Choice Morsels

The Mama Kat prompt I've chosen today is: use the word  "Found." I accidentally broke my Corning Visions Dutch Oven this past week.  I was bereft. It was my spaghetti sauce & soup pot. I also liked it. It was a pretty smoky colored glass. Visions aren't made anymore and this one was a lucky Goodwill find a good many years ago.  It broke in the sink while I was washing it when a glass measuring cup I was washing just above it, slipped out of my fingers and dropped into it. The dutch oven had 2 inches of hot soapy water in it and, being warm, the bottom simply shattered. So I started researching various places online for a suitable replacement I might like. I finally settled on Wayfair---they had a sale going on and shipping is free with them always. So for a new Dutch oven, I found: This Denmark enamel-coated cast-iron Dutch oven with a heat resistant lid and safe-touch handles that can be used on stove top or in the oven up to 350 degrees. It was on sale for $33.

I managed to mow today the front and part of the side while it was overcast, but not raining yet. Only part of the side because the grass is going to see there and I want to let it. It was muggy, but not as hot. Today's Garden Pic is a Monarch Butterfly visiting a Zinnia earlier in June.

Today's Mama Kat is brief fiction based using the word "enough." It's based on a writers prompt from  my Pinterest   board of "Interesting Writers  Prompts."  Enough by B Nickerson He waited until dark to approach the small brick house and knock tentatively on the door. This was his last hope. He winced as the porch light blinked on and she opened the door the width of the security chain to peer out. He wasn't sure she'd even recognize him. He had a beard now and wore a slouchy hat to help conceal his face. They used to work together a few years back in the same office, both journalists. They'd been friendly co-workers back then---before the Purge.   He hated to involve her, but he just had no where else to turn. Her eyes widened with recognition. "Clay?" He nodded. "Can I come in?" She unlatched the door chain and widened the door so he could walk in. Clay quickly scanned the living room. The window

It's the heat of Florida summer. The squirrels are cobbing cones and tossing the cores down on the ground, creating a litter of shrimp-looking cores to pick up before mowing.  I've been getting things done by working where it's shady for not more then an hour.  The big Gardenia out front shade-covered yesterday and I worked on just hedging a portion on the side away from the mid-morning sun. Two portions are done; two more to go. It's a big shrub. Today, I mowed heavily shaded grass along the front side-wall--after picking all the pine cobs. Todays pics are of a standard Marigold and a Zinnia from the front bed out by the mailbox:

Today, I'm going to share a few amusing quotes from my Pinterest "Good Quotes" board: The fate of all crafty hobby people. ******* Even on bad days, something good can be found be happy about. ******** You know this is true when you see people are driving around town  alone in their car wearing a mask. ******** Any one who gardens knows this is true. *******

It's raining today. It's rains most days. Hubby's phone lists the weekly weather with the predicted percentage of rain daily. Today it was "17%." Tomorrow is 42%.  He said, "I wonder how they come up with these percentages?" I jokingly replied,"They use weather lottery balls with percentages on them." Today's Garden Pic are some lavender Hosta blossoms against the pretty background of spotted Calla leaves: These are in my front container garden. Hosta blossoms are either lavender or white. This particular Hosta is a miniature variegated type I got in a mixed Hosta bag 20 years ago. They are very prolific and I've split and planted them tons of places in my garden.

      The Mama Kat prompt I chose today is to write a post using the word: final. For this one, I turned to my collection of writers prompts in Pinterest: "the last entry of an explorers journal" and thus this short  fiction was born: The Final Report by b.nickerson. Allen turned on the logbook and rapidly began tapping keys, composing his final report, quite certain he would not survive the night.      “ Of the seven of us, I alone am left,” he typed, then paused to reflect on events since they landed on this planet. Ethan had been the first to disappear. Right after they landed and were hacking their way through thick jungle. Ethan had been in the rear, but then suddenly he wasn't there at all---and they hadn't heard a sound.             They called for him and scanned around, but nothing. The Ship wasn't due back for four days to pick them up, so the Captain ordered they proceed. They had survey mission to complete. They found a suitable cl

Watching the birds at the feeder and suet cage that hangs on the feeder is always amusing. The suet I buy is full of dried mealy worms and seeds. I bought it in particular for Bluebirds, since mealy worms are their favorite---but until just this month, not a Bluebird has been interested. Then suddenly, within the past 2 weeks, a pair of Bluebirds discovered it and they've now become regulars at the suet-bar. Woodpeckers and all the other birds love that suet, too!  The other day a Downy Woodpecker was hanging on the front of the suet cage and a Mrs. Bluebird was sitting on the top edge. Mr. Bluebird flew in and landed next to her. The Downy promptly pecked at him to shoo him off and Mr. Bluebird flew away. It was hilarious. The Woodpeckers are quite possessive of the suet. The Downy Woodpecker is actually the most tolerant of other birds sharing his suit and he's intimidated by the larger Woodpeckers. Both the Red-Headed and the Red-Bellied Woodpeckers fly in and land

The Mama Kat prompt I chose today is to share about a favorite read. My absolute favorite book is, "My Blue Castle" by  L.M. Montgomery, the same author of Anna of Green Gables.  It's a yellowed, worn paperback that I re-read from time to time. I like it because it's  a classic ugly-ducking-turns-into-a-swan story. It's set in Canada around 1920 and is about a young woman named, Valency. She's almost 29, an old maid by social standards of the day with no hope of any marrying prospects She's an introverted, meek girl who feels stuck succumbing to every whim of her domineering Mother and her Mother's cousin as well as having to endure all the eccentricities of all the local high-brow relatives. Her's is a drab life and to make-up for it, Valency lives an imaginary day-dream life in her mind where she is the princess of a beautiful blue castle and can do what she likes and is courted by every handsome prince of the land. Valency als

This week I transplanted my baby Shasta Daisy plants I had in a "nursery pot."  The seedlings were arranged in pairs, because there were sooo many. So the transplants were 2 seedings together, about 24 pairs altogether. It's a perennial, but not one that lasts forever---4 or 5 years perhaps. We shall see. Today's Garden Pic is my Favorite Daylily: It's a true crimson red with a neon lime-yellow eye. Quite stunning. I was taking pictures and didn't even notice the little sweat bee resting on a petal there.