Forever June...

Ava Gardner

I wonder what it would be like to live

in a world where it was always June.

L.M. Montgomery

Late in June...

One morning late in June she was startled at the washtub by a sudden darkening of the room. David was on the threshold. She knew something had happened.

"Come," he said abruptly. "I want to show you something." His voice shook with excitement.

She stripped the suds from her arms and dried her hands. David picked up the baby as heedlessly as if the baby were a bundle. He went up the path so quickly that Molly almost ran to keep up with him.

She saw nothing unusual. The wind was blowing, the wild grass rippling; no cloud was in the sky. The Svenson's sod shanty stood beside its shadow; dust followed Mr. Svenson's plow. Yellow specks of buildings were clustered at the town site and a smudge of dust blown against the skyline showed that men were working as usual on the railroad. David went with long strides toward the slough.

The coarse slough grass was taller than she; it rustled harshly along the narrow path. An earthy smell came from its roots, for here in the slough the creek spread and vanished into the soil, keeping it damp through the summer drought. She followed David out of the slough, and stood amazed. The wheat field's green stalks rose before her...

An old childhood favorite...

Young Pioneers

By Rose Wilder Lane

A Recipe...

An aunt and cousin came to visit tonight and ended up staying for dinner. It was my night to make it (Sarah and I switch off every other day) and I decided that a yummy dessert would be the perfect finishing touch. ☺

I so enjoy this recipe that I thought I would share it with you. I've made it quite a few times--it's ultra quick and easy, and besides measuring cups and such, you only dirty the one pan that you bake it in! How nice is that?

It was popular during World War II as a substitute for more conventional cakes because it uses no eggs or butter...and you all know how much I love that era. It has since appeared in every basic Betty Crocker cookbook since 1950. Plus, there is just something so neat and "magical" about the fact that two separate textures (cake and hot fudge) are formed during baking.

Without further ado...

Hot Fudge Sundae Cake
* * * * *
1 cup flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbls. cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbls. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 3/4 cup very hot water
Ice Cream

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, granulated sugar, 2 Tbls. cocoa, the baking powder and salt in ungreased square pan, 9 by 9 by 2 inches. Mix in milk, oil and vanilla with fork until smooth. Spread in pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa. Pour very hot water over batter.

Bake 40 minutes. Spoon warm cake into dessert dishes and top with ice cream. Spoon sauce from pan onto each serving.

Me, Myself, and I...

Aren't these bedrooms scrumptious?

Design inspiration from Rachel Ashwell's love-ah-ly, but oh-so-expensive site.

Elizabeth and I have shared a bedroom for the four years or so that we have lived in this house. I love her dearly, but...truthfully, we aren't the best of roommates. She doesn't care for the way I like everything put neatly away, and I don't care to see the belongings (okay, treasures) she likes to line up on her dresser or the many, many stuffed friends she like to decorate (*ahem* bury) her bed with.

A family member just recently gave us a brand new bed and dresser set they didn't want anymore for the *someday* when Elizabeth would be able to have her own room. We had been hoping to convert our laundry room into a tiny bedroom for her. She's always been longing to have her own small space, but the way things are going that wouldn't be a possibility for quite a long time.

But...Sarah to the rescue! Coming home from shopping with Mama a week or two ago, we were shocked to discover that Sarah had moved Elizabeth--bed, dresser, belongings and all--into her room. Wasn't that nice of her? Elizabeth is enjoying sharing a room with her, and likes it almost as much as if she had her own room. As for me...? I'm in heaven, simply heaven.

I'm having so much fun re-doing everything. Things are still all out of sorts, and nothing is really as I'd like to keep it...but it's ever so heavenly to have your own room! And I can still tiptoe down the hallway and into Elizabeth's room at night when she's fast asleep, and kiss her on her soft, sweet-smelling cheek. So...all's right!

It Happened One Night...

This lovable 1934 screwball comedy of sorts stars a rather young Clark Gable (with mustache intact, thank goodness) as Peter Warne, an out-of-work newspaper reporter scouting for that perfect story, with Claudette Colbert co-starring as runaway socialite Ellie Andrews.

I can't even remember the first time I saw this movie. My sister and I watched it often enough growing up and to this day it still remains a favorite. I wouldn't typically think that Clark and Claudette would be a good starring twosome, but somehow in this movie it more than works. Surprisingly, neither of them were looking forward to the filming and Claudette so disliked it--apparently, it was her most despised role--and was so sure that it was going to be a flop that they had to rush her to the Academy Awards, in a traveling suit, mind you, to accept her award for Best Actress.

Peter teaching Ellie how to "dunk"

It also was the first movie to ever win the Oscar "grand slam"...receiving Oscar's for Best Picture, Best Actor (the only one Clark was to ever receive), Best Actress, Best Director (lovable Frank Capra), and Best Screenplay.

"The Walls of Jericho"

I won't spoil the storyline for you...but this is one classic that is a must-see. The script is superb, the actors mesh so well, and there are more funny quotes than I could mention. All in all, I think Claudette Colbert was crazy...how could you not love this movie?

Audrey and 'Ip'...

"Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering - because you can't take it all in at once."

Audrey Hepburn

A Never-Ending Summer...

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard

We all have certain memories from childhood that stand out in our minds from all the rest. Moments that seem to sum up the entire beginnings of our existence in this lovable-faulty world of ours. Some of mine are crisp and perfectly clear to me. They couldn't be any clearer if I had a snapshot in my hands to look back on and remember with, and others are hazy, seen through the thin veil that separates fantasy from reality. Sometimes I wonder how much I was really seeing of either side.

The funny thing about most of my early memories is that they all are set in summer. I can't for the life of me seem to think of one that wasn't. Oh, I know that I do have some, but my early, early memories seem to be of things that happened in summertime...or else I just remember them that way.

I remember the coolness of our front steps under my skin as my sister and I sat there eating watermelon to our heart's content, having contests to see who could spit seeds the farthest or the most at one time. Busy "spitting" until we were tired or ran out of watermelon; with sticky red juice dripping down our chins and across our hands.

I remember the peach pies with Dream Whip that we would make when I was a little girl. Cool from the refrigerator, and lovely in their yellow-orange peachy goodness, this is one of those memories you can taste. I long for the sound of my extended family's voices--noisy and overpowering at times--to be around me, just as they were that one summer evening ever so long ago, as we all sat around sharing those lovely pies. I wouldn't even care to talk...it would be enough to listen to them; to hear their excited chattering around me once again; all of us together...just as it used to be.

I remember the sharp loveliness and the little catch in my throat I had as I looked up at the night sky, studded with stars that looked like a million tiny diamonds shimmering down at me. Feeling so small, but so close to God that I could reach up and touch His fingertips if I only tried.

I remember running around with cousins after dark, mosquito-bitten, but too busy catching elusive fireflies between fingertips to care; squealing as they tickled my palms and fairly throwing them into the jar we were collecting them in. The flash of fireflies against the dark night sky is like nothing else I've ever seen--like watching thousands of cameras with their flashes going off all at once.

I remember groaning when Mama called us to come in from outdoors, not realizing how tired we really were until we had been tumbled into our pajamas and tucked into bed, eyelids heavy with dreams.

I remember my mother's soft kiss as she whispered in my ear the song she sang to me nearly every night, and I remember how I would pretend that I was asleep, and she would pretend that I was asleep--I, for the sake of being tucked into bed, and she, for the sake that I could be tucked into bed sooner. And for many years I truthfully thought I tricked her...

I remember all of these things so clearly...so fondly, with a touch of something that is almost painfully sweet. There is nothing quite like a happy childhood.

It's growing close to that time of year again, when I begin to get strange longings for root beer and watermelon, and wish to sleep out under the stars. And all I can think of is how thankful I am to be alive; to be so blessed that I have the chance to have another happy summer; to be able to spend this time with my family that I love so much.

I'm a strange sort of a girl who thinks that nothing could be better.