A Perfect Summer Day in Maine

Spring has totally sucked so far. If it hasn't been raining, it's been so gloomy and overcast that I wished it would just rain and get it over with. I woke up to another gloomy gray sky this morning. I went jogging (ok, mostly walking) around 10 and it was gray, muggy, and warm. and then...then...the sun came out! A light breeze blew... Summer has finally arrived! I went out and did some weeding, watered some plants, laid down in the grass. It was wonderful.

After I got too hot (ha ha!) I went in to make a rhubarb pie. We got some rhubarb at the b-ham farmers market yesterday. I've never actually made a rhubarb pie before, and actually not sure if I ever even eaten a rhubarb pie before. But I do love local food and I do love to try new things. So I found a recipe online here and gave it a shot. It was a success!

First, this is the first time I've made a pie crust from scratch and it's actually been good! Yay! I think the key is adding enough Crisco and adding enough water. Once I figured that out, it was easy! (and delicious).

With the extra dough I made some dandelion jelly tartlets. What a wonderful spring treat! Also delicious.

To me, the pie tasted essentially like apple pie made with tart apples like macintoshes.

These are my yellow mountain lupines.

Bee hive supers that I painted today.

Kale we got from the farmers market, hoping it will grow in the semi-shade.

The periwinkle and lawn