Tuesday, September 1, 2015

It May Be September...


... but I am still holding on to summer! And it appears the weather is too with a whole week of heat and humidity into the 90's F. No complaints here despite what my body may be saying:)



 Another photo from our beach vaycay. Strawberry margharitas! Of course I snagged the umbrellas and napkins:):)

 We've been enjoying the prolific fruits of the garden at home and I have a French recipe to share to use those tomatoes and zucchinis:

             
                                                 Tian Provençal (recipe at end of post)

 Speaking of garden, I have a visitor who made a grand home at the corner of our house and fence out back:



  It is a common Garden Orb Weaver spider. Sorry for the bad pics-neither my camera nor the photographer are up to getting great shots. It was the huge and magnificent web that caught my attention first. It spans about 3 ft. high by 2 ft. wide and oh how I wish I could have captured the intricacy of it! The spider itself is just over the size of a quarter. I love watching for it each day-it somehow feels sacred because my first thought of the marking on it was of a cross. It's not deadly so no worries.

 


 OK, I know not everyone appreciates spiders so how about some art?

                                    
 My journal page began with a watercolor wash. See my previous post for the links to a fun and easy tutorial from Dianne! There will be a few more of these type of pages to share soon.

 
 Remember the umbrellas from our beach drinks? This page also was a perfect thank you card for our friends:
 

 I resized and printed the page, attaching it to a white card with foam tape and stamped coordinating envelopes.

 Linking to T Stands For Tuesday at Altered Book Lover. Will be around to visit in between rheumatologist appts. for myself and my Mom this morning and then I am helping her pack for her month long trip to France (she leaves on Thursday) to spend time with family (yes, I wish I was going too).

 Hope you are staying cool, or staying warm, whatever the case may be! I am leaving you with a special quote. Dr. Wayne Dyer, self help author, motivational speaker and spiritual leader died Aug. 29th at the age of 75. He was a very wise and kind man and will be missed by many. He has helped me and then hubby in SO many ways. I am ever so grateful for the gifts he has given.

      " I believe if you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
                                                                                                                        Dr. Wayne Dyer
 
 
                                                   Tian   Provençal
 
1 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling      1 onion, sliced     1 garlic clove, chopped
 
1 lb. tomatoes        1 lb. zucchini       2 tsp. dried herbes de Provence    salt and pepper
 
2 Tbsp. fresh grated Parmesan cheese
 
 Preheat oven to 350 F.  Heat oil in heavy saucepan over low heat and cook onion and garlic for about 20 min. til soft and golden. Spread over the base of a shallow baking dish (about 12"). Cut tomatoes crosswise into 1/4 " thick slices. Cut zucchini into slices. Arrange tomatoes along sides and add zucchini in center over the onion mixture. Sprinkle with herbes, salt, pepper and cheese. Drizzle with olive oil then bake for 30 min or more until vegetables are tender. Serve hot or room temp. Serves 4.
Tips: This is most flavorful when tomatoes are at the height of their season. Mix some of this into eggs and sauté in an omelette type pan on stovetop for a nice , light frittata. Bon appetit!









21 comments:

  1. Being a greedy person, I'll start with the food, sounds great, I will definitely try that recipe, thanks for sharing! Strawberry margaritas don't sound bad either. Lovely art, great idea with the little paper umbrellas, I always snag any nice paper things on the table. Have a great week, enjoy your summer, here's it's raining as though they are practising for Noah's flood....Happy T Day, hugs, Valerie

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  2. I'm with you on holding on to summer (lovely pic!) it's not over until it's over.
    Those little paper parasols always speak to me...how sweetly you used yours creating the perfect card too.
    That is quite a bodacious spider with it's special markings. I enjoy nature so much = outside ;-)
    Great recipe and very timely as I happen to have all the ingredients right here.
    Thank you for sharing and bon voyage to your Mom!
    oxo

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  3. LOVE the card you created with your journal page. Yes, I always snag up anything that comes with a drink.....LOL

    Happy T-day and thanks for the comment.

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  4. yumm, yumm, yumm, the recipe is bookmarked... the drink Looks great, too and the idea with the printed Card will bring great joy to your friends! happy t-day, linda.

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  5. Your weather sounds like ours. I'll trade you my ravenous sphinx moth caterpillars for your spider. I like the background and am checking out the tutorial you linked to. Thx!

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  6. I'm not a spider fan but do appreciate their place and the beauty of their webs. Yes, difficult to capture in a photo I find too. Your beach page is awesome and I love the use of the umbrella and how you resized it for a card. Very clever of you ;) Happy T Day :D

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  7. A wonderful page Linda and lots of great things today from you- Thank you for the fab recipe..will try it out!
    The margharitha drink looks very yummie! Yeah!

    HAPPY T- DAY my friend!
    oxo
    Susi

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  8. Thanks for the recipe. I think many of us--myself included--are looking for new things to try with all those garden veggies at this time of year.

    I smiled when I read that you kept your cocktail napkin and drink umbrella to use in your art, because that is exactly what I would do, too. And your card turned out great.

    Good luck with the doctor appointments, and have a good T Day!

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  9. A great quote - it's true too!
    Beautiful journaling and love the soft colours.
    I know you would just love to travel to France with your Mum Linda - safe travels for her and happy times with her family - I want to go with her too!!!
    Love
    Shane xox

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  10. I keep any and all freebies, especially when the napkins are as lovely as that one was. And of course, the beautiful card and journal page wouldn't have been complete without the umbrella. The Queen of Free applauds you!

    I am in LOVE with that recipe. Just wish my one tomato plant I planted this year had survived more than two days. It certainly is one I will try.

    I'll let you hold on to the heat, because I am very, very tired of it. I can't seem to get a day I go outside that I don't have to shower as soon as I come in. Hard to work in the yard when it's so hot and humid (with emphasis on HUMID).

    Thanks for sharing your beautiful art and card, as well as your margarita and recipe with us for T this Tuesday. I hope the doctor appointments went well for both of you. BTW, I am glad you didn't get any closer to photograph that spider.

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  11. Altogether satisfying post. Can't beat margaritas, sun, and fresh produce!

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  12. I love your latest collage and how smart of you to use it as a thank you card for your friends! Thank you for your kind comments on my collage--I definitely will try more in the future.

    Your recipes always leave my mouth watering! I can't wait to try this one.

    I was saddened to hear about Wayne Dyer's death also. We have listened and benefited from his talks for years. I cannot see a Monarch Butterfly without thinking of him.

    Even though it is the size of a quarter, that spider would scare me! We are also "enjoying" the same hot, humid weather as you here in NY. I hope it breaks soon. I enjoy the warm days, cool nights of Autumn.

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  13. You had me at the umbrella! OF COURSE you had to take it - and what a wonderful piece you've created around it!! I really like the illustrative quality of this piece and the colors really make me smile. AND thank you for the recipe - it sounds healthy and great! xoxo

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  14. What a lovely spider. No I don't mind spiders at all and will never knowingly kill one. When there is a rather large one in a place where I don't want it (I.e. bathroom or bedroom), I will gently remove it and take it outside.
    Nice photo of the beach. And I love that quote. Very profound (and true of course).
    Thanks for your visit earlier,
    Have a great week,
    Blessings,
    Lisca

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  15. How clever to keep the umbrellas and napkins--and that paper umbrella was a cute addition to that card, too. Hope the appointments went well and your mom has a safe trip.

    Not a spider fan at all. Good to know it's not poisonous, though. *shudders*
    Happy T-Day!! :)

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  16. Oh wow love me a good frozen margarita! MMmmmm!! I love a garden Orb spider. They are a blessing in a garden. How fascinating that something so large we do not have to be afraid of... How clever of you to use your beautiful journal page as a card. So good to see you this T Tuesday. Hugs! deb

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  17. Hello Linda, so nice to visit you again. Happy T Day! How nice your vacation picture and drink are. Summer is sticking around here too, not my favorite part of summer. I'm almost ready for the cool fall days to come, those leaves get me every time about now. Not ready for what comes after fall is what I worry about. I don't care for your new guest in the garden but the veggies look yummy to me. Pretty and creative art you made.
    Enjoy this hot week and thanks for sharing.

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  18. Wonderful photography and your art is so colorful and creative and delightful always ~ great yummy recipe!

    Happy Week to you,
    artmusedog and carol

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  19. Oh, your summery card is delightful! so pretty and so fun that you used bits from the vacation to create it! thanks for the link up to my tutorial...so glad you liked it and hope many others will too! glad I'm not the only one hanging on to summer. I do like Fall, but just not ready for it yet!! ;)

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  20. What a lovely post full of delicious and interesting things. Your summer sounds like it was wonderful. Ours not so much but I'm clinging on at least until our holiday to Greece at the weekend where hopefully we'll get the sun that's been missing in Scotland all summer! I'm not a fan of zucchini but that recipe looks amazing even so and your thank you card turned out lovely. What a fabulous spider! We mostly get them indoors and I hate having to destroy their webs when doing housework so usually I'll just leave them alone to get on with it and dust round them!

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  21. Your picture looks wonderful Linda. Thank you for sharing the recipe here. That quote is very true and meaningful.Your journal page looks lovely with all the summer colors and ephemera you have added to it
    Have a great week
    Hugs
    Susan

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Thank you so much for your comments; it's a pleasure to connect with you!