I is for i heart my mom, insomnia and I wish you enough

- I had my morning cup of tea out of this cup on Monday morning - one I gave my late mother several years ago.  This photo was taken at their home the month they moved to assisted living in September 2009.  I sure miss her, but she lives on in so many ways.  She taught me southern cooking - I rarely cook that way, but should you come to visit, I could make you fried chicken, collard greens and cornbread.  :)  She taught us impeccable manners, to always write thank you notes and that we should always dress up nicely when attending college football games.  She dressed up all the time - she wouldn't walk out to the mailbox without lipstick on.  She had a wonderful infectious laugh - I miss hearing it.  And I am who I am to today because of her. 

- Having a conversation with a solemn young adult who tells me that she never sleeps. I get an involuntary laugh out of her when I tell her that my orthodontist friend offered to bring by some orthodontic journals as a cure for my bout of insomnia. :)

- A former neighbor of my parents, probably the kindest woman who ever lived, emails "forwards" and I do not have the heart to tell her I usually do not read forwards. But the subject line made me read one entitled, "I wish you enough." It is long, about a woman telling about the tradition in her family of saying "I wish you enough" to each other. The essential message is given at the end: 'When we said , 'I wish you enough', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.'

I wish you enough, my friends.  This is the ninth post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge, featuring the letter "I" - it was going to be about ice cream, but the "i" in the cup caught my attention and it went from there. 

H is for Haiku - all about Heirlooms

The thought for the H post began back in February when I announced I would be doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  Mama Zen said, "That challenge sounds pretty cool! Think you could throw a haiku or two in there for Fireblossom?"   And so, with the help of my friend Kim from Talon, here are Haiku about three Heirlooms I find pleasure in.   The only Haiku you'll ever see here.  :)  Thank you to Kim for writing the Haiku for me - she was so inspired by my topic of Heirlooms that she wrote four of them! 

Some of my late grandmother's "estate" jewelry.  Two Haiku for this one:

semi-precious stones 
sparkle in their nesting box 
warming memory

a child peruses

a filigree treasure trove

delightful dress-up

Heirloom tomatoes from Star Provisions in Atlanta.  Yummm...

Aunt Ruby’s gems glow

thick sliced on the cutting board

tasty red heirlooms

 And finally - one of my late mother's teapots.  She had a collection.  This one from Staffordshire, England.

conversation flows

tinkle of spoons on saucers

an afternoon tea

  This was fun - Day 8 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, featuring the letter H.  Three things that give me pleasure.

G is for Gadgets, Graffiti and Gracious

- My dad was the ship's cook in the US Navy during World War II (he enlisted the day before his 18th birthday so that he could join the navy and "see the world.")  Oh - and see it, he did.  He was on a mine sweeper in the Pacific when all the ship's cooks were killed one day in a battle - between breakfast and lunch.  They asked for volunteers who could cook and dad put up his hand.  His father was the cook in the family and dad had learned a bit from him.  So he cooked on that ship and then another until the end of the war.  He resumed cooking when he retired.  Mom happily gave that task up.  Their house is up for sale now and every time I stop by to check on it, I bring home more of his kitchen gadgets.  I didn't have a pizza cutter and the white spoon - well, I used it so many times helping him stir that I decided I wanted it.  But that gadget on the left mystifies me.  What is that?  Does anyone know?  It's mine now, whatever it is.  :)

- Up the street from my office, a budding artist apparently had lots of time to apply some graffiti. I think this graffiti might have been commissioned for this business.  I always hope that graffiti skills will be put to employable use some day. My friend Jerry was a graffiti artist in the Bronx, New York, back in the day, and is now quite a big deal and a very successful graphic designer.

- The Alling-Bethune-Combs-Humphrey house, circa 1895, on South Liberty Street in my home town of Milledgeville, Georgia. A favorite in the historic district of Milledgeville, for its twisty-turny rooms that include a sleeping porch on the second floor. It was the gracious home of my beloved kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Combs, and now belongs to her daughter.  If you click to enlarge the photo, you will see that there is a G banner on the front porch, which just made this photo a perfect choice for the G post.

Happy Saturday, friends!  It's Day 7 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge featuring the letter G, which includes three things that give me pleasure. 

The rest of the Sundays in April are off posting days in the A to Z Challenge - so see you back here on Monday and I'll see you at your blogs.  Cheers!

Fishing, Favorite Flower photo and Friday Eve

Click to enlarge

- This well loved truck with its bumper sticker "FISH TREMBLE at the sound of my name" immediately made me think of my late father and how much he loved to fish.   Most favorite memory:  he and I went to Lake Sinclair near my hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia early one Saturday morning to quietly fish and contemplate.  It was lovely sitting on the side of the lake waiting for fish that never came.  So dad was packing up the car when my pole (that I had laid down on the bank with the hook still in the water) began drifting away into the lake.  I excitedly yelled for dad to come back and he retrieved my pole for me.  I had caught a lovely fish with no effort on my part whatsoever.  Dad cleaned it and cooked it on the grill for our dinner that night.  A lovely memory.

- Most favorite flower photo ever - taken last August along the banks of the Hiawassee River in the mountains of western North Carolina.  I call it "Two Ants" - click on the photo to enlarge it and see if you can spot them. 

- The man who draws my blood on Thursday morning knows that I don't like being stuck with needles and so keeps up happy chatter about the weekend to take my mind off of it.  We talk about what we are going to cook at our respective homes.  It's over before I know it and he wishes me a good weekend and a happy Friday Eve.  

Wow - it's already Day 6 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  Today features the letter F.  Three things that gave me pleasure (except for that whole getting stuck with a needle thing...)  :)

Happy Full Moon Friday, y'all!  So good that the day of the week and the moon cooperated with the A to Z Blogging Challenge. 

E is for Easter Lilies, Easter Eggs and Egyptian Edamame Stew

- This beauty opened up right on schedule and now graces the graves of my parents at the veterans' cemetery in my home town - placed Tuesday morning while I was there for family business.

- A favorite Easter treat - Cadbury creme eggs.  I get nothing from Cadbury for promoting their eggs - I just love them and it's a good E thing.  :)

Egyptian Edamame Stew

This is so good and your home will smell wonderful for hours.

1 1/2 10-ounce packages frozen shelled edamame (about 3 cups), thawed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 large zucchini, cut into half moons
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add edamame and cook until tender, 4 to 5 minutes or according to package directions. Drain. (Or you can steam them.)
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Add zucchini and cook, covered, until the onions are starting to brown, about 3 minutes more. Add garlic, cumin, coriander and cayenne and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer and cook until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the edamame and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and stir in cilantro and lemon juice.

Makes 4 servings, about 2 cups each. Per serving: 258 calories.

I serve this with saffron rice. Yum.

Day 5 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge, featuring the letter E.   Three things that give me pleasure.

D is for Darth Vader in a Kilt on a Unicycle Playing Bagpipes, Doctor H and Divine

- This one needs no further explanation and is only 46 seconds.  :)

- When I pull into my parking space at home, neighbor Travis is taking an iPhone photo of his beaming sweetheart Jessica on the sidewalk.  "Do y'all want me to take your picture together?" I ask.  Travis (wearing scrubs and off to work) says, "No - I was just getting a photo of the new Dr. H___."  She defended her dissertation yesterday and is a new PhD. 

- Finding something Divinely chocolate finally, when I went to my hometown for family business on Tuesday morning and popped into the best bakery in Georgia (I say) for a German Nut Bar.  OK - I had two.  A chewy bar with a bit of raspberry in the center and topped with chocolate icing.  Yummmm.

Day four of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  Three things that begin with "D" that gave me pleasure.   Happy Wednesday, y'all!

C is for Cardinals, Calendar, Colcannon & a bonus C

- Can you see him up there?  I was watering outside plants on Sunday morning and observed much Cardinal friskiness going on.  This one had been madly chasing a female Cardinal all over the place and stopped here to take a breather.  I guess she was playing hard to get.  :)  As always, click the photo to enlarge.

- This Calendar from the animal hospital has all the letters for the challenge mapped out for me. I like the calendar because it features client pets. Don't you love Louie's face? 

- Making Colcannon to go along with a steak.  You can make cakes with the leftovers, too.  (I posted about that last week.)   Here's a link to Simply Recipes for both.  So good!

- And one last C thing - stopping into The Chocolate Bar that's near my doctor's office because I felt entitled to Chocolate.  But the chocolates in there look as if you could spend $100 quickly.  Another customer chose four beautiful pieces which went into a small custom box.  One of the pieces had gold leaf on the top.  He was taking it home to his lady friend and was delighted with the thought of that. 

Four things that give me pleasure.  The "C" post for the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  Cheers!