Since Summer Has Arrived, And Leaves Are All About . . .

Please allow Marash Girl to ask you the following question . . . or riddle, should you choose to see it that way! "When is a leaf not a leaf?" (Must be spoken to be a successful riddle!) Check in tomorrow for the answer!

"What blade can never be sharpened?"

"What blade can never be sharpened?" Give up? Want the answer? Here goes . . . "A blade of grass can be cut, but a blade of grass can never be sharpened!" [Original Riddle by MarashGirl©2022]

And As This Is Now The Fourth Day Of Summer . . .

As this is now the fourth day of summer, Marash Girl is inspired to ask her readers the following riddle . . . you'll see why when you figure out the answer. "What blade can never be sharpened?" [Original Riddle by MarashGirl©2022] Check in tomorrow to see if you've arrived at the correct answer!

A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD!

Photo by MarashGirl©2021

Family Gathering Ten Feet Away From Marash Girl and Marash Boy (Who Were Sitting On The Front Porch)!

                                      

  L. to R.  Nisha, Aline, Raffi, Lorig, John, Jack 

l. to r.  John Simmons, Jack Simmons, Lorig Charkoudian, Nisha Charkoudian (on stairs), Aline Charkoudian-Rogers (on chair), Raffi Charkoudian-Rogers.  On porch are Ama and Baba.  

So who took this photo?????

Another Quick Summer Recipe

Shrimp Cocktail Sauce

1/2 cup tomato ketchup, preferably one containing no preservatives

1 tsp Gold's Prepared Horse Radish (hard to find, sometimes; need to ask a store manager where it is located in the refrigerated section of the supermarket)

Stir together, and voila . . . a quick and easy dip for those delicious fresh veggies from your garden or your neighbor's garden!

Use as a dip for shrimp or freshly cut up, crisp veggies such as carrots, cucumber, green pepper . . .

Thanks to (rahmetlu olsun) Arppie Charkoudian for the recipe!  She would always arrive in Wilbraham with not only the dip, but the fresh veggies to dip into the dip!  Or, if it was late in the summer season, we would simply go to the garden and gather whatever veggies we needed!

Another Easy Summer Recipe

Ripe avocado (skin and pit removed), mash with a fork, add salsa and stir.  A delicious summer dip!

Easy Fruit Salad

Got an apple, an orange, a banana?  Cube them, sprinkle with a bit of sugar and lemon juice, and there you've got a healthy fruit salad.  Keep it in the fridge for a quick, cool summer snack, or a delicious summer evening's dessert.

Summer is indeed upon us: lemonade, anyone?

On Sunday, July 7, children in the Newton Corner neighborhood set up a lemonade stand to raise  

money which they will donate to support the work of Jane Goodall and the chimpanzees of the world.
                                                                                                               Photo by Marash Girl

Water Your Garden With Waste Water!

Summer gardening got your water bill up?  If you can't afford to put in a water waste system that will double as water for your gardens, then do as the old folks did! Keep a pan in the kitchen sink, a catch all for water that comes from the faucet when you wash your hands, rinse a dish, run the water to get cold (or hot) water for food preparation . . . And empty that water . . . frequently, right into your garden!  (Sound gross?  Not if you empty the pan frequently!) And don't worry if the water is soapy.  That soap will wash away the insects that may be resting on the green leaves of your plants!  

You'll be surprised what a difference this simple system of water reuse will make in your water bill, how the environment and your plants will smile at the fact that you are using the water that you once, thinking it was waste water, threw down the drain!

Frozen Fruit for Future Feasting

Fruit ripening faster than you can eat it?  Freeze that ripe fruit -- peel the fruit, slice it up into edible pieces, lay it out on a sheet of wax paper or flat in a plastic bag . . . mangos . . . bananas . . . and after they're frozen, toss them into a plastic bag for future feasting and snacking.  You'll be glad you did!  (By the way, the riper the fruit,  the sweeter.  Like eating mini-popsicles!)

Chinese Dancers on Newton Center Green

Beautiful and graceful, young Chinese-American dancers in authentic Chinese costume performed traditional Chinese dances on the Newton Center Green. Sponsored by Newton Community Pride                                                       Photo by Marash Girl

This past Sunday evening, (no not in the cool of the evening, but rather in 90 degree weather with high humidity), on the Newton Center Green, young Chinese American girls from the American Chinese Art Society performed traditional Chinese dances wearing traditional Chinese costume (shipped directly from China).   The dancers posed for Marash Girl before the program began.

Thirsty on a Hot Summer's Day? Try Panaché!

Marash Girl's friend Hélène, born in Marseille, came to visit on a hot summer's evening.  As they sat on the front porch, hoping for a cooling breeze, Hélène said, "I'd love a cool drink -- do you know how to make panaché?"

"Panaché?" queried Marash Girl.

"Oh, it's wonderful!  So thirst-quenching.  We used to have it at picnics when we were kids in the south of France.  It's very common there!  Do you have gingerale?"

"Sure," answered Marash Girl.

"And beer?"

"The beer my son Deron made on his birthday, if that's okay!"

Hélène continued with the recipe.  

"Panaché is half beer, half gingerale.  So cooling  . . . In France, the gingerale is a bit more lemony, so sometimes we add a bit of lemon here in the U.S.A. . . . You can order it all over France . . . The Irish love it too . . . they call it shanty. . . But a lot of bartenders here don't know it. It's so thirst-quenching — great for summer."

Marash Girl brought the gingerale and the beer -- cold from the refrigerator -- no ice.  Hélène made the panaché . . . "Delicious!" she said.  "But your son's beer is so strong!"

Lighthouse on the Mind

Marash Girl has always wanted a house on the beach, but instead she got 1) a house on the Connecticut River, and later 2) a cabin on top of Wilbraham Mountain.  But never her dream, so she began to create her dream on the green buffet (better known as the Green Monster) that sat facing anyone that entered the cabin.  She collected miniature lighthouses from  the yard sales in Wilbraham -- from folks who had been to the Cape, purchased a lighthouse, brought it back to their Wilbraham home, and realized that it had no meaning there.  But it had meaning for Marash Girl, as she gathered her lighthouses and placed them on the top of the buffet in the cabin at the top of Wilbraham Mountain.  Even there, her dream was not to be, as the tornado of June 1, 2011, took the cabin, lighthouses and all.  Not to be daunted, once again, Marash Girl has begun collecting lighthouses and has placed them in the  corner of her Newton Corner kitchen.  She's still hoping for a place at the beach, but whether or not that ever becomes a reality, she has her lighthouses!

A Morning Walk Around School House (Kettle) Pond, Chatham, Massachusetts

YOLO!  You Only Live Once!

An Anatolian Fortress on the shores of School House Pond

Baby Catfish spawn in School House Pond

Detail: Baby Catfish

An Anatolian Shepherd Dog Entertains passers by.

Hello, August!

The above sign a reminder posted in the best ice cream store on the Cape: 

 Short 'n Sweet in South Chatham, Massachusetts

Walking along the Charles River on a Sunny Afternoon.

Two  for the price of one -- Bridge over the Charles River late on a summer's afternoon - Photo  credit: Marash Girl; photo suggested by Marash Boy as we passed the bridge:  "Look -- there's a picture for you!"

Night Heron fishing in the afternoon on the Newton side of the Charles River

Scratch Your Nasturtium Seeds!

Wandering along Newtonville Avenue, admiring the gardens on a day that was soon to be 85 degrees, Marash Girl chatted up gardening with whomever she saw kneeling in front of their houses  . . . as there were no statues, and no altars in sight, Marash Girl assumed (as it turns out, correctly) that the folks kneeling were gardeners . . . one such kneeler, after talking gardening, offered Marash Girl a package of Nasturtium seeds, cautioning her that she should scratch the seeds before planting. . . Marash Girl thought the kneeler was joking, but sure enough, on the back of every package, Burpee announces, "To aid in germination, rub seed with nail file."  Marash Girl wondered about that.  She had planted nasturtiums aplenty in her childhood, but never thought to use a nail file . . . 

Summer is coming (really?) . . . and we all scream for ice cream!

Who wrote the above ad?  Someone in their 60's or 70's?  Remembering the ice cream truck  slowly dinging its way down Lowell Avenue . . . and all the kids \ running to the front of the house, as they chanted, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!"  . . . Was the ice cream artificially flavored in those days, as, Marash Girl is guessing, the flavors in Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks' coffee are today? Are we, really, all screaming for artificial ice cream flavors?

Cutler Park, Needham, Massachusetts: No peace for the city-weary!

Cutler Park, Needham, MA  Photo by Marash Girl

Cutler Park, Needham, MA - - As deafening as the cacophony from Route 128 (heard but not seen) 

Cutler Park, Needham, MA  Photo by Marash Girl

is the intimidation of the illegally off leash dogs romping the trails, their masters heedless of the signs.

                          Above, an abandoned well in Cutler Park -- an accident waiting to happen?

                                                                         Photo by Marash Girl

                              Is this the direction in which all of our public parks are headed?