Flowers enliven a rainy day

The morning rain made my garden too wet for weeding and planting, but the raindrops on the flowers glistened, beckoning me to bring some of that beauty indoors. One of my favorite things to do when the flowers are blooming is to make arrangement for the house, or to give to friends. Peonies have been sending their beautiful fragrance through the living room and daisies have been smiling at me.

But it’s not only flowers that make for a pretty arrangement. Today’s combination includes:
2 Our Lady of Guadalupe roses
3 flowering chives
3 flowering sage branches
5 wispy branches of a flowering bush whose name I don’t recall. I rarely get flowers on the little bush because it doesn’t get enough summer sunlight, but it still beautifies an arrangement.

Those multi-purpose herbs are among my favorites. They only bloom in the spring but the rest of the year they provide gifts to enhance the vegetables I’m growing.

A couple of weeks ago when the Lillies of the Valley were in bloom I discovered a new trick for arranging them. They aren’t tall flowers so they do pose a challenge. I routinely save glass bottles and jars of all sorts, assuming I’ll find a use for them one day. Indeed, one of them was perfect for the short Lillies. I used an old herb shaker, with the shaker top still intact, as a vase. I first cut a piece of fabric to wrap around the container, fastened it with a ribbon that I tied into a bow, then put one or two flower stems through each hole. It was the perfect size for those little blooms.

So challenge yourself. Be creative. Walk among your flowers and listen. Maybe they’ll whisper ideas for how they would like to take a little beauty into your life today.

Make a little taste of Ireland

When Jim and I spent a week in Ireland, we both fell in love with the country and its food. Breakfast was always substantial with eggs, an accompanying meat and bread and some strong Irish tea or coffee. It’s the kind of breakfast that energizes the visitor who wants to explore all day. Later in the day, after an afternoon tea break, we would search for a pub or more elegant restaurant to enjoy a feast of an evening meal. There were always mashed potatoes, usually served over or under the meat or another vegetable.

For all the wonderful places we dined, Jim’s favorite was the Irish version of a highway rest stop. We looked around the few historic buildings in the area then headed into the cafeteria for lunch. Jim still talks about his smoked salmon sandwich, which couldn’t be easier to make.

Irish Smoked Salmon Sandwich

Choose a bread that you like to eat toasted. Toast two slices.
Spread cream cheese on your toasted bread. Chop chives (or dill) from your garden and sprinkle over the cream cheese.
Add smoked salmon.
Top sandwich with second piece of bread and enjoy.

Of course you can experiment with adding your favorite condiment, caramelized onions, roasted peppers, sprouts, lettuce or any other favorite sandwich topping. However, first try the simple version. Sometimes the pure flavor of simple ingredients is impossible to best. If the smoked salmon is good, it truly needs very little to go with it.