Sunday Flowers on Saturday #SixonSaturday

Today, I bring you six things on Sunday, which should have been posted yesterday.  Time isn't what it used to be.  It stretches and warps, so being late isn't the problem it used to be.

I recently found out about Six on Saturday through Lisa's Garden Adventure, a garden blogger in Oregon whose blog I discovered through the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  Here's my six, located in my zone 5b gardens in the Southern Tier of New York State:

1.  Daylilies.  A lot of my front yard flower garden is devoted to them now as they grow so easily where I live.  This isn't quite as red as the picture shows, but is lovely nevertheless.  I bought these at Grace Gardens near Penn Yan, New York last year.  Daylilies, where I live, are almost carefree. 

Here, you drop them in the ground and they grow.  And that's it!  Seriously, that's it.  I wish they bloomed all through the summer but they don't, with a few exceptions.

I've blogged so many times about daylilies and the lessons they teach us - each bloom only lasts a single day.

Here are some other daylilies, from a few days ago.

This brings me to:

2.  Project Back Yard.  Spouse will have to help me.  Our shady back yard is being taken over and needs to be thinned desperately.  Spouse did a lot in the spring, but our back yard is being taken over by brunneria,  dead nettle, pink turtle head, and other plants that are wonderful in moderation, but not in quantity.  I have a bad back.  He has bad shoulders.  Not a good combo. 

So, why is there another daylily pictured here?  Because I have a bunch of day lily plants there, only the grand total of three are blooming this year.  Here is one of them.  I really need to have these divided.  Our yards are small, though, and finding room will be a challenge.

3.  Potpourri.  I really was going to make some last year and I didn't.   Then I was really going to this year.  I've prepared some of the ingredients.     I also had an experience using cat litter back when many of our stores were closed down.  My scented geraniums in a container - orange, nutmeg and pinewood, are waiting patiently for me.  I dried a few leaves but, once dried, they amount to next to nothing in size.  These remind me that I need to get going with this project.

4.  Containers need to be watered. Today we will have near record breaking heat.  Here are two of my containers.  The one close to the bottom are Bravo impatiens, which are a relatively new variety that are supposed to be resistant to the impatien downy mildrew blight that, for a time, almost made growing impatiens almost impossible.  They were a wonderful go-to, never fail plant for me.  In the background (next to the hostas) is a pot of coleus, another go-to plant for me.  I have a lot more container and hanging baskets, though, including...

5.  My strawberry experiment.  This didn't have a tag on it at the nursery, but I was attracted to this strawberry plant with a pink flower.  I had read about pink flowered strawberries and decided to try one.  It was supposed to be an everbearer (meaning, it produces through the gardening season - I suspect it's more like "dribbles through the season".)  The berries are tart but have good flavor.  However, now the plant seems to be sulking a bit.  Here is its only flower right now.  The white stuff is row cover (Reemay) which I'm using to try to discourage birds.

6.  We community garden for our veggies as our back yard (see #2) is way too shady.  (Although, this year we are growing cucumber and zucchini in our sunny front yard, in containers).   Peppers have been a success for us so far, but my spouse will not eat green peppers.  We have four different varieties and they are producing their little pepper hearts (so to speak) out.  But.  Nothing is turning red. 

Our dilemma - should we pick green, or wait?  (Peppers to the left, cabbage to the right.  This is in my community garden plot, which has a raised bed area for those with disabilities or other issues.  Spouse as a more traditional plot in another area.

It's a bit late to join this hope,  but I am going to do it anyway, since I was taking some pictures around my garden  yesterday-ish.  If you want to join into Six on Saturday next week (and I'll try to remember), here is the participant guide.

Happy....er, Sunday, and a shoutout to my cousin who turned 30 today and became engaged on Friday night  Happy birthday and may all your dreams come true!

Post Quarantine Baking - Blueberry Clafoutis

As promised the other day, I'm reporting on my Blueberry Clafoutis experiment.

I am not a baker.  I was as a teen, but I abandoned scratch baking a few years ago.  When the March lockdown came, I never indulged in quarantine baking.  In fact, I lost weight.  But now, the baking urge has returned.  It's not the best thing in summer.

Since I'm on Weight Watchers (WW) and try to be good (we'll ignore the half bag of pretzel crisps I stress-inhaled the other day), I strive for low point recipes.

I saw a recipe for Cherry Clafoutis in a supermarket magazine the other day.  This is not exactly that recipe below.   I didn't have a couple of the ingredients so I took a recipe off the internet and combined the supermarket magazine recipe and that one.

Clafoutis is a French creation, a fruit tart made with a sweet batter.  And, best of all, it sounded really easy.

So, of course, I had to start playing with a recipe I hadn't ever made, but that's how I roll.  (And that's why I don't have a cooking blog.)

The recipe had cottage cheese in it.  Why, I don't know (someone who is good at baking will need to explain that) but that was perfect for what I needed to do.

I had cottage cheese (called for in the supermarket recipe) that was expired needing to be used up, and I substituted almond milk (fewer points than dairy milk) for the whole milk the supermarket recipe called for.

(I know, some of you are probably already horrified.  If you are, I suggest you quit here before I further horrify you.  I had a really nice flower post on Wednesday and you might enjoy that post instead.)

For the brave souls who remain:

I had cherries, but felt lazy (and didn't want to spend time depitting), so I used blueberries I had picked the day before.

The recipe called for eggs.  But the chicken eggs I had seemed a bit small so, for one of them, I substituted a duck egg.  I happen to love duck eggs in baking.

Finally, the recipe called for butter to grease the pie pan with, and I don't keep butter in the house.  I used cooking spray.

Anyway, you'll need a 9 inch pie glass pie pan, which I did have.  So this is sort of a combination of two recipes, and my playing around.  If you try to make it, and don't like it, please blame me.

Blueberry Clafoutis

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  If you have butter, grease the pie pan with about a teaspoon.  Otherwise, use cooking spray.

2.  Put about 1 1/2 cups of blueberries into the bottom of the greased pie pan.

3.  Whisk the following together in a bowl: 1 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup small curd cottage cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour (used white whole wheat, since that's what I had), 1 tsp vanilla extract and 3 eggs.  The cottage cheese I used was 2%.  The almond milk was unsweetened plain.

4. Pour over the blueberries.

5.  Bake 40 to 45 minutes. It should be golden when removed.  It will be puffed, and will fall a little as it cools.  Some, because of this, will serve the clafoutis immediately.  I intended this for an after supper dessert, and baked it after lunch, so it sat around a bit.

It can be served warm, room temperature, or (if you wish) cold.  Refrigerate if not used up right away.

So, how did it turn out?

I loved it.  I must note I've never had clafoutis before but I am sure going to have it again.  It was nice and tender, and tasty.

I figured on my WW plan, which does not count points for eggs, if I cut into eight pieces, this was only three Smartpoints each piece.  For six pieces, four Smartpoints.

Clouds and River #SkywatchFriday

Recently, a park in our area put in new walking trails.  We've been making some use of the trails and also have been watching sunsets standing on a flood wall.

The park lies along the Susquehanna River, so we also get some view of the river.

Shift a few feet and the view changes, too.  I love how the sunset was painting the water pink.

One more view of the river before we turn to the sky.

Now, how about some pictures of clouds taken in this same park?

These were all taken between July 7 and 9th.

Have you watched the sky lately?  If not, why not?  I love participating in Skywatch Friday, because I had ignored the sky for so many years.  No more.  Go to a place two days in a row and watch the sky, and you will have two different experiences.

Joining Yogi and the other sky watching bloggers once again for #SkywatchFriday.

A Blueberry Day and Some Recipes

I don't often venture into the baking kitchen, and when I do, the bravest of hearts tremble, because I am not what they call an expert baker.

Today, I am going to attempt, for the first time, a clafoutis.  I first heard of them last summer, but never attempted one.  I'll blog about my experience later in the week.  Right now, onward to the picking.

Yesterday, I went blueberry picking with my spouse.

It was bright and sunny and the sky was blueberry blue (of course).  The owner greeted us - she recognized us even with our masks on.  She said the Patriot blueberry crop was excellent this year and she was right.  Some years, the Patriots don't taste as good as later berries.  These were wonderful.

I was fortunate to be out there, and it was so nice being out there (pandemic or no pandemic) in the peaceful countryside, listening to the birds and concentrating on my blueberry picking.

These are Patriot blueberries, the earliest this U-pick stand has.  By the end of next week, she may have Bluerays, a more mid-early season berry, ready.  Here, the blueberry season lasts for about a month.  Most of these berries are not ripe yet, but we found the picking, overall, easy and quick this time.

How do you know which berries to pick?

The blueberries, when ripe, are a lighter blue (darker blue isn't totally ripe), and are covered in a whitish dust called "bloom".  This helps protect the berry while on the plant, and is not at all harmful to people.  It will make your fingers feel a bit waxy after you are picking for a while, but (to me) it doesn't feel unpleasant.  Of course, you should wash the berries, but wait until you are ready to use them.

I did promise some blueberry recipes, so here you go:

Here are some of my previous blueberry posts.
This one has a recipe for blueberry muffins made with cashew almond milk.
Dump Cake made with blueberries
A slightly different dump cake made with blueberries

Since I'm writing this post while waiting for my clafoutis to finish baking, how about a little background on this dessert?

Clafoutis is a tart made of fruit, typically black cherries, baked in a sweet batter.  The variation I found in a magazine, used small curd cottage cheese and cherries.  The article also said berries could be used.  It gave me an idea - why not freshly picked blueberries?

Either it's going to be great, or it will be what I like to call a "train wreck".  I hope the former, because I will be watching my weight for the rest of my life (I've been a WW lifetime member for almost a year, now) and this should be somewhat low on points.

If you want to know how the experiment turned out, you'll have to come back in a couple of days, and I'll share the recipe with you.

Day of the Daylilies - July 2020 Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

The 15th of the month is one of my favorite days of the month.  Why?

Because the 15th of each month is the day when I can take you on a little tour of of my zone 5b garden in the Southern Tier of New York State and show off  share the enjoyment of my mid-July flowers.

July, in my garden, means sun, heat, and, best of all, day lilies.

And do I ever mean day lilies.  I have a small yard, and it is crammed with day lilies.  So many, that I will need to use my wonderful PS Express to make collages of some of them.

But first, some of my favorites.

I never remember their names.

But it really doesn't matter.

Can you tell I like certain colors?

Can you guess?  (This one is from Grace Gardens near Penn Yan, New York).

I do like yellow.  This one is a rebloomer (pictured with hosta on its left.)

I've gotten others from various sources - Plantasia (a flower show in Charleston, SC), Cutler Botanic Gardens, Grace Gardens in the Finger Lakes (also see yellow one above).  In fact, I think I missed a couple of my blooms in the above.

It isn't all about the daylilies, though.   I still have some pansies and violas.

I have zinnias (in my community garden).  Clockwise from the left top:  Double Zahara Yellow, Candystick (also in the middle), Tequila Lime (it's a light green) and a flower from Oklahoma mix.  Hey, I remembered!  I'm so chuffed, or would be if I spoke British English.

My white marigold, because I like the unusual.

Variegated geranium I overwintered.  Chuffed....

Lantana and citronella (the purple flowers).

Penta.

Cranebill (hardy) geranium.

One last collage: Bravo impatien (resistant to the blight that has dogged impatiens these last few years), supertunia, hosta, and (orange) Alaska nasturtium paired with wild basil (purple).

There's more, but I've run out of time. I always hope these posts will sustain me when the growing season ends and the long, cold, snowy winter begins.

Oh, you talked me into it.  Just one more.  Clockwise, purple beans, eggplant, tomato, pepper, all from my community garden raised bed.

Why not visit the gardeners of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, hosted each 15th of the month by Carol at May Dreams Gardens?

See you next month!

The Long Delay

I am repeating (with some edits and updating) a post from July 4, 2011 called Baseball, Apple Pie, and Exhaustion.  It seems like a million years ago now  So much as changed....and if you don't like baseball, please, please stick around.  This is about more than baseball.  In a way, it's about life in our (I hate that phrase now) "new normal".

I tend to do things a little backwards, so I saw my 2011 Fourth of July fireworks on July 3rd, at a minor league baseball game.  

So, about my life and baseball, and 2020 baseball and the pandemic:

I grew up in the Bronx, New York City and my parents were not baseball fans, so how I managed to become interested in baseball (in the early 1960's, when girls "didn't do that") is beyond me. My first couple of games were outings with a girlfriend, when we could get into Shea Stadium (because we were women) on "Ladies Day".  A Ladies Day ticket got us seats so high up you couldn't see the game unless you were Superman.

Then, I met my future spouse.

The only baseball either of us ever knew was large stadium baseball. Even as older teens, the only seats we could afford were what we called the "nosebleed seats" and if you didn't have binoculars you vaguely knew there was a game going on down there below.  So years later, when we started going to Binghamton Mets, (double A baseball) games with our then-young son, we were pleasantly surprised.

The stadium only held  some 6000 people and almost every seat was a good seat.

When my son was young (we are talking late 2000's and early 2010's), the players freely gave autographs.  My son would wiggle up to the fence with the other children, when warm ups were going on, with his baseball.  Some of these players ended up going to the major leagues (such as, Jose Reyes).  Too bad my son managed to destroy the balls he got autographed.

B Mets Game July 4, 2014

Between innings, there was hokey but fun entertainment.  Over the years this entertainment included musical commodes (don't ask), beanbag tosses for free restaurant tickets, and races between costumed characters dressed as the products of that year's sponsor.  On the July 4, 2011 game, a young man dressed up in an Uncle Sam costume threw T-shirts into the audience.  Later on, another costumed character tossed wrapped hot dogs into the audience.

The B-Mets wore "flag" uniforms that were auctioned off after the game.

The fireworks were enjoyable.

Then came the future.

In the years since 2011, the stadium was renamed, and, eventually, renovated.  The B Mets became the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (don't ask).   At least they weren't renamed the Stud Muffins.

This year was possibly going to be the last year for the Stud Muff...I mean, the Rumble Ponies (due to a major league baseball decision), and many other minor league teams.  The obituaries were already written.

Then, along came COVID-19.  All minor league ball was cancelled for 2020, meaning Binghamton, New York most probably won't have minor league baseball any time in the near future.

As for the major leagues, they have been struggling putting together a short season. It should have started the beginning of April.  Instead, it's supposed to begin July 23 as of this writing, and it's not going to be the baseball we quite remember. But who knows?  Maybe (except for no fans) it might be better.  It certainly will be played faster, and has some interesting rule changes.

I must mention the controversy that has started over athletes in these sports (baseball, basketball, football are trying to get started up again, too) getting tests easily while the bulk of us have to wait and wait and wait.   We are going to have to answer this one ourselves.  If we want these sports, I feel it's necessary.  So our question becomes:  do we want to allow this?

So, in a way, major league baseball has become a microcosm of our new world.  We feel our way, learning more and more long the way, trying this and that, seeing what works, and what makes things worse.  We reject some of "this is the way things must be because they've been like that for generations", but, at the same time, we just want to get back to how it was last year.  That's just not possible.

Will you watch?

Tribute Time Again #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday, and it's time for Music Moves Me.

Who are the members of Music Moves Me ?  We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday. If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join!  Just remember our simple rule:  you must include at least one You Tube or Vimeo video or your post may be subject to removal or labeling "NO MUSIC". You are welcome to write about music. too but we need that video!

So let's get started.

Each month, we have a guest co-host and guess who the guest co-host is this month?

You guessed it (I hope):  ME!

My theme for today is:  "You Pick". 

My saddest duty as a Monday music blogger is when I have to pay tribute to a great.  Or a couple of them.  Or even three.  July has not been a kind month, situated as it is in a year that has been way less than kind.

First up (not in order of date of death), Charlie Daniels, who died last Monday (July 6) at the age of 83 from a stroke.  So many people think of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" but I need to admit here that I have a different favorite Charlie Daniel song.  And it doesn't even have fiddling.

What it does have is some fantastic storytelling.  Here is "The Legend of Wooley Swamp".

Here's one other song.  Love his politics or hate them,  he was a big supporter of our vets, and you knew where you stood with "A Simple Man".

Second up was Max Crook, inventor of  a modified clavioline he called a Musitron.  Crook also co wrote Del Shannon's hit "Runaway" and you can hear the instrument starting at about 1:10 in the video.

My third tribute is for J. Marvin Brown, the lead singer of a soul music group called The Softones.  Many think they deserved more success than they received.  I love that falsetto in the song "My Dream".  Brown died July 3 at the age of 66.

And that, folks, is a sad wrap.

Keeping in Touch Through Photography

It can be hard to keep in touch with people in these times.  We find all kinds of ways.

I do not have a lot of friends.  I'm an introvert and don't make friends easy.  But I value each and every person I call friend.  The same goes for all of my readers.


I text photos with a cousin and a cousin in law.  One is recovering from surgery and I do the flower photography, one a day for her.  For the other, we exchange flowers.

I also text flowers occasionally to my late mother in law's best friend.  She's 89, still feisty, still restless, still loves to be around people.  It's been hard for her.

Then there's the woman I call my "guest photographer".  Once, before she retired, we used to sometimes take lunch together and we would go out and walk, and take pictures.  I miss those walks.

I used to see my guest photographer a lot more than I do now.  In fact, I've only seen her once since the pandemic started and it was for about five minutes.  So we try to keep in touch by email but then life happens.  She's a caregiver (for both people and animals) and has a packed life.

Zoom?  I'm not a fan and I'm not sure her rural internet service would support it even if I was. 
Guest photographer keeps sending me photos by email (she lives out where there is spotty cell phone service) and today I decided I would publish some of her photos. 


So, I will take a short break from photography.  Today's wildflowers are brought to us by my "guest photographer" using a DSLR and not an old iPhone like I do.  Enjoy!

This is meadow dropwort, which is considered invasive in some parts of the country.

I am not sure I have ever seen this, but it is beautiful and I understand it has a light fragrance, too.

A far away shot.

A small butterfly (I'm not good on butterfly ID) on black eyed Susan.

Last but not least, a blue wasp.  Guest photographer thinks it is a type of mud daubber.

It's wonderful when you can spend some of your days in nature.  My hope is always that pictures I post bring you some joy.

And please, stay safe.

How are you keeping in touch with friends?

Beautiful Danger

A cousin in law who lives in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area sent me these pictures yesterday, hoping for a flower ID from me.  At first, I couldn't think of what this was.

This scenery is so unlike the southern tier of New York State, where I live.

It's been years since I've been to the southwest desert.  I was hoping to travel some this summer and fall, newly retired (one of these days I'll blog about that) although still working part time.  I would take time off.

Albuquerque was going to be one of my "maybe" stops, maybe hoping to see their annual balloon festival.

But COVID changed my plans.  Still, I have nature and flowers, and this cousin is happy to exchange flowers with me by text several times a week.

Finally, it came to me, and hopefully I'm right:  datura, also known as jimsonweed.

All parts of this plant can be deadly.  (Yes, this is also the same plant called "jimsonweed" if I've done a correct ID).

One more view of its flower. 

As a bonus, I've included a yucca plant I photographed today at Cutler Botanic Gardens in Binghamton, New York, just as a contrast.  Just a little greener here.  My cousin in law tells me their yuccas out there do not bloom like this.

As bad news continues to pour in from all over our country, I hope this spot of green makes your day a little brighter.

Rainbow Redux #SkywatchFriday

Earlier in June, I had posted some rainbow pictures.  Happy to say, the rainbow cloud makers weren't done with me yet.

On July 1, about an hour before sunset, we were treated to another rainbow - looked like a double rainbow to me.  Just look in the lower right hand corner of these shots.

When I first noticed it, I had my phone with me.  Right place at the right time, once again.

I moved over a few feet and it got better.  I've made my peace with powerlines in my shots, by the way.  It is what it is.

Looks similar to the first picture but the clouds are moving.

Rainbow is starting to disappear, even as the sky blues up.

Last shot.  A few moments later it was gone.

Nice way to celebrate the beginning of the month.

Joining up once again with Yogi and the other sky watching bloggers of #SkywatchFriday.

The Snow Flower Tree #ThursdayTreeLove

The tree flowering season where I live in New York State is just about over.

We have a short window - the beginning of May through the end of June, generally, to love our flowering trees.

Because this is one of my favorite trees, I saved these pictures from June 4, when it was flowering in a local park, to show to you now.

The tree is a native, and some call it the Grancy Greybeard.  Others call it a fringe tree.  Those who enjoy Latin names call it Chionanthus virginicus, which means "snow flower".

I call it beautiful.

I've blogged about it several times. Here are a couple of links.
For Thursday Tree Love (in case it sounds familiar)
Introducing the Fringe Tree (another name for it) 

There are at least two of these trees in downtown Binghamton, New York and I missed seeing them this year due to working at home.  Maybe next year...

This tree is in Otsiningo Park, a lovely park name for a lovely tree.

It's a lovely June memory.

Have a tree to share with us?  Join Parul at Happiness and Food each second and fourth Thursday of the month for #ThursdayTreeLove.