It's Raining Plums

When we moved into our house back in 2003 we inherited a plum tree in the front yard. It had a few plums but not too many. Every year since it's gotten a few more, but never a lot. That is until this year when the tree became completely overloaded with plums. I have filled around 8 plastic grocery bags full of plums and could have filled many more. The big question was, what to do with all of those plums. Well I went to MyRecipes.com and searched for plum recipes and had some great results.

1. Plum Buckle: I have never heard of a buckle, but it is essentially a pound cake with fresh fruit across the top. It is delicious. I have made two of these and they both came out great, very easy recipe, very delicious.

2. Fresh Plum Lattice Pie: Margaret made this one and it too is delicious. Our plums are very very juicy and so this made the pie a bit problematic as it never really setup. In fact what it made me realize is that our plums would probably be better in a cobbler.

3. Grilled Chicken Breasts with Plum Salsa: I'm not kidding when I say this may be the best meat dish I've ever made. The chicken is rubbed with a brown sugar, cumin rub and the cumin and plums match up perfectly. You will want the plums to not be too ripe as they need to have a little body.

4. Plum Jam: I had never made jam before and didn't cook this enough for it to setup properly. But what I made was a fantastic ice cream sauce. The tart, sweet combination is just wonderful.

We may make a plum cobbler as we still have a whole bag of plums left, but we may be plummed out at this point.

Best Songs - This Woman's Work - Kate Bush

Kate Bush is a brilliant songwriter and an amazing performer. This song matches these two talents very well and produces one of the saddest songs I've ever heard. The brilliance of the song in a lot of ways is in the simplicity of the lyrics. On top of that they made a great video to go with the song, it even has a happy ending.


Kate Bush - This Woman's Work
Lyrics from PureLyrics.com

Pray God you can cope.
I stand outside this woman's work,
This woman's world.
Ooh, it's hard on the man,
Now his part is over.
Now starts the craft of the father.

I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.
I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.

I should be crying, but I just can't let it show.
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking

Of all the things I should've said,
That I never said.
All the things we should've done,
That we never did.
All the things I should've given,
But I didn't.

Oh, darling, make it go,
Make it go away.

Give me these moments back.
Give them back to me.
Give me that little kiss.
Give me your hand.

(I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.
I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.)

I should be crying, but I just can't let it show.
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking

Of all the things we should've said,
That were never said.
All the things we should've done,
That we never did.
All the things that you needed from me.
All the things that you wanted for me.
All the things that I should've given,
But I didn't.

Oh, darling, make it go away.
Just make it go away now.

Best Songs - Sleeps With Butterflies - Tori Amos

I absolutely love this song. I find myself coming back to it over and over again. I'm not sure why exactly, but I will say the melody is enchanting as well as her singing. The first verse is absolutely brilliant as well. This is definitely a song I pull out only in certain moods, but when I'm in such a mood I can't get enough of this song. I have to say I don't even know what the mood is, maybe reflective not sure.

Tori Amos - Sleeps With Butterflies
Lyrics from LyricWiki

Airplanes
Take you away again
Are you flying
Above where we live
Then I look up, a glare in my eyes
Are you having regrets about last night
I'm not but I like rivers that rush in
So then I dove in
Is there trouble ahead
For you, the acrobat
I won't push you unless you have a net

You say the word
You know I will find you
Or if you need some time
I don't mind
I won't hold on to the tail of your kite
I'm not like the girls that you've known
But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night
This girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies
So go on and fly then, boy

Balloons
Look good from on the ground
I fear with pins and needles around
We may fall then stumble
Upon a carousel
It could take us anywhere

You say the word
You know I will find you
Or if you need some time
I don't mind
I won't hold on to the tail of your kite
I'm not like the girls that you've known
But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night
This girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies
With butterflies
So go on and fly boy

Best Songs - Punky's Dilemma - Simon & Garfunkel

Not sure why but I love this song. I bought a tape of this album, Bookends, one day as I was hitting the road to go home and just fell in love with this song. There is something so goofy and happy about it and it sounds pretty. Well anyhow by the time I got home I had to go out and by some english muffins and boysenberry jam. I think songs like this remind me that at the heart of music is just that music. The sound, the feel, the beat, and lyrics that are fun to sing along with. This song is so much fun to sing.