Succulents

Three Hydrangeas

Trying to get all my ducks lined up in a row for the new reality.

We are in week 5 of our new approach to living.

Mr. TLRT is doing well, after another surgery, a few visits to the ER

and this week beginning a 12 week cardiac rehab program.

Learning to cook all over again.

Fruits and vegetables are our new friends.

Walking twice a day.

Losing lots of bad habits accumulated over the past decades.

And learning to live with the worry.

Each day is a challenge to be faced.

Thank you again for all your kind and thoughtful comments and emails,

they do help me focus on the positive and put those negative thoughts to the side.

Sorting Tomatoes

Doing some experimenting with different combinations of flavors for this year's red sauce.

Cuke Pickles

Pickled Cucumbers

6 C thinly sliced cucumbers w/skin

1 C thinly sliced onion

1-2 C thinly sliced bell peppers, any color

Salt and cover w/ice for 2 hours

Drain well

1 1/2 C white vinegar

2 C sugar

Bring to boil, cool, pour over veggies

Keeps several weeks in frig

Remember that article?

The one I featured back on June 1, 2011 entitled "A 75th Anniversary Buffet"

Margaret Bourke-White's image on the left, mine on the right.

Lucky me, I won an award from the HLCCA publication The Dish for "Best Article of the Year".  Thanks so much to the HLCCA membership for choosing my article and gifting me with a special vase with JP's signature and special marking on the base.  I'm truly honored to have won this award.

And an added bonus was the conference exclusive ornament.

Thanks so much to all my fellow dishers!

A Dish Diva Has Gone Ahead of Us

Becky, one of our own "Dish Divas" has gone ahead of us to make beautiful

tables in another place.  We are missing her today, as we gather to celebrate

her life and set our tables in her memory .  Please take a seat as we raise our

glasses to Becky and send our condolences to her family.

Today's table is decked out in a vintage California Hand Prints cloth with

lots of blues and some marigolds.  Fiesta's 75th Anniversary color is also Marigold, generously represented on this table.  And a few pieces of Harlequin Blue (Becky's favorite color) on the Talavera plate in the center.

More details on the elements at the end of this post.

Fiesta in Marigold, including the new "Rice Bowl" holding a baked apple

Flatware from one of the dish/flatware fairies, who gifts other Dish Divas with unexpected packages.

Blue tumblers from anthropologie.com

Stemware from Pier 1

Napkins and candles from Home Goods

Napkin Rings from Bed Bath Beyond

Talavera plate from La Paz, Mexico

Glass "milk carton" makes a wonderful creamer!

Join the rest of the Dish Divas as we remember Becky over on Tabletop Time

St Patrick Roses

Comfort Food

I comforted myself way too much yesterday.

Fresh banana bread right from the oven ranks right up near the top of the list for me.

I intentionally don't mash the bananas perfectly, so the surprise chunks of warm banana are a bonus.

Summer Goodness

A garden continues to grow whether we tend it or not.