You might have heard of The Chic Gardener, the Savvy Gardener, the Confident Gardener and even the Skinny Gardener … but if I were to write a gardening book, I think I might have to name mine, The Bewildered Gardener.  My philosophy to gardening is to buy a plant with a tag that tells me that I am to place it in the sun or the shade and plant it thus.  Then I forget about it and a few weeks later I am either surprised with delight or struck with the resignation that my experiment didn’t work.  I either think, “Wow, Cathy, you have one green thumb.” or I think, “Gee, Cathy, it’s probably better that you use your thumb (along with other fingers) to draw.”

About 6 weeks ago, I bought two little squash plants.  (I was inspired by the great squash success of my friend and designer, Leslie Lewis Siegler, who now lives in sunny California.  You can find a great squash recipes from Leslie’s blog here.  Of course, she is planting in lush verdant California, while I am planting on top of a limestone hill, but still.)  So, I applied my gardening method to the two little squash babies by planting them in the sun, as instructed, and, then promptly forgetting them. Today, when I went outside to pat the dog, I looked down and, SURPRISE,  there under the huge fat prickly leaves were two yellow squash blossoms.  Then I looked closer and realized that there were eight!  I am a squash growing ninja!  Now, I will go back into my state of horticulture speculation and wonder whether the flowers will actually turn into squashes  that can be eaten by humans before the bugs or birds.  I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, happy summer from The Bewildered Gardener.

P.S. Below, I am dreaming of my possible new squashettes.  I’m not sure if I planted yellow squash or zucchini, so I am dreaming of both.

Most of you were correct.  Even though I thought Neville was planning to mend his ways, he was indeed planning another heist, and this time we didn’t even know about the theft until we were well underway with our puzzle.  Julianna and I just didn’t feel complete after the first summer puzzle was vandalized by our pup, so we decided to start on another.  And, as you can see (exhibit b above), Neville was at it again.  And, this time, he was sneakier, swallowing the evidence before we could catch him.

Here’s Neville after he walked on the bad side.  Once again, I just know he is repentant … but those around me have told me I am just seeing him through loving mother’s eyes and that he is really a scamp.

Know any good rehab places for puzzle-thievin’ pups?

Photo credit: Julianna Heck, who, after watching many episodes of CSI can recognize a guilt-ridden suspect in an instant.

So, Julianna comes running into the studio and sets this little jewel (a) next to my computer saying with concern, “Mom, look at this.  What do you think it is?”

I suggested, “Is it chewed gum? How about wet paper? A cocoon? Yuk. Creepy. Get that away. I have no idea.”

I thought about making this post a contest and asking all of you to guess.  But, I just don’t think it’s guessable, so I’ll just have to tell you.  It’s one single puzzle piece from our summer puzzle, extracted from the mouth of our beloved dog and now puzzle-piece thief, Neville. Fascinatingly, the knowledge that there was one missing piece completely changed our puzzle-solving strategy.  We consider ourselves jigsaw ninjas around here, but this time, we noticed that we were not spending the normal amount of consideration time on any one opening, because any given position could be the spot for that one important freshly-chewed piece.  Because we gave up sooner each time, the solving of this puzzle dragged on and on.  We just weren’t up to our normal puzzle speed and agility. Nevertheless, we were finally able to finish it, and are happy to present our finished product for the summer of 2010 … no thanks to Neville.

Below: Cathy and Jules in the joyful early stages of puzzling before Neville’s crime.

Below: Neville at the puzzle table.  Since I am  his adoring “mom,” I think he has a look of remorse and great regret over his misconduct with a vow in his heart to change his ways.  Others in my family are pretty sure he is planning the next heist.

We reported on this summer phenomenon when everyone was visiting the California studio last summer, but here is a slice of the sweet reward from this year’s first big harvest.  Many thanks to my sweet husband who comes out of the bushes as if he has been in a blackberry war, while I delicately cull from the outskirts with my hanger and tupperware bowls.

Happy mid-July and full bright peak of summer!

Have you already made deviled eggs, egg salad, egg casserole, creamed eggs, and yet, you are still feeling a little egg-recipe challenged?  If you are looking for one more method for finishing all those glorious Easter eggs, here is an idea: Hard Boiled Eggs In Cognito.

After the first Easter that our little family had an Easter egg hunt, I discovered that my loved ones weren’t crazy about the creamed hard-boiled eggs that had been a part of my Easter morning ritual when I was growing up. So, I began to search for a few alternative recipes for the purpose of using up the baskets full of hard-boiled eggs.

I found this idea in a recipe book, The Penny Whistle Lunch Box Book, in which the authors recommended filling egg whites with your child’s favorite fillings, such as tuna fish salad or salmon-cream cheese filling, both of which my gals really like.  They even recommended just mixing the yolk into the different fillings to give a little hidden protein to your kiddos.

Because I am not a big lover of egg whites, I take the same fillings and make tea sandwiches. It’s win-win for everyone and we are usually able to use up most of our eggs.  Once we can’t eat another egg in any manifestation, we pass them on to Neville, our pup, who does not seem to tire of any food item.

Here are the fillings that I used this time:

First, loosen the yolks so that they are crumbled, but not packed, and then make fillings that your family likes best. Here are the fillings that I used:

1. Curried Deviled Egg Filling: I took about one-third of my crumbled yolks and added  a mayonnaise/sour cream blend to moisten.  Add some finely chopped onion, a little dry mustard, a squeeze of lemon, and curry powder to taste.  Use a small spoon to fill the white egg halves, and then sprinkle with a bit of paprika.

2. Tuna Fish Salad:  Make the kind of tuna that you like, but mix it so that it is a little creamier than you might normally make it, so that it can easily fill the egg openings.  I added about a third of the yolks and one egg white, finely chopped, to my tuna mixture. Fill the white egg halves with a small spoon. Garnish with sliced cornichon pickles.

3. Salmon and Cream Cheese: I used a 4-ounce package of smoked salmon and chopped it finely in a mini food processor, or you can chop it finely with a knife.  Mix in a small amount of cream cheese (maybe a tablespoon) and same amount of sour cream.  Add about a teaspoon of onion and a teaspoon of chives.  Add about 1/2 tsp of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon.  I added  some of the egg yolks but I prefer them better in the other fillings.  Fill the egg white halves with a small spoon and garnish with a sprinkling of fresh dill.

For the little tea sandwiches, I used Pepperidge Farm very thin white bread.  Cut the crusts first, then fill with each filling.  Adios Easter eggs … until next year!

Happy Easter from all of us at Cathy Heck Studio.

Usually, Ellen (in Berkeley, CA) and I (in Austin, TX) work together seamlessly, uninhibited by distance, transferring files back and forth and forth and back on our ftp site (our computer in the sky), but every now and then it’s nice to do certain projects eye to eye (and laugh to laugh).

This week has been one of those weeks.  Our “California office” came to Austin, and our newest studio member, sister number two, came from Virginia, with her newly acquired Photoshop and Illustrator skills, and we basically created our Surtex booth in the entry to the studio.  Surtex is a trade show in May, which seems far away, but will be here before we can blink!  We had many decisions to make: what to show, how much to show, how to show it, and the issue with which I became obsessed–how to make our booth meet the New York City Fire Department regulations even though it is made entirely of paper.  I think the best moment of this ongoing discussion was the instance in which Jim tried to show me that I was over-thinking this concern and held a match to a piece of foam core with aplomb, and we all had to quickly say, “Dad, the foam core is on fire … really, look … the foam core is on fire.”  Needless to say, I won, and we ordered every kind of fire retardant available.

I do want to take this moment to say that Jim (although a tiny bit know-it-all about the fire matter) is our biggest supporter and journeyed out on many late-night-Home-Depot runs and invented two magnificent ways for attaching our shelving and hanging our boards, as well as providing frozen yogurt for the late night workers/daughters.  Thank you Jim/Dad.
So, that was our work week, and, although I did perhaps spend too much time thinking about fire over the course of the week, we did accomplish a great deal, and we are more or less ready for Surtex.  It was a great week of making art, mocking up art, and displaying art.  We also squeezed in a few episodes of Modern Family, because we think the writers must have planted secret cameras in our house to create some of their episodes.

Here are a few photos from our studio work week, just to give you an idea of what life is like in a family business like ours.  If you see any scenes like these in future episodes of Modern Family, we will know for sure that there are some secret cameras around here!
Do you have a family business?  If so, we would love to hear about your family/business dynamics.  And, I’m just wondering: do you ever ask your “employees” to empty the dishwasher?  Just wondering.

While all of you Austinites were having an early spring snow day, in Berkeley, we were saturated and spilling over with snails.

I don’t know why Andrius and I always decide to take long hikes only when it’s raining, but it has definitely become our M.O. Last weekend, we went down to Point Isabel dog park to check out the bay and imagine who all the different dogs would be if they were humans with occupations (lots of detectives, bouncers, and dowager socialites), but the trip ended up turning into a semi-scientific study of the hundreds of snails that had been chased up onto the asphalt and anise shrubs along the trail.  We documented four main phenotypes: plaid-shelled gooey yellow ones, green-shelled shy black ones, brown-shelled sticky brown ones, and one pink-shelled clear-bodied albino one.

These are pretty well-documented in the camera, but as I came to write this post, I decided that they were not cute enough for this, the cuddliest of blogs – so you will have to use your imagination.

If we had been really hard-core, we could have feasted on escargots…   maybe next time…

Here are some photos of the wet beginnings of spring on the Bay:

Me, hoping I don’t get tetanus from this beautiful, yet very rusty rock.

Something out of a Monet.

Yesterday, it actually snowed in Austin.  The weather newscasters had been predicting it, but we didn’t believe it one little bit.  And, then, right in the middle of the day, it felt as though someone began dumping giant pieces of tissue paper from the sky.  The snowflakes were gigantic.  They were more like snowpapers than snowflakes. Children who had never seen snow were making snow balls, snow men and snow angels.

It was magical.

My original plan for this week was to send you a hint of Spring.  Each year, one day in February, when I drive up our hill, there is my little Flowering Quince bush, suddenly in full bloom, all by himself (or herself) … no other flowers in sight.  I always have a tiny private smile, and think, “There you are, you first brave sign of spring.” I would have never guessed that I might be sending this “Spring is Coming” picture surrounded by ice crystals.  So, happy winter, happy spring!

On Saturday, we had just squeaked out an emergency deadline and Jim was about to run it to the last FedEx drop-off opportunity for the weekend.  I gave a sigh of relief as I watched a mailing tube full o’ new art head out the door under Jim’s arm.  I dropped down into a chair by the window, when what should I spy out of the window pane?  Margaret and Jim peering curiously into our car.  Uh-oh, dead battery at deadline time … that’s not good … but more importantly, what is Margaret wearing?  A prom dress?  Yes, it is.  What else would you wear for a battery-jumping lesson?  Yep, the dad-side of Jim’s duties had overtaken the studio-delivery-man side, and even though a FedEx cut-off time was looming, he just had to give his new-driver daughter a little lesson: How to Jump a Battery.  And, even though his gal was in the middle of repurposing last year‘s prom dress for a let’s-get-dressed-up-for-dinner evening with friends, there was no time like the present for a car maintenance lesson.  Fortunately for all, it was a quick lesson, and our package made it out in time, and more amazingly, her white dress remained white!  The good news is that if she and I are ever together when the battery dies, I’m sure she will know how to fix it better than I do … even if we’re all dressed up.