Category: Summer

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Watermelon Granita

Oooohh–if you didn’t love us before today, it’s gonna happen now. Here is our lovely first attempt at Italian Ice, and what better flavor to start with than watermelon.

Dang.

The official name for this sweet thing is Watermelon Granita, and I must say–it’s positively the perfect thing for those hot August days, while gliding on a porch swing, or floating in the hammock…

either way.

Positively blissful I tell you.

You may even decide to throw a garden party…just because you can.

And so you should.

Watermelon Granita

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1-1/4 cups water
6 cups cubed watermelon

Directions:

Bring sugar and water to a boil. Cook and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Set it aside while you work on the melon. This part is fun. Cut the middle out of a watermelon unless that will make someone really mad. In that case–just cut out enough chunks to measure about 6 cups. Now, drop about 1/3 of the pieces in the blender at a time and pulse on low. We don’t want to grind up any seeds.

Pour it into a strainer and press out the juice. Discard all the pulp and seeds. Once you’ve finished you should have about 3 cups of beautiful, sparkling watermelon juice. Now, transfer it into an 8-in. square dish and stir in the hot sugar syrup. Let it cool to about room temperature then set it in the freezer for about an hour. Take it out and stir it into pieces with a fork. Now re-freeze for about 2-3 hours longer or until completely frozen, stirring every 30 minutes or so with a fork or metal spatula. Stir again just before spooning into dessert dishes. It should make about 8 luscious servings.

Make this…you’ll thank me.

I swear.

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Golden Afternoon

On Sunday afternoon a really peculiar thing happened.

So peculiar, in fact, that some of the braver folk came out…on the roof for a closer look.

The first thing that got our attention was that everything–everywhere– turned yellow–and that’s while we were still in the house.

When we came outside the whole sky was totally yellow…

no matter which way you turned.

Don’t you find that particularly odd?

I do.

One of the kids said, “Ok, this is really freaky…”

eerie even…

you know, like, the end of the world kinda stuff.”

But as you can see–we’re still here. No apocalypse. No Millennium. No end of the world…for now.

In fact, within minutes the yellow sky started to fade away altogether…

and promptly turned…

pink.

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Just Hanging Out

This moment…

A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from our lives.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Happy weekend everyone!

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Summer Wisdom

These things I know to be true…

Some damsels just aren’t interested in being rescued…they’d rather redecorate.

The perfect frame will bring the sunshine into any room.

Bruschetta is positively scrumptious with mostly fresh ingredients. More on this later.

There is only one proven way to keep wee folk out of the freezer when there are Popsicles inside.

A variation on a theme of oatmeal is still oatmeal and therefore…good for you.

Watching a cul-de-sac on fire is a splendid way to spend a summer evening.

It is perfectly acceptable–sometimes–to let someone else make the dessert.

Cottonwood is a magical, floating, fairy-like thing…unless it makes your sister sneeze–then, of course, it should be banned from the kingdom.

When you’re not quite 2, it’s really ok to be a great, big chicken.

Water really does taste best from a garden hose.

Amen and amen.

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Sleepy Summer


Back in the days before mandatory booster seats and shoulder restraints it was a pretty common thing to look in the back seat of the car, on a warm summer day and find your children in a knotted, cozy pile…fast asleep. It seemed to me that there was something particularly hypnotic about the freeway that knocked my kids out—routinely on any trip more than 20 miles long. Likely it had to do with the fact that they could scooch around into any position that suited them–on the floor of the car even.

I know now that the danger of unbuckled children is real and dreadful–and I am so grateful that we never had a tragic accident without the seat belts all in place. Thank Heavens! But in our ignorance–I will say that it was–at the time, a lovely thing to be able give each child a turn sitting up front between mom and dad, especially on long, tedious road trips–something I can’t fathom doing now. In fact, the memory of my kids climbing back and forth over the seats during trips is a sweet one to me, I think because I remember doing it myself as a child. I can still hear my mom say, “Watch your feet and don’t kick daddy.”

Sounds absolutely crazy to me now.

Of course it’s a better, safer, wiser day now, but we do have some sweet memories of those rides, singing and laughing and playing road games–looking for the elusive “white horse” that daddy would give us a dime for…yes, a whole dime, and that’s only if we saw it before he did.

Still, some of my favorite pictures are of these sweet babies, years ago, in those cuddly, tangled piles…

fast asleep.