Rainbow in the Clouds

God put the rainbow in the clouds, not just in the sky.

It is wise to realize we already have rainbows in our clouds,

 or we wouldn't be here.

 If the rainbow is in the clouds, then in the worst of times,

 there is the possibility of seeing hope... 

We can say,

 'I can be a rainbow in the clouds for someone yet to be.' 

That may be our calling.

 --Maya Angelou

The skies opened up and rain poured down for just a few minutes Saturday afternoon. I went to the back porch to watch it rain. 

Even before the cloud burst was over,  the sun was peeking out, so I grabbed my camera and an umbrella, scooted the kittens off the back stoop and ran for the car, hoping to see a rainbow. 

And I did. So what were our totals?

• A few puddles
• The sweetest smell 
•  0.20" of rain in the rain gauge, 
• And a double rainbow

Hope sometimes evaporates as quickly as those puddles did. A drought of hope can dry up our spirits as decidedly as two summers of drought have dried our fields. I like what Maya Angelou had to say and it bears repeating - mainly so I can hear it again today:

"If the rainbow is in the clouds, then in the worst of times,

 there is the possibility of seeing hope.

... We can say,

 'I can be a rainbow in the clouds for someone yet to be.' 

That may be our calling."

It's a good mission for the week, don't you think?

***

I'm linked today to Michelle DeRusha's Graceful: Faith in the Everyday and her Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday feature. See what other bloggers have to say to begin the week!

At Grandma's Table

Our air conditioner conked out on Wednesday. Thankfully, Thursday was a much cooler day, so I threw open the windows and cranked up the fans while we waited for the repairman.

But even in my downstairs office, I could hear the angel windchimes dancing in my kitchen window. Every twinkling note reminded me of  my Grandma Neelly. I gave her the windchimes for a long-ago birthday. She hung them between the living room and dining room, and they often tinkled as they swayed in the breeze of people walking the heavily-trafficked path in my grandparents' house. The chimes moved to my kitchen window when my grandparents' home was torn down last year.

Four generations: My mom, Janis Neelly Moore, my grandma Lela Johnson Neelly holding Jill Renee Fritzemeier, and me, a much younger version, on Jill's Baptism Day - December 1985

I was already thinking about my Neelly grandparents because I have several pears sitting on my counter. Along with a big garden, Grandma and Grandpa grew pears and apples. Last week, I picked pears from our trees just south of our house, and I probably picked them a little too soon. They are hard as little rocks. But, two years ago, I evidently waited too long, and they mysteriously disappeared.

I stuck some in a brown paper bag, and those are finally starting to ripen. I had some on a salad yesterday. But Grandma often made Pear Honey with their bountiful harvests, a sweet combination of pears, pineapple and sugar. It was one of my favorites on Grandma's table.

Lisa and me at a long ago birthday celebrated at Grandma's table with her homemade angel food cake

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm not someone who cans food. I probably don't have enough pears to make this jam. And neither Randy or I need it anyway. But as the windchimes chimed, I had to dig out Grandma's Pear Honey recipe that I have stuck in my ancient 4-H recipe box. Not to make it, mind you. Just to see it and remember.

Not the actual recipe, but it shows my lovely recipe box!

Use the recipe at your own discretion. As it was given to me, it is pretty vague. It used the ingredients listed in recipe form below and said:

Follow directions on Sure Jell box. Cook a little longer with added pineapple. Doesn't sheet too thick off the spoon.

Well, that may have been all Grandma needed to make her pear honey, but most of us need a little more direction. Since I don't have any Sure Jell in my pantry, I Googled it and expanded the directions using that information. So who knows how accurately this reflects how Grandma made her Pear Honey? Just in case you don't want to chance it, click the link for a recipe from Paula Deen. It doesn't use any pectin.

As for me, I'll probably just keep dreaming about Grandma's Pear Honey and remembering the times I sat at Grandma's table. The memories are just as sweet as that tasty jam.

Pear Honey

4 cups peeled and chopped pears
1 box Sure Jell
2 tbsp. lemon juice
5 cups sugar
1/2 of a 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple 

Open the box of Sure Jell and add it to the pears in a stockpot. Add lemon juice. Stir together well with the spoon. Turn the burner on high to boil the pears and pectin, stirring constantly. Add the sugar, continuing to stir. Bring to a boil again and then stir for 1 minute. Add the pineapple and bring back to boil, stirring constantly. Remove the stockpot from the stove, and remove any foam from the top of the fruit. Pour into sterilized jars or containers. Process in water bath canner.

Quick Beef and Salsa Skillet

Great with a green salad with lots of veggies!

Haute cuisine, it is not. Hot and hearty food, it is.

This Quick Beef and Salsa Skillet uses biscuit mix. I am perfectly capable of making biscuits from scratch, but this is a quick and easy way to get dinner on the table in a hurry. We like Mexican-inspired meals. Using Mexican corn and kidney beans was a tasty way to stretch the hamburger. Choose your favorite salsa because it plays a central role in the taste of this dish.

This recipe cooks on top of the stove, which is a bonus during hot summer days. And even with milder temperatures forecast for the rest of this week, it's still nice to use the same pan for browning the hamburger and then putting together the rest of the recipe.

A caveat: Because you are basically steaming the biscuits to cook them, they aren't going to get crusty and brown like they would if you were baking them in a hot oven. So realize that the biscuits are more like dumplings. And, if browning is important to you and yours, you could stick the skillet in the oven for a few minutes. Just make sure the skillet is ovenproof.

Enjoy!

Quick Beef and Salsa Skillet

Serves 6

1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 jar (16 oz.) thick and chunky salsa
1 can (15-16 oz.) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Mexican corn, undrained
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
2 tsp. chili powder (divided)
1 1/2 cups Reduced Fat Bisquick
1/2 cup skim milk
1/3 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese

Cook beef in 12-inch skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally until browned; drain. Stir in salsa, beans, corn, tomato sauce and 1 teaspoon chili powder. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low.

Stir Bisquick, remaining chili powder and milk together until soft dough forms. Drop by 6 spoonfuls onto simmering beef mixture.

Cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Cover and cook 8 minutes longer. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and cook about 2 minutes or until cheese melts.

Notes:

• Use a salsa you really enjoy. It can be as hot or as mild as you and your family prefers.
• I ended up with 7 spoonfuls of biscuit batter, but that worked out fine. I was just guessing how big each "dumpling" needed to be and ended up with extra. I don't think it matters that much, other than the recipe is supposed to serve 6. Randy will gladly eat another dumpling, so that's not a problem!

Everybody's Neighborhood

"Downtown is everybody's neighborhood." It said so - right on the trash can. 

Downtown Wichita is not my normal neighborhood, but I was glad to claim it for a recent morning walk. We were in the Air Capital City for the Wheat Profit Maximizer conference earlier this month.

It's a good thing Wichita is not known as "River City." The drought that has plagued Kansas the past two summers has also taken its toll on the Arkansas River through downtown Wichita.

A little rain did fall in Kansas yesterday. Here at the County Line, we got about 0.10 of an inch. It certainly wasn't enough to break the drought or fill rivers and streams, but the cool, wet morning was like a mini-vacation.

I'll bet the ducks that joined Randy and me on our Wichita morning walk were as happy as we were to feel the drizzle and let the cool breezes ruffle their feathers.

On that Wichita morning, I should have started walking a bit sooner. Though I saw a beautiful full moon as it was setting, I didn't make it to the Keeper of the Plains statue in time to capture it with my camera as it slipped over the Indian's shoulder.

But that's OK. The Keeper of the Plains provided a silhouette a bit different from my typical windmill or barn at sunrise.

I was glad to be in the neighborhood.

A Trip to the Zoo By Kinley Marie

My Trip to the Zoo

By Kinley Marie

Lions and tigers and bears - OH MY!

I saw all those animals and more when I went to the Topeka Zoo this weekend. I took my Mommy because she really likes zoos. I took Daddy because I like having him around for my big adventures. I took Grandpa so he could pay. And I brought along Grandma because a girl needs photos to remember the big moments in her life.

A near crisis was averted when Grandma's camera froze up at the very beginning of our adventure. But she wiggled the battery and that seemed to do the trick. Mommy and Daddy had their camera phones, but let's be realistic. They wouldn't have taken nearly as many photos as Grandma. And a momentous occasion such as this one should be recorded with more firepower than a measly camera phone, right?! (Grandpa had his camera phone, too, but that would have been simply hopeless, let's face it.)

Mommy slathered me with sunscreen. She made me wear a floppy hat. I grabbed my koala rattle to keep with the zoo theme. And we were off!

The first animal exhibits were constructed in Gage Park in 1933.Wow, that's even older than Grandma and Grandpa! I've been doing some research about zoos and animals in my rather large library at home. But it was good to get a look in person.

My Grandma and Grandpa live on a real farm. They have a barn. But they didn't have goats and llamas in their barn like they do at the Topeka Zoo. My family didn't buy me any animal feed so I could really make friends with these guys. Maybe next time.

We also saw Temba and Sunda, the elephants. I hear that some people want them to move to Tennessee. I'm pretty sure I can't go to Tennessee to see them, so I hope they stay here.

We saw giraffes. They were really tall - even taller than Daddy. The apes are supposed to have really long arm spans, but don't ask me. They were hiding their arms.

Daddy and Grandpa had to see if their arm span was as big as an orangutan's 8-foot span. Good try, guys. (I am a believer in positive reinforcement. But even all my positive energy couldn't help them stretch that far.)

I guess I am taller than a Galopagos Penguin (at 21 inches), but shorter than an African penguin (28 inches). But I wouldn't know. I had to take a cat nap after watching the tiger and the lions sleep, and my people didn't wake me up to measure.

A girl needs her sleep. But she also knows when it's time to wake up. I opened my eyes as we were going through the gift shop. And guess what? I also brought Grandma along so she could buy me a book, A Day at the Zoo.

I read it myself several times already. (I tasted it, too.)

But on Sunday, before Grandma left, I had her read me all the words. 

I hope you read all my words about my great adventure at the Topeka Zoo. Maybe I'll write a book someday.

The End

Deja Vu

Kinley is quite the helper these days. She will gladly help clean up after dinner by sweeping the floor under the table on her hands and knees. Why go around the table and chairs when you can go through them?

She will load the dishwasher (and attempt to unload it, too).

Jill had posted a photo of Kinley at the dishwasher on Facebook a couple weeks ago. When we saw it, we asked if her parents had placed her there. We thought they were perhaps overzealous in their attempts to train a good helper.

But this past weekend, we babysat Kinley while her Mommy and Daddy celebrated their third wedding anniversary. We discovered that Kinley can get into these helpful positions all by herself. If given the chance, she will crawl into the dishwasher.

And then I remembered another little girl who was pulling up and getting into things at about the same time.

Jill - About 8 months old- complete with toilet paper in her mouth.

There may have been a little deja vu going on as I chased Kinley from one room to the other.

Kinley - 7 1/2 months old

There is a difference: These days,  I'm considerably older.

I won't be a bit surprised if Kinley follows in her Mommy's footsteps - literally. Jill was walking at 9 1/2 months old. I retrieved her from on top of the dining room table sometime not long after that.

Forget trying to get her to sit still for a photo. Here she comes for the camera. Grandma missed her forehead and her hands - but look at those beautiful eyes and eyelashes, so I had to share it anyway.

Gone are the days when we lay Dolly down and see how much she's shrunk.

January 1, 2012

 Watch out Dolly! You are about to be thrown out of the toy basket.

August 12, 2012

It's good Kinley's parents are young.

Panzanella

Panzanella served with grilled chicken and grapes. Yum!

Mama Mia! That's about the extent of my Italian.

But Mama Mia! Panzanella is a yummy addition to a summer menu, especially for someone who loves tomatoes as much as I do.

Panzanella is a classic Italian salad made with stale bread and tomatoes. The purists don't want to add a bunch of extraneous ingredients. But what do they know? I looked at several different recipes and ended up adding some other vegetables for texture and color.

Unfortunately, my tomato crop has succumbed to drought and spider mites. But I take advantage of growers who still have homegrown tomatoes to sell. I hope you can find some, too, because this salad is too good to miss this summer. Weekends seem to be the time for farmers' markets - even in small Kansas towns. So find some tomatoes and enjoy!  

Panzanella

(Tomato and Bread Salad)

1/2 cup sweet onion, chopped
1/2 of a yellow pepper, chopped
1/2 of a red pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped zucchini (optional)
2 tbsp. butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 oz. day-old Italian bread, cut into 3/4-inch-thick slices
4 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon or 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 tsp. salt
7 to 8 grindings of black pepper

Cut bread into cubes. You can use Italian bread, multi-grain artisan bread, French bread or another favorite. Denser artisan breads work best with this recipe. Set aside. 

Combine olive oil, vinegar, basil, tarragon, salt and pepper. Mix and set aside. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and set aside.

Spray a nonstick saucepan with a cooking spray. Combine chopped onion, peppers and zucchini and put in skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are crisp-tender. If they start to burn before they have reached that stage, add just a little water, then let it cook off. (You can add olive oil, but I prefer not to add more calories.) Take veggies out of the skillet and set aside.

In the same skillet used for your veggies, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add garlic and cook for 3 or 4 minutes until the garlic takes on a bit of color.  Add cubed bread. Toss in the butter-garlic mixture until the bread starts to toast. Keep tossing until the bread has developed good crispness, taking care not to burn it.

Put the toasted bread into a large mixing bowl. Add reserved vegetables and tomatoes. Toss with the olive oil mixture. Adjust seasoning as desired and serve immediately.

I don't have fresh herbs in my garden (or anything else that has survived to this point of the summer). I found basil in a tube, Garden Gourmet, in the refrigerated case of the grocery store. I liked using it because it keeps for awhile in the fridge. You could also use a bit of pesto instead of the fresh basil if you don't have it available. Or you can look for fresh herbs and tomatoes at your local farmers' market.