Scarlet Tanagers and Foxes

Day 2 of Memorial Day Weekend.  On the drive up Friday night, I kept thinking to myself - I just don't know if I can keep this up anymore?  Here we are on our 10 year anniversary of living up here and I am feeling a little overwhelmed.  I know the last two years have been a little crazy and there has been more then the normal happening in our lives.  However, it still doesn't help me not feeling that I get a little exhausted thinking about how much work it is to keep up the house and gardens up here.  Being behind a second year and with yard maintenance, house upkeep and daily chores - I just don't know if we ever get the chance to relax anymore?  After Tim went to bed last night, I sat up for a couple hours not quite having a panic attack but just feeling that we will never get caught up.  I know it's an aspect of life but this place is supposed to be where we come to get away and relax?

We got up early and I started mowing.  With how large the property is, I have to break the mowing into  chunks of work.  Today, I was only mowing the front and side yard and that took me over two hours.  I will do the back yard next weekend and then the garden and garden beds after that.  It was tiring and my hands were tingling after two hours.  Tim planted potatoes, horseradish, herbs, ferns and shade plants, and then started weeding.  I set up my Dad's memory garden for the summer and propped up the fencing for the two fruit trees I planted next to the garden.  We stopped there and put up all the deer fencing back in the garden shed and took showers and had some lunch and spent the afternoon relaxing before Tim started dinner and I went to weed for a couple hours.  Sat in the backyard and had a conversation with my Mom in San Antonio on the phone.  I really wish she would come up here for the summer but she is so afraid to be far from her doctors.

While we sat in the living room,  this gorgeous Scarlet Tanager landed in a tree limb in our front yard.  We see them occasionally and I think they are one of the most beautiful birds up here.  Tim and I are determined this year to follow local birds and get to know all the different species better.

We had dinner - Tim made his baked brown sugar chicken with red pepper sauce, gazpacho and kale salad - yum.  We watched a couple movies and went to bed.  I sat up and got anxious and sitting in the dark of the living room ticked off in my head all the things I had to get done today.  I spent a restless night and got up early to have coffee.

As I stood there in our living room looking out to our front yard and listening to the birds chirping - this red fox walked out of the woods and across our driveway and back into the woods.  It was so beautiful and I haven't seen a fox yet up here.  It's things like that that make me realize how amazing life can be here and for the moment ward off feelings of giving up.  I will just have to get used to being overwhelmed, I guess.

Memorial Day Weekend - Finally!

It's been weeks since we have seen the light of day or the light of Bovina.  After I came back from San Antonio and moving my Mom into a new assisted living home and driving a U-Haul with my parent's stuff back to NY - then I jumped right into a new job - I am exhausted.

We missed most of Spring.  Everything bloomed and we have so much work to do to catch up.  I started a new job - VP of design for a new textile firm out of India.  I think I was in the office two weeks and then had to fly to Mumbai to meet co-workers in the Mumbai office and tour our factories.  May in India isn't pleasant - too hot and humid.  I traveled sick with a chest cold and couldn't speak for a couple days - cause I had lost my voice.

I stayed at this beautiful hotel - the Palladium in Mumbai.  (Photo of lobby seen above.) So pretty, great restaurants and a wonderful roof top bar.  I was traveling with my boss and we had a great time despite melting into puddles in front of each other doing factory tours.  Nothing makes you feel more humble then sitting in your own pool of man sweat.

Stopped in London quickly to do some market shopping and then had to fly back and get back into the swim of things.

Then, we flew a friend of ours into the city for her 50th birthday and spent 3 days shopping, eating and seeing a couple new shows.

So, we have been busy.  Today, we went to the dump, to the post office, grocery shopped, had the truck inspected, shopped for a wood chipper, pulled down all the deer fencing, took out all the pots and garden ornament and then took a break.  It's going to be a long weekend.  I am so tired at the moment.  Tim is making a batch of gazpacho while I just have a couple cocktails and then Mel and Marni are coming over and we are meeting friends in Fleishman's for mexican food.  It has been raining off and on all day.  A couple bottles of wine and some good food after an exhausting day will be nice.  Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Love In The Afternoon

Finally, a gorgeous spring weekend!  This has felt like the longest winter ever but in reality - it hasn't been that long.  I went through a rough March with my Mom's health and having to move her to an assisted living home and pack and move her and drive back from San Antonio to New York in a U-Haul van which was a horrible experience.  I am exhausted.  On top of all that, I started a new job and am very excited about my new job but just want some down time with Tim and of course, Bovina.  I cannot wait to start our vegetable gardens for the summer .  We finished setting up our seed starting station in the basement and we will begin our seeds next week. However, this weekend, was a frenzy of frog mating in our pond.  The snow is gone and the sun is warm and the frogs were in their element. It's time for mating and egg laying and they were doing that in abundance this weekend.  Their loud and abundant noise making was a great sound to hear.

Sesame Seared Tuna with Lime Ginger Vinaigrette with Parmesan Green Beans

This was such a light, delicious dinner Saturday night.  Tim and I getting used to eating so healthy and continuing to explore new flavors and ways of cooking healthy.

Sesame Seared Tuna with Lime Ginger Vinaigrette with Parmesan Green Beans

3 tablespoons black sesame seeds
3 tablespoons white sesame seeds
2 pieces tuna fish fillet (about 1 pound)
1 teaspoon wasabi paste
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice ( or other vinegar)
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3 tablespoons avocado oil
Salt and pepper
2 large handfuls salad greens (optional)

The ratio for a vinaigrette is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar.  For the oil, you can use olive, vegetable canola, grapeseed, etc.   For this recipe avocado oil is used.  The vinegar can be balsamic, rice vinegar, white vinegar, lime juice or lemon juice.

In a shallow bowl, add the black and the white sesame seeds.  pat the tuna very dry.  Smear a bit of wasabi paste on both sides of the fish.  Season the fish with salt and pepper.

Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add the cooking oil.  When the oil is shimmering, carefully lay the tuna fillets in the pan, not touching.  Cook for 2 minutes then flip the tuna.  Cook 2 minutes, then flip the fillets to its side to cook 1 minute.   Flip one more time to cook the other side for 1 minutes so that you have a good sear on all sides.  Please take care not to burn the sesame seeds.  If the seeds start turning brown too quickly,  lower the heat.   Remove the fish to a plate.

In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, ginger and the oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Slice the fish into thin slices and arrange on a plate.  Drizzle some of the lime-ginger vinaigrette over the fish.  Toss the remaining lime-ginger vinaigrette with salad greens, if desired.


Parmesan Green Beans

1 1/4 pounds of green beans
pinch of Kosher salt
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, finely grated
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 of a lemon

1. Line up the green beans on a chopping board and cut off the stalks.

2. Put the beans in a sauce pan of boiling water with a dash of salt and cook for about six minutes. Drain, reserving some of the cooking water, and set them aside to steam dry.

3. Put the pan back on the heat, add the oil and the garlic. Stir. When the garlic starts to turn golden, add the beans and shake them around in the pan to coat them in the garlic oil.

4. Add a small ladleful of the reserved cooking water, the parmesan cheese, and the lemon juice. Stir and simmer until the water and cheese start to form an oozy, sticky sauce. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Seed Station

It may not look like much now, however, we will start the seeds very soon.  We are attempting to kick our seedlings into high gear shortly.  We are determined to make the most of this summer and plant tons of perennials and veggies.  8 foot plywood table base and suspended work light is just the first step and this in combination with outside winter planting in tubs will maximize our spring planting.  So excited.  Trying to minimize any travel plans for this summer since the past couple summers have been a little crazy.  Want to have the most wonderful Bovina summer ever!

Mothers and Sons

What is it about our Mothers that strikes such a chord?  They protect us.  They are our first loves.  They are our world for so much of our childhood.  I adore my Mother. It breaks my heart with what she has had to go through in the last few years with my Brother's death in 2005 and then my Dad's death last year.   There is nothing I can do that can make up for her loss.  The hardest part of our lives is when we become their protectors.  I feel I can't do enough to keep all the pain away.  We both enter a new phase of our lives and our roles shift and change and all I can hope for is the grace and patience and ability to meet this challenge. I love you, Mom. You are everything to me.   Years ago, I was in this small community theatre show called "Minnie's Boys" and this was one of my favorite songs.


What do you give to the lady
Who has given all her life
And love to you?
What do you give
To the reason you`re livin`?
I could windowshop the world
Before I`m through.

Mama, a rainbow,
Mama, a sunrise,
Mama, the moon to wear.
That`s not good enough,
No, not good enough.
Not for mama.

Mama, a palace.
Diamonds like doorknobs.
Mountains of gold to spare.
That`s not rich enough,
Not half rich enough,
Not for mama.
Mama, a lifetime,
Crowded with laughter,
That`s not long enough,
Not half long enough.

What can I give you
That I can give you?
What will your present be?
Mama young and beautiful.
Always young and beautiful.
That`s the mama I`ll always see,
That`s for mama with love from me.

Lima Peru

So, while NY was still experiencing it's longest, coldest winter ever... we snuck away for a week in the sun.  We flew south to Lima, Peru.  80 degree weather, sunsets over the Pacific Ocean, amazing food and gorgeous architecture and people - what could be a better way to spend some time away from the snow?  We have been to Buenos Aires, Rio and so we continue our current obsession with South America by spending a week in Lima, Peru.  What a surprise.  It was beyond our expectations.  We went on food tours, architecture tours, walks on the beaches, lots of ruins, lots of museums, great shopping and way too many Pisco Sours - it was wonderful.  We did not want to leave.  The amazing assortment of local fruit and vegetables and different flavors  - we will be making Peruvian dishes all summer this year. An amazing trip.