We are having a great garden summer, so of course that means lots of zucchini. I have decided to share one of my favorite recipes, from my mom, to use up all that zucchini we pick. As Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake".

Zucchini Chocolate cake

Blend together 1/2 cup soft margarine (and yes you can substitute butter, I do),
1/2 vegetable or canola oil, and 1 and 3/4 cup white sugar.
Add 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 cup sour cream (I use the low fat), and 2 cups grated or chopped zucchini (Food processors come in handy here!).
Mix well.
Combine and mix together 2 and 1/2 cups flour, 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Blend this into the zucchini mixture.

Turn batter into a PAM sprayed 8 X 11 inch baking pan, OR 2 8X8 aluminum pans, and sprinkle the top of the batter liberally with good semisweet chocolate chips. (This time I also tried Heath chocolate/toffee crunch)
Bake at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until center tests done.

If you use the aluminum pans, after they cool, you can then pop them into gallon ziploc bags for sharing the cakes, or freezing.

I just baked two batches today, and already have committments for 3 cakes! Hope you enjoy them as we do.

Muskogee Trip

Next day after the picnic, and supper and service at Antioch Baptist Church, we visited some sights around Muskogee. We stopped at Lavendar Hill Farm to see the lavendar plants, and smell their wonderful fragrance, and of course visit the gift shop full of equally fragrant products. Then we stopped at Hammatt's Restaurant in Claremore for lunch. The pie was out of this world! Onwards to the Will Rogers Museum. There we roamed for several hours, and were really amazed at how much this man impacted our American culture and heritage. The Cowboy Philosopher's observations about life & politics 80 years ago could be applied today as well.

Muskogee Mission Trip

Our clowns entertain the kids at the park. Our pastor is the puppeteer.

Muskogee Mission Trip

My hubby and I clown around with a few of our Christian Caring Clowns, as we get ready for the picnic with the kids in the park.

Muskogee Mission Trip

This is a bench dedicated to Precious Doe, Erica Green, at Elliot Park. Our Elderberries got the bench for the children of Muskogee, and had it installed November 2006.

Book pages

Because I read so much, and miss my reader's advisor job since I retired, I am going to start recommending books for reading. I am a mystery buff, and crafter, so you will see a mix. This week's suggestions are:

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman--this is a story about a 30 year old disappearance of two girls, at a Baltimore mall. It begins with an accident involving a young woman who runs from the scene, but is found by police. She says she is one of the missing Bethany girls, and knows what happened to her sister. The story then flip flops between all the characters reminiscing about the past, or recounting what is in the present time. This is a good gripping summer read, with a twist at the end.

For all you crafters, I recommend Bend-the-rules sewing by Amy Karol--an easy, small projects book for beginners or advanced sewers, with lots of projects for your scrap bag of fabrics. I particularly loved the old time apron patterns and suggestions, even for special pockets, and got lots of ideas for gifties for Christmas.

So check these out at your local library and Happy Reading!

More notes from my garden

Our little clematis really bloomed well this year, and I didn't expect it too, after our April frost. Our water garden is going well too. Molly dog loves tracking the scent of wild critters who explore the garden at night, when she is inside and can't chase them!

Back from Muskogee

We are back from our Elderberry trip to Muskogee, OK. When we first arrived, their FBC seniors gave us a luncheon. Their hospitality was fantastic, and they helped us with preparations for the picnic. Then we went to Kidspace to deliver stuff for the kids, then out to Elliott Park to host a picnic for kids of the community. We were then privileged to be part of an awesome dinner and service at Antioch Baptist Church. Before we left that evening, I asked Pastor Noble to pray for rain for KC, because we needed it, and OK had more than enough to go around. I joked that we could use a cloud hooked to our bus, from OK, and pull it home for rain. Well, before we arrived home last night, a storm had already passed thru our area, and rained on our gardens, and now we have more coming. So thank You, Lord, for the rain! And thank you Brother Noble, for your goodness and prayers.

These are spring flowers which bloomed so prettily after the April frost. One reason I like where we live--it has seasons. Makes you look forward to changes. The pyrecantha bush hosted a cardinal family--4 fledglings successfully hatched and flew to maturity. We think 3 females and 1 male. Now house wrens have taken this corner over. I can hear the babies cheaping for food in the evenings.

Retired life

Life is good since I got retired last August from the public library. Last summer was really tough, because we were understaffed and overworked, as is usual in a small rural library branch. So this summer when I get tired, it's because I have pulled too many weeds, or worked too long in the iris bed. Times are good. We are traveling, which I couldn't do before, and I can enjoy our pets more, and get crafty. Yes, life outside the library is good!