Basement Upgrade - Week 1

In my last post, I mentioned that I had recently started a new work schedule that gives me Fridays off so that I can work on my latest project. Now that the project is underway, I'm so excited that I just can't contain my elation.

I'm finishing my basement!

The work space ready and waiting for walls.

Okay, to be completely honest, Dad and I are finishing the basement, with him taking point, as he is in possession of the know-how and the power tools we need to complete this thing. And what we're doing is the first of several phases. But I've lived in my house for 5 1/2 years now, and for about 5 years of that (hey, a girl has to settle in first before she starts trying to upend things), we've been discussing the options for making the basement a livable space, rather than just storage and place for bugs to go to die.

I fully recognize how truly lucky I am to have a Dad who is both willing and able to take on this project with me. Extra bonus - he's one of my absolute favorite people on the planet (I am a Daddy's girl, no lie), and this means that I get to spend a lot more time with him than usual!

Georgia playing "The Princess and
the Pea" on top of the stacked
deck cushions.

On Wednesday, we finally "broke ground", though not literally, since it's all interior upgrades, and not an addition. Dad arrived while I was at the office, and proceeded to clear out the space we would need while fending off attacks from Georgia, the four-legged menace who decided that since Dad smells like their boy cat, he must be the enemy.

Wednesday night, it was driven home to me that there were a lot more decisions to make than I had previously pondered (and let me tell you, there's been a lot of pondering in the last five years)! More than just, where do you want the wall to the bathroom to be, there were questions about door size (larger than average to make access to the utility/laundry room easier), closet orientation (important to have a closet opening in the room so that it could technically count as a bedroom), window seats (our answer to a spatial issue), etc. But the outline was laid out, and work was ready to begin.

Thursday, I knew I wasn't going to be able to help much, between my long office hours and my standing choir rehearsal obligation. Dad had been reading the manual for his new hammer shot (for nailing the frame to the concrete floor), and was all set to start. He was still hard at work when I stopped by the house to eat and pick up my music, but there was a door frame to show for it!

Then on Friday, the real fun started, since I had the whole day to help and get my hands dirty. Despite all of the theater, dance, music, crafts, etc., I have no qualms about digging in and getting messy. Growing up, it wasn't uncommon for me to spend hours weeding the gardens with Dad or running around barefoot in the woods. The smell of sawdust is the smell of home. So I was excited to get involved!

Cutting studs down to size.

At first, I wasn't much help, because I wasn't really sure what I could contribute, but when I mentioned to Dad that I'd always been a little nervous around power saws, he put me in charge of the miter saw and measuring and cutting studs. Nothing like conquering a fear (or at least a mild trepidation) head on! Before long, I was whipping out the studs as fast as he could nail them to the header! 

Dad speculated that we had probably done a bit of overkill, and that the wall was perhaps more solid and more tightly in place than necessary. But I think our family motto should be "Built to Last." I mean, my 91-year old grandfather is still living in the house he built himself around 1955, and it's still solid and lovely.

With some troubleshooting, a trip to Home Depot for supplies and brainstorming, and a break for a birthday lunch (he really earned it this year), we got two walls up before it was time for Dad to head home. But the fun continues later this week, where we tackle such challenges as a door! And another door! and a window! And a really long wall!

There be walls here!

I can't wait...

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

New Beginnings

Happy New Year! 2015 is already off to a raring start!

So, I've been AWOL from the Interwebs since before Thanksgiving. A small part of it was laziness on my part. Okay, a somewhat decent-sized portion was laziness. At least half of it was the sheer craziness and frantic pace of the holidays. If you don't happen to know any musicians, you'll have to trust me - between Thanksgiving and New Years is our insanely jam-packed season.

So in the time I've been away, I've been running around like a crazy person, visiting friends and family, rehearsing, performing, and I actually managed to go out on a blind date (which I had to cut short due to the aforementioned rehearsing and performing). I've also...

... performed at the 25th Annual Kennedy Krieger Festival of Trees, in front of this lovely audience. I also got to sing at a mall the week before Christmas, which was less crowded but five times noisier. My choir also recorded a holiday CD, which meant months of prep and a weekend of recording sessions - a very interesting process that I'm curious to try again, now that I've got a little experience under my belt.

...baked. A lot. And now I'm paying for it. But all of the new Christmas cookie recipes I tested this year were hits, so I think they're keepers! First, there was what I like to call "Christmas Crack" - pretzels topped with milk chocolate wafers slightly softened in a warm oven and finished off with a peanut M&M.

Then my brother and I made these delicious Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies that were so amazing and moist and easy that I'll be making them again next weekend for the cookie reception after my performances.

And, of course, it wouldn't be the holidays without eggnog, which is one thing I look forward to with absolute child-like glee every year. So I thought I'd try these Eggnog Meltaways. Lesson learned - I refrigerated the dough much longer than called for, so when I baked them, they didn't quite bake all the way through. Which, naturally, I didn't realize until I bit into one after I had already rolled the finished cookies in powdered sugar. So mine didn't turn out as lovely and powdery as pictures in the recipe, but they still had that fabulous eggnog flavor!

Finally, anyone who knows me at all knows that I am slightly obsessive over cranberries. I put them in everything - salads, scones, pork roasts. I just love them. So when I found this recipe for Cranberry Noel Tea Cookies, I just had to try it, despite my crazy schedule. After singing the late Christmas Eve service at church, I came home, pulled my double batch of dough out of the fridge, and baked long into the night, despite facing the drive across the state to my parents' house the next morning. Yes, I may have fallen asleep on the sofa Christmas Day while watching a movie with my family, but the rave reviews over the cookies made it worthwhile! Never having made a shortbread cookie before, I didn't realize how easy it could be, and definitely see myself playing with variations of this with different seasonal flavors all year long!

... rehearsing for my latest show, a review-style production of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", in which I play Judy Haynes (the dancing sister, for those playing the home game).

The show was supposed to open mid-December, but half of the cast came down with the plague (seriously, I've never heard of people getting both the flu and pneumonia simultaneously!), so out of necessity, we postponed until next week. The show has been kind of a hot mess since day one, but there are some really nice moments, terrific choreography, and some lovely people involved, so I suppose the experience has been worth it.

...cataloguing and reorganizing my book collection. This sounds both nerdy and insignificant. The first I'll proudly cop to. The second... well, you can judge for yourself:

I started with the A authors on the
stairs to the second floor.

The C authors were too numerous for the stairs,
so they got their own room.

This is some of M-V in the sunroom, as due to how I had to wrap
the stacks around, I couldn't fit it all in the same frame.

As always, Georgia "helped".

 I've been working on cataloguing in a database, mostly to keep track of what I have and any reading orders for series. I started that project 6 years ago, before I moved, but I've since gone to writing conferences and bought or received enough to start my own library. I started again on Christmas Day, in preparation for the construction that we're going to be initiating in the basement in a few weeks (can I just say that I'm unbelievably excited for this to happen?). In the week I've been slogging through my stash, I've only made it through the L authors - for my fiction. I haven't even gotten to the non-fiction and reference books yet. And the law and academic texts are still living in the basement, because those boxes are too heavy to move if I don't have to!

I'm sure there's a great deal more, but those are the highlights. Now it's time to look forward to the next year. There are changes a-coming, and truth be told, I'm kind of excited for what the year may hold!

Happy New Year!

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Mom's Potato Soup

We're only 4 days away from Halloween and the end of October, and it's finally starting to cool off outside. Not to say that it's been hot here, but the mild weather has definitely confused everything - including my crepe myrtle bushes in front of the house. They never decided if they wanted to bloom or not (usually they explode in a profusion of fuschia in early September), and now they can't decide if they want to go dormant. All of this is throwing off my winter garden prep schedule!

I'm too busy these days to deal with yard work anyway. Or cooking. Or dusting, vacuuming, mopping, or the eight million other chores that need to be done around the house. I really need that T-shirt that says, "I can't, I have rehearsal"! In addition to my normal round of church rehearsals and services, I have rehearsals for my current production, which goes up in December, a showcase performance for said production, a weekend of CD recording sessions, 3-4 auditions, a couple of concert performances as a featured soloist, a 5K, hosting Thanksgiving...and I know I'm forgetting a few things. That gets me through mid-December. Some days, I think it would be nice to be married, just to have someone else to help me with life's necessities. Like laundry. Or medicating the cat. Or winterizing the house.

One of the best things about the weather starting to turn cooler is that I can break out the soup section of my cookbook! One of my favorite go-to cold weather recipes is my mom's potato soup. She made up the recipe when I was a teenager, and it quickly became a family favorite (for once, a meal that we could all agree on!). I even made it in bulk in college when cooking for my starving friends.

I have no idea what the caloric content is for this soup, but it's not for acolytes of the carb-free craze. This is comfort food at it's finest, and it's one of my favorite things to make when I'm snowed in or just feel like I need to be warmed from the inside out! Even better - it's pretty easy to make!

Mom's Potato Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients

• 6 large baking potatoes
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 stick margarine or butter
• 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp instant onions
• 4 c milk
• Pepper
• 1 ham slice (about 1 lb)

Directions

1. Peel and quarter potatoes and place in a large dutch oven. Cover with water. Add celery. Bring to a boil and boil until potatoes are tender. Drain and cool.


2. In the same dutch oven, melt butter. Add flour, salt, onions, milk, and a couple of dashes of pepper. Over medium high heat, whisk until smooth. Continue stirring until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Lower heat to low or warm.


3. Cube cooked potatoes and ham slice. Add potatoes, celery, and ham to the dutch oven and stir until thoroughly heated.


4. Remove from heat and serve!

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Wine, Sushi, and the best thing I've ever put in my mouth

Birthday week continued over the weekend. Of course it did! What's birthday week without weekend festivities?

Friday, my friend and co-worker Eva insisted on taking me out to dinner. We settled on sushi (since we both love it and don't eat nearly enough of it), then going to Black Ankle Vineyards to listen to music, taste wine, and chill in front of the fire.

Black Ankle is one of the few estate wineries in Maryland - meaning that the grapes for their wines come entirely from their own vineyard (many wineries will import grapes from other areas, like California or Argentina, so that they can incorporate varietals that don't grow particularly well in their region). Usually, in Maryland, this means sweeter wines, with the cooler and wetter climate here causing increased sugar levels in the grapes. (Yes, I am slightly a wine nerd. In fairness, I worked for a winery for a while, and went from knowing pretty much nothing about wine, to knowing slightly more than nothing but able to talk like I know what's what!)

Eva and Kelly after a bottle of wine,
too much sushi, and lots of laughs.

But the wines we tried at Black Ankle were lovely dry reds (they are sold out of whites for the season). We bought a bottle of their Slate II, which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. I think my favorite, though, was the Passeggiata VI, which was the first wine we tasted. Dry but not heavy, with a bit of spice - this is my ideal type of wine!

Once our bottle had been uncorked, we settled inside (it was crowded around the fire pits outside, and we kind of wanted to see the sushi we were eating) with our food, our wine, and conversation, of which there is never a shortage with us!

Before we knew it, it was closing time, but we still had dessert to enjoy. Eva had insisted that we get the Tempura Cheesecake, and even though they were cooled, OMG. Seriously, the most incredibly awesome thing that has ever entered my mouth. Okay, that didn't sound right, but I don't care. I'm asking Tempura Cheesecake out on a date, because it seriously doesn't get better than that!

The next day, I reluctantly got out of bed to go to rehearsal (I don't get hangovers, but it had been a late night, and Saturdays used to be my only day not to wake up with an alarm. But that's not the case as long as this show is happening). But then it was time for Family Birthday time!

My brother offered to host, which is new, so Mom brought food, we all brought presents, and we settled in to be spoiled rotten. Since my brother is recently single, he has many practical needs. Believe me when I say I've never seen a man so excited to receive silverware as he was! I wish I had gotten a picture of him hugging his new Crockpot!

I was also pretty proud of the "creative" gift I had made for him. In keeping with the dining theme, I made a binder of some of his favorite recipes, and added dividers and page protectors so that he can continue to build his own personal cookbook. I had forgotten to make a cover page on the computer, so I had hand-drawn (with old Crayola markers I found in basement that, surprisingly, hadn't dried up) a cover declaring the book to be "Shawn's BIG Binder of Good Eating". Cheese-tastic, I know, but that's just how we roll in our family.

My family was entirely too generous to me, but I love that they care that much. One of my favorite gifts was the soundtrack to "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder". When I saw this cast perform at the Tony Awards in June (and they most deservedly won the Best Musical award), I fell instantly in love with the show. I'd love to go to New York to see it. I'd love to DO the show. But I have a feeling it's going to keep running on Broadway for quite a while yet, because it's amazing. More operetta than musical, it's the story of a poor man who starts bumping off the members of the family standing between him and an aristocratic title (all of whom are played by the same actor). It's witty, well-written, and undoubtedly unique.

I promise that next week I'll get back to DIY awesomeness, but the last week has been too busy and full of distractions to focus on creating. Plus, my kitchen is a mess, the piano tuner is coming tomorrow, and Georgia keeps insisting on knocking over my plants (I'm starting to think it's deliberate).

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Five Things I Love About Birthday Week

So, I had a birthday this week.

No matter how old (or rather, closer to middle-aged) I get, I still look forward to my birthday every year. In so many ways, I've been the serious, responsible girl since I was a young girl. But when it comes to my birthday, I'm downright giddy and as excited as a little kid!

It doesn't hurt that since I was six years old, we've kind of treated birthdays as a multi-day or week-long event. With my brother's birthday landing the day before my own, it would have made sense for my parents to combine the celebration into a single party, but they never wanted us to feel shortchanged. So instead of a joint party, we'd have massive sleepover parties that lasted for an entire weekend and were packed with outings, games, entirely too much sugary food, and lots of friends. Mom ate it up - she loved having a houseful of kids running around having fun. I'm pretty sure Dad hid outside and did yard work to escape most of the chaos!

Now that we're older and busier, birthdays have extended to full weeks (mostly due to scheduling demands). For the last two years, I've even had show rehearsals on my birthday. This year, it was a choir rehearsal. So the fun gets strung out in drips and drabs, but that just makes the celebration last!

Here are my favorite things about Birthday Week:

1. The baked goods. In case you haven't figured it out from previous posts, I love baked goods. Pretty much all baked goods work for me, although I'm rather partial to pie. This year, one of my young castmates baked me cookies, my co-worker Stacy made Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars for the office, and Mom is providing a pie for our birthday dinner tomorrow. And undoubtedly, Mari, who is an expert baker, will come up with some amazing surprise when I celebrate with her and Dave next week. Not to mention the fact that years ago, I traded in birthday cake for something much more delicious and season-appropriate -  Apple Dumplings. I have a feeling I'm going to be treating myself sometime very soon!


2. The greetings. I've never been a big one for greeting cards for any occasion - I think it's an unnecessary gimmick that we're now guilted into spending money on. But every year, I love hearing from people on my birthday. Say what you will about Facebook, but the flood of posts and private messages on my birthday (and in the new version of Facebook, there is fireworks animation!) always gives me a warm buzz. (And I can always count on the immensely talented and truly delightful Anna Campbell to be the first "Happy Birthday" I get, since Australia is well ahead of us in time zones!) Add to that the texts, phone calls, in-person well wishes, emails, and endless renditions of "Happy Birthday", and I am well-reminded that I am loved by a group of truly wonderful individuals!



The disturbing picture that my Aunt created and posted on Facebook.
She's a little bit warped, but I adore her anyway.



3. My brother. What? Yes, I mean it. My brother and I have pretty much always been close, and I think part of that stems from the fact that we very nearly share a birthday. I actually have a very clear recollection of the first time I ever laid eyes on my kid brother - after dropping the neighborhood kids off following my McDonalds birthday party (remember when that was a thing?), my dad and grandparents drove me to the hospital to see my mom. Dad pointed through the window into the nursery and said, "That's your brother." At just over 24 hours old, he wasn't that impressive to look at, at least, not to a six year old. But since then, I've definitely come to realize he was the best birthday present I ever got.


4. The season. Really, October is a grand time to have a birthday. Sure, it's not pool party weather, but I've never had a pool, and I don't like to be hot. There's just this incredible crispness to the air that screams fall. The leaves are changing colors. Apples and pumpkins are in season. Christmas is still far enough away that it hasn't stolen the show yet. It's really the best month there is.


5. The food freebies. I am officially signed up for so many birthday freebies that my inbox is flooded every October. From free burgers at Red Robin to free ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery, it's definitely a glut-fest. Every year, I get more coupons than I can possibly use in the 2-4 weeks that they're valid, and not end up looking like Jabba the Hutt. Thank goodness my free pastry at Panera Bread is available until December...

What are your favorite birthday traditions?

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Soft Pretzel Bites

Last weekend, it was sunny and gorgeous outside, and I stayed holed up on the couch, coughing until I had no voice (amongst other lovely side effects).

This weekend, the weather was gray, drizzly, and just generally unpleasant. My two favorite baseball teams squared off in the ALCS championship here in Baltimore, and my Orioles just couldn't pull it off (seriously, what was up with our pitching?), but my extended family out in KC are all doing the happy dance. And I was off-the-wall busy this weekend! After cooking dinner for my brother, who has the flu, and watching the O's lose on Friday, I dashed off to the homestead on Saturday for a sewing day with my mother followed by watching a family friend make his stage debut at the theater I got my start in. I've known the kid since I was taller than him, and now he's playing Lurch in "The Addams Family"!

But on Sunday, I got down to business. October business, that is.

Georgia played dead.

All around the web, people have been posting pumpkin spiced this, and apple caramel that. And that's all well and good. But to me, October is about all kinds of baking. Whether it's apple dumplings for my birthday (I'm so looking forward to these this week!) or Mexican cornbread or peanut butter oatmeal muffins, I am inevitably bitten by the baking bug as soon as the crisp autumn air swoops through the region.

This year, I decided to try something new. As a kid, I was fascinated by soft pretzels and always wanted to learn how to make them. My mom insisted that they were too much work. Now I have my own kitchen, so I thought I'd (finally) give it a try. They are a bit of work, but so incredibly worth it!

I found quite a few recipes online, each varying just a tiny bit. A work colleague suggested using this recipe, and since Alton Brown is The Man, this was the recipe I went with (you just have to appreciate a man who understands the science behind his art!). Boy was it the right choice! These soft pretzels were amazing! I made them into bites - cutting each of the 24-inch dough ropes into 1-inch pieces instead of the the traditional pretzel shape. I wanted to be able to ration them out a bit more than for just 8 pretzels, which is what the recipe makes. But they're so delicious that they may not last as long as I hoped!

One of the things that surprised me as I was teaching myself how to do this is that the dough, once shaped, has to be briefly boiled in water and baking soda. This struck me as a bit strange, but as I was doing that step, I noticed that it visibly changes the consistency of the dough, which is pretty nifty. Science at work!

Tonight, I'm hoping to mix up a beer-cheese sauce to dip them in, but they're so delicious, they don't really need any embellishment. Last night, I was popping them into my mouth without any extras, and they were mouth-wateringly wonderful!

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Egg Drop Soup

October has always been my favorite month. It's not just that it's my birthday month, although I'm sure that was a contributing factor when I was a kid. It's because this is when autumn, my favorite season, really kicks into full gear.

Growing up on the East Coast, in the woods, fall always meant raking leaves and then jumping into the leaf mountains (we had so many trees in the yard that there were no mere leaf piles for us!). It meant Dad wheeling us around the yard in the wheelbarrow. It meant that special crispness in the air that you can almost taste.

October was also the month that meant great things on the food front. We learned to make apple cider from apples we had picked ourselves. Mom taught me how to make apple dumplings (which I still make in lieu of birthday cake) with pastry crust so thick and flaky you just can't get enough of it. We toasted the pumpkin seeds we scraped out before making jack-o-lanterns, then ate them like popcorn. Hayrides and bonfires and marshmallows toasted in the great outdoors - this is the legacy of growing up in the country.

This October, I looked forward to all of this and more. Unfortunately, I started the month off with the head cold from hell. I'm a big snotty, coughing mess right now, so I can't even enjoy the smell of fall in the air.

When I was a kid, my mom always made me chicken broth to drink out of a cup by straining the noodles and chicken out of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup (don't ask me why, but it worked). As an adult, the sheer saltiness of condensed soup actually has the opposite effect on me. I vastly prefer to go buy a jug (aka, a quart) of egg drop soup from my neighbor's restaurant. Yesterday, that's all I could think about - drowning myself in the smooth egg-y splendor (and breathing, but that wasn't going to happen).

Except, I'm not eating out these days. Darn those New Year's resolutions!

So, the dilemma: violate my principles and just buy the stupid soup, or come up with an alternate solution.

The answer: You know, I bet I could make my own egg drop soup.

Even when sick, I'm determined to have a little adventure...

Egg Drop Soup

4 cups chicken broth

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ginger

2 Tbsp green onions, chopped (about 2-3)

2 eggs

3 tsp cornstarch

1. In a medium saucepot, combine 3 1/4 cups of the broth, salt, and ginger. Bring to a rolling boil. Add the onions.
2. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 3/4 cup broth and the cornstarch. Pour into the boiling soup mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs til thoroughly beaten. Using the whisk or a fork, drizzle the egg mixture into the boiling soup mixture. Eggs should cook instantly.
4. Spoon into bowls and serve while hot.

**Lessons learned: I added the cornstarch mixture last, because that's what the recipe I was using as a guide called for. However, this left the texture a bit chunky, rather than smooth like I'm used to in restaurants. After doing a bit more research, many people suggested adding the cornstarch BEFORE the eggs, so I've altered this recipe accordingly. Let me know how yours turns out!

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

It's All About the Little Things

I've been struggling for a few days, trying to decide what to write about for this week's blog. It's not that I haven't been busy, or that I've put my projects and pursuit of fabulousness on the back burner - that's not it at all! In fact, I've rarely been busier! I think it's that I have so many things going on, a lot of which require a great deal of energy, that I am having difficulty putting it all into words.

And then there are some things that I'm still struggling to define my feelings about.

So in the meantime, I'm going to leave you with a funny anecdote from Labor Day weekend.

Several weeks ago, I decided that I was going to start my holiday weekend a little early, and drive out on Friday to visit my parents, who live a little over an hour away. I knew that Mom would be at work for part of the time, but Dad is retired, and this girl never passes up a chance to hang out with her Daddy! I had some vaguely nebulous ideas about what we'd do, centering around creating furniture for Georgia (so that she'd stop climbing my armchairs), but mostly was just looking for an excuse to spend time with the ones I love.

Sometime after lunch and a jaunt in Dad's garden to pick tomatoes and "albino" cucumbers, we settled onto the porch swing that has hung on the deck since I was a teenager. Surrounded by sunshine, blooming flowers in every color, and sleeping cats, it seemed like a little slice of heaven as we rocked and chatted.

Pearl cucumbers from Dad's garden. They kind of looked
like giant weevils, but were actually quite delicious!

Then there was a creak. And then a groan. And then we were tipped backward to face the sky.

Then the back of the porch swing gave way, and I saw my dad's legs fly up over his head!

I thought I was hanging on, but once Dad's counterweight was gone, the swing decided to spit me out as well. I somehow flipped so that my head was under the swing and my feet were on the deck railing.

Once we could both catch our breath and determined that there were no major injuries that required First Aid or a doctor, we started laughing and couldn't stop. Through gasps of merriment, I kept insisting that it wasn't funny, but Dad was adamant that it was as he shook with laughter. Even recounting it to Mom hours later, we couldn't control ourselves and had tears streaming down our faces in the retelling.

I'm pretty sure she thought we'd knocked a few screws loose.

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Pest control

I'm not really a "summertime girl", to quote that hilariously bad LFO song from my college years. Summer is usually too hot, and here on the East Coast, entirely too humid for comfort's sake. None of that has been true this summer - I'll take an entire season of 70-degree temperatures and breeze every year, thank you very much!

The one thing I do love, more than anything else, about summer, is the flowers. Starting in the spring, but then extending all summer long, nature erupts into chaotic color and shapes and scents that just make me feel alive! Yes, I know that sounds cheesy and melodramatic, but hey, did you notice the name of the blog?

Every July, I look forward to my favorite flowers, my lilies, blooming. Usually, the blossoms open into happy pink explosions right around the Fourth of July, and I can look forward to being greeted every morning and evening with their happy faces and cheerful perfume. This year, because the weather has been unseasonably cool, my lilies didn't bloom until mid-July, so they were waiting to great me in full profusion when my brother and I returned from our road trip to the Midwest a few weeks ago. I could tell as I got out of the car that they had bloomed, even though it was dark, because there is no mistaking the smell of a freshly emerged lily.

Sadly, lily blossoms never last more than a few short weeks, no matter the temperatures, and with the summer thunderstorms and gusting winds we've been having, both my and my neighbor's yards are strewn with spent petals and orange pollen. But the leafy stems (which according to the nursery company I bought them from four years ago should only reach 12-18 inches high, but this year reached as much as 45 inches in height) stay happily green into the fall, and provide a nice barrier between my property and my adjoining neighbor's yard.

This weekend, I noticed some strange bugs on the remaining seed pods and style of the lilies that had finished and dropped their petals. and the more I looked, the more I realized that it wasn't just a few bugs (which wouldn't worry me), but quite literally thousands of these insects on each of the plants.

The underside of the leaves were even more coated with insects.

So what did I do? I emailed the pictures to my in-house plant expert, my dad. I'm fortunate enough to have parents who are very knowledgeable on a variety of subjects, and a father and a brother who are actually reasonably handy. Any plant questions automatically get referred to my dad, who not only taught me every single thing I ever learned about gardening, but also just retired from a successful career as an agronomist (an agricultural scientist).

As I knew he would, he immediately identified the crawly pests, which kind of resemble winged lice, as aphids - that persistent nuisance to gardeners everywhere (for some reason, I had always though that aphids were green, not tan, but perhaps the type I found is different than the kind that Dad always battles with over his roses). Aphids are a sucking insect, rather than a chewing insect, so they don't leave bitten holes all over the plants like a lot of pests, but instead suck on the waxy surface of the plant, which can cause the plant to turn brown prematurely. They also secrete a nectar that attracts ants, and since I already have a major problem with ants (sometimes I think my neighborhood was built on a giant ant hill), I decided to wage immediate war!

Now, I don't have a special license to mix my own chemicals, and off-the-shelf sprays are often expensive. But fortunately, the solution to the aphid problem is inexpensive and doesn't require an extra trip to the store. Using any clean spray bottle, just mix equal parts dish soap and water, and then spray the heck out of each spot where the aphids are hanging out. This is non-toxic to the plants, but suffocates the aphids.

I sprayed all 15 plants down yesterday, while my neighbor looked on in bafflement (all of my neighbors, while quite lovely people, are not really nature lovers, and are therefore baffled by just about anything I do in my yard, from digging up dandelions to fertilizing and pruning the crepe myrtles). While I listened to a summer thunderstorm raging through the night, I hoped it would knock the aphid carcasses off and that my remaining lilies would once again be pristine. This morning revealed that the leaves and stems are just as covered as they were before, but there seemed to be less movement of the insect variety, so I'm hopeful that the problem has been dealt with.

But even if the bugs are still clinging to life and my lilies, I have a huge supply of dish soap and a relentless will. Even if it means I have the "cleanest" flower bed in the state, I'm going to stay at it until the threat is gone!

Next week, we may head back to the farm, this time for blackberries and peaches, so I may have more jam ideas for you, or other recipes!

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Traditional Independence

Happy Independence Day!

I know, I know, it was actually three days ago, but since I'm currently blogging only once a week, that's what you get. And actually, this is coming on the heels of my own Independence Day celebration.

I firmly believe that one important element of the fabulous life is to establish traditions that are meaningful to you in some way. Whether it's the annual family reunion or always going out for burritos before a ball game or singing a certain carol every Christmas Eve, it's these little details that put the sparkle into life.

Of course, that could just be my Irish talking.

In my family, we have endless traditions, ranging from the small and lamentable (Mom's lime Jell-O with pineapple every Christmas), to the large and meaningful (annual trips to the Midwest to visit the extended family). One of my favorite traditions is our Independence Day celebration.

Every year, my hometown hosts their salute to local veterans on July 3rd (postponed this year until the 6th due to thunderstorms). Thousands of people from all over gather in the Community Park to share in music, food, and friendship, before ending the evening with fireworks. My mom makes sure to get there just as soon as the park opens to stake out her spot close to the water and away from the docks where some of the more obnoxious boaters rev their engines and overuse their air horns. We haul in picnic food, spread a blanket, and bask in the sunshine and the breeze off the harbor until it gets dark enough for the fireworks show, which usually rivals what you would see in major cities.

It's one of my favorite traditions, in a year filled with wonderful ones. I think it really speaks to me because it's very much a throwback to the Americana of our parents' generation. It's small town America at its finest, from the community band playing John Phillip Sousa marches to the funnel cake stand to the school buses shuttling people back to their cars in the parking lot of the community college.

As we sit on our blankets and nibble on broccoli salad and Wheat Thins (this year I provided a Strawberry Pretzel Salad, which was a staple at nearly every summer church potluck I attended as a kid. And yes, this was another desperate bid to use up the remainder of my strawberries, which are now frozen!), a steady stream of friends, acquaintances, and neighbors stop by to visit, and some even park their own camp chairs next to ours to continue catching up. Former teachers stop to see how we've grown into our lives, and former classmates pass by

with their families. Friends from my parents' church will stop by to joke around, and childhood friends come by to introduce their spouses and children.

By and large, the crowds are friendly and respectful, flags and glow sticks are enthusiastically waved by small hands, and the cacophony of "oohs" and "ahhs" serves as the soundtrack to the professional fireworks display shot off of the barge in the harbor.

It's one of my favorite times of the whole year, because it's a reminder of all of wonderful things about our country, which we're so inclined to forget the rest of the year when bombarded by talk of political scandals and government ineffectiveness. For that one evening of the year, it's about celebrating the American spirit, and the foundations of our country - family, community, and freedom.

What are your traditions, for this holiday or others, that make your life a little more fabulous?

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.