I forgot that I have a Moon Garden. Moon gardens are specialty gardens designed around white, silver-leafed or variegated plants. It is delightful to view at dusk or in the dark, since the moon reflects off the white blossoms.

I'll let the white and the moon be my garden guide. I have planted white phlox in large patches up against the gray picket fence. They glow. The light is also picked up from the silver-gray fuzzy lamb's ears I have carefully placed along the front of the border. I follow the brick pathline past a massive planting of white shasta daises that surround my peace pole. I move on past the spikey silver foliage of a butterfly bush. Then back around the loop again. The beauty is not just the fairytale color, it is the sweet fragrances that many plants put out at night to attract pollinating insects. The bathwater warm air mingles with the light fragrance making me heady and somewhat sleepy. It is enchanting.

The white glow reminds me that I had made this special garden for the fall because many of the plants are dying back and my garden needed something to spice it up. The full moon is Aug. 9, but it is plenty big enough for me to view my Moon Garden. I'll take a stroll each night while it lasts. How could I forget?

Because I love to eat, and I love to peruse the menu, and I love to go about town to try new things, I should have a column called Aunt B Eats. So here goes.

Yesterday, I went to the Patisserie Amie to get a sweettooth treat. I really wanted a large slice of sweet, but because it was extremely hot and the dog was waiting from getting his haircut, I could not be as leisurely as I had wished.

Patissiere Amie is a tiny shop on Front St. with a table for two outside the door, and pink and white hollyhocks growing along a rail fence at the side. It's a charming bistro with a red and white striped canopy and a window displaying bread and colorful boxes waiting to be filled. It has a perfect location backed by the river and the river backed by the bay.

Inside, one is immediately drawn to the showcase filled with delectable sweets. Pear almond tarts, bombes, meringues, and dark delicacies of chocolate beckoned. For $3.25, I chose a plum tart. It had a light pastry crust, filled with thinly sliced plums and topped with just a decorative sprinkle of powdered sugar. Not too sweet, just the plum flavor and the buttery crust. The maybe ten delicate bits of treat only made me want more.

The shop is cozy with posters, sports a large blackboard menu, and seats about a dozen. There is a long list of coffee drinks and teas. Fresh bread is baked daily and the soup of the day was vichyssoise with leeks. They have a featured omelette and daily crepes with caviar.

After looking at the coffee menu and the pastry selection, I decided that I will have to try each dessert inorder to make a fair judgement on their quality. I'll have to remember to get their early since they close at 3:00 on the weekends. Next time, big cup of French pressed coffee and a bombe. or a madeline, or something chocolate....... Bon Apetit.

TC Reads has picked Barefoot Heart by Elva Trevino Hart for the Community Reads 2006 program. This is Trevino Hart's autobiography of everyday life, going from poverty to a successful professional. Elva is raised in South Texas and at age three follows the crops with her family as migrant workers in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Her father is a hardworker and expects his wife and children to be the same. Child labor laws were not enforced in the 50's. Elva, the youngest, overcomes loneliness and neglect, graduates from high school and, is the first in her family to go to college. The story is about her childhood, relationships with her siblings, and her need to please her father. It is about trying to understand her childhood, going away from her culture, and finding her way back home.

The author will be in the area to discuss this impressive, heartwarming selection. http://www.tcreads.org/

Did I tell you that I love Pottery Barn? I love to look at their catalog and use it for all of my decorating changes. Because they are trendy, my house will never be finished. But then, that's the fun of it. It gives me a change to change things around and around and around. No little kids, only a dog and now I have time to mess with it.

Now that I think about it, I must be a Pottery Barn junkie. I have:

grand black desk phone in kitchen
black bulletin board near fridg
drawer pulls on cupboards (see picture)
glassbead garland wrapped around my chandelier over the table
large metal floor lamp with large square shade
paisley sheer curtain in bedroom window
sage green throw on couch (look alike because the one in the store was too expensive)
black display shelf in living room
displays of eggs in bird's nest and shells I collected ( I had these before Pottery Barn even thought of it.)
Use rice or white buttons under candles in glass containers
Store stuff in baskets
Store stuff in blue glass canning jars
Put cookbooks on display in kitchen
Flower arrangements like in their catalogue

However, I'm not hot on all of the decorating ideas. One thing I hate is when they turn all the books around on the bookshelves so the pages face outward. Now, that's a decorating idea I don't need. Yuck! And their bathroom ideas are a little too clean for me- obviously they don't have a carpenter or sawdust in their lives.

I crave going to a Pottery Barn Store, but when I get there I'm disappointed. I think I just like looking at mail order catalogs and moving things. I didn't say moving things and dusting.

Did I ever tell you that I love books? I especially like Pottery Barn's new Home. It's more than a coffeetable book. For me it is a whole world of decorating ideas. The decorating theme is to blend comfort and beauty. It assures that your style is to put the things around you that you love.

My idea of decorating is to put the things out that I love, and when I'm not noticing it anymore, I change it around. I also watch for the new arrangements-colors and textures that they put out in the Pottery Barn catalogue. Then, using their designer eye, I try to replicate the room, surface, wall- with the things that I have. Pretty inexpensive decorating and very cool.

I also notice items in the photographs. I look at the title of books that are on the shelves. For instance, I was interested in a cookbook on a kitchen self- Home Chef/Fine Cooking Made Simple by Judith Ets-Hokin. Seems this is a great reference book and now one I'll be on the lookout for. In one of the kitchens, I liked the display of old graters on the end of a cupboard. It gave me the idea to hang up a green rolling pin my friend, Judy, gave me for Christmas. I like what they do with organizing, so I have blue jars filled with pencils on my desk.

I'm working on my master bedroom and have found the perfect paint for the ceiling above the white beadboard. Pottery Barn has a line of paint through Benjamin Moore. I want to use Hazy Lilac 2116-40. Just the ticket to match my bedding. I have been looking and looking.

So comfort and beauty and lots of ideas. I'll probably have to check this book out over and over again since I see something I have missed each time I open it.

Weddings are all about bringing families together, at least for one day, if fortune shines on the couple. They bring unique ideas to their celebration. The idea presented of the bride on a longhorn was not part of bringing our families together or a tradition passed down. Thank heaven, the bride and groom rode away on a haywagon pulled by a pickup truck. The sign read "Red Neck Limo" and on the back it said, "Just Hitched."

My niece's wedding brought two aunts together representing the family to light the family candle which the bride and groom used to light their unity candle. It was Grandma B's 84 th birthday and the groom's parents wedding anniversary. The wedding cake used four little glasses that supported the top layer used in Connie and Don's wedding cake. A birthday/anniversary cake sporting photos of the celebrities was also served. Toasts were made during the reception with congratulations all around. I thought that these were a thoughtful, sweet touch to the couple's special day and will help everyone remember the festivities.

At first I thought the Red Neck Limo might be a bit much, but by comparison to the longhorn, gosh gee, it was mild. And anyway, I'm sure the next wedding will be creative and memorable without adding the above extra touch. I really don't know if it would do too much to bring our families together. :) Don't get any ideas.

Getting ready to go to a big wedding. I can't believe how stressful it has become and I'm just the Auntie. I know it will be very nice and I'm really excited. Her comes the bride....
This will be added to the Wedding book I'd like to write. Got any comments of best or worst parts of your wedding or weddings you have gone to?

Thus ends my future career as a chef before it even begins. I'm finished reading Heat and have a better understanding of the rich and famous badboy chef, Mario Batali and life in a professional kitchen. Way too hot and stressful for me. And I don't have the knowledge or know how. Besides, I may have red hair, but I'm not a celb or a want-to-be. Buford gives a sweat by sweat description of each of the kitchen stations and the people who operate them. He worked in Mario's famous New York restaurant, Babbo.

The author then goes on a quest to understand Italian food and it's people and history. He makes the adventure come alive by working with the people in Italy who have not become rich and famous, but are the sixth generation who have butchered, or made pasta, or created foods from the regions traditions and ingredients.

At one point, Buford is on a mission to find out about making pasta, specifically putting egg in pasta. As he said, no one understood his urgency to find the answer to the question. I can relate because when I have a question about foods or ingredients I research and research until I find an acceptable answer. Buford used many old accounts that have recently been translated to help understand the cooking traditions of Italy, one reference dated back to 1351.
.

So finding out about pasta and all kinds of Italian meats and methods of preparing was very interesting and inspiring. One enlightening idea was the use of all kinds of meat: lamb, rabbit, duck, pork, beef, wild game, etc, and all parts of the animal. In fact, the cooked meats turn into a brown mush. Raveoli is stuffed with any and all meat parts. I thought that this idea might be disgusting to the general population who have no idea what they eat. The menu at Babbo includes all kinds of things that Americans are not supposed to like- headcheese, octopus, beef cheeks, lamb's tongue, and calf brains.

Now, I was raised on a farm and my dad was a trapper, so I understand what these items are and how they are made. I vowed that, as an adult, I would never eat many of these foods because I had no choice as a kid. Looking at the list my mom cooked lamb, pork, beef, goat, chicken, turkey, goose, duck, rabbit, squirrel, raccoon, beaver, and venison. Pretty impressive. We did draw the line at headcheese, brain, and kidney pie. However, I have eaten these foods. I do know the idea of using what you have, in season, and making it by hand which is a theme in this book.

So, even though I love watching Mario B. on Iron Chef and looking at his new line of cooking items, after reading this book, I feel a real kinship to Bill Buford especially when he cut up the side of pork on his kitchen counter in his New York apartment. I wish I could remember all of the names of foods that Bill learned about. And I appreciate the recognition brought to the not so famous people in Italy who don't give a @@@ about business, but consider themselves artists.

If I go to New York, I would still like to go to Babbo. I will really have to look over the menu though.

Birthday Celebration at the Blue Tractor.

We, five friends, celebrated my friend's major birthday at the newest, hopping place in town, the Blue Tractor. It was a surprise party.

The Blue Tractor use to be Dill's Olde Towne Saloon, which was an Olde Towne fixture. Now, the building is updated with a mod whitewashed brick exterior and a farm machinery and tractor theme. The lights over the booth are galvanized pails hanging upside down. The lights over the mirrors (tin ceiling tiles with mirror glass), in the bathroom, have galvanized piping as the part that holds the light itself. Lots of gears, picture frames that look like the tread of an old threshing machine, and close-ups of farm implements . Definitely one-of-a kind decor. Bar in the middle of the room surrounded by high tables and chairs, and booths around the outside edge. A new look that's appropriate for our area.

The lunch menu was fairly extensive, including macaroni and cheese(woooopeee), and reasonable. We started out with an order of cheese and bacon french fries. We shared a Loaded Wedgie which is a wedge of iceberg lettuce with blue cheese dressing, bacon bits, and candied pecans. Yummy. Two friends shared a Farmer's Market salad. When the salads came, we ask if they had been halved and the waiter said it looked bad, so they were larger than the amount halved. This is the way to go because, even sharing, there was a large amount of food. We also shared an order of grilled chicken wings to dip in cherry chipotle (one of the dips). To finish off the birthday lunch, we ordered the banana split. This was three large scoops of Moomer's ice cream (chocolate cherry, vanilla, and strawberry) . The split had the traditional whipped cream, a maraschino cherry, and at least two split bananas along the side. This was served with five spoons. Thank goodness, the salad and wings were our version of the South Beach diet so we could splurge on dessert. :)

The downside was that a group of about two dozen Red Hat ladies were also having lunch at tables across from us. The restaurant has never been known for its good acoustics and we found that it hadn't changed with the new decor. It was loud!

But, we had a great time. Happy Birthday to my dear, dear friend CT.

Faster than a speeding grater. Safe on the knuckles. I'm endorsing the Microplane rotary cheese grater. Very nice.

This cheese grater comes in black, has two metal wheels that can shred the cheese really thick or one that does the cheese really fine. It is easy to use. Just put in a small amount of cheese, face the opening toward your food, and turn the handle. Yummy ground cheese on your pasta . And what a breeze to clean up. The handle opens and drops out the grater wheel. It is made of heavy plastic, durable and yet attractive ( if you can say that about a cheese grater).

Big Fred got this contraption for Christmas. We use it when we have pasta or tacos. I got it at Crystal Crate and Cargo which is the ultimate kitchen store. I think it cost about $20 which was very reasonable. And the cheese tastes better when it comes in a chunk.

Don't wait until you need a cheese grater. Go to a kitchen store, browse, and just putts. It' s more fun than window shopping or going to the mall. In my case, I don't think it would be cheaper.

I'm tooling down the road past my house, sun beating down, wind in my hair, waving to the folks out getting their mail. No, not in my Subaru, in a bright yellow VW Bug convertible. I know it would be just the car for me.

Go crazy. Live a little. Convertibles are so much fun. Once Frannie and I conned a friend into letting us take his little black Miata for the day. We got up early, got the top down, wrapped our neck with a scarf (Pia Isadora style) and cruised to a nearby town, stalling once or twice but were confident as the day progressed. On our return home, we cruised down Front Street to see if we could be noticed by anyone we knew. We went down the strip once more since we had no one to show off to. I mean, come one, half the fun is showing off to anyone who might notice. That was the day we changed our names to use on special occasions. We were rich girls driving our little sports car, nose in the air, cool sunglasses ( a must when one is being cool), and scarf blowing in the wind hoping to avoid being choked to death by the scarf wrapping around a tire. A fantasy played out. It was glorious!

So, I've been talking about sports cars for days. Pointing out neat cars everywhere we have gone. Oh, is that a Spitfire, an MG Midget, a Corvette? (like I know anything about cars). Oh, but did I mention that we have a sports car. We have a Jeep with a soft top and windows that can come out. It's Big Fred's work car. Anyway, Big Fred took out the windows and folded the top down and I had my convertible.

Let me tell you, I loved it. Sun beating down on my head, wind blowing in my hair, and lots of blue sky, white puffy clouds, and smells. The blue was intense. The clouds had flat bottoms and were close overhead. They were combining wheat and that has a warm musty straw smell that anyone from farm country would recognize right off. We say seven Sandhill cranes standing in the field. Of course, when we came to town, there was car exhaust, loud gear shifting from the big trucks loaded with cherries sloshing in their water containers. And, when it got cold, we put the heater on and warmed our legs.

All in all, it was a great day for enjoying the open air. I still would like a VW bug, but don't have to wait if Big Fred takes to using his sports car.

Hardware on kitchen cupboards is such a joy. I've lived in this house for over 30 years and finally have the pleasure of opening the drawer with a drawer pull. Of course, out of habit, I grabbed the corner or the silverware drawer and tugged because it sticks. Then I looked down and realized that I could easily pull it open using the handle. Oooh! Ahh!

As with many things, a little change can make a big difference. It makes the kitchen look like a new place. Very modern-pewter with porcelain drawer pulls and round polished nickel knobs on the cupboard doors. It reminds me of an old-apothecary cabinet. This style makes sense since my kitchen walls are made out of handhewn square logs. The kitchen was an 18x20 log cabin that is going on 200 years old. Big Fred, an accomplished carpenter, had the job finished in no time and such a delight.

Of course, there was the great tado about which hardware to get. I ordered, sent back, bought knobs to try out; have to take them back. Not the right size bolts to go from the outside of the drawer to the inside. We ended up using stainless steel screws. Now our kitchen is really stylin thanks to Pottery Barn and Home Depot. And Big Fred. Yes!!

Number 3 on the list of summer reading. The Education of Little Tree is the rememberance of a Cherokee boy's childhood. Little Tree is raised by his grandparents and learns the Cherokee "way" including a trade: whiskey making. The story takes place in the 1930's and is claimed to be a true story of Forrest Carter's (the author) life.

I love this sweet story of the granpa and granma's teachings. Little Tree knows his place in the world. He is part of the trees, river, animals, and the mountain. It made me feel warm and happy. I can relate because I also am drawn to the land that I make my home on. I have history here; my history includes the trees, creeks, animals and hills that surround me and the teachings of my parents, grandparents, and neighbors.

It is a well documented that Native American children were "rescued" and placed in schools and orphanages. Little Tree learns first hand about politicians and religion when he is placed in a church run orphanage. Of course, Little Tree is a bastard and is beyond the realm of God. I guess I needed a good cry because that's what I did through the last few chapters.

I have always wondered about how our society places so little value on children. (Hard to articulate). I think that is part of the reason why I was so sad. Need a good cry?

Shiprock, New Mexico is just east of Teec Nos Pos, Arizona where I started my teaching career on the Navajo Reservation. On a January day, I packed my car in the ice and snow and with my friend Suzie in convoy, headed west. I felt like Columbus when he thought he would drop off the edge of the earth.

The move was major. I had purchased my first car and prayed that the light would stay green so I wouldn't have to shift as I went up my first hill. I had never been so far from home or so far away from the familiar, like green trees and grass and blue lakes and clean water. I didn't know how to pronounce the name of the town I was going to and had no idea what my teaching assignment would entail. But, I was an expert on Navajo culture. I had read one book. Oh my! I could handle "them Indians" (no disrespect intended) since I had just come from a teaching job in an inner city school. Needless to say, I had more to learn than just shifting my car.

I was thinking about my experience today. It changed my world-view and my life. Who would have imagined?

To go gray or not to go gray? That is the question.

O.K. I said I would stop coloring my hair once I retired. So, I'm retired. I said I liked it colored because I'm a professional and I felt I should be concerned about personal appearance since I was an example for children. I said, I never did such a thing when I was younger because I couldn't afford it and it just wasn't what the women in my family did. More reasons for hair color: my hair is gray and white (or all white for all I know), I always wanted to be a redhead, I enjoy pampering myself, I deserve it, it's fun.

On the other hand, my husband bluntly pointed out that if it is to attract men, it wasn't working. :) And, how shallow if it was an ego thing. "Vanity, vanity....

So, I'm old enough to realize all of these arguments pro and con. Maybe I just am not a risktaker (although I encourage everyone else to take risks). Maybe I don't want to come to grips with the idea that I'm getting old. Maybe it will look bad. I wish I could put my face on different hair colors like they can draw a house or plan a kitchen with CAD.

I haven't convinced myself one way or the other. Usually, I don't put these ideas out any further than my friends, but how does the world feel about old ladies dyeing their hair? I'll take all thoughts on the subject under consideration.

I hate it! Wind and rain! I live on a hill so we get major wind. When storms move in from the west, our hilltop home is a grand attraction to lightning. When I was a kid, I thought thunder was the bad guy. Sure, whoever told me that?

Last week's storm was very scary because our house was hit by lightning three times. The strike took out the answering machine, came in as a ball of light near the microwave, and came down the hotwater heat copper pipe in another ball of light. I was shaking, to say the least, and sat on the floor in the living room with the dog until the storm passed. Luckily, I had just stopped talking on the phone to my sister. Toast.

Yesterday's storm had only one lightning strike , again, near the microwave. But, the wind was really blowing and rain came in sheets. It took a branch out of a big poplar tree in the backyard. We spent some time picking up leaves and branches. In places, it flattened the flowers. Otherwise, no damage.

Thank goodness for the rain. This area seldom gets 90 degree temps day after day. The lawn was burning up. Chance of forest fires was high. And no one could sleep at night, even with a window air-conditioner on.

Today is gloriously sunny, cool, and green. However, I still hate rain and wind and lightning.

Oh, Fannie Flagg, you are too hilarious. I chuckled, I tisked, and I outright belly laughed. Can't Wait to Get to Heaven is the story of elderly Elner Shimfissle (even the name is humorous) who dies, goes to Heaven, and is sent back. Her influence on others, over her long life, is not a surprise, but some of the events are. Some of the events in Heaven are a surprise, too. I loved Fannie Flagg's ideas about Heaven.

Elner has always asked questions and finds out the answers to: What came first, the chicken or the egg? and Why are we here?

Flagg is right up-to-date with references to Martha Stewart and Pottery Barn. The characters live in the present day, fast-paced world. The questions aren't new ones and neither is the theme, but the story is uplifting, hopeful, and sweet.

It's a great way to spend a summer afternoon. It's a must read book.

Detective Precious Ramotswe is back in her lopsided white van solving the latest mystery in her area of Botswana. Mma Ramotswe and her assistant Grace Makutsi are dealing with problems on the nature preserve, a whistle-blower, and blackmail. Both ladies take a look at what makes them happy. Grace thinks that blue shoes will make the difference. Precious, who is traditionally built, decides to go on a diet, but after reflection concludes that she really doesn't want to change. Of course, the personal growth is as interesting as the traditional "who dunnit". So, a mystery within a mystery.

I enjoy this series because it is a glimpse into the African culture with women in the key positions. Smith has made this another entertaining story in The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency Series.

I have to admit, that I liked the first book best, (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency) because Precious Ramotswe ( the main character) is more developed, created and nurtured by the author. I don't think Blue Shoes and Happiness gives enough of the background to help the reader fully understand.

I noticed that Smith is really developing the secondary characters: Grace and Mr. Polopetsi (whom Mma Ramotswe has befriended and works in her husband's garage). Could it be that there will be some spin-off with these characters? Precious keeps talking about moving back to her home village. Maybe she'll have a franchise detective business. :)

The Ginger Tree , by Oswald Wynd is book number two in my read-every-summer series. I was surprised at how much I had forgotten.

The story takes place in China and Japan from 1903-1942. The book is in journal and letter form written by a Scotswoman, Mary MacKenzie, telling about living in the Far East. In the beginning, she is on her way to Peking to marry Richard, who is a military attache. She carries a frugal trousseau and naive ideas about marital bliss. Once married, she sees little of her husband and is abandoned by the European community when she has an affair with a Japanese nobleman. Her daughter, Jane, is taken from her and is sent to England to be raised by Richard's mother. Mary is taken to Japan under the direction of Kentaro ( her lover) who takes her as his mistress. So, her life involves surviving as a Westerner, and a woman in cultures that have little tolerance for women. Her story describes life during two world wars and the Tokyo earthquake of 1923.

Since I have visited Japan, I look for descriptions of places I have been. And, I'm always interested in other cultures and the woman's role there. This is an easy read and has some unpredicted turns of events that I haven't included. On to the next book!

It's called Catchfly or None-So-Pretty. This magenta flower is all over my garden and I have been wondering what is was. I found out not too long ago when KFOL had it's annual Garden Walkabout.

I was incharge of a garden which was touted as a planted-from-seeds garden. What a pleasant surprise! Along a dirt road, you would notice the gardens right next to a nicely made stone column and rail fence. This was impressive, but not so glorious as the 20x40 or so garden hidden behind the house. This was a mass of color: blue Bachelor's Buttons, orange California poppies, fragile red and white poppies, bright red orange poppies, hollyhocks, white daises, golden Sweet Marguerite, pink, red, burgundy and pink/white Sweet Williams, and vibrant passionate pink Catchfly. This scene was like stepping into a Monet painting. Colleen (the owner) just dead-heads the flowers and puts them where she wants new plants. I asked if she covered them with soil, and she said, "No, nature doesn't do it that way."

So, as the garden was being toured and I was the tour guide pointing out the features and answering questions, a master gardener told her friends that the plant with the five petal star flower was Catchfly. My favorite reference, The Flower Family Album, Fisher and Harshbarger (1941), puts this plant in the Pink family with some species carrying a sticky gum high on their stems to keep away unwlecome insects.

I have been dead-heading them and placing them around my garden thanks to Colleen's advice. They are very colorful and an easy, cheap addition. Another great reference for wildflowers is http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/default.asp.