Yard Art by Local Artisans

I have a favorite piece of art on my deck that is very clever and original. It's an old table knife with forks and spoons hung from it like a mobile. It is attached to the eaves of my house facing the deck, and it provides a sweet and subtle sound as the wind gently moves it. Since we spend a lot of time eating on our deck in Adirondack chairs, it's an appropriate decoration.

I am amazed at the number of local artisans available in our country area. I have an arbor fashioned from copper pipe welded together, a wood pergola separating my front yard from the pasture, many wooden garden supports, birdhouses, chairs, tables, and handmade wreaths hung from gates and fences. I even have a small quilt top made to look like the US flag affixed to the fence in the summertime. It all goes together well.

This weekend, I'm on the lookout for more supports for my burgeoning garden vegetables. I'll go to the antique mall in Monroe to see what they have, and pause for a while to have lunch at the bakery there, and meander my way home the 'back way' through old Snohomish and then home to Maltby. It's the Slow Life, and it's the life for me.

Roasted Corn Salad

During my Williams Sonoma cooking classes, I learned how to make a Roasted Corn Salad. It's a summer salad, using ingredients fresh from the Farmer's Market, and the recipe is below. It's a beautiful and colorful salad, and it looks nice on the buffet table.

6 ears fresh corn, roasted on the grill (drizzled with olive oil)

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup red onion, chopped

1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley

Cumin powder, cumin seeds

Grill the corn, cool, and remove kernels with a corn zipper. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine 2 tsp. ground cumin, 1 tsp chili powder (mild), juice from 3 lemons. Whisk together, and add 1/2 cup olive oil. Set aside.

Mix the corn, tomatoes, onion, and cilantro. Pour the viniagrette over the salad, tossing well.

In a 350 degree oven, toast 2 tsp cumin seeds, until slightly brown, about 5 minutes. Cool.

Chill in frig for at least 3 hours before serving. Arrange salad on a tray, and sprinkle with 1/2 cup Feta cheese and the toasted cumin seeds.

Festive Party Lights for Summer Nights

I hung my Japanese lanterns from my outdoor white fairy lights last night, and clicked the white battery-operated paper orbs on. They lit up the summer night sky, competing with the moon.

I've got several Farm to Table parties scheduled for the month of August, and I can't wait to gather together friends and family to share good food, fun, games, and conversation.

I sat outside tonight and enjoyed the beautiful evening after the sun went down. The lights add a wonderful ambience to the back yard, and I lingered quite a while, thinking back over the day, grateful for another day's work, and anticipating the end of the week when our next few vacation days begin.

Tree Hugger

My neighbor to the south of me has four lovely acres and a home that looks like an English country estate. He has a huge old flowering cherry tree that borders the white picket fence in my front yard. In the spring, the tree is so heavy with beautiful pink blossoms that the branches sway and dip toward the ground. It is truly a wondrous sight.

I found out last weekend that this tree is slated for removal in the next few weeks. While my neighbor has planned to take this tree out for the last four years, it has never happened because I've told him how much the tree means to me, and he relented. However, it looks like the time has come to say goodbye to this long-standing member of the neighborhood. My front yard will look so bare without the lovely and graceful branches, the broad-leafed foliage, and of course, the spectacular spring blooms.

I fleetingly thought about chaining myself to the tree to save it, but discarded the notion. I've made my thoughts clear and my last request has been denied.

The beauty of the neighborhood will be diminished, but the memories of that lovely tree will live on forever in my mind.

The Art of Provence

We celebrated the warm sunny weekend by attending the Bellevue Art Fair in downtown Bellevue last Saturday. This is the premier art fair in the state of Washington, and attendance this year exceeded all previous years. There were hundreds of artists displaying their works, and we spent many hours talking to artists and sculptors and rug weavers and entertainers. It's always inspiring to be around so many creative people.

After a quick lunch in the air-conditioned mall, we found a photographer who travels extensively in Europe and who has an impressive collection of lovely prints that appealed to both of us. We settled on a photo taken in Provence of a bistro table with a beautiful yellow and blue tablecloth--so evocative of life in France. It was just what I was looking for!

It now has pride of place on my kitchen counter, right next to my coffeemaker and my clay jar of Starbucks whole coffee beans. It looks perfect with my French Country furnishings in the house, and it will bring back memories of this year's art fair for both of us.

The Garden in Midsummer

The weather here has been warm and sunny now for several weeks, and the garden has responded to all of the heat and light. The peas and beans are doing well, as are the Choggia Beets and swiss chard.

This last weekend, I found some garden supports, one wood and one metal, to put in the raised beds to support the plants as they continue to grow. They add an ornamental quality to the garden, too, and it won't be long before the beans and peas have completely taken over these structures.

The garden is a place of hope, where we tend our plants and flowers daily, and then sit back and wait for nature to take its course. It's a commitment of time and energy, but the reward are great.

As I grow in my technical knowledge of horticulture, I'm hoping for a better garden each year. That's my dream, anyway. We'll see.

Silence

When I first moved from the city to the country, I couldn't get over how silent it was except for the occasional hooting of an owl or a serenade by croaking frogs. I had gotten used to screeching brakes, shouts from sidewalks, and piercing sirens. At first the silence kept me up at night. I tried to find ways to fill up the 'nothingness', turning on the radio or the fan.

I finally realized the extent to which our days are filled with the constant buzz of background noise. Even if you turn off all of the obvious noisemakers, the sound of the refrigerator or an alarm will kick in. The opportunity to experience complete silence is so rare that when you encounter it, it feels unnatural.

When we take a week off and go to the beach, it takes me at least two days just to get used to the quiet and the thoughts in my head. I can finally hear things like the beat of my own heart, or the sound of the waves in the distance.

In the last 30 years, there has been an unprecedented growth of noise in our society. Cars honk, video games blare, and leaf blowers are earsplitting. Think of noise pollution as second-hand smoke--even if you are minding your own business, you're forced to put up with it. What can we do in order to counteract the volume in our lifes and rediscover true quiet?

1) Make your home a haven of tranquility--find ways to make things quiet at home.

2) Create a sense of calm--practice meditation or muscle relaxation.

3) Tune it out--daydream.

4) Give your brain a break--put on headphones.

5) Speak up-- tell the person next to you that they are bothering you.

6) Fight for peace--Noise Pollution Clearinghouse at noise.org

In the long run, a quieter life will mean a healthier life. It's good for your body, your mind, and your spirit.