My Mondays

My Mondays are usually busy days for me. Today should be no exception then. Actually minus a trip to the PO is nice depending on how you look at it. Since I am on leave I don't miss those trips. I have a plan for my new studio space and that is to be super organized. I was and I wasn't before. I am still looking for that new pace. I see that it is going to take time. I even have an agent and I was so excited to get an email from her full of rentals but then I was so disappointed that the places were all super expensive yikes so I have been pursuing my own leads. God always has a hand in this too. For a little bit more money I want more space and to be away from the inner city yet still live in this wonderful city of Manchester, NH. I have found 3 places all close to one of the nicest parks around here. This is a park I have only seen in passing, driving by it. I would love to explore it and photograph it. My city Manchester is among one of the best for parks and preserved areas. I am excited at the prospect of perhaps living close by just this very particular park. Now I have 3 options!

MONDAY MONDAY

What about Monday. I always find it hard to get back into gear on Mondays. This weeks Feature Friday is set to go for Marlene for her shop http://www.lazyhawk.etsy.com/ I am very excited to do this for her. The temps are cooler today and we got washed out with a lot of rain over the weekend. YAY for the pollen really bothers me. The plants and trees are loving it. I did some shopping this weekend. I found packs of blank recipe cards. Do you keep recipes? I started doing this when I was a little girl. I don't know where they went to. So I have decided to start writing my recipes favorites and ones I want to try that may become favorites. Something to pass down to perhaps my grandchildren or sons. My sons have a few favorites of Mom's cooking. I also belong to a swap group that swaps recipes. Check out http://www.swap-bot.com/ for every possible swap you can think of from recipes to books, arts and crafts, supplies you name it. It is so much fun!

Kraft Garden Salad

What You Need!

1 pkg. (16 oz.) farfalle (bow-tie pasta) 2 cups broccoli florets 1 each red onion and red pepper, chopped 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes 1 bottle (8 oz.) KRAFT Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing 1/2 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Make It!


COOK pasta as directed on package, omitting salt and adding broccoli to boiling water for the last 3 min. Drain; rinse under cold running water. Place in large bowl.
ADD all remaining ingredients except cheese; mix lightly.
REFRIGERATE 1 hour. Stir gently before serving; top with cheese.

From Kraft Kitchens:
TipsSubstitute
Substitute 1-inch asparagus pieces for the broccoli florets.
Special Extra For added flavor, sprinkle salad with OSCAR MAYER Real Bacon Bits just before serving.

Disclaimer: Of course you can always make the above recipe with other brand names!

Muggy Monday in June 2009

Rain rain go away we want to get out and play. We have had high 60's and nothing but rain, a bit of sunshine this past weekend. Of course it is great for the gardens and plants outside of Glenna's Garden. We are closing out one month and getting into July 2009 here soon. July means the midpoint to summer up here in Manchester, NH. Our farmers market is open on Thursday afternoons from now until October. Every year I look forward to trying new varieties of fruit, veggies and herbs. Talking to the farmers and just in general enjoying the atmosphere is always a highlight. Buying goats milk soap a necessity. Listening to good music and meeting new neighbors in an otherwise large city brings a small town feel to this event. I don't have any pictures but I promise to take some when I go on Thursday to take some pictures and share them. I believe that the shop at Glenna's Garden http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/ has done fairly well even in this really tough economy and I expect it to grow. As we phase out some of the older products and introduce new ones I expect to see our sales grow. The pink roses are done with their pressing and drying process. The petals are the softest I have ever felt. Those were the roses I blogged about in my earlier blogs that were a 5" inches across in their blooms. We made potpourri with some, have 5 beautiful dried rose buds and numerous pink petals for design now. Very pleased. This is the time of the year when a lot of flower pressing and drying is going on here at Glenna's Garden. We did orange day lilies the other day. They make for a beautiful specimen to work with and become almost transparent when pressed except for the colors and striations. I have a picture or two of the lilies I will post them today. With them it is on going process because you have to catch them just right as they bloom and die in one day thus the name. I have generally 6-8 blooms on each bunch just in what has been picked on a daily basis to assess and then they are split and ready to be pressed. Being a somewhat fleshy plant they take a fairly long time to dry possibly up to six weeks whereas some other flowers a week or so. I use all kinds of flowers in my art work and especially in custom orders check out some of my art work available in my shop at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/ also my art gallery is at www.putiton.com/glennanormyle and some of my art is available for purchase there too.