Gift Basket

Neighborhood Gift Basket

My neighbor has an amazing lemon tree and every couple of months I am gifted a bag of lemons.  I too give them away, bake with them, slice and freeze them, etc.  Before Christmas I taught a Gifts from the Garden class and created Limoncello using my neighbor's lemons. 
 When the last bag arrived about Christmas time I made my neighbor and his wife a batch.  There are many recipes on the internet so for my class, I made a quick version (5 days) and then a longer version (about a month).  The ladies in the class said the quick version was stronger and the longer batch more mellow.  I let this batch ferment for almost two months. 

Being the crafter that I am and getting back into my love of shrink plastic, I created a quick label using some clip art I found on the internet, added their names, printed it off and shrunk it.  If you're not familiar with shrink plastic, it starts out very thin and when you place it in the oven it shrinks in about five minutes to the thickness of a nickel and very hard.  Perfect for jewelry, gift tags, cupcake picks, etc., etc.  I LOVE it!

 The tag turned out great!  Follow the instructions on the shrink plastic package and you'll get good results.

 In addition to the Limoncello, I made this a 'Harry & David and Neighborhood' basket.  I was given a box of Harry and David pears so I added in some of those, I included some pickled green beans from my garden, an avocado from a neighbor's tree, an amaryllis from my yard and some Rosemary and Lemon Cookies made from my neighbor's lemons and rosemary from another neighbor's yard.

My neighbor was so surprised when I took over the basket last night. Random acts of kindness make my heart sing...

Random Acts of Kindness

Little Things Make People's Day

I had a most delightful Labor Day Weekend and in looking back it was the random acts of kindness, surprises or just people doing things for others that stand out in my mind.

Let's start with this morning - I heard the wind blowing pretty hard as I was laying in bed. I just knew that my trash cans, that I'd heaped to overflowing, would have fallen over and strewn trash all over. Indeed the trash was everywhere, but someone had been kind enough to have picked up my trashcans and faced them so they wouldn't fall over again. I went down the street and picked up my garbage - wouldn't you know it, my parents had given me loads of tomatoes and some had 'gone passed their prime' and I'd put them in the trash - one had rolled most of the way down the hill. The wind did blow over my trashcans twice more this morning, but in looking at it, it isn't a big deal, just one of those things.

Another instance of kindness - I bought a coffee table this weekend and a neighbor saw me struggling to get it out of my car and came over to help. It took less than a minute, but meant so much.

I attended a small orchid show and I was greeted with a complimentary orchid. I love orchids but hesitate to buy them because I can never get them to bloom again. Keep your fingers crossed with this one.

And, looking back over my last week, there were a couple other instances that I chalked up to living in a small town. My windshield wipers were shot, so I went to my local auto supply store and they put them on for me - no charge, just offered. I learned something that day - that the left and right windshield wipers aren't the same size - duh!

These instances remind me to be mindful of others (and myself) - even a smile will brighten someones day.

Here's smiling at you!

Joan