Daylilies Make Me Smile

I took a walk in my mom's garden this weekend.

Her flowers were beautiful...especially the daylilies. I heart daylilies! While I was writing for a farm newspaper, I visited a daylily farm...yes, a daylily farm! It was actually in a very lovely couple's backyard, but it was definitely a labor of love for them AND a great example of value-added agriculture.

Back to mom's garden, I got some great shots.

Like the dark red ones...

The pink ones...

The orange ones...

I'm pretty sure my mom got these orange lilies alongside the road almost 40 years ago...thus the nickname "ditch lilies."

These dark red spider daylilies...

My mom has also incorporated lots of wildflowers in her landscaping...

Out of all of the flowers, my mom and I agreed that this flower is our favorite...

I played with the PW's action sets too!

Dramatic color...

Soft color...

What's your favorite flower?

Wordless Wednesday: Poppies and a Puppy

On a rare dry and slightly sunny day, I looked out my parents' back door and saw these...

Poppies are my favorite flower and I love how Mom planted these on the spot of our old playhouse.

I turned away from the poppies and realized someone wanted some of my attention too.

Also linking up to Wordless Wednesday over at Pinke Post.

Fresh Asparagus, Quick Meal

Anyone else as in love with FRESH asparagus as I am?

Growing up my sisters and I HATED when the asparagus patches at our house and my grandparents' place (yes, there were two big patches of the stuff) started to grow each spring. It meant asparagus for lunch and supper...my dad probably tried to feed it to us for breakfast too but I've blocked that out.

I even remember watching my older sister put a piece of aspargus in her mouth, take a big drink of milk and swallow...not chewing the aspargus once! I aspired to that.

As we grew older, I started appreciating asparagus for what it is.

These days I'm lucky to have several sources for asparagus. My dad has added MORE asparagus plants to his garden and I have a co-worker whose garden produces a plastic grocery bag full of asparagus a DAY when the weather grows warm each spring.

Usually I just wash it off, cut it in pieces, throw it in the Pampered Chef micro-cooker with a little butter, water and pepper and heat for a minute or two.

Then I burn my tongue because I can’t wait for it to cool!

If I had a grill, I would re-create this meal, including grilled asparagus, over at How Sweet It Is.


And I’m definitely going to fix her Parmesan Asparagus Sticks with my next batch of asparagus.


However, I needed a quick and easy meal the other night and looked in the fridge and pantry to see what ingredients I had on hand. I found a rotisserie chicken from Costco (love ‘em), Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice (so easy), teriyaki and soy sauce and, of course, my asparagus.

I decided to make a quick and easy chicken fried rice with asparagus. Looking back, I wish I fried an egg and added it to the mix. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to make it again.

I simply microwaved the rice according to the directions and added it to a hot skillet with a bit of oil and some of the chicken that was cut into bite-size pieces. To that I added one-fourth cup of the teriyaki sauce and heated it through.


Then I cooked my asparagus with a bit of water in my micro-cooker for just under two minutes; drained it and added it to the skillet.

I made sure everything was heated through and served it up.

It’s not the most exciting meal but it was tasty and something different.

How do you change up the way you use the veggies that you always have on hand?

Happiness is like a butterfly...

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp,

but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

-Nathaniel Hawthorne

These butterflies were in my mom's garden earlier this month. There had to be hundreds of them! There would have been more if my mom realized earlier that the ugly worms she kept killing this summer were actually caterpillars!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Thirty-nine years ago today, a newly graduated young woman married a fresh-faced farmer (with a year of college to complete) in a beautiful Catholic church in a small Indiana town.

He finished his degree at Purdue, she taught school and then they moved back to the farm.

They raised four daughters while acquiring a few gray hairs and sent their girls out on their own. And though the daughters ventured out into the world, three of the four settled close by. Now they have four grandsons to spoil and two more grandbabies on the way (at least one little girl from their baby girl)!

They've supported each other through sickness (a heart attack that was simply the worst experience of her and her daughters' lives) and in health; through the good times and the bad (the loss of both their fathers within a year of each other and his mother earlier this year).

Through it all, they've stayed a unit and have been wonderful role models of a good, strong marriage.

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

Love,
Your Favorite Daughter
(You know I am!)