My garden

I love my garden. It's just a little plot of dirt, but it gives me so much pleasure and pride. This year tomatoes are abundant. I'm still getting the hang of growing green beans (monster of a plant!) and various squash, but they're still yielding some good fruit. I bought my Red Cherry tomato plant from this darling old man at the Saturday Farmers Market who always, no matter what the weather, wears a Caltrans-orange ear-flap hat. He is constantly smiling and was truly delighted when I told him that his plant was the best in my garden. I think he starts everything himself from cuttings, and everything is super-cheap - my tomato plant was $1.50. Its performance has surpassed that of my nursery-bought tomato plants, which were probably at least twice the price. Today I harvested about a pound of tomatoes; no need to buy them at the store this week!

Instant Best Friend Cupcakes

The recipe is called Black Bottom Cupcakes, but I renamed them because the people you make them for will want to be your best friends.

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/dessert-recipes/
black-bottom-cupcakes/article.html

Jammin'

About a month ago, a friend at work told me she was going to try making jam, and I thought it was such a great idea I tried it myself. I gathered some supplies at Wal-Mart and headed to the Farmers Market for fruit. My first batches were strawberry and strawberry-rhubarb. Oh my gosh, this stuff is sooo good! Then I wanted to try peach-lavender, so I made that (again with fresh peaches and lavender from the Farmers Market); I haven't tried it yet, but it sure smelled good! Finally, I made peach-strawberry, which I also have not sampled. If I get snowed in this winter, I'll have a nice stash of jam. More likely though, I'll give it out as gifts :)

Mom's garden

Some photos from my mom's garden taken with my new camera.

Drama

When I think of drama, a few things come to mind: reality tv shows, soap operas, love triangles, paternity mysteries, etc. Life throws challenges, large and small, at us every day. Sometimes the by-product of getting through these challenges is emotion, and in various forms. Anger, frustration, sadness, despair, pain, passion, love, bliss, exhilaration - all of which can be summed up as, well, drama I guess. So what do I make of people who say that they're "not into" drama? Does this mean that they're not into the emotional ups and downs of life? Someone important in my life is one of these people. This person and I happen to be in a "down-cycle" at the moment, and every time I try to move toward a resolution, I'm accused of stirring up drama. But if one looks at it that way, isn't a relationship the embodiment of drama? I mean, even in the healthiest relationships, there's bound to be some bumps in the road, some big and some insignificant, but bumps nonetheless. Drama. Emotions. Anger. Frustration. Hostility. Annoyance. Despondency....Love. Joy. Happiness. Contentment. Passion. Devotion. Loyalty. See, I think the good stuff is drama too. If we didn't have all these things that comprise drama, then what would we have? A whole lot of nothing. No love, no passion, none of it. As far as the bad stuff goes, I guess it is what you make of it. Often the things we think of as negative bring us to a positive place. Sometimes the anger and the sadness make way for deeper love and contentment. But if you refuse to work through it and get to the root of it, nothing good can come. Hopefully my love and I will be able to use drama to make our relationship better. And if not, then I'll save my drama for someone who understands!