A cool, damp picnic!

Must be New England! PEN is having its year end picnic and they are honoring Kate Mattes, owner of the late, lamented Kate's Mystery Bookstore on Mass Ave in Cambridge.

I have a fleece pullover which will keep fall breezes at bay. Last night the folks at the ball game were bundled up. Fall, even late fall is here. I swore I wouldn't wear corduroys before Oct. 15th, but yesterday I broke my promise to myself. Ah well, no matter.

I'm making chicken/walnut/dried cherry sandwiches on wheat bread to take to the picnic. I think the recipe is from an old Gourmet. I used to save my food mags, and then all of a sudden (well, not really, it just seemed that way) I had twenty (20!) years of Gourmets. Now I save the Thanksgiving, Holiday and Barbecue issues and clip recipes I might try from the rest. Sometimes I'll keep a recipe for 10 or more years before the occasion arises, (like today) to make the dish.

Of course my clippings have become huge, and I've got them organized, but everything should really go into a binder. Ugh! More work, even more organization.

Right now, I have to don my bright yellow clogs and trek into the garden for fresh parsley and also empty the water out of the saucers, etc. We had a monsoon yesterday.

This week we will celebrate a wedding anniversary and will dine at Cilantro in Sharon, a wonderful jewel of a restaurant that always has creative fare and a warm welcome.

Warm is good. Think spring.

Grapeshot

Clematis

This morning while I stood by the garden, the hummingbird arrived and, ignoring me, drank long from the sugar water. So charming. Later we fed the ducks and one ostrasized white goose at Glue Factory Pond.

Here is a photo of my clematis. Half of it died, but the other half thrives.

The tomatoes continue to exert theirselves in growth and leaves and blossoms. Last night we had fresh dill in the salad, and tonight there will be a wealth of chopped cilantro on the chicken.

Herb gardens rock!

Golden Globes - Glorious Gardening!

Not awards, not oranges, but my orange rhododendum which has burst into bloom (a cliche but so apt) this week. The other good news in the garden is that for the first time in this house the iris is honoring us with a bloom--it's been moved 3 times, and now I guess the right spot has been determined so long as I keep it cultivated.

Beautiful (sorry no picture) special dogtooth violets also came to life this year. Basically, I think I only lost one columbine, but the wild orchid doesn't look like it will bloom. I need to sneak into the woods and transplant a few more to my woods.

No sign of the baby ducks. Hummingbird is back, after the newly planted red petunias. She'll have to wait a while for the rest of the garden to bloom. Speaking of blooms, my sage will go crazy in a week. Beaucoup blooms.

We have a cilantro fest. It reseeds itself like crazy. Love it. Love it.

I found the pot for the rosemary. Thought I broke it last fall when I couldn't find it. Must have been another pot. We had some of the rosemary on the bistro chicken (yum!) the past two nights. http://wardstreetbistro.typepad.com/wsb/2008/05/grilled-mustard.html

Do try this recipe.

I need to find a sunny spot for the phlox I dug up at the state hospital. I am an inveterate collector of plants in derelict locations.

Today we're going to Briggs Nursery, a choice garden destination, for the annual trip to buy plants. It makes me happy just to think about it. Obviously, a heart "too soon made glad."

http://www.briggsgarden.com/

Aloha,

Grapeshot