public musings of a mama

my garden and a peace out

Last April for Earth Day, Angie's teacher gave all of her students a challenge:  do three good things for the earth.  The girl was all over that idea and big into Earth Day after extensively learning about it in her class.
So she decided that one thing she wanted to do was plant flowers.  I shared here a couple of months ago how she and I went out and bought seed packets to plant in our little patch of flower space I keep next to my favorite rose bush and my lily of the valley.  (Normally, I would insert a link to that post but it's early in the a.m. and I don't have an archive button, which I will totally fix~cross my heart!) 
I honestly didn't think we'd see growth and I kept that to myself as we checked each and every day for the results.  And guess what happened?

Many seedling packages later, we have three (3!!) of these lovely, deep orange beauties ~ I can't even remember what they're called!!  My girl = H.A.P.P.Y !!

Darlene (aka hippie urban girl) wrote a beautiful entry about her garden (a must read if you've planted, tended, and cared for a garden of your own) and I loved every word, every thought she shared.

Here are some of the goodies so far this year from my own garden:

Cubanelle Peppers  we fire roast them, we put them in salads, we saute them.  We love our peppers.  We've also got some of the banana variety and jalapenos because my husband and his parents like a lot of spice!

This is our first year growing cabbage.  For some reason, there are little holes bitten throughout the leaves.  We're amateurs, we know nothing about spraying our plants to prevent bugs and such from eating them up ~ the thought alone scares me because I always think the chemicals would invade the plant and end up on my plate.  I'll have to research to get a better result next year with the cabbage.

Not shown because they're not ready:  My tomatoes.  Oh man, do we get a nice bunch of ripe, red Jersey tomatoes.  Right now they're green but hopefully I'll share a pic or two soon.

This is one I'm showing off purely for fun.  It's actually an overgrown dill plant shot from down below looking up with the neon aqua blue, cloudless sky I spoke of on Twitter the other day. 

And that's it peeps.  I hope you've enjoyed my little garden tour.  It was important for me to share today because I don't know what will still be here by next week. 

We're leaving tomorrow morning for a week's vacation at the Jersey shore.  Our house rental is a half a block from the beach, close enough to hear the waves through the window at night.  I've still got a lot of packing to do so I'm gonna cut out and say:  Have a great week!!  I swiped borrowed a wireless USB from my brother so I *might* have internet access.  If not, I've got my blackberry to access emails and update my Facebook or Twitter, you know... while I'm lounging under the sun, digging my toes into the sand, and feeling the salty water spray on my face.  Pending the outcome of internet access, until next week: PEACE OUT, DUDES. xo

a political interlude..

I don't ever discuss my political views here.  I don't want this to be a place for debate because I have no interest in debating with commenters via gooooogle hits.  Debate in general is not my strong point - I feel intensely about issues and I get overwhelmed talking about them, so much so that I lose my train of thought going back and forth about things.  But today.. my heart is sad and defeated.  Within in me lies teensy bits of DNA passed down from ancestors that shed their blood on a sacred piece of land.  I'm strongly committed to keeping the history and traditions of my father's and my husband's countries alive - and in doing so, I have fallen in love with this place that is so beautiful and magical and the history of my religion that intertwines so deeply within the heart of the story of this sacred place.  It's so hard for others to understand how intensely we feel about this issue because nobody knows our history.  The average Joe doesn't even care.  But I do.. and so do a lot of others just like me.  Today our hearts cry together. 

~~Kosovo is a Serbian province, located in the southern part of Serbia. It has been administered by the United Nations (UN) since June 1999, with NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) providing the peacekeeping.

At the beginning of the 13th century Kosovo became part of the Serbian Kingdom, its population then being a mixture of Serbs, Albanians and Vlachs. It was not long before Kosovo became the cultural and religious heart of Orthodox Serbia, with many churches and monasteries being erected on its grounds. During the course of time, however, Kosovo's ethnic composition evolved into the province nowadays consisting mainly of Albanians professing the Islam, а great deal of this owing to the Medieval five-century Ottoman rule over Serbia, during which many Christian Serbs were driven out of. Out of  the over-two-million people now living in Kosovo, about 92 per cent are Albanians and only five per cent are Serbs.

In 1912, during the First Balkan War, Serbia managed to regain control over most of Kosovo from the Ottoman Empire. Serbian sovereignty over the province was recognized and the Serbs started a re-colonization of Kosovo. At the end of World War 1, Kosovo was fully subject to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the transformed Serbian Kingdom).

During World War 2, most of Kosovo became part of the Italian-controlled fascist Albania. A big number of Serbs were either expelled from the province or killed.~~

Kosovo Declares Independence today.

Sorry, comments are closed.  If you want to discuss, please email me.

Day 6 - Self Portrait, what I wear...

For years and years I belonged to a traveling Serbian folk dancing group.  I know what you're thinking... She must have been the life of the party...  Yeah, I can admit it.. I was a nerd.  But a popular nerd with cute boyfriends, thank you very much.  This folk dancing hobby of mine did not cramp my style or shatter my reputation.  In fact, my friends thought it was cool.  But they were also kinda teetering on the nerdy/misfit side so I don't know how much their opinion will help me here.  Hmm.  Ok, well, let me just say this.  I had a lot of fun traveling around the US with this group.  We danced at a lot of music festivals around the country - and - how many of you can say you danced on stage at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center?  Can I see a show of hands?  Anybody?  If you know me, you know that I am a very traditional girl.  I loved exploring this part of my dad's Serbian heritage - learning the stories behind the different dances and the work that went into making the costumes.  It has been years since I've worn my dancing shoes but as soon as I slipped my feet into them, the memories began to flood back, which is weird because we did a lot of drinking on those trips.
The shoes are called "opanke" or "opanci".  Go here to see the different styles one might have worn hundreds of years ago or here for some English translation.   These are mine, a little dusty from sitting on the top shelf of my closet for 15 years. 

Today is Day 6 of Art Every Day month.  Yesterday I made a decoupage box.  I loved it so much that I made another one this morning.

Heart Shaped Box - Painted on the inside.

how to throw a successful serbian bbq in New Jersey

Invite Ralph & Steve over.  Have plenty of beer on hand.  Nix the cevapi & raznjici (no article? shocked!)  You grill up some Omaha Steaks.  Grab some of these.  Wish you knew how to season some meat like they do in Leskovac, because you know, if you haven't tasted the food from there, you're totally missing out.  And finally, have a digital cam on hand.

Have a shot of Loza, the Montenegrian kind, to wash down the food.  Not the Serbian kind - because that stuff will be seeping out of your pores for weeks.

Talk about buying a shore house here.  Count the days until you visit here.

Take more pictures.

Then call it a night when the boys' eyes start glazing over.