29 Comments

Rhubarb pie with vanilla bean ice cream on top might tempt me. Maybe.

Expand full comment

Paired with a shortbread base instead of regular pie crust… 😋!

Expand full comment

Last things first. Yes! Over the moon indeed!! I count myself as quite fortunate have found myself in the collective midst of 3mm. As if I went for a morning walk with dog and suddenly found myself in Mesopotamia! I remember that region being called “The Fertile Crescent.” Fertile minds as well as agricultural fertility? And the 3mm community really is one of fertile minds. Perhaps gardens, too, typist?

Now back to the beginning. I saw no sign of strawberries of any kind. June or otherwise. I personally believe it’s a conspiracy of nature for rhubarb to flourish before the strawberries bear fruit. It would take a highly skewed proportion of vanilla bean ice cream to counter the tartness. Is chocolate syrup allowed? I called rhubarb “red celery” as a kid, but my tongue was not convinced.

I liked your keen observation about the breeze on your bald head. That triggered the thought I might soon share that same experience with you! Over the last 10+ years I’ve parted with various patches of flesh on my head and face from disavowal of sunscreen. Some have been basal cell carcinoma. Now I am feeling new bumps here and there on my scalp under cover (mostly) of my hair. My next visit demands I set vanity aside, along with all my hair for the time being, to afford full visual access. Then off to the breezes!

So thanks for your heart and skills for community building, and this one that has resulted. Best wishes for your neighbor!

CURE!

Expand full comment

Thank you for associating 3mm with fertile ground. ♥️

I never mix strawberries with rhubarb. Last June I was able to go strawberry picking with my dad. Hoping for a repeat!

I’m not sure chocolate and rhubarb pair well. Maybe deep fried at the state fair?

Breezes on a bald head are truly delightful! We can start a new trend. 👀

Expand full comment

I’ve been doing breezes on a bald head for decades. Meh.

Also sunburn on a bald head. BAD!! Get into the hat habit, such that you go, “Oh! What a nice cloudy day! I should take my hat off!” 🧢

Expand full comment

I’ll keep hats or scarves nearby on sunny days!

In part, showing my bald head is part — willing to be seen and share my story — and part anthropology investigation. Bald men are kinda common. Bald women — not so much. There is a pull to “hide” and I don’t want to hide anymore.

♥️💚💜

Thinking of you and Deb and smiling at the adventures I am imagining!

Expand full comment

Okay, good points, but be careful, please? Sunburn on the top of the head is a nastier sensation than sunburn elsewhere.

Expand full comment

Got it! Uncovered at dusk and dawn only. :)

Expand full comment

I really was thinking of chocolate with the strawberries. Or better still, raspberries! For the bare noggin condition, I'll be sure to get some images to share. If one has a shorn skull in winter, would that make me a numbskull? An unrelated question: I run Windows 10/home edition, on a speedy DELL laptop. Since I started using Substrack versus Gmail for 3mm, I periodically get "blocked" from Substack until I "sign in" on my email account??? I read a few other blogs on Substack with no such hiccups. Ideas? Last, I've come to enjoy so much the unforced intersections of lives on 3mm. Perhaps you've birthed a second offspring, effused with your spirit, humor, wit, and heart?! And the Muses are your midwives? ;)

Expand full comment

Bringing up rhubarb... When I was a kid in Wisconsin my next door neighbor had a patch of rhubarb for some reason. My best friend and I would sneak over there sometimes and steal a couple. I'm pretty sure our neighbor knew that we did that but he never said anything. Ahh childhood memories...

Expand full comment

Raw and without sugar… sounds like something kids would do on a dare.

What? There is no “pucker” emoji?

Expand full comment

And the puckered up faces we made while hiding in the ditch with our prizes. I'm sure mom and dad knew what we were doing. And since we were hiding while eating we knew better than to steal mom's rhubarb. We also knew not to eat the leaves since they are toxic.

Expand full comment

Yes! I remember being careful when Henny was a pup -- making sure she didn't nibble on the leaves.

I can't imagine many people would have a problem with a few missing stalks of rhubarb... and yet, from your earlier stories, I bet your parents would have had a few words for you if they'd found out. :)

Expand full comment

Yeah it was a bit tart but we ate it anyways. Lol

Expand full comment

🧐🧐🧐🧐

Expand full comment

We used to sneak out into mom's garden then race out to the front ysrd where we had a ditch beside the road. We'd hide down in the ditch and eat the rhubarb stalk makiing faces while eating. Then we would sneak back grab more and hide back in the ditch. Two or three stalks were all our stomachs could handle at a time. Rhubarb doesn't grow here and it is rarely found in the stores. When we find it we stock up. We love rhubarb.

Expand full comment

My plant is vigorous and healthy. Wish I could drop some off at your house!

Expand full comment

I love rhubarb! It is not easy to find here and I wouldn’t know how to prepare it but would gladly eat the finished products, which all sound delightful.

Thanks for blessing me with some muse love as I wake up from the toe surgery. Now I rest. Rest. Rest.

Expand full comment

I will be sure to freeze some rhubarb and if you do make it to Wisconsin in September, I’ll make something we can share.

Sweet dreams and speedy recovery!

Expand full comment

We LOVE rhubarb and rarely find it down here. I tried growing it but found that it is too hot here. It is a cool climate plant. When we see it in the produce departments we stock up. Slice it and put a couple cups in a sauce pan with a little water and a cup or so of sugar. Simmer for while to make rhubarb sauce. It's every bit as good as applesauce.

Expand full comment

My father-in-law loved rhubarb sauce prepared just as you described. 😊

Expand full comment

My father-in-law loved rhubarb sauce prepared just as you described. 😊

Expand full comment

When I was first married we lived in Oklahoma. Yep my ex moved this NY girl there. I was young and in love.

We bought a farmhouse that had an orchard in back. We had paper shelled pecans- Pa Cons as I would say Peee Cohns as my neighbors said.

Our favorites neighbor was a fantastic baker. She could make something out of literally nothing. One day she asked me if I would “share” some Pecan’s. I told her that I had apples, pears but no pecans. She said see those giant trees there? That’s what they are. Go shake a branch and bring me some. The “shell” literally falls off them hence the reason why I didn’t realize they were pecans.

She taught me how to make the best pies from what was just sitting in my yard. Great person. Now I never knew her to make anything rhubarb. Okra she could make 30 different ways but never rhubarb.

I moved upstate in the Catskills to take care of my Dad 7 years ago next month. Up here it’s RHUBARB everything. So my first thing to have was a friend taught me how to make strawberry/rhubarb pie. She also makes that sauce which I love just by itself which is the base for the pie. 😉

Mine rhubarb patch is alive and well. Going to be big this year.

I love that the muses love the comments. Makes my heart sing 🎶🎵

Expand full comment

Thank you for sharing your story and experience Sharon. I saw pee-con trees in Texas. The nuts had a hard shell. I’d love to see the kind with a paper shell!

Expand full comment

My heart 💜❤️💚 sings too! 😊

Expand full comment

T-shirt: “TO MY CHILDREN: Do not make fun of me because I need some help with the computer. Remember who had to teach YOU how to use a SPOON!” 😁

Possibly to eat rhubarb?

Expand full comment

I’d love to watch babies try rhubarb! I think there’s be a lot of laughter.

Expand full comment

“What is your real work?”

This may be one of the best questions ever!

Can five simple words, properly placed in the right sequence, be the catalyst for awareness and awakening?

What if we slowed down just long enough to answer this question from the deepest part of our soul?

What difference are you committed to making with your one wild and precious life?

Was Mary Oliver onto something while watching a grasshopper? What was her real work I wonder?

What indelible mark are you committed to making during your lifetime?

Walt Whitman suggested with four simple words a process for living…

“Be curious, not judgmental.”

What are you curious about? Real work?

Yes… 🙏🏼🕊🙏🏼

Expand full comment

Took a screen shot of your comment as I suspect I’ll want to revisit. ♥️

Expand full comment