Three Beautiful Things 08/04/16: Mom in the Garden, Cribbage with Dad, Christy Cooks Up a Keeper

1.  This morning, Carol arrived, fixed Mom some breakfast, hustled her out to the backyard, and helped her get settled in her gardening chair where Mom thinned her carrot patch and yanked out some weeds, going at it for about an hour.  She rested comfortably afterward, catching a few naps, and reported feeling pretty good.

2.  One of the fun things about playing cribbage on my phone is that it takes me back to when I was about twelve or thirteen years old and Aunt Lila (I think) game me my first cribbage board for Christmas and Dad sat down with me at the kitchen table and taught me how to play. I was never very good -- just ask my friends Roger and Terry who always thumped me when we played -- but I loved it whenever Dad suggested we play and, for some reason, Dad loved to drink brandy when we played cribbage.  When I grew older, Dad poured me a brandy, too, and, while I can't remember who ever won or lost our matches, I remember these times as among my very favorite with Dad.

3.  Nearly ten years ago, Christy attended a conference at Mt. St. Michael's near Spokane, and the group was served zucchini garden chowder for one of their meals and Christy loved it so much she hot footed into the kitchen and asked for the recipe and left with a hand written copy.  You can read her story and see the recipe right here.  For dinner, Christy fixed this tasty chowder and she and Mom and I enjoyed it in nearly perfect evening weather conditions in the growing shade of Mom's deck.

Here's Mom working away on Thursday morning:

Mom in the Garden -- picture by Carol Woolum Roberts