More Muffins

Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at 7:57 PM

Hi, Olivia.  How fun to hear from you! Life on the mountain in Vermont is somewhat lonely and slow and your e-mail comes like a sun-ray through the ether.

A few days ago, Riina and her son Kristjan came visiting. They came totally unannounced. First thing I knew of them was when they honked the horn down in the driveway. I was sitting at the dining room table, having just finished my lunch - a bit early, but my basic plan was to head down to Pittsfield, MA, where there is a Bed and Bath etc where I knew they carry those silicone muffin cups. But that early lunch consisted of the last slice of bread and the last slice of bacon and the last cup of coffee -- there was simply nothing in the pantry or refrigerator to entertain welcome guests. Luckily, Riina felt my distress and asked for a glass of water and Kristjan wanted nothing. They left a couple of hours after refreshing conversation and stopped at one of the fast food places along the road. I'm sooooo embarrassed! Riina brought a 'Visitor's Present', a bottle of wine and a piece of her saia. And I felt so uncomfortable letting the two of them into a bachelor's household where stock is kept low enough to satisfy one lonely eater. Nay, uncomfortable is the wrong word - embarrassed is closer, and wanting to sink under the floorboards is more descriptive of how I felt.

Today I made a return visit to Riina, and mindful of my duties as a guest I brought her a bottle of wine (hear, hear!) and six fresh Miss Ellen's muffins which I baked when I got up this morning. The dough is really marvelously forgiving while standing in the refrigerator. It is now just about two weeks old, I think. Anyway, I made sure that everything was right by baking seven muffins and trying one during my own breakfast. That left me six to give away, and did longing eyes follow them at Riina's house :-) They are good. Riina liked them well enough to ask for the recipe and I just sent it to her and very soon we can have Miss Ellen's muffins almost anywhere along the eastern sea board :-)

Tomorrow, I must mow the grass again. The blossoms of the dandelions down behind the house in the the yard are almost tall enough to be picked while you're standing on the deck.  That is, of course, a slight exaggeration, but you are willing to let me have a little literary freedom, don't you? I also have to do laundry and look after my garden. I started a seed bed with kohlrabi, bak choi - both green and white stems - end egg plant. All these are in starter beds indoors in the greenhouse. I already have spinach seed out in the garden and now is the time to harvest the asparagus as they come out of the ground. There was one stalk this morning among others. It had been hidden under the rhubarb that is growing next to the asparagus area and by the time the stalk showed itself between those big rhubarb leaves it was two feet long and I fear that much of it is already woodsy. But the young stalks, they are so tender and sweet  - so far I have eaten them in the garden, fresh as they get big enough to pick, which usually amounted to two or three young stalks at a time, but now the ground is getting warmer and they come more rapidly, so, perhaps, I'll get some for one of my dinners. I also harvested some rhubarb some days ago, cooked it up, let it cool and had it for dessert that same evening over plain yogurt.

You see, even though I appear to be complaining about a life, being slow and lonely up here, it is never dull and it is a life fit to enjoy and it is a good life - both in quality of life itself and what's up for eats -- if there is anything in the pantry or in the garden :-)

Love, Opa
********************************************************************************
Friday, May 24, 2013, at 1:47 PM

Dear Opa,

 Yesterday was the last day of co-op classes and tonight is graduation, so we seem to be on a downward slope towards summer break.  I am very sorry to hear that you feel lonely up in Vermont; I wish we could come to visit.  I promise, though, that if we do, we will not arrive unannounced, as a family of six may be quite a shock, especially if the pantry supply is running slim. 

Our garden is coming along quite nicely as well!  We, too have asparagus stalks shooting up.  Often times, we leave them too long that they begin looking like little trees.  We also have a plot of strawberry plants, which we planted last summer, that already have large green berries collecting on the ends of the vines.  I check almost every day to see if any have turned red yet.  So far no luck. 

The weather is very strange here these days.  One minute it will be pouring down rain like a tropical storm, and the next minute the sun will be shining in the skies just as warm as ever.  It wouldn't be so strange except for the fact that when the sun comes out, I look outside and there are barely any clouds out there.  Then the clouds scurry back and it starts raining again.  I wish we could just have one day of rain and the next of sun, because Grampa has opened his pool and I enjoy going for a swim.

I liked your description of the dandelion blossoms; our grass is growing quickly, too.  Philip said he would have to start mowing twice a week so that our lawn doesn't look unkempt.

I hope your loneliness eases as you see the signs of life blossoming around you.  I miss you and hope to see you soon. 

Much love from, Olivia
********************************************************************************
Sunday, June 2, 2013, at 2:47 PM

Dear Opa,

Here is a picture the first harvest of strawberries from our garden.  I am so happy to pick berries from a plant!  It makes someone feel like summer has really finally started.

Hope all is well!

Love,

Olivia 

********************************************************************************
Monday, June 3, 2012, at 8:29 PM

Olivia! That is a huge harvest you got there. And home grown with guaranteed nothing on them than what you put on. And you can keep them fresh on the vine until they are ripe! Oh, heaven! I just came back from the supermarket with a pack of strawberries to put some cheer into my raw bits, but without even tasting them I know the limitations they have in flavor and texture. You do have a heavenly gift in front of you there.

Up here on the mountain, all is well. We've had thunderstorms every evening but they did do no damage, even though they brought a lot of water. I am happy I was able to keep up with the grass cutting, so far, because the green stuff is literally shutting out of the ground right behind the mower. But I could not go into my beginner's garden and turn over the soil and get the weeds out to start planting my veggies. I hope that will come now, though. I have seedlings coming up and by the time they are ready for planting, I hope I will be ready too.

You write beautifully, Olivia! Keep practicing it. It is a gift not everyone is blessed with. I really enjoy getting you letters. 

See you soon? Now that vacation is on, what are you plans?

Oh, look, there just came a doe out of the woods and is nibbling on the grass in the pasture. I wish sometimes I had a long lens so I could take pictures of what is happening down there by the woods. We saw turkey, and, of course, Canada geese, and ducks and once even a young moose cow. And there are birds - So many of them. I tried to identify what I see but then I read Tante Lulu's Field guide to the birds and there are so many similar ones that, while I'm searching, the live one flies away and I never can definitely say "here, that's the one".

Olivia, you won't believe this, but that doe came to pasture with her Bambi! He is so small and the grass is so tall I could not see him till just a moment ago. They got out into a patch of grass that's growing a bit slower than the rest and I could see there was something moving in a different way than the doe and then all of a sudden I was looking into his eyes as he looked out between two grass clumps straight up to the house. Oh, how exciting! I'll watch till it gets too dark.

With loving thoughts to you, Opa