Faith, Folklore, and Friends

My friends know I love books, and enjoy getting recommendations of books they have read.  It is good to read books outside of your comfort zone sometimes.  A friend recommended Thale's Folly by Dorothy Gilman to me. I put it on my list, and found it at the Florence/Lauderdale Public Library Saturday.  I finished reading it today. I love every page , every  sentence of this book. It was published in 1999, and I have missed it on the library shelves for a decade and a half.  Had it not been for Ruth recommending this book, I would have missed something wonderful. Take my word for it, and check it out.  Right now, I am going to make some herbal tea. [Basil,] being applied to the place bitten by venomous beasts, . . .it speedily draws the poison to it; Every like draws its like . . .Hilarius, a French physician, affirms upon his own knowledge, that an acquaintance of his, by common smelling to it, had a scorpion breed in his brain.  ...

Beautiful September! You bring us nights with raised windows, snuggling under quilts in the wee hours. You mark the time with morning glories  and turn the roadsides yellow. You remind the hummingbirds that it is time to migrate, to journey over a thousand miles to places with warm winters. They know they will have to be fat for the trip, so they fight for the feeders, flashing their ruby throats for our amusement. You sober us with the knowing--summer, the time for growing and gathering, for swimming and playing, for travel and iced tea, no matter how wonderful or fruitful it has been--summer always ends. September. So beautiful, you strengthen us during the transition, and help us face the winter that will surely come. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.   Eccle...

We plant basil every year.  This year, we bought seeds of Dark Purple Opal basil from  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds .  It has done very well. Some of it is five feet tall and very bushy.  There is enough basil here to feed the whole county we live in.  We actually eat very little of it; we grow it for the butterflies and bees and the aroma it releases when you brush up against it in the garden. The pictures above are from an area in the garden that gets full sun.  The ones below are planted in an area that is shaded part of the day.  I've learned that the ones in the sun are not as purple as the ones in the shade.   The bumblebees and butterflies absolutely love them.  Basil is an annual and will be killed by the first frost.  If you love basil and live close to me, I will be happy to share with you.  

Yesterday was cold, raw, and cloudy; the perfect day for chicken noodle soup.  Some of you asked how I made it, so here goes:   Boil four large chicken thighs until tender and shred them.  Use enough seasoned water to have at least eight cups of broth. There is no rule saying you have to use thighs, it was just what I had.  Any chicken will do. Add about a cup of celery and carrots, chopped fine.  They don't have to be this fine, but chopping veggies is a stress reliever for me, so I just keep chopping.  I used purple onion here because I had some left over from another dish.  I usually use yellow onions, but I'm all about using what's in the frig.  There was about 1/2 cup of the onion; you can use more or less.  As you can see, this recipe can be adjusted very easily. Half a stick of butter.  Butter, only!  Don't be using that other stuff. Melt it the bottom of a heavy pot on medium heat. ...