Hopkinsville, KY: Eclipseville

New mural in Hopkinsville celebrates
the August 21 eclipse

In case you haven't heard, North America will experience a total solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, 2017. And Hopkinsville, Kentucky, is the place where the eclipse will last the longest.

Our local officials tell us that visitors will be coming here from all over the world and around the nation -- scientists, sun-worshippers, and adventurers of all sorts. How many visitors? Estimates vary from 50,000 to 200,000.

Every law enforcement officer in the county will be working, with backup support from the Kentucky National Guard and Kentucky Emergency Management. Medical facilities will be staffed to the max. Stores and restaurants are bracing for big crowds and hoping for big profits. School will be dismissed for two days. Some non-essential workplaces will close for the day because of the heavy traffic that's expected.

Eclipseville mural

Months ago, I asked for a week off that included the eclipse, so I don't have to work. (My co-workers are not so fortunate.) My husband and I are planning to stay home until it's over. We have our eclipse glasses, and we can watch it from our own yard. I'm going to get my groceries a couple of weeks in advance while supplies are still good, and I'm going to keep my gas tank full.

• Hopkinsville, KY: Point of Greatest Eclipse
• NASA: Total Eclipse, 2017
• Total Solar Eclipse Over Kentucky

Swamp Milkweed

Monarch on a milkweed flower

Some years back, swamp milkweed had taken over a little field near a neighborhood creek. The monarchs loved it! That's where I took this picture.

I want to plant some milkweed seeds in our yard for the butterflies and hummingbirds. The seeds aren't expensive and aren't hard to find. There are several different types. None of them are supposed to be hard to grow, though they do need full sun. It's best to plant them in the fall, in the place that you want them to grow.

I will need to talk sternly to my husband so he will stay away from the milkweed patch with his weedeater, lawn mower, and Roundup sprayer.

If you want to see something beautiful, take a look at this link:

Images: Monarch butterfly on swamp milkweed

Bottle Bush

Bottle bush

This is my quick and easy substitute for a bottle tree. I usually call it a bottle bush. Sometimes I call it a bottle garden. Some might call it a clump of tomato stakes with bottles on them. (A bottle bunch?)

I've wanted a bottle tree for a long time, not for superstitious reasons, but because I love to see sunshine through colored glass. I enjoy stained glass windows for the same reasons.

This spring I collected colored bottles at the thrift shops, and soon I had enough to "plant" them. When I first put them out, I had two red bottles and one each of violet, pink, and orange. I loved having lots of colors!  But after a couple of months, they lost big patches of their color coating, so I removed them. And all the replacements I've found have been blue or green.

I have a hard time identifying bottles that have their color painted on. A Goodwill clerk told me to hold the bottle up to the light and look inside for scratches in the coating. That works well -- except for painted bottles that are in perfect condition.

The real test is a few months in the sun, wind, and rain.

Zucchini Stories

A large zucchini

My garden grew this big zucchini in about 2005. I was extremely busy, and didn't go to my garden for a number of days. When I finally had time to get out there again, I found this whopper and half a dozen more that were nearly as big. They looked like small green logs, sprawled on the ground around the zucchini vines.

I don't think this zucchini was a record-setter, by any means. I see bigger ones at the county fair every year. But my husband thought I should photograph it, so I made him and my son pose with it. The slightly-pained look on my son's face makes me smile. Bless his heart! He was doing his best to tolerate his nutty parents!

The first year I ever had a garden, I planted eight hills of zucchini with four or five plants in each hill. In about seven weeks, a bountiful harvest began, and I soon realized that we couldn't eat all the zucchini the garden was producing.

I cooked zucchini this and zucchini that until we were just tired of it.  I canned lots of zucchini relish to give away at Christmas. I gave zucchinis to friends, took zucchinis to church with me, and sent zucchinis to work with my husband. One day, when I had to go to Walmart, I took a few zucchinis with me and gave them away in the parking lot. ("Excuse me, ma'am. Could you use a zucchini?")

It was a mercy when those plants finally died. The squash bugs and/or the wilt always gets them eventually.

Zucchini Relish

I came across my zucchini relish recipe (that's what started me thinking about zucchini), and I decided to share it in case anyone needs it. It's very good.

Zucchini Relish

4 to 4-1/2 pounds zucchini squash
2 medium onions
1 sweet red pepper
2 tbsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Cut up vegetables and grind coarsely. Add salt. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Rinse in cold water and drain well. In 4 to 5 quart saucepan, combine vegetables with sugar, vinegar, water, celery seed, turmeric, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Prepare lids according to manufacturer's instructions. Ladle hot zucchini mixture into clean, hot jars, leaing 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe jar rims and adjust lids. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water bath (15 minutes after the water begins to boil.) Makes 4 pints.

A Big White Oak

Beautiful old oak near a creek

I took this picture about 20 years ago with a film camera. The huge white oak tree in the photo grows a hundred yards or so above a creek.

The big old tree is still there, but the house in the photo is gone now. A Mennonite family owns the property, and, having outgrown the little house, they built a big new house several years ago and tore the old house down.

Their garden has grown with their family, and some of the garden has now extended pretty close to the old tree. I hope the cultivation is not tearing up the feeder roots of the tree.

I don't own this tree, but I have an affection for it, and I wish it a long and healthy life! That's why I am concerned about its well-being!

Edgar Cayce's Gravestone

RIP, Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce was from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, but I have never been interested in him. Or maybe I should say that I have never allowed myself to be interested in him. I know the basic facts of his life, but I've never studied him. I've always felt that dark powers gave him his knowledge and enabled him to do what he did.

I lived in Christian County for nearly 25 years before I ever happened to see Edgar's tombstone. I was at Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville for other reasons, when a friend mentioned that we were near the Edgar Cayce gravesite. I took this photo then, because I knew that I would never make a special trip to the cemetery to find his grave.

If you don't know the story of Edgar Cayce's life, check out his memorial on Find A Grave. It has a short biography.