Judith Browning

Wooded areas say mushrooms to me.....
Especially if there are oaks for shiitake.
We've grown them on white, red and black jack oak.

Wooded land won't rule out herbs and a big garden...things might just move more slowly that direction.

One of the things I miss from living in a more wooded area is the abundance of leaves in the fall....a wonderful resource.

Hope is the language of the invisible.
It transcends circumstances
because it transcends physicality.
It’s spiritual.
It’s the language of the invisible realm,
which is just as real,
if not more real,
than the things we can see and touch.

Jon Batiste
(1986 to pres., musician, songwriter, record producer, bandleader)

Happiness is the result of inner maturity.
It depends on us alone,
and requires patient work,
carried out from day to day.
Happiness must be built,
and this requires time and effort.
In the long term,
happiness and unhappiness
are therefore a way of being,
or a life skill.

Matthieu Ricard
(1946 to pres, Scientist and Buddhist Monk)

Tim we have wild varieties of penstemon, beardstongue...I think it's hairy?

May, I think mine must be the husker red penstemon that you mention....foliage is deep reds and greens and flowers vary from pale to a darker lavender....and rosette of leaves stays green all winter.

I love it and so do the bumblebees...they crawl in the flower and almost disappear.

Small plants were given to me by someone who bought them for hummingbirds and then has been weeding them out as they spread...that is something I like, that they multiply quickly into clumps.

We have noticed, when drying and saving seed indoors and even outdoors on the plant the seed pods smell like wet dog🫤

I wonder if your little brown bird is a wren?
Here, they are talkative like that.
They spend time every spring looking for a nesting spot on our porches and around the house and almost always end up in my husbands shop...usually in old watering cans he has hung for them.  They practically attack our cats whenever they come into his shop and yell at them.

I enjoy reading your adventures in gardening!

Every thing or living being that exists in this world,
be it trees, flowers, birds, grasses, rocks,
soil of the earth, or human beings,
has its unique manner of existence –
its essence, its spirit that makes it what it is.
That is what is meant by connectedness.

Larry P. Aitken
(Chippewa Elder)

The abundant heart embraces our world,
holding all its joy and fear,
gain and loss,
nobility and selfishness,
enveloped in a field of compassion and love.

Jack Kornfield
(1945 to pres., psychologist, writer, Theravada Buddhist teacher)

Thanks to all for suggestions....the rains have stopped and we're having really hot and humid days so the big quilt project has been postponed until it's cooler at least...

Beverly, the stitches are quite large so I think unstitching will be fairly easy except for the binding that seems to have a lot of layers and more stitches.

Maybe I should just add a sleeve and a piece of bamboo and find a wall to hang it on?

In the far distant past, definitely bacon grease and beef tallow.

For years now we put the iron away dry and unoiled.  It's not as well seasoned as a good greasy skillet but works for us.

Most of our skillets are used daily for stove top soda breads and stirfries....they are seasoned enough for tomato sauces and fruit jams....bacon, etc is not on the menu anymore.

Heating the dry skillet to temperature and then adding the oil, then food avoids sticking problems.

This method began because we have summer carnivorous ants....tiny tiny things that love meat and meat fats....and also butter, ghee, coconut oil, peanuts....any container is fair game as they are tiny enough to try to get under a lid.  Even with dry skillets they can 'smell' the past use and if it's meat related they gather there waiting🫤

Nancy, I have not tried your salt method but will try soon.
The salt is to absorb any remaining moisture in the pan?

Skillful attention is not the same
as watching the news or reading social media.
It’s choosing to direct our mindfulness and compassion
to other living beings,
and to make a real connection
to their experience with our minds and hearts.

Kimberly Brown
(Buddhist meditation teacher and author)