An Award from Afar

I received an award from a blogging acquaintance in Belgium this week! What a thrill to know someone so far away reads my ramblings. Jientje and I share a love of Provence. I love reading about her adventures there, but I also love her daily blogs from Belgium. She's an awesome photographer; I especially like that she's intrigued with windows and doors. Her photos of those things are particularly fascinating. Her award also reminded me that I need to write again about France. It always lifts my spirits when I can share memories of my favorite place.

Bridge Philosophy

What do you think? Is love blind? Do you believe in love at first sight?

I like this one. I often find myself talking instead of doing. A good reminder that ideas need action.

I'm glad that Joy and Doug found love inspite of tragedy and came back to tell the world.

Words of wisdom from the Imes Bridge, St. Charles, Iowa.

Imes Bridge

I live in Madison County, Iowa. Yes, it's that county...the one made famous by Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep in the movie, The Bridges of Madison County. And I've passed this covered bridge twice a day for the last five years as I commute to and from work. I think I stopped 'seeing' it about

four and a half years ago. It simply faded into the backdrop of the daily drive. It really is a pretty little bridge. It's been moved, of course, from the stream it formerly spanned. Now it rests in the tiny city park (four picnic tables, a trash can, a parking area) that welcomes you to St. Charles, Iowa. In the early days, Madison County was known for its many rivers and streams. There were several covered bridges in the county at one time; now there are only six left. By summer's end I hope to show you all of them.

The inside of the bridge is a mass of wooden cross beams and supports. The sides have been painted; the roof beams left their natural color. Lucie and I spent several minutes reading the graffiti and messages left by countless visitors. There are hundreds of variations of the "Bink Loves Cece" carved inside a hand-drawn heart. There are many, many messages that say something like, "Mike was here." Some folks could use a remedial grammar lesson, i.e. the Shermans who wrote "The Sherman's was here in '02." Someone named Allie proclaimed that she is "the greatest photographer around." Someone else fairly shouted "Texas Rocks!" Kids record their ages; older folk commemorate birthdays, anniversaries. Molly and Roger from Minnesota visited 2007 Sept.9 and added "53 years." How long they've been married, perhaps? Do you think the men who hoisted the crossbeams and timbers and hammered in the latticed planks realized that people over a hundred years later would marvel at their handiwork? What are you building today that will withstand the test of a hundred years?

Come back tomorrow to enjoy some 'bridge philosophy.'

Summer in Iowa

We're in the midst of another hot, humid summer in Iowa. The difference this year, however, is the amount of hard, heavy rain that's fallen. Once again, southern Iowa is flooded with water over roads and rivers and creeks out of their banks. All this rain brings some delights, though, like the lovely wildflowers that grow at Jensen Marsh where I walk Lucie these days. I wish I could send along the sounds of the marsh as well. Chirping crickets, birdsong, and froggy trills and croaks keep Lucie and I company on our walks. I especially enjoy the low muttering croaks of the bullfrogs. That sound is another of my favorite things about Iowa in the summer. We frequently disturb the marsh's great blue heron when we walk. He glides silently away as we advance. Nesting ducks scoot off into the water and the kingfisher finds a dead tree to light in further away from our encroaching footfalls.
It's 9am and time to get going. Lucie is anxious for some outside time, and I'm anxious to get our walk in before the heat of the day intensifies. Who knows what wonders await us on our daily stroll?

Cookbooks

After I published yesterday's blog post, I realized that I didn't share where my cooking inspirations come from. I have quite an extensive cookbook collection (put on your surprise face!). The ones pictured at the left are a few of my favorites. You can see they range from Indian to Italian to French to a book of simple dinnertime recipes for folks too busy to spend an entire afternoon putting together a meal. Last night's puff pastry/goat cheese delight is from the Susan Loomis book "Cooking at Home on Rue Tatin" The luscious panna cotta that I'll eat tonight (I sampled it this morning...tres magnifique!) is from Lynn Rossetto Kasper's "The Italian Country Table." I'll move onto Lynn's most recent book "The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper" for tonight's over-roasted chunks of pork steak with roasted greens and red peppers. I'll make a side dish of steamed green beans tossed with lemon zest and grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese from that cookbook as well. I love just reading these cookbooks; all have cultural information as well as culinary treats.

This cookbook, however, is my very favorite. It was published in 1972, and I bought it soon after. The name on the inside cover says "Evelyn Wyman," so you get an idea just how long I've had it. It's dirty and stained (it's made more than one trip into the Yellowstone backcountry!) the pages are dog-eared and torn. You can't tell from this photo, but it's held together with clear packing tape on the binding. The book is called "The Vegetarian Epicure" by Anna Thomas. Ms. Thomas wrote a volume 2 that I own as well; I think I've seen an updated version at Barnes and Noble recently. This is the book that changed me from a meatloaf, spaghetti, and hamburger girl to a woman enthralled with vegetables, fruits and cheese.

And bread! This book began my journey into the mysteries of bread baking. Just look at these written on, stained pages. My defining moment in bread making occurred shortly after purchasing this cookbook. I made a challah to take to my friend, Barbara's house for supper. Her mother exclaimed over it..."it's so beautiful; it looks and tastes just like I remember the challah on the Sabbath from my childhood in Germany before the war!" I was hooked from that moment. I've made every bread recipe in the book; I even made bread routinely in the wood cookstoves of the Yellowstone backcountry. You know, I really should start making my own bread again. Every time I buy bread at the store, I'm disappointed with it. Maybe I could even master croissants!

Cooking Saturday Evening Away

One of my greatest pleasures is spending a blustery, snowy winter's afternoon cooking. I load the the stereo with jazz CD's (Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, and Sidney Bechet are favorites), build a cozy fire in the woodstove, and fill my glass with a big, chewy red wine. If I can find a Cahors, I'm in heaven, but any full-bodied red will do. Then, I get lost in slicing, dicing, chopping, whisking; the hours pass, the house smells yummy, and I'm rewarded with an awesome dinner.

Since moving to Iowa, I've found I can enjoy this pleasure in the summertime as well. On days like today when evening temperatures linger in the 80's with humidity to match, I crank on the AC, close up the house, and cook. I made trips to the Farmer's Market and the grocery store today, so I zoomed home after the 5pm service at church and began the ritual. This time the CD's are Edith Piaf and the wine is a chilled dry Vouvray...a white wine from the Loire valley in France made from mostly chenin blanc grapes. My first course was a puff pastry topped with melted goat cheese, a slice of rich red tomato, two strips of anchovy, green olives and a dusting of herbes de Provence. My travel journal reminds me that I had something similar at Patrick's in Goult. That pastry was layered with carmelized onions, carmelized tomatoes, and black olives. My main plat was a mixed green salad and a summer squash dish of my own invention...sauteed bacon, onion, and sliced squash with finely chopped Swiss chard melted in. For dessert...sliced melon. I put together panna cotta for dessert tomorrow night. J'ai mange tres bien! ***

The picture is from my April 2007 trip to Provence. Patrick had just filled the wooden basket with fresh veggies from market. Aren't they beautiful?

***I have eaten very well

Sunday/Dimanche

Sigh! I've spent this weekend intensely missing my grandsons and France. Since I have a Montana visit planned to see both Parker and Chase the first part of August, I've decided to indulge my other longing this morning...France. I'm definitely going through withdrawal...no trip planned, memories fading, huge sighs every time I read my favorite French blogs. What to do? Dig out the travel journal, of course. I flip it open to...

15 April 2007 Dimanche Goult
"I'm sitting here in the shadow of Baron Goult's castle in a tiny public park-never saw this on my last trip. I am going to live in this village-don't ask me how, but it's going to happen!"

I go on to describe a very busy day: markets at both Coustellet and Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, an artisan fair in Roussillon, meeting up with Susan and Steven, visiting the Goult epicerie for postcards. And no journal entry is complete without mentioning food:
"Dinner at the new restaurant in town--Le Carillon--owned by Martine from Belgium. Light meal of salad (shrimp with shredded zucchini) and dessert (vanilla ice cream drizzled with hot, melted Belgian chocolate). Yummy!"

And above--a picture of the church in Goult framed by lovely yellow iris and the square's plane tree, not yet leafed out. Eglise de Saint-Sebastien was built in the 12th century in the Romanesque style. It anchors the bottom of the village much like the windmill and Baron Goult's castle secure the top.

My last entry of the day: "I love Goult and I will live here!"

Poison Ivy

Do you remember the song? "Poi-son i-ve-e-e, poi-son i-ve-e-e. Late at night while you're sleepin' poison ivy comes a creepin' all around." Maybe you're too young, but I remember it. Was it the Coasters who sang it? Doesn't matter. All that matters is that poison ivy is the bane of my existence every summer and it definitely "came creepin' " this week. I can merely smell it and break out, so I'm very careful. Last summer I escaped its ravages by not weeding or using the weed-whacker anywhere around my yard or outbuildings. I've not done any of those things this summer either, yet this week I'm a mass of itchy, painful blisters. Perhaps an exaggeration, but I have several outbreaks on my arms, hands, abdomen. Enough that I know what I have to do. They don't go away on their own; they continue to spread no matter how much benadryl I take or Caladryl lotion I slather on. So...thank you, Jody, my doctor's nurse who called in a medrol dose pak to my pharmacy. Two doses and the intensity starts to subside. I think I'll survive!

I try to give all of God's creation the benefit of the doubt. But what exactly IS the purpose of poison ivy? and mosquitoes? and ticks?

PS...I think this summer's outbreak can be traced back to Lucie. I spent the weekend of the 4th grooming her long thick black coat. My mistake!

Almost Right

I took yesterday off from work and treated myself to a massage and a late lunch with a friend. Beth and I decided to try a newly-opened restaurant at the West Des Moines Holiday Inn. Nice place, good menu. When I saw the Warm Goat Cheese salad, my heart sang! Described as pecan-encrusted goat cheese served on a bed of mesclun garnished with slivered green apple and carrots, I thought I'd found Provence right here in the Heartland. Alas...while it was a nice salad, they didn't get it quite right. They sprinkled Maytag blue cheese crumbles all over it and that really detracted from the yummy goat cheese. I would have preferred the slivered almonds shown here or olives or anchovy strips or red peppers or....anything a bit more French and a little less Midwest!

A New Look

I've been inspired to change and voila....a new look for my blog! What inspired me? A woman in Belgium and a magazine. The woman in Belgium signs her blog, Heaven in Belgium, as "jientje." You'll have to read thru her blog archives to discover how she got that nickname. Jientje and I 'met' when I responded to a blog entry she made about Goult, and we found out that we both love that little village and in particular, share a love for the same colorful Provencal house there. Jientje's blog is full of the most beautiful photos. Her blog banner was love purple pansies, but today I found the pansies changed to flowering artichokes. I never knew artichokes could be so beautiful!

And the magazine inspiration? The August edition of Veranda. On the cover is a luscious photo of Monet's Japanese garden at Giverny. If you buy the magazine, be sure to read the article inside about Monet's passion for painting and gardening. I made my visit to Giverny in September and so missed the wisteria and tulips in bloom. The magazine pictures simply took my breath away. And I was so pleased to see my favorite rooms from inside the house featured. The yellow dining room is spectacular! As I toured the house, I lingered several minutes in that happy room and watched as others entered. Everyone...even the grumpiest tourist...broke into a smile as they came into this bright, cheery space. What a wonderful place to share a meal with family.

Thinking about purple pansies, purple artichokes, and Monet's garden made me remember the lovely wisteria that I photographed last spring in Provence. Change is good; change to purple is even better. Let me know if you like the change.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is my Dad's birthday. Born on this day in 1921, he's lived a long, interesting life and remains vigorous, strong and in perfect health! He's probably the only octagenarian I know that doesn't take a single medication. I can only I hope I inherited his healthy genes. Wish I had a better picture to share with you of my favorite guy...this one is from his Navy days during WWII. While he's obviously older now, he's every bit as cute. I love my Dad!

A couple of other famous people that share his birthday: the Dalai Lama and Frida Kahlo. Oh yeah, and George W. Bush.

I wanted to send a very special blessing to my Dad today. I couldn't find one in my "Blessings" book that completely fit, so I picked only parts of one. This is the opening and the ending of For Your Birthday.

"Blessed be the mind that dreamed the day
The blueprint of your life
Would begin to glow on earth,
Illuminating all the faces and voices
That would arrive to invite
Your soul to growth......

On this echoing-day of your birth,
May you open the gift of solitude
In order to receive your soul;
Enter the generosity of silence
To hear your hidden heart;
Know the serenity of stillness
To be enfolded anew
By the miracle of your being."

FromTo Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue

Will the Real William Shakespeare Please Stand Up?

News flash! The man we know as William Shakespeare, the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon, may be an imposter! Well, maybe this isn't exactly a news flash...after all the debate over the real identity of the person or persons who wrote Hamlet, Macbeth, and all those lovely sonnets has actually been raging since the 1780's. A recent series of reports on NPR piqued my curiosity about this controversy and has led me to do some exploration on my own.

One likely candidate for being the true author of Shakespeare's many works is Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (pictured above). He was a contemporary of Shakespeare who received a classical education and was admitted to the royal court of Queen Elizabeth I in 1560. de Vere led a checkered life being accused of murdering a servant at age 17, fathering an illegitimate child while married to another woman, being involved in both political and religious intrigue, and embarking on a homosexual affair. He was also well-known throughout his lifetime as an accomplished poet, playwright, and actor forming two acting companies that gave performances throughout England. Busy man!

There are certainly other candidates for being the 'real' William Shakespeare. Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe are two spoken of frequently. Some postulate that Shakespeare was actually a group of writers all contributing to parts of Shakespeare's legacy. To me, though, the most fascinating of all the Shakespeare 'wannabes' is Mary Sidney, nee

Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. I guess it's because she's a woman that I find her so interesting. Why is it that women of intellect and genius never seem to be taken very seriously? In this instance, Mary's genius was covered up by her son, William Herbert, for reasons known only to him. Both his life and his mother's, however, were embroiled in illicit love affairs, illegitimate children, and behavior unbecoming of royalty. Maybe his deceptions had more to do with protecting himself than with hiding Mary's talents?

Love that red hair!

A Glorious 4th of July

Please indulge me a moment of patriotism as I wish you and yours a glorious Independence Day! National Public Radio celebrated the holiday this morning with a complete reading of the Declaration of Independence. If it's been awhile since you read it (like maybe since high school?), you should take a moment and read it through. Yes, the language is old English and difficult; it certainly doesn't flow like a Stephnen King novel or a Newsweek article, but what it says is a good reminder of the important values our country was based on. And however you interpret what these values mean today in your life, you can't read the document without feeling how painful it was to break ties with England.

As I read the Wiki entry for this blog entry, I was intrigued by the reference to John Locke, English philosopher, whose ideas influenced Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, and others was they wrote and re-wrote our Declaration. Locke' writings, in turn, influenced both Voltaire and Rousseau, whose ideas planted the seeds for the French Revolution. And who influenced John Locke? Rene Descartes, another Frenchman!

Again....I'm fascinated by the 'connections.'

Blue Sky Living

From northern Africa to the South of France! My life feels like a travel wish-list lately! Blue Sky Living takes us back to the Luberon, one of my favorite travel destinations. And the journey to land of blue sky living started with a friend in Texas. How did that happen, you ask? Connections, of course. My Texas connection is my friend, Randi, who 'owns' the Dukes' and Duchesses blogspot. She's a wonderful blogger, and she's the one who convinced me that I, too, could create a blog. Creating my own blog got me interested in other blogs out there. On a particularly boring day at work, I googled blogs from Provence and discovered Extremely Pale Rose, a blog by a Brit living in Provence who sells rose wine in the village markets throughout the Luberon. Excited to connect with someone who lives right there in my favorite place, I shot an email off to Jamie Ivey: blogger, author, wine merchant, and former London attorney. We exchanged thoughts, I bought and read his book, "Extremely Pale Rose," and then reviewed it in a blog entry. It's been fun to keep connected to Provence this way.



In one of Jamie's emails he explained a project he was working on...a magazine about 'our' part of Provence. Perhaps this would help support the family during the cold winter months when market sales of rose wine dwindle. I signed up for a free copy, and last week it arrived! A beautifully done, professional quality publication, full of good writing, glorious pictures, and fun adventures. Even reading the advertisements is entertaining since they're from villages and towns that I've visited! The Immobilier (real estate) in Goult even has an ad. It's been such a delight holding this magazine in my hands and re-living my Provencal memories!



So...from a Texas friend to the blog-o-sphere to slick and beautiful Blue Sky Living...it's all about connections.

Travel Swap Surprise!

If you've been a regular reader of this blog, you'll remember an entry from January about a travel swap project I began. I sent off some goodies to my travel swap pal in France, but until yesterday, I had never heard anything back from her. When I opened the mailbox yesterday afternoon, there was my travel swap surprise! Postmarked from Tunisia, it puzzled me at first...what is this, I muttered to myself. I ripped open the mailing envelope and found among other things, a note of apology from Nadja about not getting this to me sooner. No problem! I certainly understand, and it's even more of a treat to get it quite unexpectedly. What she sent was not stuff from France, however, but from one of her favorite travel destinations, Tunisia!






If you're like me, you probably don't have a really clear idea where Tunisia is...thus the map! When I think of Tunisia, I think desert, camels, maybe even Bedouins. But as I quickly learned from reading some of the information that Nadja included, Tunisia is also a great tourist destination. She sent a brochure from her favorite hotel in Hammamet (Al-Hammamat on the map). It's called the Hotel Fourati, and it's absolutely luxurious. If you click on the link, be sure to view the other photos of it. I can envision myself sunning poolside, sipping a cool drink while I dream about camel rides and shopping in the souks.



Along with the hotel brochure there was a packet of brown sugar coated nuts, a sprig of dried jasmine, and a set of recettes, recipes for Tunisian food written in French. Remarkably I could read most of the directions, however I'm not sure if I'll make some of the dishes. I think one was for calf's feet!

There was also a beautiful tourist book about the many cities and historical sights of the country...white sand beaches framing the clear, azure waters of the Mediterranean, old Roman ruins, battle sites of many wars from the Punic Wars to World War II. But my absolute favorite gift was the carmel-colored sand from the Sahara Desert that she included. It's so soft and fine and is simply beautiful. Nadja also tucked in a little quartz crystal that's called a 'desert rose.' Be sure to open this link and take a look. Mine is very tiny, but exquisite.

The only bad thing about my travel swap goodies is the fact that Nadja lives so far away. It would be such fun to hear about her adventures in Tunisia over a cup of tea. Yet another reason to go back to France!