Tis the season to garden!

Back in April, when the forsythias bloomed, it was time to cut back my roses. The first time I did this (and I mean REALLY cut them back), I was sure I would kill them. But not only are roses beautiful, they're TOUGH. Sure enough, they not only bounced back, they bloomed even better.

I should have planted my snap peas at the same time. It was such a wet spring, I didn't want to to go out because it was COLD and I was afraid the seeds would just rot.

But nature is not to be denied. The perennials came up despite the cold and rain. They're doing remarkably well ... for some reason, the critters have left them away (so far). The daffodils, tulips, and rhododendrons are already done, but the iris, red-hot pokers. I've been trying to get rid of the lily of the valley (which is determined to take over the entire garden), so I ripped a bunch of them up. But then I think I might have pulled up some of my sun-drops, too. (Oops. They'll come back.)

I've got a bumper crop of rhubarb. I asked my Facebook friends what they used rhubarb for and I have a bunch of ideas. But this weekend I'm going to be making rhubarb chutney (the recipe is included in Recipes To Die For: A Victoria Square Cookbook).

Additionally, I'm planning on making some rhubarb muffins.  I've got a couple of really good recipes (included in The Best From Swans Nest, a Lotus Bay Cookbook).

I noticed that I had some self-sown lettuce growing, so obviously Mother Nature thinks it's safe to grow it and I planted seeds. I should have enough for a (full) salad in about a month.

Sadly, I've decided to give up my veggie garden. It's not that I don't want to grow veggies, but it's too heartbreaking when critters eat the stuff before it's ripe enough to harvest, and I've had a terrible problem with tomato blight. I'll still be growing herbs and maybe some beans in container pots, but I'm going to turn the veggie garden into another perennial plot. I want to get some different varieties of roses (I already have about seven knock-out roses) and I'm not fond of tea roses (not enough blooms), but I think I will wait until I go to the nursery to make a final decision. Right now, it's a clean slate.

What do you think I should put in my new garden?

Trying to go greener

When Earth Day rolled around last month, I started thinking about how much waste goes into my garbage tote.  Mind you, I've been trying to adopt more green ways.

Earlier this year, I decided I needed to cut down on my use of paper towel.  It so happens, my mother bought a lot of washcloths at yard sales for our family's cottage. I decided there were way too many stuffed into a drawer and I took them home and washed them to use in my kitchen. (I wrote about it on this post back in January.)

Since then, I figure we're using half the paper towel we used to. (Have not yet trained Mr. L to reach for these washcloths.) We used to go through at least a roll a week...now it's take two weeks and a few days. There are still a few things I use paper towel for, but not just to dry my hands, etc. (That's what the tea towels are for, and boy have I got a lot of them, too.)

But last month I had leftovers to put away and reached for the cling wrap. Then I stopped. Plastic is forever. I need to stop using so much plastic. So instead, I opened my cupboard and looked for a plastic container to put the leftovers in. Yes, it means washing another item, but water can be filtered and used again. Plastic stays in the landfill for hundred (if not thousands) of years.

Of course, there were a LOT of containers without lids. So a few days later, I hauled everything out of the cupboards and matched them up. Wow--I have a lot of them. But it's been two weeks and I haven't used any cling wrap.

And one of the reasons for that is ... wax paper. Okay, it's a lot more fragile, but it will degrade in a landfill. In addition to the wax paper wrapped around tomatoes and other items (with a rubber band around it to keep the air out), I also bought waxed paper bags. I bought a big box and they are smaller than I would like, but they are still very useful.

It's been more than two weeks and I haven't touched the cling wrap. Luckily, I was running low on it and probably won't buy any more.

Next up: going through my linen napkins, washing them, and using them instead of paper napkins.  I will look for colored ones at yard sales, because ... you know, spaghetti and curry stains.

What are you doing to go just a little bit greener?

Happy Book Day To Me ... The Best of Swans Nest

Woo-hoo! Two years in the making, but at last THE BEST FROM SWANS NEST is now available. It's a companion cookbook for the Lotus Bay Mystery series.

What's been fun for me is giving background information for Kathy Grant and what her inn and food mean to her. If you're a fan of the Lotus Bay Mysteries, and you like to eat, you'll want to add this companion to the series to your ereader. (And yes, it will also be available in print -- hopefully on the same day as the ebook. I'll keep you posted.)

Here's a brief description:

Kathy Grant, owner of the Swans Nest Inn on beautiful Lotus Bay, has collected more than a hundred mouth-watering recipes that she not only offers her B&B guests, but the brides who book their engagement and wedding parties at the inn.

Now you can enjoy the same treats like sweet sausage coffee ring, lots of marvelous muffins, quiche, stuffed mushrooms and many, many more!

Kindle US | Kindle UK | Kindle Worldwide | Nook | Kobo | Apple Books

Save Me From Windows 10

My computer had been ailing for almost a year. It was coughing up blood and I held my hands over my eyes so I didn't have to witness it's slow-and-steady decline. I would turn it on and the monitor would be black. I would pull the plug, wait a few hours, plug it back in, and it would regain conscientiousness--sometimes for a few months, but two weeks ago, it finally expired.

Luckily, I have a laptop. (In fact, the one I typed this on.) It, too, has had problems.  Every time Microsoft does a major update, it would lose conscientiousness. I would have to take the battery out and restart (once as many as 11 times over the course of two hours) to try to bring it back to life. It updated a little over a week ago and suddenly everything about it was different. All new sounds--it even took my wallpaper with it.  And I got an email from Microsoft saying as of January 2020--they wouldn't be updating it. I should have celebrated. Instead, I pulled out my "new" laptop. And did I mention the tiny screen?

Three (or was it four) years ago, I asked my friend Steven to suggest a new laptop. He's an IT guy and he suggested I get an ASUS laptop. Unbeknownst to me, it came loaded with Windows 8. OMG -- it didn't even have a Start Menu and I had no idea how to do ANYTHING on it. I put it back in the box and it sat under my easy chair gathering dust ... until Monday. Caveat: At some point during those years, I had our computer guy upgrade it to Windows 10 because Microsoft was only going to make that upgrade Free until a certain date. And there it sat, quietly gathering dust.

Last Monday, I took it out and decided I needed to learn Windows 10.  This ASUS fooled me. The Start Menu looked very much like Windows 7. YAY. I successfully loaded some software, but didn't really test it. But on this sort of triumph, I went out and bought a desktop computer.

With help from one of my readers (waving to John P), I bought a computer that had lots of speed and loads of gigabytes of storage, . Welcome back big monitor!!!  Only I didn't realize that Dropbox would suddenly dump over 40,000 files onto my (supposedly big) hard drive. Oy -- that took over FOUR HOURS to straighten out (and two online chats with Dropbox).

While that was happening, I tried loading my camera's software, took a few pictures of my cats, and tried to upload them--with NO results. I was online for another two hours trying to figure out how to solve that problem. Apparently some people have had some success, but 90% of Canon owners weren't able to upload their pictures, either. Finally, in  desperation, I called the local camera shop where I got my camera. (Yes, I bought it in a bricks-and-mortar store.) The helpful "Canon Lady" told me, "just take out the photo card, plug it into your computer, and copy/paste those pictures." It's a workaround, but I loved my Canon software that took the pictures, loaded them directly to Dropbox, and labeled the folders by date. That isn't going to happen anymore. (And P.S. the laptop doesn't have a card reader--so I'll have to buy one with a USB.)

Next up, trying to load my label maker software. The computer opened it with open arms. It's even Windows 10 compatible -- EXCEPT IT NO LONGER WORKS. (Another two-hour time sink looking for options. Still haven't figured that out.)

And that's why I'm typing this blog post on my Windows 7 laptop. I KNOW it works. In fact, I've decided to take a few days off from Windows 10 ... unless, of course, this computer starts coughing up blood, too.

Did I mention how much I LOATHE Windows 10?

What was your experience (supposedly) upgrading to Windows 10?

Happy Mother's Day

I guess it's an acquired taste

I'm currently researching craft breweries for a book I'm working on. It's fascinating. Not just the production of the beer, which is a lot more complicated than I thought, but all the things that go with it. The tasting room and/or restaurant--and even what's stocked in the (usually small) gift shop. (Seems like T-shirts are a big seller!)

It all sounds great. There's just one thing. I don't like beer. My father never drank it, so it was never in our house. Of course, my brothers (who were much more sociable than me and went out with friends at night ... while I was reading) acquired a taste for beer ... but not me.

There are other things I never acquired a taste for. Wine is one of them. (Tastes like shoe polish remover to me.) There's such a mystique about wine. Think about it:  wine,women, and song. The whole bacchanalia in the Disney film Fantasia. People are always drinking wine and have been doing it for thousands of years. (The go-to drink in ancient Rome. Heck, even Jesus turned water to wine.) I found red wine gives me a headache, and if I'm drinking white wine, I like sweeter varieties. But I'll take whiskey or gin over grape-based wine any day.

I never acquired a taste for coffee, either, although I did try. When I was in college, I figured when I got out of school and went to work in an office, I'd have to drink the stuff. I mean, who had a tea kettle handy? (As someone who worked in offices for more than 25 years, I can tell you: NOBODY.)

So, for three weeks, I drank nothing but coffee. Of course, the swill the school served was dreadful. To this day, I still can't stand the taste of coffee (although I do like the smell of it brewing, especially of freshly ground coffee). I make a pot of coffee for Mr. L every morning. I make myself a pot of tea.

Of course, there are some things I have acquired a taste for:  Olives.  (Kalamata are my favorite.) Asparagus. Lima beans. Then again, I'm really not into fruit. They pick it too early (so it's usually not ripe) and by the time it ripens, it's ready on the outside and rotten on the inside.

So, what's your acquired taste?