Snapdragons

I love snapdragons, thanks to GrandMommy, who taught me how to garden.  She loved snapdragons and encouraged me to plant them.  I don’t think I even knew what they were before that.

Hers almost always came back the next year.  Mine sometimes do.

This one is from 2019.  And it’s still going strong.  It’s very full and looks like there are lots of little buds just waiting to come out.

I don’t think any of the others are coming back, but here are some photos of snapdragons over the years.

Do you like snapdragons?  If you grow them, do they usually come back for you? 

Sweet Tea

It occurred to me recently that I do not have a recipe for sweet tea on my blog. It’s just unacceptable for Sweet Tea Reads not to have sweet tea, so I knew that had to be my S post.

For those of you not in the know, sweet tea means cold (iced) tea with lots of sugar, served in copious amounts, sometimes with lemon or mint. It needs to be strong, and it needs to be sweet. The sugar also has to be added while the tea is hot. Bringing a glass of unsweetened iced tea with a sugar bowl or packets when someone asks for sweet tea is a bit like a restaurant bringing you flour and yeast if you’ve asked for bread. It’s just not right.

Sweet tea is one of most delicious things you can possibly drink. It’s refreshing, and it goes well with any meal. It’s also the perfect beverage to offer guests. Nothing says hospitality like a big glass of sweet tea.

Making sweet tea is a slow process. It cannot be rushed; there is simply no way to make good sweet tea in a hurry. Some things in life are worth waiting for. We southerners take our sweet tea very seriously, and pretty much constantly have a batch prepared, and a batch in the works. Growing up in the south it’s ingrained in you that you always offer guests sweet tea. 

It took me a few years to come up with what I consider to be the perfect method for making sweet tea. I spent years watching my dad try and discard recipes and ask anyone, particularly older southern women, what their method for perfect sweet tea was. I didn’t realize it until fairly recently, but he was on a quest to duplicate the sweet tea his grandmother made.

I don’t actually remember what the sweet tea at her house tasted like. At least not consciously. I can remember drinking sweet tea out of big plastic cups there, and that it was the coldest, most refreshing thing. My dad swears that my sweet tea tastes exactly like hers did, and insisted that I come up with measurements and an exact method so he can make it at home. So here it is:

Sweet Tea

1 gallon of water, divided

3 family sized tea bags (I usually buy any whichever brand is on sale, but if forced to name a favorite, it’s the round Tetley ones)

1 ½ cups sugar (NOT artificial sweetener)

Place tea bags (with any tags or strings removed) and six cups of water in a medium sauce pan over high heat, and bring to a full boil. Boil for two minutes. Cover and remove from heat. Allow to steep for 6 - 12 hours (the longer the better). Pour the sugar into a one gallon pitcher. Remove tea bags and pour into the pitcher. Stir well. Add hot water to fill the pitcher completely, stirring constantly. Stir for another minute. Cover and leave the pitcher out on the counter for 2 - 6 hours, at least until the tea has cooled back down to room temperature. Then refrigerate. Serve cold, over ice.

Enjoy!

Still Here

I’m still here, even though I seem to have dropped out of the A to Z Challenge.  I’m thinking about trying to finish it out, even if it’s unofficially, just to get back in.  Good idea or waste of time?

Last week just got really crazy.  First of all, the weather went insane; one day we were wearing shorts and sunscreen and the next day we were wearing coats and gloves.  I don’t think my squash and zucchini plants survived the cold.  I planted them way too early I suppose.  My flowers seem to have made it.  They were still in pots, so we were able to move them on to the screened in porch and cover them up with old towels.  I’m hoping the weather will stay warm enough for me to plant them this weekend. 

I totally blame the weather, but I also got knocked on my butt with some sort of cold/sinus/allergy thing.  It pretty much felt like a herd of angry cats took up residence in my throat and then tried to claw their way out.  Not fun.  I just had no energy and felt terrible. I’ve been going to bed early and drinking lots of tea, water, and orange juice, and have finally started to feel a little better.  Early bed time and chicken noodle soup are still on tonight’s agenda, however.  Aren’t I exciting?

We also had three sick fur kids last week.  Frankie started vomiting excessively and had to go to the vet.  Lots of expensive tests later, it was determined that he seems to have acid reflux. He’s currently on Pepcid, and seems to be feeling much better.  The first few doses went fairly well, but now he seems to think he’s had enough.  He bit the HELL out of me last night when I gave him his pill!!!  I think it’s going to be Nick’s turn today. 

Emma went back to the specialist on Friday, and they repeated several tests.  We’re still waiting on the results of one more test, but they’re leaning toward a behavioral issue.  I’m still deciding if I think that’s accurate or not, and we’re currently researching a few different things to try for her.  We will also talk to her regular vet before beginning any new medications; he’s a really good vet and has more of a history with her than the specialist. 

We were hit in the parking lot as we were leaving.  All three of us are fine, and the car is fine. The woman who backed into us just seemed like a total idiot, and tried to pet Emma without asking first (which is a very sore subject with me).  Between feeling terrible and being worried about Emma, let’s just say that I definitely was not at my most charming.  At least everyone was fine. 

Duke has developed the very bad habit of eating anything he can possibly scavenge when we go out for walks.  I promise we’re not starving him, in fact the vet wasn’t terribly pleased with the amount of weight he has gained since we’ve had him.  But he still scavenges for anything even remotely edible when we walk him.  Unsurprisingly, this causes him severe gastrointestinal problems sometimes.  He needed to go out about every hour and a half Saturday night.  Nick and I took turns taking him out, but I’m a light sleeper and it takes Nick a while to go back to sleep, so neither of us got much sleep Saturday night.  Duke has some medicine now, and seems to be feeling much better.  I just hope he stops his scavenging.

We rented The Book Thief from Redbox and watched it over the weekend.  It was excellent!  I loved the book, and thought they did a really good job with the movie.  It has been a while, so I want to re-read the book now, but from what I remember, it seemed like the movie stayed pretty true to the book.  Have you read the book or watched the movie? What did you think?

I’m looking forward to catching up on all of your posts that I missed last week, and hope everyone in blogger land is doing well.