This blog is a mish-mash conglomerate. You know what that is, right? It’s a blog with all sorts of unrelated ideas and photos and perhaps even a recipe or two.
It’s a bits-and-bobs type blog. A type of blog which starts with one idea and ends up in Duluth, Minnesota.
(Of course–laughing–LOTS of my blogs start out in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and end up all over the place. Sometimes in the most unexpected places. So maybe this mish-mash is nothing new…)
First things first. The recipe Cindy Lou found for dill pickles. She put it under the Comments of the blog Live the Questions Now. You guys who aren’t reading the comments are missing the best part of this blog, I swear.
These are the kind of pickles you eat up within a week or two. Not the kind you work hard and can in quart jars and eat in January when it’s snowing. Barry nibbled his first pickle the other day and proclaimed it one of the best pickles he had ever eaten. The flavor. That’s what makes them so good. They’re called “Almost Hands-Free Dill Pickles.” Not strong dill. OK, I’ll quit babbling. You make ’em and decide.
1# cukes, quartered lengthwise
*Put into 1 qt. jar w/ tight-fitting lid
3/4 C white wine vinegar (we used white–turned out just fine.)
1/4 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 T sugar
1 tsp dill seed
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. salt
3/4 c hot water
*Mix until sugar dissolves.
*Pour over cucumbers, cover and frig for at least 1 day before serving.
We doubled recipe. That’s how fast we’re eating ’em.
Here’s what it looks like outside the window right now: Trees leaves waving gently in the strong breeze. Gray and white clouds on the horizon. Yellow goldenrod swaying in tall green grasses.
Half a peach–with its delicious August peach smell–awaits diving into a bowl of Kashi cereal to be drowned in sweet almond milk. The computer motor buzzes.
I am humming the song “Under the Quarter Moon” about Lake Superior’s beauty: Sing to me sweetly, Superior. Sing me Ojibwa stories under the Quarter moon. Here is a YouTube video of a group called “Nutshell” singing this classic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbfOsYVWOBU (It’s the only version I could find on YouTube.
And now comes the part where the mish-mash conglomerate (definition of conglomerate: To gather into a ball or round body; to collect into a mass. Definition of mish-mash: a collection or mixture of unrelated things; a hodgepodge) veers toward Duluth.
We are driving 221 miles toward the Big City today! YES! You know how I love to travel, right? You’ve picked this up?
Well this trip is for my beloved husband. The poor lad hasn’t had much of a vacation this year and he can’t get away for extended trips like moi. His four-day trip to Isle Royale was kinda dicey this year with eight to nine foot seas and fish hibernating from the storm. He deserves a little more vacation.
Last summer we had SUCH fun in Duluth that we’re packing the Buick with a suitcase, cooler, extra shoes and, yes, rain coats and headed out for this city of 86,918 souls on the western shore of our Lake Superior. Ooops, didn’t mean to tie two things together by mentioning Lake Superior again!
Anyone who wants to read last year’s adventure (although why would anyone want to return to the past I ask you?) click here or here or here or even here if you want to see some funny signs along the way. (P.S. so of course I have to go back and read for a refresher course…)
We’ll be back home in a coupla days. Probably before you read this we’ll be back in Aura harvesting our tomatoes which are almost–yes, almost–ready to pick. We’ve eaten maybe six of the exquisite red globes hanging in the garden.
Wishing you a hodgepodge day filled with your very own enchanted life!
(and now…on to pack the suitcase! And, yes, I’ll be bringing the laptop, Miss Ellie. She’s wanting to go so bad she’s busting out of her carrying case. She’s asking every five minutes “Can we go yet? Can we go yet?” She’ll be coming to you next with news from the road. Or the hotel. Or the coffee shop.)
Conglomerate – is that, like, another word for wandering?
No peaches here this year – too many frosts too late.
Have a wonderful trip! Interesting, isn’t it? When you live in the country, you vacation in a city. Live in a city, vacation in the country. I am so ready for a trip to the coast, but I’m not sure it’s going to happen this year.
Isn’t that weird, Carol? You are so right. We country-dwellers head to the city and the city-dwellers are off to the woods or beaches. I hope your coast trip happens.
Please – I’m not dreaming of snow quite yet – your first pic gave me a start! Have fun in Duluth and bring home some hodgepodge adventures to share. PS Love the pink lily!
Wasn’t that funny, Barb? The picture gave me a start too! No snow yet! We only hope it isn’t snowing in Duluth, lol. PS The pink lily is growing in my friend Nancy’s pond. It is often surrounded by frogs. I would love to photograph the frogs around it but they were not there when I was. Sigh.
so very very simple and sweet and oh so you, or another, as the case may be within such a sharing of experiencing!
Tis the travel self who is “simply” rarin’ to go, Elisa! Down, girl… ha ha
I love Duluth. I lived in Superior during high school, and still must make a pilgrimage to the North Shore every so often. Always get a sandwich at Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake and have coffee at Amazing Grace. Have fun!
Celeste, you are wonderful. We really liked Amazing Grace last year and now will have to try Sir Benedict. Maybe even tonight! Just googled it and got directions. THANK YOU!
Have FUN! I was in Duluth once, to run the Grandma Marathon. I didn’t have time to see much else, but I remember there was an aquarium that looked interesting!
You MUST return some time, Dawn. We went to the aquarium last year. I think there are some photos–blurry fish photos. It is exciting to think you are a marathon runner.
Glad to hear that the pickles turned out – now I’ll have to try them, too! 🙂 I love Duluth – such a cool city – have lots of fun and be sure to get some relxing in, Barry! Travel blessings, guys.
Am I the only one wondering? Is that your tattoo? It’s beautimous, but I’m having a hard time picturing you getting a tat!?!?
Cindy, the call just came! The Sentinel is done & it’s time to go pick up Barry. He will relax. He always has fun–once we can convince him to go, that is. No, it’s not my tattoo. You are right, that would be way to scary for me! It belongs to either Sue or her daughter. Darn, how come I can’t remember which one? That is embarrassing. LOL! See you all later!!
Kathy, your wishes for a ‘hodgepodge day filled with your own enchanted life” have tickled my fancy this morning. What a great blessing….will try to keep that one with me today. Hodgepodge = all possibility. At least that’s how I see it. Happy travels and may they be filled with hodgepodge and clear skies and lots of FUN stuff 🙂 Looking forward to hearing how Miss Ellie enjoys the trip!
Glad your fancy was tickled by your hodgepodge day! As for clear skies…yikes!…it’s raining this morning. But that’s OK. Will try to post an “update from Duluth” later in the day.
What a lovely wish Kathy! I accept, I accept. From the doe with her twin fawns in the brush outside the window to the Big Fat Red Champion I posted on my blog today… a hodgepodge day filled with my very own enchanted life it is!
I love all you women living enchanted hodgepodge lives, Terrill. Doe with twin fawns are always enchanted…we have a pair hanging out near our house too. Will stop in to visit your blog as soon as possible.
I am dreaming of snow!!
I am a weird one from Minnesota…
We habe the jars ready for the pickle recipe….hubby has to get the ingrediets we are missing.
As for the tatoo, I want to know where it was done…I have been dying for a blue butterfly just like it!
Safe travels to my home state…Thje Loon State..don’ laugh too jard on that one!
Kim
You are dreaming of snow, Kim? Did I read that correctly?? Let me know how you like the pickle recipe. So Minnesota is your home state, eh? It is very nice to be here. As for that tattoo question, remind me to ask Susie Q in a week or so when she gets home from HER vacation. OK?
Kathy – That was a lovely potpourri. Can hardly wait to get updates from the road 🙂
Laurie, you wouldn’t believe (yes, you would) but I had an adventure just going out to get coffee this morning!! Do you think I attract adventures just cuz they’re so entertaining? (Something to write about, you know..)
Beautiful snow…pretty white caterpillar (no, I’ve never seen a white one)…stories of the start of yet another adventure…I’m exhausted! (No, not really, I loved this mish-mash conglomerate!)
Does Miss Ellie also ask “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” I’ll look forward to her news. 😉
I’m now off to enjoy a hodgepodge kinda day myself. Have fun! 🙂
Oh no Joanne! Don’t be exhausted YET! We haven’t even started. OK, yes, we’ve started. We’re a day into this city adventure now. It is so fun when country mice go to visit the city. 🙂 Have another fun day yourself!
I’m off on a hodgepodge adventure of my own, having been in Colorado for over a week. I love to travel, too.
Mmmmm…. pickles! There’s nothing like homemade pickles.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a white caterpillar before. This month seems to be the month for seeing new things. At least it is for me. I’m not sure if it is for others or not.
Robin, glad to know another lover-of-travel! Don’t you love it when we’re seeing and experiencing new things? It makes life special indeed. Glad to hear about your adventure.
Seems like a normal blog post of yours to me, Kathy. Witty, fun and full of antidotes and photos to delight us all. Thanks! How was the trip?
Scott, shhhh….you’re not suppose to say that so MANY of my blogs are hodgepods! Laughing. The trip was excellent, but it’s good to be home. As my mom always used to say: good to leave and good to get home. Yesss…
Yes I have seen white caterpillars before. I kept one for a while as a ‘pet’ when I was a child.
Thank you for the pickle recipe Cindy and thanks for re-posting it Kathy. I will try it.
That is so interesting, Amy-Lynn! Did you white caterpillar pet have a name? Do you know what species it is? Or is it an albino? (And you will not regret Cindy’s pickle recipe.)
Kathy, it didn’t have a name and I have no idea what its species it was. As for the one you found, have a look at
http://bugguide.net/node/view/4451
Thanks, Amy. The link you sent looks very similar to the one cruising through our summer grass beneath the oak tree. I love the white hairs on them and how they look in the sunlight. Very mystical creatures!