BrightHaven Times

…the rain! My very first visit to Florida, I was amazed at the clockwork like rain. Every day, about midday, rain would fall and make the humid day even more so. But, for some reason it was wonderful and you knew it was good stuff.

When I moved to Florida eight!! years ago, I was puzzled by the rain’s inexplicable absence. For the last few years, we have suffered with hot and rainless summers. So, when this summer began without any rainfall, we weren’t surprised.

Now, we are reveling in the glorious rainfall! Every day, we have been getting ample rain for the gardens, the rainbarrels and the fish ponds. Our gardens are so bountiful that we have to beat the pumpkins and watermelons and tomatoes back with sticks. Not really sticks, but I have had to prune them all. Today, the fishpond actually overflowed. The fishies are all safe, thank you.

So, this Sunday I am thankful for the rain. It comes in its season and I rejoice in it.

I hereby give you advance warning that the recipe I am about to post is garlicky. It doesn’t play around–but oh, is it ever good!

Oh, Garlic! Dip

1 tablespoon chopped, fresh garlic

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1/4 cup mayonaisse

16 oz sour cream

Hand stir all ingredients together. You may wish to add garlic salt until the mixture is just right for your tastebuds. Enjoy!

So, what do I do in my spare time while I’m not blogging? I collect vintage items. Correction: I stuff every corner of my home with some kind of neat-o item that reflects an earlier era. We love it. Right now, our cat’s favorite sleeping post is a handmade doll bed that James found, discarded.

It’s simply too sweet for words.

In an effort to cut down on clutter feed my thrift shopping habit, we have opened up a booth in an antique mall close to our home. Just walking into the place makes me smile, as it is loaded with Fostoria glass, wooden ironing boards, spaghetti lamps and mid-century modern furnishings. Here is a sampling of our booth.

Tupperware Floralier

The Home Gnome booth (click for more detail)

UFO Spaghetti Lamp

I have read articles of this happening. But, I never thought it would happen to us. Or, shall I say: I hoped it would never happen to us… Have you all heard about gas stations not being able to accept transactions over 50 dollars at the pump? Well, it’s true. Let the picture below tell the sad, sad story.

Raise your hand if gas was below $1/gallon when you first started driving.

Grenadine was, all her life, a quite linguistic mouse. But when she was little, this characteristic tended toward extremes. At one point, for example, when her interest had turned a little away from conjugating verbs and more toward acquiring vocabulary, she began to run across words in the dictionary that she thought very fine and that needed to be more evident in field mouse usage. She thereupon undertook, herself, a small crusade to this end.

extracted from The Linnet’s Tale by Dale C. Willard

I love words. I love them with unusual sounds, musical or funny. Some words I have a definite prejudice against. However, we’re not talking about those words today. Today, we’re talking about a group of words for which I have much liking and which I feel should be much more evident in blogging and in conversation. These words all begin with the prefix dys/dis.  Try to use them before lunch, if you please…

1. disenfranchise–to deprive of a privilege, an immunity or a right of citizenship
2. disambiguate–to establish a single grammatical or semantic interpretation
3. disbelieve–to refuse to believe in; reject
4. dystopia–an imaginary place or state in which the conditions of life are very bad
5. disenchanted–to free from illusion or false belief
6. disestablishmentarianism–refers to the withdrawal of state support of an established church that was formerly part of the state establishment. A prime example is when the British monarchy under Henry VIII withdrew their support of the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 and established the Church of England.
7. disavow–to disclaim knowledge of, responsibility or association with
8. disabuse–to undeceive
9. disengagement–freedom from engrossing ties
10. disembowel–to take or let out the bowels of
11. dishabille–the state of being dressed in a loose or careless style
12. distain–(archaic)–to discolor; to tarnish
13. disingenuous–not frank and candid; deceivingly simple

Whew! That’s it for today’s jaunt through vocabulary. I seem to do better with lists of 13 words. So, come back next week for another thrilling journey through the dictionary!

For more Thursday 13 participants, click here…

I thought some of these shots came out looking more like fire flowers than fireworks.

Visit more Wordless Wednesday participants…

Though I am sure that whiling and/or wasting away my time tapping out precepts on the keyboard is not the way to my husband’s heart, I wanted to share this nugget of wisdom with you. Through this series, I won’t be highlighting every way to say I love you mentioned in this book. However, I do want to pick out the ones that seem most meaningful or useful. The one I am choosing for today is the writing of love notes.

When I had just graduated from college, I found the cutest little notes. They were pre-inscribed with beautiful words of wisdom and were just the right size for tucking into lunchboxes or brief-cases. I have since forgotten what those little notes were called but the idea is furthered by what Arterburn, Dreizler and Dargatz call the Hour Class. For each hour of the day, write your mate, friend, parent or child a love note. It can be as simple as: I hope you enjoy your lunch to You brighten up my every hour. If your loved one has constant email capabilities, how about setting your email program to deliver little notes to them throughout the day? Sure, it’s not as romantic as the hand-written note, but we all do what we can–right?

So, starting right now, I am sending out a love note. Though he most likely will not read this for several more days…

James, I love your smile and your sense of humor. I love and am thankful for your unending patience with my crazy mood swings and schemes. I look forward to many more adventures with you…

Just a few of the many friends…

We had such a lovely time with our friends Friday night. Of course, it always devolves to energetic if not accomplished karaoke and dancing with abandon. I am incredibly thankful for friends with whom I feel safe and beloved. Of course, it hasn’t always been that way for me–as I’m sure it has not always been that way for you. If you are not surrounded by safe, loving friends at this stage in your life, I pray that you will once again know the blessing and the joy of good people lifting you up.

And singing Love Shack. But, that’s a whole ‘nother story…

When we were gifted with several lovely, delicious and enormous zucchini by the Elfgirl’s great-grandfather, I had my hands full grating and slicing. After many helpings of most excellent zucchini noodles, I began to think that zucchini bread should figure prominently in our diet. Since the ill-timed death of our oven, I have not been able to make this scrumptious loaf. However, I thought some of you might enjoy the recipe as well. Knowing that many of you are in more temperate climes, you are most likely just arriving at the zenith of your zucchini harvest and are looking for more ways to prepare your bounty. I hope you enjoy this recipe.

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour (or, 3 cups ww pastry flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

2 cups sugar (1 cup brown, 1 cup white)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk (may substitute buttermilk, in which case, omit lemon juice)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 cups shredded zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two loaf pans. Mix together all dry ingredients. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, lemon juice and milk together. Stir wet ingredients into dry. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into loaf comes out clean.