July 4, 2009 by Elisabeth Crisp
I grow grapes along the fence. Actually, I grow vines along the fence. After 10 years of vines, we had grapes for the first time last summer. I didn’t let the girls pick them because they weren’t ripe. Unfortunately, when we came back from vacation, the mockingbirds had helped themselves. Cherry and Coco weren’t happy. First, I wouldn’t let them pick the grapes green, and then, they didn’t get to pick any at all.
This year’s crop was lush, until a single afternoon when our bird friends claimed half of them. Mockingbirds don’t care if the grapes are tart. We couldn’t let the thieves eat them all, so we picked every unclaimed globe. Here’s our harvest in pictures:
Recipe for Sour Grape Sorbet
Wash and de-stem three cups of grapes. Place them in a heavy pan with one cup of sugar and one cup of water. Bring to a boil, and then, turn the heat down to simmer until the grapes are very soft. Pour all of the mixture through a sieve into a bowl, mashing the solids through with a pestle. I used a big wooden one my mother gave me years ago. Discard the seeds. Return the mixture to the pan, heat again on medium-high. Dissolve 2 T cornstarch in half a cup of water, whisk into the grapes. Stir until it’s thick enough to coat a spoon. Pour it into a glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze until completely solid. Cut the frozen pieces into chunks with a knife and blend until smooth. I used a hand mixer with a blade, but a food processor would work. Scoop into bowls and serve immediately.
The sour grapes are sweet and sharp like cranberry sauce. A small serving packs a lot of taste.
Posted in Aha!, Housekeeping, Recipe, cottage garden | Tagged cottage garden, garden, grapevines, Sour Grape Sorbet | Leave a Comment »
June 29, 2009 by Elisabeth Crisp
Today’s temperature was 104°, a record high for San Antonio. These photos were taken earlier in the month. I’ve harvested the tomatoes and given up on the squash, but the flowers are still beautiful. The city expects to go to Stage 3 water restrictions this week, so unless a tropical storm hits the Gulf of Mexico and floats north, summer gardening is over until September. For now, I’m enjoying what my next-door neighbor calls my “urban oasis.”
Butterflies are abundant this month. This guy is perched on a plant called Mist. Since my garden is pesticide free, and I purposely planted extra parsley for the caterpillars, we see more than ever.
This pot has held nearly every kind of plant without success. I should have tried strawberries first! I started too late for a real crop, but I'm inspired for next year. 4 o'clocks round out the rest of the bed.
Echinacea are in the foreground. Salvia, basil and roses grow in the back. I love this jumble of blooms.
Esparanza love the heat. Grandpa Ott's Morning Glories climb the fence on strings of jute.
I managed to harvest quite a few Celebrity tomatoes before the sun roasted the plants. The heat from the brick wall is a problem in this bed.
The canna in the bathtub is a conversation piece. Our goldfish eat the mosquitoes off the surface.
I've been warned about the invasive nature of Cypress Vine, but I couldn't resist planting my patio window boxes. The leaves are lacy and green, and a tiny red flower blooms like a star.
Posted in cottage garden | Tagged antique bath tub, backyard pond, garden, goldfish, tomatoes, water garden | Leave a Comment »
June 27, 2009 by Elisabeth Crisp
We’re growing at our house. Swim competition is officially over for the season. Because we only swim in summer league, the girls have a small window to learn new skills. It isn’t a bad thing. I’m a firm believer in compressed concentration. Having a short time means acting without hesitation–grab or let go. Both of my children are grabbers.
Since May 10, Coco learned to swim butterfly and breaststroke. She isn’t really big enough to swim the fly, but the sure way to get Coco interested is to tell her she isn’t big enough. She also learned to push herself despite physical discomfort. Always a koala baby, she would beg, “Carry me mom.” Coco hated strollers and never wanted to walk. At yesterday’s League Championships, she fought through terrible asthma, but got in the water anyway, swimming in five races. She didn’t allow the lack of breath to interfere with the drive to compete.
Cherry learned to swim the 100 meter I.M.–short for Individual Medley–25 meters of every stroke without stopping. It is the longest race a 9 year old can swim in our league. The first two strokes, fly and back, are her weakest. But when she turned at the wall for breaststroke, I saw her effortless glide. The last lap was freestyle. With her body high in the water, Cherry’s long smooth stroke helped her to pull ahead. She didn’t win first, but the last lap brought her up to second place. Finishing felt wonderful. After she climbed out of the pool, she hugged her opponent. Both girls beamed.
I’m learning to be a writer. It isn’t pleasant to plant my butt in a chair for 3 hours at a time and muddle through the day’s pages, but I’ve finally learned that doing it, despite mood, whim, or interruption, is the real reward. Page by page, the book is written. Stroke by stroke the race is won.
I’ve learned from my kids.
Posted in Joined at the Heart, Writers Write | Tagged competitive swimming, family, swimming, writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
June 18, 2009 by Elisabeth Crisp
I can’t get the image out of my head. A week ago, a mourning dove flew into our closed window. It was a bright day. The tinted glass captured a mirror image of our backyard in vivid detail. The bird smacked into it, crumpling into a pile of feathers and sinew. The death disturbed my girls, particularly Coco. She is tenderhearted toward all forms of wildlife.
Cherry explained, “It was just a dove and they don’t have very big brains. He must have thought he was flying into another part of the yard. Bird Brain.”
I shoveled the dove into a Walgreens bag and tossed it into the dumpster behind the house.
When I came back to the patio, I saw it. The bird in flight left a smudge. The detail of wings and feathers and beak, and the body language of distress, then death, looked like a photograph on the glass. I couldn’t look away. The image was interesting and disturbing.
I wanted to protect my family from the memory. So, I grabbed a bottle of glass cleaner and spritzed the image. Although, I wiped it down with a clean cloth, I haven’t been able to get that dove’s imprint out of my head.
Posted in Housekeeping, Joined at the Heart, Mouths of Babes, Writers Write | Tagged family, flying lessons, garden, loss, memory, Mourning Dove, perception, writers, writing | 2 Comments »
June 5, 2009 by Elisabeth Crisp
- The girls have been swimming since May 10. The first meet was last weekend. The results were mixed, but we felt good about it anyway. Coco won 3rd in her division in freestyle. Cherry’s relay teams finished 2nd and 3rd. She swam freestyle in the 100 meter medley relay. They love the work, but it’s hard for mom to explain why you’ve been disqualified for trying to pull down your swim cap. Isn’t it enough to keep swimming? Life lessons are everywhere.
- I’m still writing, charging toward the end like a galapagos turtle. I don’t know why this rewrite has been so hard. Transition times have always been crazy for me, and I don’t mean moving from one chapter to the next. The end of school, the swim season, temporary job schedules all reek havoc. The only solution is to write through it. I read the best book on the subject. The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes helped me to understand I’m not alone. All writers have trouble getting to the page from time to time.
- Speaking of temporary job schedules, Bacon is working overtime at Pearson Education. We haven’t seen much of him. He’s still temping, along with praying for permanent status somewhere.
- Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford is the best book I’ve read this year. I bought copies for both of the girl’s teachers as a special thank you. The teachers are both terrific, and we appreciate them.
Posted in Housekeeping, Writers Write | Tagged competitive swimming, family, Jamie Ford, Ralph Keyes, swimming, writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
May 30, 2009 by Elisabeth Crisp
In his book The Comic Toolbox, John Vorhaus writes, “Comedy is no innocent thing, but a powerful, often subversive, force for change.” My trusty dictionary defines subversive as “seeking to subvert an established system or institution.”
That’s it for me, the idea of creating a change so subtly, the reader laughs while it’s happening.
When I was in college, I worked on a production of Tobacco Road, a play by Jack Kirkland based on the novel by Erskine Caldwell. The characters were crude, filthy, and hungry enough to trade their youngest child for a 50 lb sack of turnips. Which were consumed raw onstage during the first act. Everything was covered in dirt, and to this day, I can’t stomach the smell of turnips. The play was serious stuff, or so I believed.
On opening night, the audience laughed–not in titters or giggles, but in roaring eruptions. They cackled and guffawed so long and so often that actors blew lines and missed cues. Timing was non-existent. Then, after 45 minutes, the laughter stopped. The audience had a catharsis. They realized, “Oh my God. Why am I laughing? This isn’t funny. It’s pathetic, sick, and disgusting. It shouldn’t be funny.” In a wink, the play was subversive and powerful. It changed hearts.
That’s why I write comedy.
Posted in Aha!, Writers Write | Tagged comedy, creativity, Erskine Caldwell, Jack Kirkland, perception, Theatre, writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
May 27, 2009 by Elisabeth Crisp
At a garage sale a few blocks from our house, Cherry sat down in the driveway and began reading from a big pile of paperbacks marked, FOR SALE, $1.00 EACH. As we were leaving, she asked, “Mama, can I have one?”
“Pick two.” I gave her the money to pay.
Cherry deliberated over the second book. When the decision was finally made, she handed the lady wearing the money apron, $2.00.
“Take the whole set. I’ve been looking for a little girl to give those books to.”
So, instead of two books, we left with a cardboard box of 20 Nancy Drew Mysteries, and they’ve been a fixture in our family room ever since.
Last week, I went to the San Antonio Romance Authors (SARA) meeting. The speaker was Susan Wittig Albert, author of the China Bayles Mysteries. Susan also wrote Nancy Drews under the pseudonym, Carolyn Keene. Both, Cherry and I were very impressed. It isn’t often I get to meet a real celebrity.
Posted in A Zany Life, Aha!, Writers Write | Tagged Carolyn Keene, Nancy Drew Mysteries, San Antonio Romance Authors, SARA, Susan Wittig Albert, writers, writing | 1 Comment »
May 23, 2009 by Elisabeth Crisp
In March, I bought three tiny pots of old fashioned, reseeding petunias. I’ve cut them back twice, but they still float over this entire bed. The good thing about a plant like this is it squeezes out the weeds. The tall blue flowers in the background are Celestial Carpet Salvia, a perennial that reappears in the spring and blooms all summer. Coco started it from seed in a flower pot three years ago.
We have grapes! So far the squirrels and birds haven’t found them.
Unfortunately, the animals have found the tomatoes. These are the hybrid Celebrity planted with squash and parsley.
I couldn’t resist this dark blue iris. The lighter flower in the background is plumbago.
I repotted the water lilly last month. This is our first bloom of the season in the bathtub fishpond.
The Asiatic Lilly blooms for only for a few weeks, but the blossoms are spectacular.
Posted in cottage garden | Tagged backyard pond, change of seasons, cottage garden, garden, goldfish, tomatoes, water garden | Leave a Comment »
May 20, 2009 by Elisabeth Crisp
I took Cherry and Coco to a chess tournament. The kids played six rounds. Those with the best records won medals and trophies. Cherry won a medal, and Coco just missed the cutoff. It was a long day on a hard bench for me, but I learned something significant about my oldest daughter. She is ruthless.
It happened during the fourth match. Cherry’s opponent was cocky. Her quiet girl manners were misleading. I watched with my girlfriend, K., from a distance of 20 feet. Cherry sat, facing us at the end of a long cafeteria table.
With serious cogitation, she moved her pieces while he talked trash. I couldn’t hear him, but I saw it in his posture, in the way he moved his mouth, in his smirk.
K. said, “She has on her game face.”
I said, “Yeah. I’ve seen it before.”
“Do you think she’s upset?”
“No, I think she hates to lose.”
A few minutes later she floated her queen to the far side of the board. He countered with a pawn. Then, before he could blink, she slapped her queen to the right, capturing his knight. Checkmate.
My little girl looked right at me, beaming. I got him.
Vanquished, the boy raised his hand, admitting defeat to the scorekeeper. He sat speechless as the little girl with almond eyes and a Mona Lisa smile reached across the table to shake his hand.
Posted in A Zany Life, Aha!, Joined at the Heart, Writers Write | Tagged Chess, family, perception, Trusting Your Instincts, writers, writing | 2 Comments »
May 16, 2009 by Elisabeth Crisp
I’ve known since March that I didn’t final in the Golden Heart, a contest for unpublished writers sponsored by the Romance Writers of America. It wasn’t a disappointment. I knew the book wasn’t ready. Entering was a ploy to trick myself into finishing the second draft. It worked. I finished and sent it off, knowing I could do better. Finishing the stupid thing felt like winning.
So, last week when I got my scores, I was very pleased. My dreck of a manuscript placed in the top quarter of the Single Title Contemporary division. It was better than I thought.
Here are the scores:
Judge 1 Judge 2 Judge 3 Judge 4 Judge 5 Final Score
7.5 7.6 6.8 8.3 8 38.20
The highest any judge could give was 9. The highest possible final score was 45. The cut off for the top quarter was 36.50.
Posted in Goals, Writers Write | Tagged RWA Golden Heart, Trusting Your Instincts, writers, writing | 2 Comments »
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