a plethora of elixirs

It's dandelion time and I can't help thinking about how my mother added young dandelion leaves to the salad, how I hated them because they were bitter, and how once 19 years ago, so enamored by Ray Bradbury's book Dandelion Wine -- that incredible memoir about his childhood in Waukegan -- that I found a recipe and brewed a few bottles that we gave as gifts at Christmas. I recently found a half-filled bottle of it, with its homemade labels, at the back of a kitchen cabinet. Nineteen years worth of fermentation is a little scary and I dumped it out pronto.

Hold summer in your hand, pour summer in a glass, a tiny glass of course, the smallest tingling sip for children; change the season in your veins by raising glass to lip and tilting summer in."
                                                                   (Ray Bradbury)

that's the way witches tend to be
One of the recipients in that long ago holiday season (1994) was Ron's art dealer who actually said, when I handed it to her, "I hate dandelion wine," and kept it. That was pretty typical of her personality. She said she came from generations of brujas (witches) and it was easy to believe. Soon after that she and Ron had a parting of the ways and he's been safe ever since. But we love the common yellow flowers that decorate weedy overgrown lawns.

elixirs
Dandelion wine reminds me of Joanne Harris's novel, Blackberry Wine. I love the magical realism in her books. She wrote Chocolat, one of my all-time favorites (and the movie, too). She also wrote two French cookbooks and the recipes are amazing (the Gateau Lawrence is magical!). Anyway, the novel is about a blocked writer and his recollections of a character called Jackapple Joe who made bottles of homemade "plonk" from fruits and berries and who influenced his childhood. He drinks a hoarded 24 -year-old bottle of the stuff and his life changes. He tunes into his memories and unlocks his future. Maybe I shouldn't have dumped out that old bottle of dandelion wine? Well, it might have killed me.

acknowlegments
Today's photos are from my brand new (yesterday) iPhone and I'm obsessed in love with it. I read the huge biography of Steve Jobs by Isaacson. I forgive Jobs for his difficult personality and excuse him because he was a genius. I also thank Apple support, Verizon, and my dear daughter Melissa for helping me get started with this small but stupefying gadget. I'm already reading books and taking pictures! (but couldn't figure out how to answer the first phone call I received!). And she had fun, fun, fun...