Woolworth's Lunch Counter

On Saturday, I was at a birthday party that my daughter was invited to. It was at a place that had kid-sized versions of different play areas, like a Post Office, a supermarket, a kitchen with a lunch counter, etc. Well, my daughter was all over the place having fun, but after awhile she decided she wanted to go to the play kitchen. There were other children in there, and an elderly white couple was sitting at two of the stools at the lunch counter. There was one stool left, so I decided to have a seat. In that split second as I sat down, my mind flashed to the Woolworth lunch counter back in 1960 when the black students sat down and were refused service because they were black. I thought about how (if I had been alive) I could have never sat down, even in pretend, at a lunch counter back then, and I was thankful to all those who made it possible for me to sit there today (and for my daughter to play with all different kinds of children in peace). Who knows, it might make an interesting subject for a scratchboard someday.

Rain

Well, we finally got some, and it looks like the raspberries survived pretty well, though we did lose some. A number of them simply did not grow bigger due to the lack of rain.

Eggplant skyscraper

Tonight I was making roasted eggplant wraps for dinner. I cut up a large eggplant and stacked the pieces side by side, one on top of the other, just to save room on the counter. I really wasn't paying attention to how it looked until I just glanced at it and said, "Hey, this looks like a sculpture." So I got the camera and took a couple of pictures, before I grilled them up:







They tasted great after I grilled them. Sweet and tender.

In case you're wondering: you grill some eggplant, onion, red pepper, all sprayed with oil so they don't stick to the grill. On a wrap you slather on some spicy brown mustard, sprinkle some minced garlic, add a little italian herbs and spices, pinch of salt, dash of pepper, some extra garlic powder (if desired), some tomato (I left off the tomato tonight), and some pickle chips (which I tried for the first time in the wrap and they tasted great, but pat them dry before adding them). You may want to add some shredded cheddar, but I didn't. I got this recipe several years back on some recipe website, and just embellished it with my own tastes.

4th of July Berry Booty...

As in treasure that a pirate might find. What did you think I meant? : )

Unfortunately, we have been having a heat wave here and the berry plants are starting to wilt. This means though we have bountiful berries, some of which haven't even opened yet, we may not get the full harvest unless we get some rain soon.

As I was driving today I noticed that a lot of the trees are starting to get brown leaves, as if it were autumn already. You would think that it was early fall by looking at some of the trees, and yet it is unbearably hot.

Berry berry nice

Our third raspberry harvest:

Quite an increase from just a day or two ago.

Here's what they look like in one of those gallon ziplock bags so you get a better idea of how many we actually picked.

And this is just the beginning. I'm sure I'll come up with some creative recipes to use all those berries in.

Berry picking season again

Our first crop of wild raspberries is in:

Doesn't seem like much right now, but there are hundreds of berries out there, waiting to ripen and be picked! We'll be out there picking every day for the next couple of weeks I imagine. I noticed quite a few are growing so close to the ground that the grass is hiding them. We had a lot of rain this Spring, so the crop is plentiful. I might just try my hand at making raspberry jam or preservatives this year. There was a coupon in the paper recently for the canning supplies, so why not?

I noticed there are a lot of bugs around them too, they look like baby praying mantis. They don't appear to be eating or damaging the fruit, and they haven't bitten me when I've touched them unawares, so I leave them alone. Praying mantis are good for the garden. Maybe next time I'm out there I'll try to snap a picture of one and post it on here. Wonder if I could knit a raspberry. Hmmm....

Father's Day

Had a good Father's Day; how about you? My wife asked my daughter where she wanted to take me for Father's Day, and she said, (a local seafood restaurant). I thought to myself, how did she even know about that place? We only took her there once before, and she wasn't even talking back then I don't think! But we went, and had a nice time.

Here's what she made me as a Father's Day gift:

A nice bead bracelet that I wore proudly all day the next day at work. They all already know I'm a creative dude, so they said nothing. Made me want to make some more bracelets for myself (and her too).