Help Please

This may seem like an odd, even crass request. We recently lost a fellow gardener. She died suddenly. She had worked for two days as an active volunteer in our group last week. We have known her a little more than a year. She was cheerful and enthusiastic, and now she is gone. Nobody saw it coming. I have been asked to write something in her memory. I am not comfortable writing something original to honor her life and service. I thought a poem would be nice, but I am at a loss to find something suitable. Anyone out there on the interweb know of a poem or quote that would honor a gardener who has passed on?

Here are the Missing Pictures

 

 

 

New Garden Decorations and Broccoli

Isn't this big cup and saucer planter the cutest thing ever. I planted it with Curly Whirly Juncus to give it the look of steam rising from a cup of coffee.

 

Baby Sister came to town and brought me this cool garden ornament for my birthday. My favorite color is cobalt blue. I just love it.

 

This is the second head of broccoli I have harvested this year. I will make a really good soup out of half of it and let the Monkeys eat the rest raw with dip.

 

Broccoli Lentil Soup
2 red potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
One large head broccoli chopped up in the food processor
One large onion chopped up in the food processor
One celery stalk chopped up in the food processor
Six baby carrots chopped up in the food processor
5 ounces lentils
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander (ground fresh)
minced garlic clove
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash original
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons ground flax seed.
Enough chicken broth to cover all the above ingredients.

Slice the potatoes and brown in the olive oil, add all the other ingredients. Cook everything together until the lentils are soft and the potatoes fall apart. All the vegetables need to be very very finely chopped. Serve with a little (really just a little) shredded sharp cheese melted on top.

Aunt Debbi is Exhausted.

Friday- Go pick up my helper and work for an hour then drive to Dallas to be with my mother-in-law in the hospital. Discover that a niece works at the heart and vascular surgery wing of Baylor. Use insider information to get to my mother-in-law before the rest of the family, which makes the family mad at the hospital staff and slightly in awe of me. Go home and collect progeny. Heat up pizza and pass out.

Saturday- Work at library until 1:00 pm. Go buy ingredients to for jambalaya, salsa, and guacamole. Cook like a crazy person to entertain brother-in-law, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. Blog about husband and the moon then pass out.

Sunday- Do 100 pounds of laundry, clean kitchen, and attend a funeral. Pick up Teenage Monkey on the way back to Tiny Town Texas, retrieve my truck, pick up Baby Monkey, go buy shower gifts, pick up Middle Monkey, and return to Tiny Town Texas to attend baby shower. Enjoy the tea party baby shower and realize that myself and my sisters are not tea party material. We just had to talk about pee-pee tee-pees and cloth diaper pros and cons. Return home, blog about crazy weekend schedule, and pass out.

The plants are on their own.

How much did you manage to cram into this weekend? Are you exhausted?

Ring Around the Moon

 

There are just a couple of messages I receive from the sky. The first is a double rainbow. When I see a double rainbow I know I have made a good life decision. The second is a ring around the moon. This always reassures me that life is good and everything that has recently happened has meaning and is in the right place. Tonight I was gifted a ring around the moon.

Ninja Manly Man

 

This is a really scary picture of my wonderful man. Notice the beautiful green eyes, which turn blue on occasion. A few weeks before Christmas he called me and asked if he could buy a motorcycle. I said yes. This man works so hard for our family. He finally asked for something for himself. Tonight, he came in and asked my permission to go to a hamburger joint in Dallas on the bike. Of course, I said yes. He hardly ever wants to do something for himself on his own that does not involve making a living for myself and the Monkeys. I think he looks pretty cool in his riding gear. He does not get that he does not have to ask my permission to do anything, but it is wonderful that he thinks enough of me to consider my opinion and feelings. Lucky Debbi.

Salsa Verde

 

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is one more of my terrible photos.

I made salsa Verde for the first time today. Regular salsa is more to my liking. Manly Man smoked two slabs of ribs. That man makes the very best ribs ever. I also made a big pot of jambalaya and some guacamole. Everything was great except for the salsa. I will give the salsa recipe anyway. If you like a sweeter more tangy salsa, you might like this.

5 tomatillos roasted or boiled until soft. I put mine in the smoker with the ribs.
1/2 onion.
2 gloves garlic
3 tablespoons cilantro
2 or 3 jalapeno or Serrano peppers.
Juice of one lime
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce.

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and serve with tortilla chips.

Aunt Debbi's Guacamole
3 avocados
1/2 onion
1/2 medium tomato chopped
3 cloves garlic
Juice from a lime or two
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (do not over do this)
Salt to taste

Remove the avocado skin and mash the avocados.
Processes the onion and garlic in a food processor
Combine all ingredients and serve with tortilla chips.
Leave the avacado seeds in the guacamole. They will keep the dip from turning brown.

Rib hint
Smoke the ribs for five or six hours on lower heat at 200 to 300 degrees.