It's Too Hot To Make A Margarita

Boy! Have we been having some stinking hot weather! So when it gets really hot, I start thinking about margaritas.



Photo by Lumiago via Flickr

 

No, not Margarita daisies, though that does remind me that I need to get out and do some trimming. It also makes me remember that the nurse on duty when I had my Zippy was named Margarita. What a coincidence because that's how I got in that shape, I do believe....



Phtoto by Samantha Decker via Flickr



I'm not a big drinker and am happy with my couple of beers a week. But I do like tequila, especially in the summer when it is so blasted miserable hot. I really got to jonesin' for a margarita a couple of days ago but I would have to get out of the pool, put on shoes (OK, flip flops), walk to the garage, drive to the liquor store for mix in that hot ol' SUV, deal with the weirdo who works there, drive back, read the directions, find a glass, open the tequila.... by that time I would have been in the throes of heat stroke. So I made do with what I had on hand.

Tequila. I'm not a Patron Silver kind of gal. I much prefer any kind of gold and aged tequila but like I say, I had to make do.

Lime sherbet. OK now- work fast if you're making this in the sun on a day with a heat index of 105 degrees. Good Grief.

Introduce the tequila to the sherbet. Not much, just a little shot.

Then just mush it around with a spoon and enjoy. How easy is that?


OK kids, that's it---  stay cool and be careful 'cause it's a scorcher out there. See ya next time.

Lemonade Season

Image via That's My Letter

Jaime over at That's My Letter recently shared how she made this lovely lemonade sign, above, for her Etsy shop. It's an easy to follow tutorial and the sign really is a cutie.

It got me thinking back to when my Zippy was a kid (more of a kid than she is now- growing up so quickly). We talked every summer about having a Sunflower and Lemonade stand. We planned to grow all sorts of varieties of sunflowers and when they were ready, we would sell them right out of the garden. Picked fresh while you wait. Organic. Surprise the wife. Treat Yourself. We had lots of marketing pitches.

1. Sunflower, 2. Sunflower with bee, 3. sunflower, 4. Sunflower / Helianthus / 向日葵(ひまわり), 5. Sunflower, 6. Sunflower, 7. Sunflower, 8. Sunflowers, 9. Sunflower

Oh and while you wait, because it would be late summer and hotter than blue blazes, why not have some ice cold lemonade? We researched a nice variety of flavored lemonades for our daily specials and how to keep the ice frozen, how to shade our stand, when to be "open" based upon how many cars drove by at different times of the day (we counted), etc etc. I even sketched plans for the signs.

If you paint the sign and then add glitter to the glass, wouldn't that look cold and frosty as all those hot people drove past? OK, yes, I got carried away with the whole idea.

But then Zippy came wandering in one day with a board and asked if she could borrow some paint supplies. Just an aside, we have many items around our yard that have been painted over the years, her swingset having become a landmark on our road. "If you get to the house with the painted swingset you've gone too far. Turn around in their driveway." (Arghh, don't turn around in people's driveways!!) She understands what not to paint (cars, house, garage) and to clean up her supplies afterwards. So anyway, I didn't give her request much more thought until I went out to check on her for lunch and found her lemonade stand sign in the grass under the big maple tree.

Way better than my signs.

We never did get the Sunflower and Lemonade Stand act going, mainly because we were often at the beach the week the sunflowers were at their best. But I do have some great art for my kitchen.

I mentioned that it looks kind of like outsider art. And, with all the logic and straight-forward common sense my then 7 year was blessed with she said...

"Well I did paint it outside."

If you pass a lemonade stand this summer, manned by tiny little budding entrepreneurs, you better go ahead and stop. Have a cold one for me.

Thanks so visiting today-- I'll see ya next time.

Piano Key Butterfly

Photo via ImageKind



A secret joy of mine is to play the piano late at night when no one is at home. I especially love to do so in the summer, with the windows open. I sweat and drip all over the keys and as soon as I hear a car pull into the driveway the private concert is over. I stumbled across the Piano Key Butterfly the other day and now I will think of them every time I'm pounding away on my old William Knabe.



Image via Florida Educational Technology Clearinghouse

The Piano Key butterfly is on of the Heliconiie butterflies, or longwings, and are found mostly in the neotropics of South and Central America. The Piano Key is more commonly called the Postman butterfly, know in taxonomy terms as Heliconius melpomene. Melpomene, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, was originally the Greek Muse of Singing but later became the Muse of Tragedy.



Image via University of Cambridge Artwork for Media





Heliconius melpomene are widespread throughout their range, feeding primarily on the passionflower vine. Doesn't that sound exotic? "I'm the Muse of Tragedy. I live on passionflower."

Image via Heidi Claire

The Postman is long-lived and easily managed in captivity. It has become a favorite with butterfly conservatories such as Butterfly World, The Butterfly Zoo , and The Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory. As more people have seen the Postman butterfly and noted that some have the striking white and black markings along the hindwing, they have been increasingly referred to as the Piano Key Butterfly. There is a huge variety in the markings of our longwing friend, partly because they are so closely related to the Heliconius erato, sometimes even crossbreeding.

It can all be very confusing if you start to explore genus, species, sub-species..... but you will surely not confuse the Piano Key Butterfly with a Butterfly Grand Piano.

Image via Piano World

The Butterfly Grand Piano was manufactured by Wurlitzer in the 1930's and 1940's. It was generally less the four feet deep and was intended to attract piano players living in smaller apartments. The lid was hinged down the middle as opposed to the side, hence it's name. These were limited production pianos and very few remain available. I've seen then going for $500 to $35,000. The smaller student versions had only 44 keys while the "full-size" butterfly had 73 keys. A full keyboard is 88 keys. Wurlitzer did make an electric version for a short time.



Image via Well-Tempered Forum



Anyway, I've strayed as usual but that's our butterfly friend for today.



 Have a grand day!

Full of Grace

Do you remember this pitiful, dirty, wormy little German Shep-Black Lab mix of a runt? This is the photo her owner texted me when I called about the free puppies. Can you see the sadness in her eyes?

Even cleaned up the day we brought her home, she was still pretty pitiful. It's been a long time since I've worried about a puppy as much as I worried about her those first few days. Five weeks and she could barely stand.

We gave her all the loving we could but she always seemed so sad, even when she began to put on some weight.

 She would sit by herself and just look at us, observing us. It seemed like she was  just biding her time, waiting for something, but for what?

We loved her more and more, and then one day, before we even knew what happened ....

... she sprang to life! Holy Cowabunga! She's a rock-n-roller now! I think our sweet Miss Gracie Mae figures she cheated death once so all bets are off. She feels invincible! How else to explain her near obsessive wish to befriend the ever frightening Smudgie, the Alpha Dog Cat.

She loves to garden. Notice the nice trimming job she did on my Echinacea by the bridge in the rain garden.

Here she's deciding if the lilies need to be trimmed.

She's not as big as her big brother Remy the Rat Terrier yet but she will be soon. And then some, judging by those feet and her lineage, however dubious it may be. Every two or three days we say to each other, "I think she grew today."

Um, just a little note- we don't really have anything against tails at our house. We just don't have any, other than the cat's. Remy's tail was docked before we got him and Miss Gracie never had one to start with.

 She loves her big brother and is a perfect pesky, tag-along little sister. He is as patient as the day is long. He's a good boy.

She is intensely observant of the world around her.

We recently kenneled the dogs with the vet while we took a four day weekend. When we picked them up, dear Dr. S came out and shook his head with a little laugh. "That is the feistiest puppy I've ever seen in all my years as a vet" he said. That made me proud of my girl. Oh and is she ever feisty- always ready for a tussle, not afraid to jump in, full of opinions and fearless energy. Do first, ask questions later. Questions like,

"Will I be able to get my head back out of there when I'm done barking at Remy downstairs?" The answer to that one is, "No, not without help from the momma."

I've gotten several wonderful emails from some dear Butterfly readers who have also taken in German Shep-Lab mix runts, even a few photos. I'm so thankful for each of these folks who let their hearts rule and have been so encouraged, especially early on, by the photos of their big robust happy GermShepadors, as my Zippy girl calls them. As I mentioned in my original post, all of my pets have been runts but this one had me worried.

As I looked at pictures of "GermShepadors", it struck me how so many black lab mixes have the white speckly chest and feet. Turns out Black Labs came from a  now extinct breed called the St John's Water Dog, which originated on the island of Newfoundland. The characteristic white chest, feet, muzzle, and chin markings, called tuxedo markings, still manifests in lab mixes and occasionally as a white chest medallion in Black Labs.

We still notice our Miss Good Gracious Gracie Girl sitting quietly, observing. But I don't think she's sad any more. She's just waiting- to get the party started.

Have a great day and don't forget to play hard, nap soundly, splash in the water, and slobber when needed.

Padpa .. what?

In this month's birthstone post about rubies, something was mentioned, only once, in passing, that I would like to re-visit. Of course I had to check this out when I first saw it mentioned while researching rubies since it was bling I had never heard of before. So let me introduce you to a very beautiful chunk of corundum by saying ...

Image via The Natural Sapphire Company



Oh look! Padparadscha!

Rubies, we learned, in any other color besides red are sapphires. Their red comes comes from little trace amounts of chromium. Chromium and ferric iron gives you the padparadscha sapphire. I'm not going to do a full post on the padparadscha, though it really is beautiful, but I'll borrow a picture from The Collector Fine Jewelry to show what is considered the most desired color of padparadscha- a mix of the Sri Lanka lotus and a sunset. Pink and orange- my two favorites! Perfect!

Image via The Collector

If you would like to learn more about the padparadscha, or pad sapphire, click over to The Collector for some good information. If you would like to shop for padparadscha, bring lots and lots of money.

Let's just do some quick window shopping while dreaming that we are reclining on a Sri Lankan beach at sunset while handsome young men adorn us with lotus flowers. But I probably stray from the topic at hand .....

Image via Palagems

Image via Gemrite

Image via Arican Gems

Image via Gem Select

Oh look, a pear! I like pears. Pears are good for you. 

Image via M.S. Rau Antiques

It's true that I fall in love with each month's birthstone, but seriously, this gem may really be my favorite. I know, it's one of the most expensive we've seen , but when it comes to my husband buying me gemstones, price is no object to me. Maybe to him, but not to me  ...

Image by Star Ruby

OK, that's all. I tried and tried to find a pad sapphire butterfly but Swarovski and glass in the padparadscha color were all I could find. I try very hard to make sure the photos I share are of the real stones, not crystals, glass, or even lab-created.



Image via Kranich's

It's just not the same.





So, alas, no padparadscha butterfly today. I'll just go back to dreaming about lounging on a Sri Lankan beach. Pink champagne is padparadscha colored, isn't it?

Wait, I can't leave you with that duck image in your head...



Image via Into Temptation





Ahhh, that's better. See you next time...