Polly Castor

I work to amplify good wherever I find it. I love color, texture, beauty, great ideas, nature, metaphor, deliciousness, genuine spirituality, and exploring new territory. I encourage authenticity, nurture creativity, champion sustainability, promote peace, and hope to foster a new renaissance where we all are free to be our most fulfilled, multifaceted, and terrific selves. Read more here.

Summer Food Around Here

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Don’t you love summer food? The photos below include these recipes already on the blog (click on any title to go to the recipe): My Vegetable Lasagna Heirloom Tomato Bisque Our Favorite Green Soup Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta Crab Salad Warm Tomato, Olive and Arugula Salad Apricot Squares Tabbouleh with Shrimp, Feta, Dill … Read more

A Successful Internship

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Today I drove down to Washington D.C. to pick up my oldest daughter from her internship, move her from Asher House in DC back to her house in Annapolis, and then bring her home for the weekend before school starts. She had a great internship! The photo above shows her with her office. Here are … Read more

Laura’s Quarry Party

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Many years ago we started having my youngest daughter’s birthday party in the summer near her half birthday, due to multiple cancellations and rescheduling due to weather of anything we tried to plan in February. So a tradition of an August Quarry Party has evolved… A good time is had by all!

Recipe: Jicama Slaw

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  This is a delicious summer side dish. In the years past, I used to make it with a store bought cole slaw dressing, before I got committed to no high fructose corn syrup and no unpronounceable ingredients. So here is my improved version with a dressing from Julia Child… Jicama Slaw Recipe 1/2 jicama, … Read more

Steinbeck Quote

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“… And it is a strange thing that most of the feeling we call religious, most of the mystical outcrying which is one of the most prized and used and desired reactions of our species, is really the understanding and the attempt to say that man is related to the whole thing, related inextricably to … Read more

So Glad He Had a Great Time

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So I am back from pick up at Crystal Lake Camps and am thrilled my son had an awesome time during his counselor-in-training summer. I haven’t seen him in six weeks! Apparently, he and some friends resuscitated the camp’s science program and gave space shuttle simulations potent enough to make fast friends out of any … Read more

Movie Review: P.S. I Love You

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If I had known that this movie was about a recent young widow getting posthumous letters from her husband, I probably would have chosen something different to watch. This was a bit far fetched, and I really don’t find watching someone grieve entertaining. I wouldn’t agree that this is “the best romantic comedy in a … Read more

Movie Review: Bella

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This movie is better in retrospect (four stars), than it was during the viewing (three stars.) It is about the choice adoption over abortion, and also about making peace and restitution with the past. These are difficult topics to portray and this movie does it in an interesting way.

New Pond Farm Flowers

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Being part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a wonderful thing. Check out what a week’s bag of food looks like for us (first two photos below.) A little different than most people’s grocery store run. No plastic. Nothing artificial. Nothing processed. There are also flowers. These were so stunning yesterday, I had to … Read more