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Roses Aren't Just for Valentine's Day
I started
buying roses on a regular basis when a local Fresh Market opened and began
selling them for $7.99-$8.99 a dozen. As soon as I get my roses home, I make an
arrangement using one or two blossoms.
The rest I
place in a jar of water in the refrigerator. As the buds open, the stems can be
cut back to about an inch and the flower floated in a dish. When they finally
fade, I pull a fresh replacement out of the refrigerator. This way, I can enjoy
a dozen roses for two or more weeks.
The other secret to long-lasting arrangements is the flower frog. A "frog" is a heavy metal device with spikes. The frog not only holds the flower firmly in place, it ensures it remains hydrated.
Here are two recipes Mrs. Costello cooked in Dreams for Stones. My
grandmother, on whom Mrs. Costello is based, cooked by look, feel, and taste, so
it took hours of careful observation to determine the ingredients and their
amounts.
Cherry Pie
Read more
Cinnamon Rolls
Take balsamic vinegar and reduce its volume to approximately one half by boiling. The resultant syrup will be thicker, sweeter, and smoother than the original.
Available now from Samhain Publishers
Bestselling author Lori Foster and her online readers’ group, has maintained a troop project for the past several years. They have joined forces with over 90 of your favorite authors to compile a book of tasty treats to raise funds for the continued support of America’s Troops.
See my recipes on pages: 11,106,108,109,110,182
For more information, visit Lori Foster’s website or her reader group.
My husband and I have had the great good fortune to be able to travel extensively, and I'll be sharing descriptions of some of our experiences.
Hervey Bay is a pleasant day's journey north of Brisbane on Australia's east coast. It has a lovely accessible beach with an accompanying esplanade that features a range of accommodations and restaurants. On this trip, we choose to stay a few blocks off the esplanade at the Kundari Resort. I'm a bit disappointed with my first view of the resort, but once we reach our quarters, my disappointment changes to delight. Our small cabin, complete with kitchen and living room, has a porch overlooking a small lake teeming with birds, including a black swan with three cygnets.
We
settle in and book the whale watch we came for. Humpback whales stop off in
Hervey from the end of July until the last week in October. We've arrived in
mid-August, a perfect time. We choose
QuickCatII for our tour
because we had an outstanding experience with the company four years earlier.
QuickCat II is specifically designed for whale-watching, with tiered seating on
the bow that provides everyone on board a clear view.
After an hour of fast travel to the north end of the bay, with the mainland receding on our left and Fraser Island, the world's largest sand dune, on the right, the captain quickly spots a pod of four whales.
He slows, and as we reach the minimum allowable distance
from the whales, shuts down the engines. We start to rock and roll. Dramamine
is recommended for uncertain sailors and warm clothing is also an excellent
idea.
It's
a happy fact that while boats can't approach too closely to whales, nobody's
informed the whales they can't get as close as they want to the boats. For over
an hour, the four in our pod cavort off our bow, sometimes coming as close as
fifty feet, treating us to views of flippers and flukes, and a special treat, a
spectacular breech. All of it comes accompanied by the gusty sound of
whalebreath, although luckily without the smells, which we've been told are
nasty.
After two experiences with the Hervey Bay whales, we're convinced they enjoy being watched. They remind us of oversized toddlers, Look at me breech, Ma. Scientists have no explanation for why the whales stop off at Hervey during their annual migration to Arctic waters, but perhaps in addition to enjoying the attention, they are simply enjoying the opportunity to do a little human-watching.
