Week 12: My List of Fabulous Finds (Focusing on Zucchini!)

About ten days ago I mentioned the abundance of zucchini in my garden.  Instead of covering a variety of topics in my “list of fabulous finds” this week, today's focus is on the research I have done regarding ways to use this prolific vegetable.

My daughter observed that the two huge zucchini I brought in from our garden were the size of twin babies! She named, rocked, and burped them - - and had me almost feeling guilty when I said “Enough! We have to eat them!”

One of my favorite ways to serve zucchini is to slice it into thin rounds, saute these in olive oil with garlic,

It's my turn to host Words for Wednesday!

It's my turn this month to host the weekly Words for Wednesday Writing Challenge!

Delores of Under the Porch Light used to offer a weekly writing prompt called Words for Wednesday, and encouraged others to use it to write something creative.  

I first came across this challenge in June, 2014. Quite a few of my creative writing published here has incorporated word prompts from this challenge. It has always been a lot of fun to participate.

Unfortunately, Delores began to have computer issues, and could no longer provide the weekly prompts. Elephant’s Child took over for a while, and then she organized volunteers to share the responsibility. Drifting through Life hosted in July, Randomosity in August, and it is now my turn for the month of September!

How to Participate:

The writing prompt is usually in the form of six (or twelve) words, or a phrase, but may also be a photo, an idea, or anything that might inspire a piece of flash fiction. 

There are no deadlines or rules or prizes. Everyone is invited to participate, as often or as little as you choose. Feel free to write a single sentence or an entire story from the prompt.  

Publish your work in the comments below, or on your own blog with a link to the blog post that supplied the prompt. If you publish your work on your own blog be sure to also leave a comment here. That way everyone can find, read, and comment on your post.

Note: As with any comments on this blog, anything considered inappropriate, derogatory, offensive or spam will not be published. 

I'd like to express my gratitude to Delores for initiating this fun meme - and to everyone willing to participate and ensure that this fun challenge continues.  

Here are the words for this week:

reason, fringed, diary, love, picture, assimilate

AND / OR

school, template, view, family, facilities, disclosure

My own use of this week's words will be another segment of my short story about Mindy. It will be published on this blog next Tuesday.

I hope that you will decide to give this fun challenge a try. I can't wait to see what you write!

Have you ever written any flash fiction from a prompt?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

September First and the End of Summer

Today is the first day of September. To me, this date has always symbolized the end of summer. 

Technically, it is not.

• The official first day of fall in the northern hemisphere is not until the Autumnal Equinox - which occurs on September 23rd this year. 
• September is associated with the beginning of the school year, although I can't actually remember a time when school started on the first of September, instead of some time in August or (as when I was a child) after Labor Day. 
• Even in Montana  the weather can often stay quite warm for the entire month of September, and sometimes it is even a nicer month for outdoor activities than July or August!

It feels like summer is over though.

Last week my son began his last year of high school. My daughter is now back on her college campus. Our much anticipated summer visitors, travels, and summer reunions are now just memories. 

I am starting to watch the weather forecast, to see if I should protect my still-productive plants from frost by covering them with sheets before I go to bed.  To me, today feels like the end of summer.

A smoky but busy week

Last week I was absent from this blog and the Internet. I took a complete vacation from writing and blogging to focus on my family. While I missed writing and keeping up with my usual social media and blogging interactions, it was a good break. Looking back over the past week and all that we crammed into those hours, I am not sure how I could possibly done one more thing.

Sadly, most of our time had to be spent indoors.

There was thick smoke in the air here all week from the wildfires burning in Montana and across the western US and Canada. 

Hazy, smoky skies - this go worse before it got better this week!

Our air quality has been too unhealthy to exert oneself outdoors, and  the first high school soccer games of the season had to be cancelled. Visibility was so poor that the mountains we see every day had all disappeared. An odor of smoke permeated our house; at times our eyes and throats have burned. Even though we are quite a distance from any of the fires currently burning, one morning I saw actual ashes falling from the sky. 

Hopefully some help from nature for the fire crews

Unpleasant as this is, when I think of all the people fighting these fires, I realize I have no right to complain. We worried about how the windy conditions we experienced over the weekend would fan the flames, and possibly endanger even more property and lives. It was wonderful when Sunday night the temperatures dropped, we got a little rain, and the smoke (temporarily) cleared out. 

We got up to beautiful clear skies, no wind, and sunshine yesterday morning. 

I am never one to want summer to come to an end. This year though, I am looking forward to a hopefully very productive fall, the next occasion when our family can all be together, and an end to fire season. 

I begin to mourn the end of summer on September 1st.

When do you begin to feel like summer ends and fall begins?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

An Abundance of Zucchini

Unlike most people, I have never had much luck with growing zucchini. This year however, my plants are producing! A few days of garden neglect - and suddenly I have an abundance of massive zucchini!

Not only am I sort of overwhelmed by zucchini, but my daughter is home from college right now. She is only here a short time, and the days are going by much too quickly.  I want to spend some quality time with her, so I have decided to take a little break from blogging this week.

In the meantime, perhaps you might enjoy taking a look back at these previous posts …

A Chocolate Dessert - Party Perfect and Portable Too
Who Needs a Lawn Mower?
Swim Suits and Swim Meets  

My little blog vacation won't be for very long. There will be another post published here next Tuesday. 

Perhaps I will even have some zucchini recipes to share!

What is your favorite way to prepare zucchini?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

Red Sky at Night, a Smoke-Filled Sky

According to the time and date website, the sun was not expected to set last night until 8:28 pm. I took this photo from my deck last night at 7:02 pm.

What appears to be clouds and fog is actually the smoke from wildfires that has been blanketing the Western states and provinces. Sadly, three firefighters lost their lives in a Washington fire this week and others have been injured.

I'm wishing the weather would give the firefighters some assistance this weekend. Cool temperatures, lots of rain, no wind, and no lightening would be really nice. 

Birds were flying under a blazing sun in the smoky sky last evening.

What are you hoping for this weekend?

Note: If you are visiting this post in search of the Words for Wednesday prompt for this week, please visit my post for Wednesday, September 2nd. You will find them there!

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

Week #11: My List of Fabulous Finds

Note: This article does not seem to be formatting correctly in the mobile view. If you are unable to view the full width on your cell phone, try switching to the web version (link at bottom of the post). Sorry for the inconvenience!

Power Failure

My husband's parents from Ohio were visiting us last week. Just as we were driving home from a restaurant on Friday night, a dramatic thunder and lightening storm began. It set off some new wildfires in Montana, and also caused a power failure. 

Our house and surrounding countryside were dark when we arrived home, except when briefly illuminated by the flashes of lightning. It was pouring rain, and of course the garage door wouldn't go up. My husband hustled in to the garage through the house and manually opened it, so all the rest of us could stay safe and dry!

We visited a while by candlelight, and finally just went to bed. Happily, about 1:00 a.m. our

Chicken Broth and Walnuts - - Oops!

I haven't published much fiction lately, but today I'm picking up where I left off, with Part 8 of my fiction story about Mindy, an adorable compulsive shopper and hoarder of cleaning products. 
To catch up with the story so far:

• Click here to read Part 1, Cleaning Products Don't Work Unless You Use them
• Click here to read Part 2, A Perfect Match.
• Click here to read Part 3, Fiction, Sangria, Roasted Red Pepper Spread and a Picnic
• Click here to read Part 4, Stitches and an Uncomfortable Surprise
• Click here to read Part 5, A Banana Relapse Will Require a Repair
• Click here to read Part 6, Capturing Fruit Flies, & Wine Glasses for Two
• Click here to read Part 7, A Coffee Date and Cathedral Windows

I wrote this segment of Mindy's story (like all the others) using word prompts from the Words for Wednesday Challenge.  

The Words for Wednesday Challenge was originally started by Delores of Under the Porch Light. It was continued for a while on the blog Elephant's Child, then moved to River's blog Drifting Through Life in July and now to Randomosity this August. Next month it will be my turn to provide the word prompts for the challenge!

When you are ready, here is Part 8 ...

~~*~~

Chicken Broth and Walnuts - - Oops!

Mindy wiped sweat off her brow. She had gotten up that morning when the grass was still dewy, and

Seven Tips for Sending Your Child Off to College

Two years ago, my daughter was preparing to head off to her freshman year at college. She would be living 600 miles away from home, and I was probably more apprehensive than she was! To offset my worries, I did everything I could to be sure she would have what she needed, and that she was well prepared to begin living away from home.

She would have loved to bring our cat, but that was not an option!

After finishing her sophomore year, my daughter has spent most of this summer living in her college housing - working, training for the up-coming college swim season, and doing an Independent Study. She came home for a few weeks this month, and didn't bring many belongings back with her. The only

Mountain Berries

On a mountain hike in Montana a few weeks ago, we came across a few patches of berries growing near to the ground, next to the trail. They seemed too large to be a huckleberry, and were not growing on a bush like a blueberry.  

Do you know what kind these are?

Have a wonderful weekend!

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

Week #10: My List of Fabulous Finds

Montana is once again hot and dry, with several fires burning across the state.  

The flames from a fire in Eastern Washington were licking the westbound lane of the Interstate when we drove home from vacation this past week. I'm not sure what started it - it could have been a spark from a chain being dragged by a semi-truck, a still-lit cigarette tossed from a car window, or numerous other causes. Lightening this time of year is risk factor enough - humans need to be careful not to add to the potential causes of these fires.

Perhaps for the first time all summer, the weather this week has been what is usually expected for this time of year. Hot.

My son's high school soccer team will begin official practices today, and before we know it it will be time for the first day of school.

I would like to know how to make time stand still for a bit!

Just a reminder of the reason for this series:

 There is a lot of really helpful, captivating, and entertaining information available on the Internet. It can take a lot of time however, to sift through and find the

Almost Wordless Wednesday

It has been a rather eventful week. 

Last Wednesday we were planning to be on the road by 5:00 a.m, heading for a family vacation with my parents, sisters, and their families. We had rented a big house for all 18 of us. It was 13 hours from our home, so we were hoping to get an early start. 

At 4:45 a.m. I began loading the cooler with the food we were taking - and discovered that our fridge and freezer had died.

Needless to say, our departure was delayed over an hour, as we unloaded the fridge/freezer and unsuccessfully tried to fix it. We left a key out for the repair person, and called the appliance repair service from the car.  After a very fun family reunion, we returned to a working fridge and freezer. Hurray!

Unfortunately, the fridge did not stay cold, and on Monday the contents of the freezer began to melt. Hopefully it will be completely repaired today. We have family visiting this week, so I really hope so - it is not a great time to be without a fridge!

My creative energy seemed to ebb with the faulty fridge. Rather than write the post I had planned for today, I am sharing a couple "Wordless Wednesday" photos.  They are of the newest member of our extended family - and I think you will agree that he is quite a moppet! 

With this dog, there was actually 19 of us all together for our vacation!

What caption would you write for either photo?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

Roasted Golden Beets and Eggplant Recipe

Eggplant and beets are both delicious vegetables. They can be a little intimidating however, if you have never cooked with them. Really though, there is nothing very hard about preparing either of them.

Last week I promised I would share the recipe I made using the eggplant and golden beets I bought at the Saturday market.

Eggplant

If you are chopping eggplant to use pieces in a recipe, the best tip I have found for preparing this vegetable is to peel the skin off in strips.  This way, you still have some of the pretty purple skin in your