Black Eyed Susan's Kitchen

GARDEN QUICKIES

            Finally, a little sunshine and an opportunity to appreciate... how much our little community garden plot has grown. The zucchini flowers mean that there will be zucchini on the menu very soon. Our little potager in our backyard is starting to look exciting too, with the exception of the pepper plants which could not deal with the cool temperatures and excessive rain. The nasturtium flowers have decided to make an appearance, much to my delight, and the hydrangea in the front and back gardens are just painting the landscape with the most lovely blue, purple and lavender colors. To add to the calidescope, the lillies are screaming for attention too. The potted plants are expecting their 15 minutes of fame as well, showing up in their begonia pink finery and the cool white of a vintage pot. It is all just tooo lovely. I hope that you are enjoying the summer gardens as much as I am.
♥, Susan                   

JOY

                 Time passes, days begin, days end, and what comes out of this is what we make of it? Sort of. The other day, I was talking with my father on the phone, actually whining about the weather. Typical of my dad, he pointed out how green the lawns and trees were and obviously this was due to the inordinate amount of rainfall we have been experiencing. Nuff said...no rain, no rainbows. This is probably why I am ridiculously optimistic....all the time...about everything.
                 Last week, my sister had a party at her house to celebrate the high school graduation of her youngest son, Max. Here is a picture of the party girls celebrating...I am on the right in white, next to me is my sister and then my sister in law who came up from Florida for the event, my mother and my sister in law who came up from Pennsylvania. Let me first say, that my sister and I are so very lucky to have the best sisters in law...ever! Our brothers chose well. Just look at the smile on Grandma's face...nothing makes her happier than to be with her family (Grandpa too...I just didn't get a picture of him) The graduate, Max.... went to the same school since he was two years old. With much tenacity, his parents and his older brother made sure that he had what he needed to get through all of those years of school work. We all know that to graduate high school is no simple task these days, and to graduate while dealing with disabilities makes this milestone all the more appreciable. We are all so proud of Max. College awaits.
        My sister and brother in law threw one heck of a party. The food was amazing, and of course there were baked goods that would rival the best Viennese tables. My younger brother represents many food suppliers, and he always makes sure that our collective gourmet sweet teeth are happy.  My sister has a somewhat dramatic, yet homey aesthetic when it comes to decorating. I love being at her house..there is always something interesting to look at. So, other than wanting one last time to wish Max the best and tell him again how very proud we are, I would also like to say a little about family. I know that I can speak for everyone on both sides of my family when I say that although it is not that easy for all of us to get together, it always brings us great joy when we do. For every milestone that we get to celebrate,  and for whatever reason we can find to have a party, we will make every effort to spend our time together. There is no more joyful occasion than that which is spent with a loving family.
♥, Susan    

WEST NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY

                    The beauty of staycations is that you can visit areas of your state that you have never seen before, or you can revisit your history. Today, we went for a revisit. Almost 32 years ago, I moved into a little studio apartment in this building. It is on Boulevard East in West New York, which is on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. Unbeknownst to me, a handsome young man moved into the apartment on the other side of mine about a month earlier. This is where I met my husband. We each had a studio on the third floor of this building. A year later, after many dates and being "glued" together, we moved into a one bedroom apartment on the eighth floor. We were married not too long after that. If we stepped out the front door of the apartment building, this was the view across the street. These pictures were taken today, and even though it is very cloudy out, the view is still stunning. This is the view looking up the Hudson River. On a clear day it is absolutely amazing. After our trip down memory lane, we took a trip to the Japanese market in Edgewater New Jersey, which is just below West New York and also on the river. We spied a little zen sitting area before walking into the market. We had lunch, as they have a marvelous food court with every kind of Japanese noodle and bento box. My daughter and I had the shrimp tempura udon soup, that was delicious, and my husband had a fried seafood dish with all kinds of accoutraments and of course a bowl of rice. Then we went shopping. If you know someone who is into Hello Kitty, Anime, or any other Japanese pop culture icons, this is your place. There were warriors and ninja's and some very fun and colorful other things. There was dishware and chopsticks, bento boxes and rice bowls and just all sorts of lovely and exotic stuff. We really had to practice some self control here. It was a lovely and fun adventure and our daughter got to see where we first met. I will leave you with one  last look at Manhattan from the Jersey side... long sigh... I love this view.
♥, Susan
                    

PETITE PINK FOR SATURDAY

              

Just about everything pink is pretty. Beverly, of How Sweet the Sound, has put together a list of perfect Pink Saturday posts that are guaranteed to make you smile. Today, I have a little sweet pinkness. Pretty pink buttons, and a pretty pink wreath, and pretty pink roses painted above the valance in the kitchen. A plethora of pretty pink for today. Please click on How Sweet the Sound to find Beverly's blog and all of the other pink posts.
♥, Susan       

DISTRACTED

                  I am an organized person. A list maker extraordinaire. On any given day, I will have an orderly plan of attack, so why am I so distracted this week? The people who live in the house with me....my family, are very busy, and because the "children" are no longer children, they make their own plans. June is that month when birthdays and graduations and vacations collide, and my simple organized universe is turned upside down. I am forgetting important days (sorry Elizabeth...I missed your birthday...Happy belated), and trying to reconcile schedules and I am thinking, that maybe the best thing that I can do is just let it go. Breathe in, breathe out and realize that I have lost control. School will end next week for my youngest (he will be a senior next year), Daughter in the middle is home from college for the summer and working already, and well, beautiful oldest is on her own. Next week my husband is on vacation, and we will be having a staycation. We will be addressing some decor issues that I am having with our house and we will be running around the Jersey Shore in search of fun and sunshine. Hopefully there will be some antiquing involved and I am sure there will be some good meals too. I hope to have one of these on the weekend, with a nice fish dinner. ( A restaurant in Castleton Vermont, called the Trak Inn, has an appetizer on the menu. Mary and the boys...a bloody Mary with shrimp cocktail style shrimp. Not only delicious, but a destresser when you are feeling distracted). Then we will be making plans to go here for another vacation week this summer. Just looking at these pictures and making vacation plans is making me feel a little more centered and a little less distracted. I am breathing again. Now for the honeydo list.
♥, Susan   

STARTED ON SUNDAY, FINISHED ON MONDAY

                Reading the NY Times this morning, I came upon this article. The title, "When Blogs Fall in an Empty Forest", caught my eye. It had some very interesting statistics. Numbers were printed, like 10 million active blogs and how many of them were actually active. There were mentions of dormant blogs, and what the writers get out of their blogs. When I finished reading the article, true to my nature, I picked it apart, and in its dissection, there came this realization that the blog world is not, one world. For as many half empty/half full people (bloggers) that there are, there will be just that many opinions and this is just the writers opinion. Negative blogs don't last. People who rant and rave and find fault before positive, wear themselves out. Do we really want to read a blog daily, when the writer is going whine and complain? Even they get tired of their own blogs. To get to the point, there are many, many ongoing blogs with many, many readers. The majority of the blogs that I read are creative, informative, personal, and positive. There are blogs that I can honestly say that I have been reading for years and will continue to do so because they make me happy. So, write on people and I will continue to read. Bad attitudes need not apply.

               Now, what would a Monday be without a yard sale update. First, let me say, don't hate me because I live in the land of fabulous yard sales. On Saturday morning, I found, a set of two of these pictures. They are from Australia and made from the bark of trees. This is apparently, an ancient Aboriginal art form. How do I know this? Both paintings were signed, front and back, with some of the clues to the information. The rest of the info  came from Google. I just thought that they were unique and pretty and for 2.00 a big bargain. Now, finding these pictures was the warm up. We happened upon a sale, that had, the most perfect Mitchell Gold upholstered  chairs in the most perfect color for my living room. The price? 50.00 each. I'll take them...the reply, someone already did...bummer...but then I turned around and spotted this magnificent piece of furniture. Let me show you a close up. It is made by Haversham Plantation and is the most wonderful shade of butter yellow. Without thinking, I shoved the 80.00 into the sellers hands and told her that we would pick it up in a little while. Everything at this sale was high end gorgeous, and there was a swarm of humanity buying it all up. After we brought it home, the dilemma set in. Where was it to go? When I bought it, I had planned to put it on this wall, in the dining room. Moving the antique library cabinet into the living room. I thought it would go so well with the furniture in here. Alas, sometimes when you have to make a snap decision, size does matter, and the size did not match up. This is a big piece of furniture measuring 74 inches long, and I was  determined to find a great place for it. In the end, we put it in the living room, in this corner. Not only do I think that I snagged the bargain of the century, but I really like the way it looks here. Now I am off to see who else went yard saling this weekend.

♥, Susan           

SATURDAYS ARE FOR PINK....AND A LITTLE GOLD CAN'T HURT

  Does pink go with everything? I am pretty sure that it does. I am very sure that it goes great with gold....14 karat gold that is. When I had my 16th birthday, now, that would be a million years ago, I was given a charm to go on my bracelet. This is a copy of that charm, found on ebay this week. My charm has the enamel worn off (it is a million years old, you know), but this one looks shiny and new. There is a tiny mechanism in the cake that you can push up with you finger, and when you do, the candles pop up.
          Another awesome gold and pink combination is this Sara Eyestone print. For many years, the artist lived right near us. One of the stores in town featured her work, and I loved it. At the time, we had just moved here and being very house poor, all I could do was admire her work. She has since moved away, but as luck would have it, I found this signed print, all framed and matted at a yard sale....I know!...I couldn't believe it either. I didn't even ask why anyone would want to sell it....I just paid the price and brought it home. Sara now lives in New Mexico, but if you click here, you can go to her web page and see more of her exquisite garden paintings.
         Thank you to Beverly for hosting another Pink Saturday.  To see more posts from Beverly's Pink Saturdays, please go to How Sweet the Sound. See you for more pink next Saturday.
♥, Susan

CARPS AND FLEAS

     I know, sounds pretty doesn't it (and for those who watch The Big Bang Theory, yes, that was sarcasm)? First the carping, or griping if you will. Our community garden plot this weekend, everything is coming up and looking nice and green, but wait...what is this? Someone...or something, ate our Swiss Chard!!! A close investigation shows some telltale deer prints...and so it begins. More prints in the greenbean patch...not feeling the love for Bambi these days.
          Carping finished...now on to the stunningly gorgeous weather we had this weekend, which was just perfect for the Ocean Grove Flea Market. Just look at that sky! We have been going to this flea market twice a year, for the last 12 years at least and maybe more. This year, we saw some wonderful vintage items, and some New Age crystal things, and some very fun kitschy things, and some very usable collections, and some exceptionally cool repurposed items, and great planters, and lots of fantastic and fun jewelry, and quite a bit of hammered aluminum. None that I might have added to my collection, but nice to see it out there. There were lots of things to laugh about, like the dogs playing cards, and the perfect collection of Dwarf's, and I thought that this pot genie thing was pretty clever until I realized that it was just a long metal stick run through the flower pots and I could probably do the same with an old wire hanger (which I will have to try). There were plenty of food vendors, and of course the ShamWow guy, but my most favorite item at the market, and the thing I most wanted to take home and didn't was this pink painted patio set...in a word, FABULOUS!!! So, what did I buy? A never used vintage tablecloth with matching napkins. That was it, and I was perfectly happy with my purchase. Now, I am looking forward to the flea in September...maybe I will see you there.
♥, Susan                           

THE HOME GROWN COMFORT ZONE

                 A porch, a patio, a deck or a lanai, all of these spaces evoke a home grown comfort zone. A multi-purpose  outdoor room to enjoy for many occasions. Rhondi, of the Rose Colored Glasses blog is having  her annual porch party today. What better way to start the month of June than to be out on the porch. First let me invite you to our front porch... where there is a nice little bench to sit on, a welcoming sign that says "There is no place like home", and a Jade plant that needs its own area code. Now whether you walk through the house, or you come around to the back of the house, here you will find the screened porch. You can see the two entrances here. The screened door is original and has been restored by my loving husband, because I could not bear to put a new door on the old porch. As we walk through the porch, we approach my favorite seating area. I personally love the wicker rocker and find it very comfortable. My husband enjoys the white wrought iron chair. There are more wicker chairs for visitors, because it is so lovely to have tea and sit out on the porch with guests. An empty corner became an opportunity to display the white ironstone found at yard sales.  Here is a glance at the back of the porch where the honeysuckle is starting to poke through the lattice. When we sit here and relax, this is the view through the screen. One of our favorite things to do though, is to have dinner with family and friends, out here with the candles glowing. A nice bowl of pasta and a glass of chianti and we are at our favorite "restaurant". Because at night, our porch becomes the most romantic place on earth.  You can even ask Pixie because  she would  never  miss an opportunity to be out on the porch. Thank you Rhondi for this delightful party invitation. I hope everyone enjoyed their time spent on our porch and now I am on my way to visit you on your porch.
♥, Susan