Z ~ Zucchini

    Even though we had a large garden every year while I was growing up, for some reason we never planted zucchini.
    It wasn't until the year I was 18 that I was first introduced to them.
    An elderly woman had passed away in our community and I was supposed to go help with all the food preparations for the meal following the funeral. It involved baking close to a hundred pie.
    The woman's daughter-in-law wanted us to make zucchini pie. She dug out a handwritten recipe from her collection in one of her sink drawers, and we got to work. It seemed to take a long time to get all the zucchini peeled, and then grated.
     We poured vinegar, brown sugar, and cinnamon over it and spooned it into pie shells. I looked forward to tasting the finished product and was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted just like an apple pie.
     After I got married I liked raising zucchini. It has become a favorite for our family, fixed in a wide variety of ways, including mock apple pie.

Y ~ Yucca

 I always enjoy seeing wildflowers when we go on our walks. One of my favorites is rare in our area, and I'm already looking forward to when it will be blooming again later this summer.
    The lovely Yucca plant.

X ~ X-Rays

 How obvious and unimaginative was that for my "X" word of choice?

Other than going to the dentist our family has thankfully not had any x-rays needed for a few years.

Most of the time I'm quite happy, not knowing how I look on the inside, but when something happens that an x-ray is needed I do find it interesting to see what is going on.

The x-ray that has made me cringe the most is this one. So very thankful for doctors, modern medicine, and the gift of healing.

W ~ Ws in my Life

Watermelon .... the girls had a lovely picnic last weekend in celebration of a milestone event. Even though they aren't in season we managed to find a small, but sweet watermelon for it.

Wet ..... it's spring, so it shouldn't be a surprise that we're having wet weather. Spring time showers are nice though, and I enjoy seeing how everything always seems to have had an extra growth spurt after a shower.

Whistling ...... spring also means our elderly neighbor is spending time outdoors. He whistles, constantly ...... a tuneless one note whistle. I try to not let it bother me.

Windmills ..... when they put in those giant monstrosities I was a whole lot less than thrilled. I still don't particularly care for them, but I've surprisingly gotten used to them.

Wooden spoons ...... still my favorites for mixing things.

Writing prompts ...... I enjoy reading them and becoming inspired, and also enjoy creating them for our children and seeing what kind of fun story they come up with.

V ~ Venus Flytrap

My grandmother loved plants. Her flowerbeds were a sight to see and the assortment of houseplants was always interesting.

My favorite plant at her house was the Venus Flytrap. She kept it in her sewing room and from the day she showed me how it eats flies, I was intrigued. I would touch the leaves one by one and watch them close until the entire plant had its leaves closed.

One day as I had worked my way through about half of the leaves, she caught me and told me how hard I was being on the poor plant tricking it into thinking it was getting a meal. It always took a while for the leaves to open again and if there wasn't a fly there for it to eat I was going to starve it.

I felt really bad about that, but the temptation to play with this fascinating plant was big. I did limit it to touching one leaf per visit to her house after that.