Sometimes I just need to step back, trim my sails, and make soup. Today is my day for peace and quiet. The phone is off, the computer messages are unread, and I am settling back after a hard, but joyful, trip to Oklahoma City to speak to the Oklahoma County Master Gardeners.
Peggy and James at the Thyme Table
Meeting the great people after my talk
Signing books
Returning from a few days away usually means I'll have triple the amount of work to do in the garden, but the rain has given me (and my plants) a blessed respite. I am happy to stroll the pathways when the storm breaks and look closely at the plants glittering with raindrops. Glorious. I only wish that I could share some of this rain with the plants, animals, and people of Arizona and New Mexico who are suffering from the horrible fires.
The Eriogonum looks like jewelry
The Echeverias glisten
Every web looks like a faerie's cape
Parsley
The redbud leaves are satiny
Cilantro trying to set seed
Enough garden roaming for the day. I am catching a cold, and the soup will be so satisfying and good for our dinner. I'd like to share the recipe with you, but I am not famous for following recipes. Riffing off on my own makes me happy and feels creative, but I have to warn you, it sometimes leads to disaster! Jeff can attest to that.
Get out the huge old skillet, find the Tiber Canyon olive oil, cut lots of onions and garlic...
... and fresh carrots from the garden.
After I sauté the veggies and add the beans and broth, I slip in my secret ingredient–the tasty skin of a hunk of parmesan cheese (after 3 hours of "smiling," I just tasted the soup, and the parmesan, which has a nutty flavor, zips this into success instead of disaster.
Then put the soup pot on a iron heat diffuser, set the gas on low, and tip the lid slightly off so that the soup thickens and the flavor deepens. My Nonie called this "tipping the cap." For the rest of the afternoon, the soup will "smile" on the stove, greeting Jeff with its welcoming aroma.
Tomorrow, if this cold lets me, I'll be back in the studio working on my bird book. This is truly a labor of love for me, and what keeps me going is knowing that someday this will touch the lives of children.
I slip each illustration into a "sheet protector" so that I don't accidentally spill tea on them
Time to curl up in bed with a thick book and lots of honey-laced tea. Sending love across the miles and CONGRATULATIONS to FlowerLady, the winner of The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey.
FlowerLady is a member of the Grimy Hands Girls' Club, and she will receive an extra gift packet along with her book. FlowerLady, we have your address and will send the package out on Monday. Hurrah!
Lovingly,
Sharon
P.S. Please visit my new posting "What's Your Point" (about focal points in the garden) on the Lowe's blog and leave a valued comment.
P.P. S. GIVE-AWAY DRAWING. Leave a comment on this blog posting for the next giveaway for a house number sign. These elegant, porcelain enamel signs are handmade in Denmark by Ramsign.
These are so unique, and such an exceptional value, that I am going to run this contest for two weeks. Comments must be dated on or before June 18, 2011, to qualify. Any blogger who posts a link to this page (June 4 posting) on their blog will have a double chance to win. Leave your comment and indicate that you've provided a link.
Tezz Hagelin, Marketing Assistant, told us, "We usually let the winner choose one of our house number signs (not name signs or address plaques) to make the award as personal as possible. There are signs available from 1 digit and up to 5 digits and with five different styles. We do ship worldwide, so everyone can participate in the contest."
83 comments:
Hi Sharon - I hope you really do get a bit of respite this weekend. Your soup sounds like the sort of potion that will go wherever it's needed, route out the cold and leave you warm and feeling much better!
I love the Danish number signs and know just where I'd put one if I won!
Hugs...
Your photos just get lovelier and lovelier, don't they?
Funny you should have the Wild Snail book as your giveaway--I just read that book last week on my way to BEA and thought it was great!
Sharon, I thought you must be traveling or working on your bird book, since you hadn't been on Twitter lately. Just gifted my friend who's a new grandma with Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars. We excitedly look forward to the bird book.
the garden photos are brilliant,, just like being there, what a super busy life you lead,, it must be such a calming time to go into your kitchen and make this wonderful soup,, sounds yummy for sure.The glimpses of your book are wonderful,,have a happy , relaxing weekend
Oh Sharon, that wonderful soup with your secret ingredient, the fabulous bird illustrations and your glistening garden images have me just shaking my head in awe of you once again. Between the soup, tea & honey and some well deserved rest, I'm thinking you have a good healing combination. Feel better soon my friend. xoxo ~Lili
A gal after my own heart...I love soup! It's my comfort food no matter what the temperature is outside.
I do the same thing with the parmesan rind; it incorporates so much flavor. Thank you for taking us on a tour of your garden. XOXO
I love the parmesan tip! Thanks!
Winning the number sign would also be pretty great!
Your soup sounds delicious, though it's the description of the process that I find utterly delightful. I didn't know that setting the lid off to the side was called "tipping the cap." And I certainly didn't know to add parmesan for some extra flavor. Hmmmm... Did it cure your cold instantly? Wouldn't that be nice!
I also enjoyed your Lowe's talk about "What's the Point" though I don't have the energy to sign in and leave a comment tonight. Perhaps the morning will find me renewed and comment ready.
I really enjoy everything I've read of yours and you live, at least part of the time, in one of my favorite areas. Hope you feel better soon!
It must be the week for good soup. I was so hungry for some on Thursday that I made a huge pot. Love freezing portions for those crazy days when there is no time to cook. Hope your feeling better quick and that house number sign would be such a fantastic win!!!
Hi Sharon! I just love your blog--such eye candy!!! "Tipping the cap"--how charming! Love it! So now I'm jealous of your lovely studio and that yellow dutch oven. I'm going to have to find one! Everyone needs a little sunshine in their kitchen and cheese in their soup! I'll be trying that for sure!
Well, it has been a great week with the weather included. Last weekend it hit 99 the first day after never being above 80. Of course that is the weekend my daughter asked if I would build a hut out of bamboo and surround it with sunflowers and moon flowers. Hmmmm, an idea I think she go from paging through one of your books!! We succeeded building the hut with hopes the seeds will do ok this late. Best of all it is big enough for our whole family to sit in and tell stories. If she invites me in, I think I will start by telling her about my wonderful travels to Denmark (with some omissions!). Enjoy your down time. Pictures to come on http://facebook.com/HoneyGlow
hello dear sharon! this was a picture easy to see: an exhilarating exhausting trip, rain outside, a cold, and you choose soothing soup: a recipe for a perfect day!
i am warmed coming here tonight with you. you live a good and worthy life. and. you deserve it.
♥
kj
I just found your blog by way of the Inadvertent Farmer blog. I enjoy her gardening tips with children and now I can follow yours, too. I am sorry you aren't feeling well, but the soup and rest should perk you up right away! I made taco soup yesterday, even though it was 99 degrees here in Texas. I enjoy homemade soup just about anytime. Thanks for a lovely post to enjoy and for a chance to win a house sign. Take care of yourself!
Sharon, travel can be so tiring! When I came back from Denver I stayed under the radar for two days! Anyway, back to getting my garden finished/perfecto/all in place - which is so hard to do by myself sometimes. But my sister will be home from Australia (she was on a six month assignment) and I want to thrill her when she walks in the gate. Even though it was warm today (but not too humid and sticky which is how Virginia can be) I really would have loved a bowl of rich, garlicy soup. yummm. Hope you and the hub enjoyed it! Have a lovely week! By the way, my house has 4 numbers.
Thea,
Sharon is sleeping, so I wanted to tell you that you can have up to five numbers on your sign-if you are the winner.
Husband Jeff
I envy those fortunate gardeners in Oklahoma City to have heard you speak!
Your flowers and herbs look so refreshed after the rain and your soup sounds like just the ticket. Hoping it cures that cold immediately. Take care of yourself.
I also love the garden walk after the rain and I have seen what you have seen but never been able to capture as well on camera as you. Well done. Link to your blog on my blog now done. Love those letters.
Sharon, Your post is precious---I'm sorry you're beginning to feel under the weather but soup does have such an amazing healing effect and I do hope yours heals your oncoming cold quickly. Your garden, as always, is so inspirational---I'd just love to attend one of your classes/speaking engagements!! Hope you are feeling better quickly!
Hugs,
Joann
xoxo
Hope your quiet day pottering will ensure the cold is sent packing soon. Lovely pictures of your plants in the rain. That house number looks French - the town houses all have blue numbers like that whilst the country ones (as was ours) have green!
Green number four for our lavender shuttered village house. So enjoy your writings.
Your soup sounds wonderful and will try it!
The house number sign is beautiful.
Thank you for a walk through your garden after the rain. Beautiful!
I love your soup pot and your fragrant writing. Hope the soup warmed you to your soul and chased that emerging cold away.
Sharon...I loved your story of nesting and TLC after traveling...I can so appreciate doing it now after returning from an 11 day tour of the gardens of England plus the Chelsea Flower Show...Its delightful but so exhausting.
Thanks for post and contest. I recently gave a herb gardening talk to Master Gardeners in Atlanta but wasn'e clever enough to take photos. Thanks also for secret soup ingredient. My secret spaghetti sauce ingredient is breadcrumbs-- my friend's ancient Italian Grandmama said to add them to thicken the sauce!
Isn't the weather really strange this Spring---it is still Spring, right? :) You wouldn't know it here in northeast TN. We've had mid-90s for many days already. :/ And very very dry. Would love to have some of that delicious RAIN and SOUP, please. :D
I hope you feel better VERY SOON and that soup would truly put a smile on anyone's face! I understand the no recipe(it's the way I cook too), all we need is to know the ingredients and tweak it to your individual liking. Thank you for the secret ingredient cheese, leaving it as a chunk is such a great idea. I have put it in the soup grated and it "STICKS" to the pot and is almost impossible to remove,UGH! My secret ingredient with chicken soup is nutmeg, LOVE IT! and I use it in LOTS of different pasta dishes too. Oh the soup would taste fantastic the NEXT DAY(but it never makes it there). Your trip looked like such fun! I have to go back now and reREAD everything.
Big Hugs to you,
Donna
i love the way a garden looks after a rain... hope your cold gets better very soon (thyme tea with honey is good - naturally antiseptic and helps clear the sinuses and ease bronchial spasms. steep one teaspoon in a cup of boiling hot water for 10 minutes, then strain and add honey. you can have up to three cups a day...)
I bought The Kitchen Garden Handbook on your recommendation. I love it, the book will be a great reference addition to my library.
Waiting for Sunflower Houses to arrive. :)
I hope that you were able to go to your studio today. It's no fun being sick especially in the late spring. Or anytime. Your soup sounds delicious. I am reading The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. It's very introspective. A good book. The Danish number signs look lovely. Looking so forward to your new book.
Blessings,
Kay
p.s. I hope you are feeling very much back to your wonderful self very soon.
Those garden pictures looked so refreshing (compared to my garden which is cringing in the unseasonable for June dryness and 100 degree temperatures).
Love those Danish house numbers!
Diana
'Tipping the cap' and allowing the soup to 'Smile' are expressions I'd not heard before Made me smile, too.
A porcelain house number sounds as if it would outlast me, a good thing.
That soup looks yummy, Sharon. I hope it holds your cold at bay. There's something so wonderful about soup simmering on the stove.
I think the house numbers are charming!
xo
Claudia
In our 97 degree heat accompanied by a good dose of humidity, the idea of soup makes me long for autumn! Your non-recipe sounds wonderful.
I join your other fan/friends in wishing you a good rest and quick recovery from your cold.
How I'd enjoy winning the house numbers! Thanks for hosting the giveaway.
I enjoy your blogs. The pictures are beautiful. I especially like the one of the "Jewels" of Eriogonum.
The numbers would look so good on my house front. Here's hoping.
:) Feel better.
Congrats to Flower lady!
Please do not spill tea on your paintings, or soup either!
I have coffee spots on a few of my drawn illustrations and my only consolation is that I haven't applied the watercolor yet... so I can just "BLEND". Jeri
Dearest Sharon - I hope that by now you're feeling very much better...I know that Jeff will be taking good care of you anyway! Loved this post so much, as always...and for once our two gardens, so far apart, look very much the same! It has been raining here too for the past two days and the garden is so happy! Lovely to visit with you, dear friend xoxo get well soon
I would love to win one of these beautiful signs for my house. Your soup sounds delicious, and I hope you're feeling better!
Well, Sharon, it's NOT raining here, for a change, so the storm must have gone south to your neck of the woods. You know what my husband calls rain: "Free Water." I hope you and your garden enjoy it and maybe it will move east and deluge those parched states. Your soup sounds soothing and delicious. Your paintings look gorgeous.
Those signs are so much fun! Thanks for the chance to win!
Thank you for leaving me a comment so I could find your blog! Me thinks I am in the presence of a garden guru! I wish you lived in the same zone as me (or vice-versa).
Delicious looking soup. I love cooking soup with Parmesan rinds!
I hope it is not too late to comment here for a chance to win the beautiful house numbers! Looking forward to your next opus.
Hi Marty (and everyone else),
No, it is NOT TOO LATE to comment for the chance to win the custom made numbers. This will be a two week drawing to allow more entries.
Good luck,
Sharon
That soup looks delightful. I envy you being able to live on an island in Maine. That is a life long dream of mine. Your garden looks beautiful!
Into all lives
a soup day must
fall....I love
those days!! I
thought of you
yesterday as I
finally got my
herb garden in.
It was an especially
long winter in
MN but summer is
now here : ) I'd
LOVE to win a
Ramsign giveaway;
I've entered at
least a dozen they
have sponsored, but
alas, not been THE
ONE, yet....fingers
crossed!
Happy Monday and
welcome home, Sharon!
xx Suzanne
It looks as if soup is on the menu for many of us. Here is Northern Calif. it is also cold and wet and I have a batch on the stove as well. I would love to have that sign for my new house! Wouldn't that be such a special thing to display? Thanks for offering this Sharon. Glad you weren't disturbed by the bad weather in OKC.
Oh my goodness, I am so thrilled that you found my blog tonight, because it led me here to yours! I'm incredibly inspired by your work and words, and I will be back to visit often. It's wonderful that you have a place in Maine, too. I agree with you about Maine food! I feel truly blessed to call Portland my home.
This post is full of gorgeous photos, and I love your soup! I, too, always toss in a parmesan rind for flavor and a little thickening. It is one of my favorite secrets. I have a feeling you and I would have fun cooking together! :)
xo Gigi
Hi Sharon - I enjoy seeing you in action and following you around via your blog as you share with us where you have been for your speaking tours - you have such a BUSY schedule!
Your garden is beautiful and the flowers do shine after the rain like jewels. You have such a wonderful variety - thank you for those lovely photos.
The soup is absolutely delightful - so ME! Love your secret ingredient - I can almost smell it from here! I must try that - will think of you when I do~~
Hugs,
Vicki
Dear Sharon,
I enjoy your books and found your blog via my dear friend Suzanne's blog. Thank you for sharing your soup recipe, soup is one of my favourite things:)
Warm regards from South Africa,
Linda
I came via Suzanne's blog too and wanted to say that I love adding parmesan rinds to soup, and i always have a pile in the refrigerator saved. Your garden looks so fresh - how nice it must be to have some rain where you are. We have rather a lot, so i am glad to send some over.
x
Ah Sharon you know you are real treasure. Always such a pleasure to hear from you. We had French enamel house letters at our converted stables when I was a teenager, your numbers took me right back there! Such an amazing courtyard garden wish I could show you!
Now as for your bird book, wowzers it looks sensational, you are right it will touch the lives of children and probably charm the birds from the trees too!
Thanks so much for your kind wishes,
Love Sarah xXx
Your green are glorious too..
I hope you are feeling much better!
Hi Sharon,
'Tis I who christened you with the name Sarah instead of Sharon in the As the Crow Flies blog!! I was so excited to comment on The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating that I hurriedly typed Sarah instead of Sharon. I truly do know your name and I'm glad you are good natured about my faux pas.
I enjoy your blog immensely and read it regularly. Was it you who said that columbine reminds one of little doves with their heads together dancing? I just thought of that after seeing the picture of your red columbine. Columbines are so cheerful.
Love from Diane in North Carolina
Sharon!! You're back!! Welcome home, my friend. And what a trip you've had - those photos tell is all! I'm all tucked into my grandmother's bed up here at Lake Tahoe (there's still snow on the ground, many feet deep in fact!) and a big pot of soup sounds delicious right now. I love nothing more than reading here in this bed, with my memories swirling around me like old friends. And what do I spy at the end of your post but a darling little Junco that you've drawn! ;) I hope your cold has passed and that you're able to enjoy this beautiful week with a garden freshly watered.
Hello dear Sharon!
Sounds like the perfect recipe for an on coming cold!Hope it doesn't keep you down for long! Rest, read and relax! As always your photos here are an inspiration!The soup looks yummy too!
sending love...
Deb
Hi Diane,
I LOVE the name Sarah and DO wish that I had been named that or Abigail (after Grandmother Lovejoy) as had been planned.
You're forgiven and yes, I was the one who described columbines (little doves) that way.
S
Adding the cheese to the soup sounds yummy. I hope you are over your cold by now and are enjoying a rest.
Loved the pictures as always, and your cardinal art.
nice looking soup. hope it tastes as good as it looks
Oh my goodness, i am number 59!
dear Sharon, as always, your post is best read a few times, once quickly to satisfy the curiousity in me and again (and again) to look closer (and of course read). i have that same pot, yellow even! and soup making is one of my favorite things to do.
i hope your feeling better and rested after your trip, so nice to see your back!
love,
lori
Hi Sharon,
Your gardens always amaze me! I love all the gorgeous flowers and would love just to tour them!
And your always on the go....what an amazing life! Are you going to Maine soon? I have got to get my Maine fix through you! hehe.
Hugs,
Cindy
What a wonderful day of quiet you had! I love the whole soup therapy day. I do the same thing when I am feeling like I am coming down with something. I always top my vegetable soup off with parmesan, but my noni did not teach me the rind trick. I will be stealing that idea. Your new book sounds wonderful, my grand girlies will love it. We had a Sharon Lovejoy inspired tea party the other day in the garden. Grandgirlies were so happy! To check it out, I think it was my second post down.
Sharon--I came back today to look at your illustrations for your children's book and it looks incredible. I'd be interested to "take a tour" of that room sometime. Have you ever posted pics of that room? I love the bookshelves behind the table and I am just one of these people who is curious about other people's spaces. Thanks for great inspiration.
Hi Teri,
Thanks for the words. Yes, I have posted about "Mockingbird Studio," which is where I work every day and some nights. It is a building that is separate from our little house and luckily it has a kitchen space for making tea, a bathroom, and a tiny loft. I think I did something on it long ago, but I will plan to do something on it soon. My granddaughter Sara May now has grown into her own drafting table and stool. She is the only one who works out there when I am working. We are compatible. She gets engrossed and we will work for an hour or so without talking.
Also, I read her chapters as I work on my middle grade novel. She gives GREAT critiques.
Thanks for stopping by.
All joys,
Sharon
Thank you for including me in your Grimy Hands Girls' Club! I received your envelope earlier, with delight. I've just ordered two copies (one for each set of grandchildren) of Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars - I know they'll enjoy the books!
FYI: I just finished reading the book "The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating" (from the public library). I loved it and have ordered my own copy!
Now - I will place a link to your June 4 post, as suggested.
(Would you like to visit Iowa? I'm now a Master Gardener!) :-)
Word verification: cookeduc
Hi there NEW MASTER GARDENER,
Good for you and congratulations. Ok, you're entered twice for the house numbers drawing.
Glad you're a Grimy Hands Girls' Club Member, they're the best.
Iowa, I LOVE IT. We were there for a week last summer. Went to the graveyard of the Lovejoy family from the mid-1800s, visited Jack and Jane Hogue of Prairie Pedlar (our dear friends with the BEST garden ever), and stayed with our friends the Jimersons. We had a ball.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
Sharon, I am so happy to have you as a fellow blog follower. I have been a fan of yours for many years. I have kept my Country Living Magazines since 1979 and do fondly recall Heart's Ease. As a former preschool teacher I am very familiar with your wonderful books. I did not know that you reside in Maine half of the year, do you offer lectures in Maine?
I too am adding you to my blogroll, BTW temperatures shall reach the nineties here tomorrow! T'is summer in Maine.
I am so sorry I missed you. I was out of town with family and Bill's work. It looks like your time was very successful. Tons of people there. Soup is one of my favorite things, but not today. It is way too hot here. I think you came when the gettin' was good.~~Dee
Dee dear, I SO WANTED TO SEE YOU! It was wonderful in OKC. The people are awesome. Do you know Peggy?
Anyhow, I may have come when the gettin' was good, but I'll be back to kick off the Ag in the Classroom conference (about 450 or so teachers) and to give a short keynote...at the END OF JULY. Will you follow me with a fan and ice water?
love,
S
Hi Sharon,
You came to my blog and left some kind words for me. Thank you!! I lost my sweet Bambi and I am so lost. We had been together for 13 years and 3 months exactly!!
I miss her so.
I am a gardener too. I am dyslexic too so I have bad days that I will mess up word pretty good!! I keep trying and get better steadily.
I would like your friendship if you have the time for another one.
xx, Fern
What a beautiful, rich blog you have Sharon. I hope to spend more time enjoying it now that I have retired from my local library (25 years of checking out books, LOL).
I always enjoy garden walks with you. We've had lots of rain--floods today with the Dan Ryan freeway into Chicago completely closed in both directions. However, my lawn and garden are very grateful and welcome even copious amounts of rain.
Your soup making is the way I make soup right down to the parmesan rind. In fact, I use so many during the winter that I pick up bags of them at Whole Foods for the freezer.
Hope your cold is improving with the soup.
Best,
Bonnie
Hi Sharon ~
Hope you are feeling much better after having eaten that lovely soup. I could smell the aroma right through my computer. Take care of yourself.
~ Christina (Paloma) ♥
I absolutely LOVE your photos!! The rain drops seem to stop in midair as you take the pictures. Amazing!
Hi Sharon! I want you to know that I planted my sunflower house! Yippee! I also made a fairy bed. Come see!
Hope your feeling better, yummy soup always seems to help. I love your blog such wonderful pictures, very inspiring.
jtbeaulieu@yahoo.com
Hi Sharon! First, I want to say thanks for dropping in on my blog today. It is always nice to see a new face!
What an exciting place you have here! I've taken great interest in all of your writing and speaking opportunities. Your bio is encouraging to me! I hope to have writing opportunities even in the slightest that you have!
Take care, Cassie
Love your photos! As always, another great give-away :) Thanks for the nice comment on my new living-roof birdhouses.. I can't wait until your bird book is finished-I can tell by the photos you post of your drawings that it's going to be wonderful!
How I wish I could have you sign my book too, Sharon? Aren't you coming to France?
A great event and the photos so lovely..could there be anything more peaceful than nature...and soup! It looks delicious. sometimes I just have to have some soup in summer too, especially on rainy days. thank you for this comforting recipe..
Bisous
ronelle
Everything has been said that I would say.
Please take care of yourself..
Rest - I love the address sign
I am in the process of having a log cabin built in Charlottesville Virginia and lordy, lordy what problems.
Your blog gives me hope that once done my life will return to normal and contentment will again set in.
I would love to have that sign on my new cabin.
Love your blog.
Ann
Dear Ann,
I know that building a home can be the toughest thing, but you'll finish and it will all be behind you-with a shiny future. I love Charlottesville and my husband once lived there. I sub-taught school in Virginia too and many family members lived there during the past couple of centuries. In fact, I am writing a middle-grade novel about Waterford, Virginia.
You will need to keep watch to see if you are the lucky winner because I do not have a contact for you.
Joys,
S
This is a WONDERFUL giveaway! I would love a number that will outlive me, however my young cousins would love one more than me.
Crossing my fingers and sending up a prayer with the evening faries.
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