressing

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 Tablespoons white vinegar

3 Tablespoons brown sugar (or less, if you're watching sugars)

1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard

1 teaspoon celery seed

salt and pepper, to taste

Mashed eggs yolks (see note under salad ingredients)

Mix dressing ingredients together.

Add to the salad.

The secret to great flavour in this salad is to dice the potatoes

raw and cook in salted water until tender, and to add the dressing

while cooked potatoes are still warm.

Serves 10 - 12 (unless you love it a lot!)

Potato Salad with Mint,

Onion, Capers

'Insalata di Patate Siciliana'

from Sun-Drenched Cuisine (1986)

by Marlena Spieler

This recipe is from a book I bought at a library book sale years ago. At first, I was unsure about using mint in a potato salad, but along with the onion and capers, it really is delicious. Alas, I have no photos of it for you.

I first served it at a long ago Canada Day celebration back in my single days. My housemate and I invited friends for a BBQ; we served salmon which paired nicely with the potato salad. My dear hubby Rick, who was still 'just a friend' at the time, was one of our guests. As you can guess, this recipe has special memories attached to it.

 

Salad Recipe

6 to 8 medium waxy potatoes, red or white

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil

1/4 cup (60 ml) red-wine vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/4 teaspoon (1.5 ml) dried oregano leaves, crushed between your fingers

3 Tablespoons (45 ml) chopped fresh mint leaves

1 teaspoon (5 ml) capers

1 medium tomato, cut into wedges or slices, for garnish

Boil or steam potatoes in their skins.

When cool, remove skins if desired and slice

(1/4 to 1/2 inch (6- to 12-mm) thickness).

Toss with everything except the tomato.

Serve immediately at room temperature, or serve chilled.

Garnish with tomato.

Serves 4 (small portions) 

French Potato Salad

Lorrie from Fabric Paper Thread recently mentioned she made French Potato Salad for a meal. I was intrigued and went in search of a recipe and found one that appealed to me. I made it last night for supper. It was delicious with grilled steaks.

Made with a Dijon vinaigrette, the recipe uses a variety of potatoes—such as purple fingerlings, red potatoes, and Yukon gold—and includes herbs like tarragon, parsley and chives. The author from feastingathome.com describes the dish as simple but deeply satisfying. I agree. As you see from the photo, it turned out beautifully and is now added to my 'favourites' collection. You can find the recipe HERE.

Does potato salad feature in your family summertime celebrations? Do you have a favourite version?

❦

Wishing you a beautiful weekend, and

maybe with a little potato salad on the side.

Brenda

Photo credits:

All salad photos are mine.

Mint photo is by Abdul from Pixabay. 

Afternoon Visit to St Albert Botanic Park

"Everything that slows us down and forces patience,

everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature,

is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace."

MAY SARTON

quote found at guyaboutthehouse.com

It's so smoky and hazy today. My goodness, we hardly know what blue skies look like anymore. Thankfully it wasn't so bad on Thursday when we visited the St Albert Botanic Park. The gardens were stunning in their summer glory. To think there is such a place to visit right here in northerly Alberta—what a gift. A huge thank you to the many committed volunteers of this wonderful place.

Today I'm dedicating this post to my dear friend, Sandra Lambiotte. I miss her so much here on my blog—she would have stopped by, and together we would have celebrated all this beauty. I think of her often and her dear Michael who is missing her more than we can ever know.

It gives my heart joy to share these photos from our visit with you. Happy day, beautiful friends!

"Flowers always make people better,

happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine,

food, and medicine for the soul."

LUTHER BURBANK

quote found at guyaboutthehouse.com

"Gardeners tend to be the most adaptable of human beings. In fact,

gardening . . . trains you to be flexible, and to find consolations

where you can. So the poppies never came up and deer ate the roses?

Well, the irises looked great, and the lilacs were fabulous."

CONSTANCE CASEY

quote found on guyaboutthehome.com

So true!

"There is a garden in every childhood,

an enchanted place where colors are brighter,

the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again."

ELIZABETH LAWRENCE

quote found on southernliving.com

"There is nothing I like better at the end of a hot summer’s day

than taking a short walk around the garden. You can smell the heat

coming up from the earth to meet the cooler night air."

PETER MAYLE

quote found on guyaboutthehome.com

"I think this is what hooks one to gardening:

it is the closest one can come

to being present at creation."

PHYLLIS THEROUX

quote found on www.southernliving.com

❦

Wishing you a beautiful day,

Brenda

Photo credits:

All photos on this post are mine

What Would You Say to Your 15-Year-Old Self?

"I was a quiet teenager,

introverted, full of angst."

NIGELLA LAWSON, as seen on brainyquote.com

A fellow Instagrammer, whose daughter was turning fifteen, posed the question to her readers: What would you say to your daughter who is turning fifteen? Right away I knew what I'd say... if I had a daughter. They're lines found in the ancient book Song of Solomon, lines I read years ago that resonated deep in my heart at the time:

"O my dove, (here) . . . in the sheltered

and secret place of the steep pathway,

Let me see your face,

Let me hear your voice;

For your voice is sweet,

And your face is lovely."

If someone had spoken those words 'your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely' when I was a quiet, insecure young woman, I probably could have lived on them for the rest of my life. How I longed with every fiber of my being to be found lovely, and not to be found wanting in any way. My fifteen-year-old self always felt nervous that she would never quite measure up, never be pretty enough, or good enough. She worried the boys would never notice her or be interested in what she had to say. The beautiful movie stars of the 1950s were her initial standard... with their swishy dresses, beautifully styled hair, and lovely nails. Oh if I could only look like that, she yearned. Instead, my teen self would look in the mirror and see a pale face and the slight bump on the bridge of her nose from a childhood encounter with a swing. I couldn't see the pretty green eyes that looked back at me. Or that my blonde-turned-brown hair glinted with hints of auburn in the sunlight. I knew definitely what I'd say to Anne of Green Gables when she asked, "Which would you rather be if you had the choice—divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good?"

Barely twenty, I met my beautiful friend, Jean, and it wasn't long before we discovered we were kindred spirits. Enjoying similar things, finishing each other's sentences. Bosom friends, like Anne and Diane. One afternoon, maybe a lazy Sunday, we were hanging around in my tiny apartment. She wrote a poem. Which she gave to me. Titled The Rosebud - in which she wrote how she saw my life as a tightly furled rosebud that would one day mature and blossom. Several stanzas... those words were like water to parched ground - I drank them in.

Some years later I came across those words from Song of Solomon, and I felt the love and acceptance in those words all over again. My soul bloomed into maturity. I felt beautiful in my own skin, and I began to find my way to live a beautiful life as a single woman.

Of course it took a lifetime to learn that beauty is not just skin deep, that beauty is also shaped by our daily choices and attitudes, how we present ourselves, what we choose to focus on. It took me a lifetime to learn in my inmost self that God so loved me, so that I could 'hear' and believe for myself those beautiful words, 'your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.'

They've been in my heart ever since. And so I know the great value of speaking words of beauty into the lives of our girls and young women. Maybe not every woman needs to hear those particular words, but I think we all need to know we are loved as we are and accepted by the Beloved One. It helps us to love ourselves. Then, in response we turn to love and accept others.

 

❦

Wishing you a beautiful day!

With love,

Brenda

Photo credit:

Top image by Silvia Rita from Pixabay

Five on Friday: Catch Up & Summer Thoughts

" Hold summer in your hand, pour summer in a glass,

a tiny glass of course, the smallest tingling sip

for children; change the season in your veins

by raising glass to lip and tilting summer in. "

RAY BRADBURY

A few days ago when I started this blog post a most welcome rain was watering our parched corner of the earth. It rained for several days, and we were glad. This morning the sun is back. And summer has officially arrived. The air is cool and fresh, and the trees create a lush green leafy canopy over the neighbourhood. I can just see the tops of our new mock orange bushes—the bridal white blossoms giving pleasure as I look out my study window. The poor peonies got knocked about during the rains, so they have a disheveled wet hen look about them. Rick is deadheading the bedraggled blossoms as we speak. To be clear, I do not begrudge the rains for one tiny instant—it was so desperately needed. Other flowers will soon add the colour my eyes are longing for.

It's been a while since I've written a proper post - it's good to be back. I'm eager to visit your own blogs soon. I have enjoyed this break away from writing and being on social media. I admit being too addicted to my social media to take a complete break, but, I spent a lot less time than usual so it was good. Refreshing. Today's Five on Friday post is a little of this and that. I hope you enjoy the catch up with a few summer thoughts mixed in.

One - Miss Peace Rose

Sad news here. . .Miss Peace Rose died. As was usual, she began setting new leaf buds in the very early spring from her perch in the garage. As the days warmed, Rick would put the rose outside in the sun through the daytime, putting her back in the garage at night when it went below freezing. But our weather was so crazy mixed up this spring; first it was scorching hot (it felt like late summer) and then it got cold again. When the new buds died, we thought new ones would eventually form. But no, Peace Rose had caught the winter frost. It was a very sad day when we realized she really didn't make it.

Above you see Peace in her glory days - I'm grateful for the many photos we have of her. If you're interested, you'll find a few other poses HERE.

 

Two - Advice from Sophie Blackall

"If you are in a rut, if you feel overwhelmed by gloom,

if you are exhausted and uninspired and out of sorts,

you can make a list of Things to Look Forward To."

SOPHIE BLACKALL, Things To Look Forward To

my summer list

- iced coffees

- summer storms

- dawn's early light

- long, lazy twilights

- lace curtains wafting in the breeze

- chocolate dipped ice cream cones

- cheeping baby birds, mouths wide open

- reading a children's novel on a sunny afternoon

- dark clouds, rainbows, and sunshine together after a storm

- glasses of cold water after long walks

- happy dogs out for strolls

- children screeching and laughing at the water park

- hotdogs sizzling on the BBQ

- spontaneous picnics in the park

- wind whistling through the screen

- strolls through the Botanic Garden

- peaches and cream

-corn on the cob

Three - Prompts from a friend

Joy, a fellow writer and dear friend, sent me some mixer prompts she created for a recent family reunion. Memories started floating up as soon as I read them, I jotted them down.

Name your favourite place(s) on earth. Beside a cool mountain stream on a hot summer day; sitting on a verandah at dusk on a swing or rocking chair shooting the breeze with someone congenial; inside the covers of a storybook that takes me on a nice adventure; meandering through an English country garden; the library; a bookstore; a convivial café; my little cozy study with the big windows; home—wherever Rick is and where my books are. 

Tell me about something you have built, designed, or made. Years ago, I joined the local calligraphy society and learned not only beautiful lettering but the basics on how to make handmade books. For my mom and dad's fortieth wedding anniversary, I created a little keepsake book, hand lettering every page and stitching them together with jet black beads in the spine. It conveyed our congratulations,  memories, and messages from all the family, even the pets. A labour of love, I enjoyed working on it from start to finish. Mom still has the book among her treasures.

Tell me about a teacher you disliked. I can't say I actually disliked this teacher, but I did hold a negative picture of my Grade Two teacher for a long time. At that tender age, I already had an inkling that math would be the bane of my school years. After the lesson one day, we were given a sheet of problems to solve - adding and subtracting sums. It was the pesky number 9 in any problem that usually slowed me down. Most kids were done and could go for recess, everyone except me—who had to stay and finish my assignment. Mrs. P-- sat at her desk taking her little break, while I continued to struggle ON MY OWN. Trying to hurry, I surreptitiously used my fingers to figure things out. Teacher never asked what I found difficult, if there was something she could explain. Seven-year-old me was not impressed.... Just so you know, I don't hold it against her anymore.

 

Four - Quotes I like 

ON READING

"No person who can read is ever

successful at cleaning out an attic."

ANN LANDERS

LOOKING FOR THE GOOD

"There must be a silk purse

in here somewhere."

JULIA CAMERON, The Sound of Paper

ON CLEARING THE CLUTTER

"It is worthwhile to remember that space is the most

precious and also the most pleasing thing in a

house or room; and that even a small room becomes

spacious if it is not crowded with useless objects."

CHARLOTTE MASON

A WISH FOR YOU

"May you have eyes livened to wonder each day

at the countless tiny ways that Beauty breaks into

the broken world, and may you walk in their starlit joy." 

SARAH CLARKSON

Five - Current reading pile

Sometimes all it needs is a quick five minutes at the library to find a handful of appealing new books for my reading pile. At press time, I have already finished a couple, started another, the rest await their turn. Here's a wee peek for you: 

Dear Mrs. Bird

by AJ Pearce

"Find out what you're good at, Miss Lake,

and then get even better."

In this delightful debut novel, readers are introduced to young Emmeline (Emmy) Lake who aspires to be a lady war correspondent during WWII. Her dream is dashed when she finds herself doing the advice column in a London women's magazine. Warm and poignant, the storyline is about friendship, loyalty, and helping others...oh, and it's about love, too. I bonded with Emmy who, in her determined compassion and desire to help the people writing for advice, sometimes got herself in hot water. I found myself cheering for her as well as her friends and colleagues as they tried hard to keep their chins up during the London Blitz. I loved the sequel Yours Cheerfully and am now waiting for the third book Mrs. Porter Calling to arrive at the library—I'm first in the 'reserved' line, lucky me.

Unless

by Carol Shields

This novel by Canadian author Carol Shields is about author, wife, and mother Reta Winters as she struggles to come to terms with her nineteen-year-old daughter living on the streets of Toronto with a sign around her neck that says, Goodness. I'm in the middle of the story and really getting into it. Reta is forty-four, she feels so young to me, but I recognize her as she narrates what's on her mind. Things resonate on some level with me, even though I've never had a daughter, and especially not one who might have lived on the street. But I certainly can imagine her pain and feel empathy.  

 

Up until now I haven't read much of anything by Ms. Shields, and I wonder! how on earth I've overlooked this amazing writer all these years. One line from National Post on the back cover chides me: "(Carol Shields) is an alchemist who can somehow produce gold from the mundane. Not reading Shields is as much of a literary omission as overlooking Jane Austen". I am discovering that her beautiful writing draws me in the way Jane Austen's beloved novels do. I'm hoping to spend the summer catching up on some of her other works, both fiction and non-fiction.

The Forest of Wool and Steel

by Natsu Miyashita

The book was a Staff Picks recommendation. This Japanese tale that feels almost magical is about a school boy who meets the Master piano tuner one day. The experience isn't life-changing, it's life-making. So says the blurb on the cover. Young Tomura hears the hypnotic sound of the piano being tuned, and in his mind's eye is transported to the green, vibrant forests near his mountain village. I am captivated. I want to know the rest of the story.

Her First Palestinian

by Saeed Teebi

Another book also on the recommendations shelf was Toronto author Saeed Teebi's collection of short stories, in which his short story, Her First Palestinian, also the title of the book, was shortlisted in the CBC 2021 Short Story contest. Here's an excerpt from the publisher:  "Saeed Teebi's intense, engrossing stories plunge into the lives of characters grappling with their experiences as Palestinian immigrants to Canada. . . . taut and compelling (these) stories engage the immigrant experience and reflect the Palestinian diaspora with grace and insight." Always interested to hear the stories—and plight—of people of different cultures, I'm pulled into these tales and quickly become engaged with the characters - he's a good storyteller.

Summer Anthology

Melissa Harrison, Editor

With summer here, I'm eager to delve into the Summer edition of this four-season nature anthology collection. Once again, the editor Melissa Harrison has done a fine job of curating seasonal prose and poetry from a variety of authors spanning centuries to the present day. "Summer is a season of richness...In these long, warm days, languid and sensual, we reconnect with the natural world, revelling in light and scent and colour once more." I wrote about her Autumn anthology HERE.

Bonus

The Botanist's Sticker Anthology

by DK, Penguin Random House

I was thrilled to find this lovely book while on a short road trip to BC to visit family. In a most unlikely little bookstore in an ordinary little strip mall, hidden therein was this treasure. With over 200 pages, it holds a wonderful assortment of botanical stickers—such as vintage images and drawings of ornamental flowers, tropical ferns and orchids, woodland, desert, and aquatic flora, lettering, book plates, etc.

It's great for scrapbooking and decorating journals, envelopes, and whatever else you think needs jazzing up. The stickers are attached to the lovely green pages (below), and they can be repurposed once the stickers are removed. And the pink flower and daisies pages have page-size stickers—aren't they gorgeous? The book's a bit pricy, it's hardcover, but I think worth it for all the joy it's giving me, and the joy it hopefully gives someone who finds one on a birthday envelope. It was my holiday treat. Better than souvenir spoons or cups, wouldn't you say? 

❦

On that note, beautiful friends, I'm off.

Here's wishing you a pleasant weekend - I'll be back soon!

Brenda

Photo credits:

(Top) Summer Drink, Image by Nawalescape from Pixabay

(Prompts) Woman with bag, Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Other photos are mine - Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life