Florence Thank you for the sequel to your story. I am like my little girl--always wanting to hear more. The photos of your father are a treasure as was he. What an amazing man! I sense his indomitable spirit in you. If your posts are any indication (and I know they are), you are a wonderful writer! I encourage you to preserve his story in paper and ink. I'm with Jeri. I worry about loss of connection to family and home. I worry about the pervasive rootlessness that has become so common. So many young people I work with feel like refugees. If stars could grant my desires, I'd wish us all healthy families (however we choose to create our families) and homes to come home to on land that has savored the work of kindred hands. I am so glad you are blessed with photos of your grandparents' home. Your paintings capture the spirit of the place. I wish my great grandparents' home was still in our family, but at least we, too, have some photos. My great grandparents on that side of the family (Dad's mom) were Missouri farmers, and my grandmother told me many stories about her childhood. I have a few items from the farmhouse--old books, a lamp made out of the barn's lightening rod ball, an old carved picture frame, my great grandfather's flow blue cereal bowl, and some photographs. Dad's dad came from a branch of the Lee family, and I have a photo of Great Grandmother Sarah and a couple of pieces of her Civil War era furniture. A chunk of my mother's side of the family came from closer to your neck of the woods--the Dana family from Massachusetts and New York. I have an ancestor that seems like he must have had some of your father's strength of character. He was visually impaired for a time, spent two years on a sailing ship and wrote about his experiences in the forecastle, and then returned to the east coast to practice law. He helped found the anti-slavery Free Soil Party. Wish I could travel back in time to meet him. Thank you for the second installment of your gallery show. Your work is such a joy! My grandmother (the one who grew up in the Missouri farmhouse) dabbled in oils and pastels but said she never stuck with watercolors because the medium is so technically difficult. I applaud your hard-earned skill with the brush! In return for your gifts to me, I'm going to attempt to attach images of two of my grandmother's magnolia paintings. Wish me luck! With great appreciation and gratitude, Carol This post was edited by PortlandMysteryRose on Fri, Jun 21, 13 at 3:42

Jeez, Deanna, I read that header and thought, "Am I in trouble again?" I felt like the kid heading to the principal's office. The recipe is my all-time favorite shortbread (and I am, unfortunately for my figure, a shortbread connaisseur). It's very delicate and crumbly, not a whole lot like you might think shortbread might be, but it is a great great cookie. Well, enough accolades. Don't want to keep you in suspense. This comes from Alice Medrich's book, "Cookies and Brownies." It's out of print, unfortunately. Note the absolutely absurd used price on Amazon. As if. She did a lot of experiments for the ultimate cookie in each category and discovered bleached flour does make a difference with some types. This is one of them. You decide. I know most people don't go the bleached flour route, but I buy it specifically for a few of these recipes. Nut Shortbread Categories : Desserts  Cookies Entertaining and Holiday Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour -- (bleached preferred) 1/2 cup nuts -- (pieces - toasted) 12 tablespoons unsalted butter 6 tablespoons sugar pinch salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 teaspoons sugar -- (for sprinkling on top) Pulse flour and nuts together in food processor until finely ground. In saucepan melt butter. Add sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir in flour/nut mixture. 9-inch round or 8-inch square pan or 9 1/2-inch fluted tart pan, greased or lined with foil. (Not necessary with stone pans.) Pat shortbread in pan. Refrigerate at least two hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 300°. Place rack in bottom third of oven. Bake shortbread 65-75 minutes. (A few minutes less for tart pan.) Sprinkle with sugar. Remove from pan and cut into pieces while still warm. Cool thoroughly. Keeps well in a tight tin or can be frozen. Description: "Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies page 25." Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Grotesquely Overpriced Used Book

Thanks for the heads up, Nandina. I do get daily emails from several sites with free books, but passed this one by because I didn't think it sounded interesting. But I downloaded it on your recommendation. However, I had already trashed the email, so just went to Amazon and under the "Books" heading, typed in the name. The Kindle version did not come up as free. Then I went to the Kindle store and typed in the book name. This time it came up as free and I snagged it. Just thought I'd share. Don't know why the discrepancy, but make sure you check under the Kindle Store heading, not just books. And sometimes free books aren't even free for a whole day. Sometimes it's just hours. Gotta jump!

I've gotten through about 75% though "Epic Tomatoes" and find it very useful for the novice tomato grower. All aspects of tomato growing is covered in good detail and written in laymen's terms that any aspiring gardener would understand. The layout of the books contents is done extremely well. CL provides charming stories with all of the tomato varieties he highlights and I found his guidance on creating your own varieties of particular interest. The photos really brighten up the layout of the book (just in case you weren't totally jazzed about tomatoes in the first place) making your eyes open with wonder with every eye popping tomato variety or growing guidance photo CL provides. I wish I read this book 5 years ago. Many of the mistakes I've made, could have been easily side stepped if I had this book to guide me. Well done CL! I'm sure this book will make anyone not already addicted to tomato growing at the very least charmed by your experiences and instruction.