A woolly bear in the driveway. So early in the year. What does it mean?

From Dr. Jeff Masters' Wunder Blog, "According to legend, the severity of the upcoming winter can be judged by examining the pattern of brown and black stripes on woolly bear caterpillars--the larvae of Isabella tiger moths. If the brown stripe between the two black stripes is thick, the winter will be a mild one. A narrow brown stripe means a long, cold winter."

Dr. Jeff Masters continues, "The Hagerstown, Maryland Town and Country Almanack has been publishing weather forecasts and weather lore for 209 years. The Almanack sponsors an annual woolly bear caterpillar event, where local school children in Hagerstown collect woolly bears. A panel of judges examines the collected specimens and issues a woolly bear forecast for the upcoming winter. The Hagerstown critters have had mixed success the past three years with their forecasts--they've been correct about half the time. This is only slightly worse than the official NOAA long range forecasts."

So, here's the deal, neighbors and friends, (Nick and Joey), let's gather our own woolly bears and see what we can predict about our upcoming winter. Being as scientific as possible, of course. :)

I read the book The Devil Wears Prada. I saw the movie. I just couldn't get into it. So many of the fashion references meant nothing to me. I thought the book was relentless in creating what I thought was going to be something satanic at the end. I'm glad it had a goody ending.

The movie was another story- I missed that Andy's boyfriend was not a teacher and there was very little development of Lily, Andy's friend. The main characters became Emily, Nigel, and Christian. Mostly, the movie was Andy running through traffic talking on her cellphone.

O.K., so I'm out of it. Hard to believe, after that statement, but I love beautiful clothes, jewelry, and shoes. I just wasn't impressed with the book or the movie.

I'll finally be a Gardening Pro not a wanna-be. I signed up to take the Master Gardener class offered by MSU. It is every Wednesday night for the next thirteen weeks.

The requirements are: people who are interested in plants and stewardship of the land-that's me, people dedicated to volunteerism- that's definitely me, and people willing to share their knowledge- well, that wouldn't be hard since I talk about plants and gardening all of the time. With the Master Gardener's certification, I'll be able to say I know what I'm talking about. Besides, it's on my to-do-someday list. I'm smiling.

Oh yes, it requires 40 hours of volunteer service. That will get my brain spinning-wondering what that will be all about.

A good sandwich is easy to find. Tonight we had BLT's for supper. Fresh homemade wheat bread from Bay Bread, vine ripened tomatoes from an Amish roadside vegetable stand, cheap, thinly sliced, salty bacon, and a handful of bib lettuce stolen from CT's refrigerator- definitely gourmet. We didn't toast the bread. We used lots of mayo. One and a half sandwiches was perfect for me. I adore a good "samitch".

I found a praying mantis in my garden. In Greek, "mantis" means soothsayer or prophet. I watched it move its head back and forth quizzically and put its front legs in the prayer stance. They are just the neatest carnivorous insect. A mantis eats flies and aphids so it is definitely welcome. I know the kids at school loved to bring them in (I was a science teacher). I'll start watching for the egg sack. I usually find it on my siding. Yes, baby praying mantis!

Lavender is one of my favorite garden flowers. The fragrance is intense yet down-to-earth, a little exotic and dreamy. Most people associate it with English soap or tea. Ahh- it's restful.

But, even more fun comes with cooking with lavender. I have made lavender iced tea, lavender sugar cookies, lavender pound cake, apricot halves stuffed with lavender infused cream cheese, used lavender as a garnish, and lavender butter for scones. By far, the most elegant and beautiful has been lavender jelly that I made for my guests at my first Friendship tea. The jelly was fabulously delicious!!

Here is the recipe:

Lavender Jelly (Victoria Magazine, August, 1995)

Lavender Infusion:
Three teaspoons dried Lavender flowers or one-half cup fresh lavender flowers
Three cups distilled water

Lavender Jelly:
one quarter cup cider vinegar
four cups sugar
one three oz. envelope liquid pectin
fresh lavender sprigs for garnish (optional)

Note: Use distilled water for the infusion to avoid chemicals in tap water that alter the color. The vinegar and pectin turn the infusion magenta (light) when making jelly.

To make infusion:
1. Place lavender flowers in medium bowl. Bring water to boil in non-reactive (enamel or stainless steel) saucepan. Pour over flowers.
2. Cover, let stand fifteen minutes. Strain. Reserve.

To make lavender jelly:
1. Measure 2 c. infusion into six-quart non-reactive pot. Stir in sugar and vinegar. Mix well.
2. Bring to full boil, stirring constantly.
3. Stir in pectin. Stir constantly and bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.
4. Boil for exactly one min., stirring constantly.
5. Remove from heat. Skim off foam. Ladle jelly into sterilized half pint canning jars, leaving one-quarter in. head space. Seal with canning lids according to manufacturer's directions.
6. Cool upright on rack. Store in refrigerator up to one month. For longer storage, process hot jelly in boiling water bath five min. after sealing with lids. Yield: four half pints

Note: To garnish jelly with lavender sprigs, do not seal jars at first. Tent them loosely with plastic wrap. Cool on rack jive hrs. Using a narrow spatula, gently press lavender sprigs into jelly. Seal. Let stand 254 hrs. Refrigerate up to one month.

More ideas, try :http://www.whatscookingamerica.net/Lavender.htm