The Garden, Boy Shorts, Women's Conference And A Recipe

Tree Peony in the Rye front yard - Shima Nishiki

I've been working in the yard almost every day this week, morning until evening.  May to me means one thing - preparation for the rest of the summer and fall.  And it's done with the scent of lily of the valley, apple blossom and lilac accompanying me - remember how perfume can make one happy no matter how hard the task?   Once all the work/preparation and planting is done, the rest of the season is minor weeding/dead heading, consistent watering, and a ton of beauty and enjoyment and all the bliss that comes with the fruits of the next two seasons right here.  And I lose my winter back fat in May; so far I've lost 7 pounds since I got home from Australia and started yard work here and at the Yellow House just doing yard labor and you know I haven't stayed away from bakeries or cookies during this time.  Bippity! We've also been hand watering all areas of the yard every day because we have had almost no rain this May (except today as I type this we are getting real rain, steady and heavy - hooray!!).  In pictures, here are some scenes of the yard.

 There's a naughty plant eating creature that lives back there - he/she must be conquered!

 A hand full of apple blossoms

 Some delightful color and another view of the veggie garden area.  Soon that grass beneath the tanks will be removed and we will replace it with river rock so we don't have to mow/weed wack there anymore and it will look tidier.

 A week ago the pool was uncovered and green and murky and now it's just about ready for swimming!  Great job Dan!

This is how my hair looks at the end of every yard work day.

 The area on the back side of this fence where you see the stones kicked out of the ground is the home of some kind of critter that has eaten dozens of my plantings down to stubs all over the pool gardens.  We put a smoke bomb down in the mouth of its tunnel and covered the hole and we haven't lost any plants since nor has the burrow opening been disturbed.

 This is a walled bed in the pool area and just about everything there except what remains of course was eaten by whatever critter is now gone from this world.  I have to re do this area and now I have a whole new plan for it.

 Nice pool garden bed - you can see  behind where some of the veggie stock tanks are.

 Look for the blue bird houses here - I installed 3 of them last fall in this border and they all now inhabited by nesting blue birds!!

These are seedlings from a mesclun blend of lettuces - you scatter seeds and it's cut and come again.  And they have sprung up in one of the stock tanks.

A heavy fog rolled in Thursday night around dinner time and the golf course and neighbors' yards just disappeared in it.  It was cool!

 My neighbor's tree peony in bloom right now - I keep visiting it.

Our tree peony that we brought over from the Yellow House and after a shaky transplant last spring it survived and bloomed this spring - sigh of relief. 

Now, here are a couple of pictures you must see from a trip to England we took a couple Mays ago because they are so glorious - I was perusing these pictures recently and oohing and ahhing at the wisteria and english blue bells we encountered as we explored gardens and parks around London.  This is my Sunday That Day In Pictures piece of the blog post!

 My son Heath and his wife Emma walking in front of us as we explored this area - it was lightly              raining, hence the umbrellas, though you can't tell from the photo.

Now, about boy shorts, or man shorts.  I have quit buying women's shorts for the most part because it's just hard to find a pair that fits well these days without requiring a lot of pulling because the crotch is too short or the waist is too snug or they aren't long enough for my liking etc.  And male shorts, the sporty ones, are so much more inexpensive and there are lots of choices!  So now I have several pairs of them and all areas are roomy, there are many convenient pockets and I am happy about this.  Try on a pair that has a waist an inch or two larger than yours and that way they fall on your high hip a bit and not right around your natural waist.  If you have hit your mid 40s and beyond, you know that the waist you once had even if you are still fit and trim has thickened.  It happens soon after you become myopic and need reading glasses to see the small print.  Like overnight! Unless you are some kind of anomaly.  And then that's just not fair.  Here's what I'm talking about.

                                    This is a happy face because boy shorts are so comfortable

Saturday I attended a Regional All Faiths Women's Conference in Lowell MA with 3000 other women.  I drove down there with a couple of my BFF, Julie and Kris, and we listened first to two keynote speakers at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, then ate provided sack lunches out on the lawn, then over to the Lowell High School right down town there for workshops. 

                   BFF Kris is third from the left and Julie is at the end right next to me. The other three
                                 lovely ladies were new acquaintances made at the conference.

 The conference offered about 30 different workshops and we each had to pick just three.  My workshops were these:  Your Awesome Makes Me Feel Awful - (self worth and comparing ourselves to others), New Strategies For Finding Answers to Modern Problems in Ancient Scripture, and a Special Leadership Training (because I am the Relief Society president - the women's organization at my local church, I kinda had to go to this one).  The whole day was absolutely fabulous; the speakers, workshop teachers, the weather, seeing a lot of lovely ladies that I know there, getting such a spiritual lift, and Lowell.  Lowell has a really charming and beautiful downtown and I would love to explore it further.

 A big surprise - after the two keynote speakers spoke we were told an unexpected speaker would be crashing the conference - Elder Jeffrey R Holland!!  A collective gasp went out when that was announced and it was a real thrill to hear him speak to us for about 10 minutes.  He just happened to be traveling in the area and was asked to stop in if he could.

Now for the recipe.  I have been making Sour Cream Banana Bars with Browned Butter Glaze since my late 20s and these are really, really good.  Next time you have over ripe bananas hanging around and you don't want to make banana bread, make these.  Easy, super moist and tender, the glaze is exquisite and they are great to bring to potlucks and bake sales or just to have on hand.  I made them yesterday for an after church Linger Longer today.

                  SOUR CREAM BANANA BARS WITH BROWNED BUTTER GLAZE

Grease and flour a 15 x 10 jelly roll (large cookie sheet with a lip) pan.  Oven at 375 F.

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 stick, 1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
3 large mashed bananas (I just throw them in by chunks)
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Mix ingredients 1-4 together and beat well.  Add bananas and vanilla and beat well.  Add all the dry ingredients and beat until just combined.  Pour into pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes.  

Cool and then pour the glaze on.  
Glaze:
1/2 stick of butter - melt in a small pan and simmer until it turns a delicate light brown
Cool it a few minutes and then stir in 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and 3 T or more of heavy cream, half and half or milk.  The richer the better.  Beat this until smooth and pour.