wednesdsay's words and wanderings and wonderings

It's July, and we're officially in the second half of the year. Where does the time go?

I've been having fun in the kitchen lately. I've baked three ricotta cakes: one with strawberries and plums, one with peaches and blueberries, and one with strawberries, peaches, and blueberries. Two were gifted to friends, and I kept one to share with my son and daughter-in-law.

What else have I been making? Zucchini blueberry muffins, a fresh zucchini-corn-tomato medley, and green beans, onions, and potatoes cooked with bacon to accompany steaks on the grill. As you can tell, it's peak summer vegetable season, and I'm embracing it wholeheartedly.

At the moment, a heat dome has settled over the area. It's been oppressively hot, so our afternoon walks have shifted to the early morning hours. The neighborhood dog walkers are keeping their outings short, strolling only a few houses at a time and letting their pups walk in the grass to avoid burning their paws. The street near my yoga studio was recently blacktopped, and the difference in temperature between the sidewalk and the pavement is very noticeable. Whew!

As shown on this map from the New York Times, the state of Ohio is covered in red.

Working at the farm continues to be a joy. For the past few weeks, the question we've heard most often has been, "When are you getting corn?" As of Monday, the answer is: now! We finally have sweet corn, and there are lots of happy customers.

I didn't take many photos this week, but I did spend some time doing a little photo shoot with my coneflowers.

the times they are a-changin'

Wow... how writing a research paper has changed.

Back in the day, research meant going to the library. You’d start with the card catalog, looking up a topic and then hunting through the shelves for books that might contain the information you needed. From there, it was a deep dive into encyclopedias, microfiche, newspapers, magazines, and whatever other publications were available. Once you found something useful, you copied the information onto index cards, made Xerox copies, or simply wrote notes on notebook paper. Then came the task of organizing and synthesizing all of that information into a coherent paper.

Along came computers, the internet, and online databases. Suddenly, research was available at your fingertips. Information could be copied, pasted, and stored in digital files for organization. Even then, I still wrote a lot of notes by hand and often used actual scissors and tape to cut apart and group ideas before drafting a paper. After all the gathering and organizing came the writing, weaving everything together into a cohesive final product.

When I was teaching, Wikipedia had become a popular source of information, but it wasn’t considered a valid academic source because it was crowd-sourced and could be edited by anyone.

And now there’s AI. Artificial Intelligence. Type in a topic, and a paper can be generated in seconds.

As times change, the way we do things changes too. I’m grateful for the skills I learned all those years ago. The process of digging for information, evaluating sources, and connecting ideas taught me far more than how to write a research paper. It developed critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills that continue to serve me in many other aspects of life.

monday's mulling: early morning walks

We’ve been dog-sitting our son’s 8-year-old black Lab since last Wednesday. 2021 was our last year of having a dog in the house, and while we don’t plan to own another canine, we do enjoy the time with our temporary houseguest.

Brutus (aka B, B-Dog, B-Doggy, and Brutie) is an early riser, so our first walks of the day have been starting at 5:30 a.m. Todd and I take turns walking him around the neighborhood. Sometimes we simply go down the street and back; other times our walks last a little longer. We’ve also managed to avoid rainy day outings when precipitation was in the forecast.

I’ve really enjoyed these early morning walks. Brutus is a very sniffy dog, so I let him take his time exploring whatever scent has captured his attention. A dog’s sense of smell is remarkable. Years ago, when I took one of my dogs to the vet, I commented on how much he sniffed. The vet explained the difference between a dog’s nose and a human’s with this analogy: while a person might walk into a room and smell a pot of vegetable soup, a dog can smell the individual ingredients, the carrots, the broth, the salt, and the spices.

At this early hour, the birds are beginning to wake up, too. At first, only a few chirp their morning greetings, but by the end of our walk, the neighborhood is filled with a symphony of birdsong.

For me, it’s a peaceful way to begin the day: walking gently through a world that is just waking up, myself included. I’m not thinking about my to-do list. It’s simply one foot in front of the other, letting B-Dog do his dog things: stopping to pee, stopping to poop (I carry poop bags and, in fact, keep a supply at home), and sniff, sniff, sniff.

Good morning, world, and Happy Monday!

 

flower power!

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."  ~ Buddha

 

grand handprints

Recently, a growing number of chipmunks is taking over our small patio garden. The little critters are cute, but they're also becoming quite a nuisance. They've been burrowing through the flower beds and destroying some of our lilies. My neighbor has noticed the increase in chipmunk activity as well and recently purchased some chipmunk repellent. Following her game plan, I made a trip to Home Depot in search of something to discourage these pesky rodents.

While walking through the parking lot, I spotted a truck covered in handprints. Of course I stopped to take a photo. How could I not?

As I stood there, I found myself wondering: What's the story behind this truck?

Maybe Grandpa discovered it at an auction. It wasn't flashy. The paint was faded, the bumpers showed a little rust, and maybe it rattled when it started.

But in Grandma and Grandpa's eyes, it was perfect.

They had a plan.

One Saturday afternoon, they invited all their grandchildren over. They spread canvases across the driveway, rolled the old truck onto them, and opened cans of white and yellow paint. One by one, each grandchild dipped their hands into the paint and pressed them onto the hood, doors, and sides of the truck.

Giggles and squeals of delight ensued.

Some handprints were carefully placed, others were smudged and crooked, each one was treasured.

When the painting was finished, Grandpa stepped back, admired the truck, and smiled. "This isn't just an old truck anymore," he said. "It's our family."

Later that evening, with a stencil and a brush, Grandma and Grandpa added a final touch along the sides and tailgate:

HAND PAINTED BY OUR GRANDCHILDREN

From that day forward, the truck wasn't just for hauling mulch or picking up lumber. It became the vehicle for ice cream runs, fishing trips, family adventures, and countless memories.

It's not newest truck on the road and it's not the shiniest.

But it is the one with the most love.

the friday feed: coleslaw

For my grandson’s birthday party a couple of weeks ago, my daughter-in-law asked me to bring a salad. Knowing that there would be plenty of young children at the party, I thought a veggie tray would be a better choice. First, most little ones don’t eat salad, and second, a variety of cut-up vegetables gives everyone something they like.

A trip to the farmer’s market filled my basket with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red and orange peppers, sugar snap peas, and kohlrabi. Then a stop at the grocery store rounded out the tray with cauliflower, carrots, celery, and radishes. There was something for everyone.

As it turned out, there was so much food at the party that only a few people nibbled at the vegetables. By the end of the day, I found myself heading home with a large amount of leftover produce. We would be eating vegetables all week long.

What to do with all these veggies? As luck would have it, there was also a head of cabbage in my refrigerator that needed to be used. Coleslaw to the rescue.

I chopped the leftover vegetables from the tray, shredded the cabbage in my food processor, and dumped everything into my giant silver mixing bowl. That bowl has a story of its own. Many years ago, when my dad managed the Sears store at the Salem Mall, the store had a small snack shop where shoppers could sit down for casual fare such as hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, soup, and salad. When the restaurant eventually closed, the store needed to dispose of the kitchen equipment. My dad was able to bring home several of the mixing bowls, and one of those industrial-sized bowls is now in my pantry.

Before long, that bowl was filled with coleslaw ingredients. There was way more than Todd and I could ever eat on our own.

It was time to share the bounty.

My boss’s family was coming into town, and her house would soon be full of visitors. She was going to need food for everyone. Why not send some coleslaw her way? It seemed fitting that vegetables purchased at her farmer’s market had been transformed in my kitchen and would now make their way back to her table. Food has a way of coming full circle like that.

wasting time

Lollygagging and dillydallying...what fun words to describe wasting time!

These words are often used interchangeably but there is a subtle distinction between the two.

Lollygagging refers to being idle, wandering aimlessly or moving slowly because you are distracted or avoiding a task. You're not being productive. Dillydallying, on the other hand, is more about indecisiveness and avoiding a specific task by doing menial chores or overthinking things.

Both words are informal, and both are delightfully fun to say, which may explain why they've survived for so long despite sounding like they escaped from a Victorian toy chest.