Little Red Houses and Apple Trees

I finished this quilt block this morning. This is my own design.

I kept trying to think of something to use up some of my buttons. And I love these apple buttons that belonged to a shirt I wore as a child.

New England Clam Chowder

Updated from the archives January 29, 2010:


One of the things I miss the most about the Pacific Northwest is free seafood. I spent my childhood summers playing at the beach while my parents were fishing and clamming.

My family shows our love through food. So every trip home, or when my parents visit, always results in stocking my freezer with fresh seafood.

I looooove clam chowder. And when it's fresh, made with razor clams that my parents dug up on the Oregon coast, it's sooooo good.

I prefer using milk instead of cream because it's healthier and less filling, or rather, it doesn't sit in my stomach as much as cream would. Then I can eat more clam chowder. Yippee!!

Angelface Roses, Lettuce, and Strawberry Blossoms

My Angelface rose bush looking quite lovely. My roses are really overgrown. Weeds are everywhere. Need rain to soften the hard-packed clay so I can weed my garden.

Below is the view of my side garden where my herb garden is located. There's a white and yellow Lady Fairbanks climbing roses on each side of the trellis. I thought they were both white when I bought them. And so few plants take to clay soil that I decided to leave them be instead of trying to color coordinate. The rose bush in front is my Ambassador rose. I love its melony color.

There were so many rocks in our yard that I made a "rock riverbed." There's cement slabs to make a meandering walking path with Irish moss in between. At the end of the trail is a makeshift bench with another trellis where I've planted some wisteria.

The herb garden includes half a dozen rose bushes, a lilac, a papaya tree, tomatoes, sorrel, lettuce, leeks, parsley, chile pepper, apple and spearmint, Vietnamese coriander, perilla, lavender, rosemary, curry plant, rose-scented geranium, hollyhocks, nasturtiums, tuberoses, chrysanthemums, Siam tulips, passionfruit, and strawberries.

I ventured into my garden to pick lettuce to add to the bagged baby lettuce salad I was serving for Thanksgiving dinner. Sad crop, eh? I used a whole envelope of seed and this was all I got. The crickets ate everything this year. One of the nice aspects to Southern California weather is a second crop of strawberries in late November.