Monday, June 29, 2009

Little Notebooks


Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for popping by today! We hope you had a restful weekend and are feeling ready for what this week brings you.

It's hard to believe that the Fourth of July is already coming up this weekend, but the family dolls are getting their costumes and decorations ready for the annual Doll Parade, which we will have to share with you. It promises to be fun!

Where do you jot down notes to yourself at your house? Here we have quite a collection of little notebooks, many without covers, which we have used over the years for to-do lists, grocery lists, ideas for songs, stories, etc. We have tried day planners and binders, but somehow keep going back to the little notebooks, which are found in convenient locations throughout the house. Sometimes our little notebooks disappear in the strangest ways, only to turn up under the bed or behind the couch, months later! It's always like a reunion with a friend we have not seen in a while, as we go through and read all the things that we thought were important enough to write down. I still have my little notebooks from college French class and from my mission (which was served in Pennsylvania).


We don't know why we didn't think about it before, but we finally came up with the sensible idea of housing our little filled-up notebooks together, instead of being scattered in various boxes and drawers throughout the house. Eventually, we'd like to find a nice wooden chest to keep them all in, but this hat box will do for now!

Oh yes, we wanted to share with you the yummy salsa recipe we made up this weekend (Here's a picture of Frankie and me feasting on it with chips outside)~we filled the food processor with 3 big tomatoes, 1 avocado, two home-grown onions (greens and all), and lots of arugula and viola flowers and stems (quite peppery). Oh yes, and a dash of salt and vinegar. Then we processed it till smooth, filled a bowl, and "ate ourselves full"! We should have taken pictures, but it didn't last long enough to get the camera out! Yesterday we made a concoction of pitted Kalamata olives, violas (whole plant again), onions, salt, and half each of tomato and avocado. We wrapped it in lettuce leaves and served some on cucumber slices. Mmm! (Just don't make a smoothie with violas, as they become a little TOO peppery!) It's fun to experiment with foods, mixing up flavors that you'd never find in the grocery store.

Peace be with you today,

Love,

Marqueta

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"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou art at length free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"

~Oliver Wendell Holmes, "The Chambered Nautilus"

4 comments:

  1. Oh I really enjoy arugula........Love the hatbox. Nothing like a pretty box to store our treasures in. Your back yard looks like a wonderful place to share Salsa especially with little Frankie~ Blessings

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  2. We have a rather boring calendar on the kitchen wall by the phone and keep all special dates and appointments on that. Each year I save each and every one and now we have quite a family history of 'events'. Its amazing how often we look back to previous years for reference.

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  3. Dear Marqueta,

    Ahhh, little notebooks. :) How nice to have them all together, and in such a lovely place.

    I love the recipes you shared. I'm all for learning new ways to use the bounty of the yard and garden. I can definitely tell your weather is behind ours. Our violet flowers have long faded and the leaves have become large in the summer heat. I still use the leaves for infusions, though.

    I love the picture and the verse you shared at the end.

    Love,
    Lynn

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  4. Dear Marqueta,

    We love notebooks too, and like you, have them hear and there and everywhere! I love your idea of using a hat box to keep them all in place!

    The salsa recipe sounds so wonderful! I love the photo of you and Frankie in your beautiful garden, and of your sweet cat!

    I got so tickled reading the account of "A Hobbit Sighting and a Disappearing Dog" when you said, "as happy as you were to see him alive you wanted to punch him in the nose!" I am so glad he was safe and sound!!! Frankie does look like a little hobbit boy. We love the Hobbit book and The Lord of the Rings book. Justin and I have both read the Hobbit and he has read Lord of the Rings, we are now reading it together. I saw the movies first (several times), we loved those, too! I look forward to reading the story you wrote about Pippin.

    Your photos are so beautiful, and your writings just lovely Marqueta! What a blessing your sweet and creative children are, and so are you!

    Have a lovely day dear friend,
    Paula

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