It's Hip to be (Jam) Square

Things are growing so quickly around here that it's hard to keep up. Recently, my amaryllis put up a nice healthy stalk.

The flower head at the top of the stalk split open, revealing the tightly-furled flowers within.

They pushed up...

...and started to open.

Before long, they were all in glorious bloom. And the smell was amazing!

The columbines, too, followed a similar path. The soft green flower heads thickened and pinked up...

Then, having obtained the right shape, nodded over...

...and started to open.

Beautiful!

I just love seeing the columbines en masse. I grew them all from the same small batch of seeds, but the backyard columbines are mainly pink.

However, I started a line of columbines along the front of the house, and they're purple with a pansy-like face...completely different from the backyard columbines.

They can even be grown in containers. I've got them mixed in with some lilies here.

It's been warm, and then cool, and then warm again, but fairly dry. Finally, we had a really good rain.

Just what my parched garden needed.

These are the last of the early-blooming lilacs. It's perfect. Just as they're dying off...

...the late-blooming lilacs burst onto the scene.

I almost prefer these for bouquets, because the flowers are a bit smaller and remind me of heather...and the colors are a lot deeper.

Here's a side-by-side comparison...you can really see the difference between the two types!

I bought this tiny glass vase at Goodwill for .50. Perfect for this type of lilac with shorter stems.

Of course, I put them in bigger vases, too!

All sorts of things are budding out. I discover new things every day. My sage is getting ready to bloom. I should pinch off these buds and cut back the new growth to encourage a bushier, more compact plant, but I love to see it growing wild and sprawling over our walkway.

Salvia is getting ready to open up...

...and my low-growing geranium plants are blooming beautifully!

I have a tall mystery plant ready to bloom. I think it's a weed...but I'm going to wait and see what the flowers look like!

I also saw some tiny acrobats out in the hydrangea bushes. Teeny tiny spiders balancing on silken threads. They were completely immobile...

...except for one little spider, who was shakily making his way from leaf to leaf.

I saw a black stripe on their abdomens. Oh, how wonderful if they are garden spiders! I'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I saw this crab spider nestled in the tightly-coiled buds of one of my hydrangea bushes.

I was really gratified to see those buds on my smallest bush. I bought it at least 7 years ago, just a small hydrangea start. Each year it leafs out, but no blooms. I can't wait to see what color it is!

I haven't just been in the garden. I've done an extraordinary amount of baking lately, but I just haven't had time or space to post a recipe. This recipe, though, is exceptional. It's one of the best non-chocolate desserts I think I've ever had...and it's so easy! I mainly chose it to try because I wanted to use up some ingredients in my kitchen...that forgotten jar of jam in the back of the refrigerator, those slivered almonds left over from Halloween's witch fingers, the last of the oatmeal. I didn't expect those leftovers to create such a tasty treat!

Almond Jam Squares
modified from Farm Girl Fare

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups sliced or slivered almonds
1 1/2 cups jam
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cream your butter and sugars well, and then beat in your eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, almonds, and oatmeal. Gradually add to the butter mixture and mix until just combined.

Split your mixture in half. Press half into the bottom of a greased 9 x 12" pan. Heat the jam of your choice in the microwave until it's nicely spreadable. Pour on top of pressed mixture and spread evenly, and then sprinkle the remaining mixture on top. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes, until top is golden.

It's easy to "lighten up" this recipe. I cut it in half and used much less sugar than the recipe called for. I also used whole wheat flour (note: recipe, cut in half, baked for about 20 minutes).

The possibilities are endless here. If you don't like jam, consider using cherry pie filling. Or saute apple slices in cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla until soft, and then layer in between crumble layers.

These are healthy, gooey, soft, and delicious. I highly recommend them! I hope you can bake them this week!

Enjoy!

Lilac-adaisical Days

The title of today's blog is a bit of a joke, because spring days are absolutely the busiest around here! On top of my regular schedule, I have to squeeze in my spring necessities: taking care of growing plants and seedlings and taking lots and lots of photos.

Some I don't have to take care of...I just enjoy them when they pop up in the yard, all on their own. I love spring violets.

I especially love the ones that have a nearly blue tint. We've got a lot of them right now and they make lovely little bouquets!

The big news is that our 'lilac season' has begun. From now until late May, we'll have lots of beautiful blooms to enjoy! It was a long wait. First the buds appeared...

They swelled and lightened, and a few solitary blooms showed.

Then more...

...until they all popped.

Then poor Todd gamely finished several meals of sauerkraut and sausage while I stopped cooking and cleaning and did nothing but took lilac photos and arranged bouquets.

I can't help it...they're so beautiful! I think the blooms look especially nice with viburnum blooms.

It's a nice contrast.

Of course, there were mini bouquets too.

Lilacs are amazing!

We've picked some little flowers on our walks. Here are some white violets and spring beauties.

They last for several days if you change the water regularly.

The tulips are up!

Tulips last about a week in bouquets. Right now we just have red tulips, but when we move I'm going to plant lots of different colors.

With all the rain and alternating nice weather, our grass grew embarrassingly high. We had to mow, even if it meant mowing over our beautiful patches of grape hyacinth. I couldn't let them go to waste, so I picked many of them...

...and for a week, every surface in the house was covered with these purple blooms!

The creeping thyme has flowered.

More purple for the back yard. Even when the flowers wilt, this is a really attractive, low-growing groundcover.

The columbines are sending up spikes.

Spring is in full bloom around here! There's so much life. I've spotted butterflies...

...and carpenter bees.

Bosewichte has been begging to go outside for weeks. He's almost exclusively an indoor cat, but sometimes I let him outside to stretch in the sun.

He's mostly indoors with Tabitha, though, so I always have two pairs of eyes staring mournfully at me through our sunroom screens when I work in the yard.

Make that three pairs.

Don't let those hang-dog eyes fool you. She runs and plays in the park for at least an hour a day!

That doesn't include all of her home playtime, either.

When I haven't been working or cleaning or squeezing in knitting or caring for seedlings or weeding in the garden or taking photos or arranging bouquets, I've been baking. I found this great recipe for mini gourmet hamburgers with whole-grain buns.

Wait, that's not true. These are actual brownie/cookie combos, baked up for April Fool's Day! I meant to bake these and another tricky treat earlier this week to fool Todd, but I ran out of time. I whipped these up on April Fool's morning and took them to a friend's house to fool her children! They're so easy to make. Peanut butter cookies for the 'bun' and brownies baked in a 9 x 12 instead of 8 x 8 pan and cut into 'hamburger' circles. Red- and yellow-colored icing completed the look.

I did end up fooling Todd, of course, by cutting up a piece of paper into thin strips, taping the ends together, and folding the long strip over and over again until I had one long springy length, easily flattened. I taped one end to the floor and another end to a $20 bill. When Todd picked up the money, the long white snake-like strip stretched up with it, causing quite a yelp!

Hope you have a great week!