Green with Envy

May was not my month. I lost our little Opie, our 23+ eyar old cat, and he went very quickly. I was sick most of the month, very sick, and I nearly got divorced. Memorial Day, founded by Gen. John A. Logan of Carbondale area, Southern Illinois, has always been a disaster. We've had family deaths, illness, vandalism, arguments, you name it; the day is haunted, and this year was no exception. It's been very sad. So, I planted, and tried to live well, and cooked a little bit. I found a gorgeus hibiscus tree with pink blooms, and a vintage redware pot for it. My neighbor gifted me with phantom petunias, which are black with yellow stripes. She also brought an orange dahlia, planted in an orange tin pail, to sit on my vintage orange chair outside!

I have found lots of summer recipes, including one for avocado salad, which is simply sliced avocado, sliced tomato, olive oil, vinager, basil/oregano, and sliced onion combined and chilled.

Lately, I depend a lot on greens, and on simple recipes that require chilling. I feel my mother's sandwich loaf coming on, and some good egg salad and cheese salad sandwiches. I have spent a lot of time sitting outside, though my quasi-enbvironmentalist neighbor and his destructive kids are a pain. The littlest one is watering the cement, and then aiming the hose at the foundation of my house and basement windows. I could do without a water-filled basement, but if I tell his parents, I'll be verbally abused, and possibly assaulted, again. So much for the great prof and his wife. I can't understand the toxic emissions from his truck and formaldehyde pseudo wood he burns and pollutes us all with, let alonet he lighter fluid smell, yet he considers himself John Muir. I think not. The water they waste is enough to make any decent home gardner and recycler scream.

I could also do with coming home one night without those kids calling me names, and sticking their tongues out at me.

Well, my "green tip" for people like this is to ignore them, literally. They are phonies who thrive on attention, or, as I like to call them, "Ken and Barbie" on acid, though I love the real K and B. Ironically, all he has ever done to "converve" or play gardner is to cut down some really nice old cyprus trees and decidous trees on his property, as well as uproot a couple flower beds and some nice hostas. Go figure.

Enough said. Please view my other blogs. I'm intereseted in recipes for Kohlrabe, which I'm growing, and am looking for ideas for my large bottle gourds coming up. Happy Greening, and take heart!