Lemonade is easy, cheap, & oh-so-good. And, believe it or not, very easy to modify! The basic recipe is one my mom came up with, & I’ve yet to hear complaints about it.

Lemonade Basic Recipe:
2 quarts water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice, either fresh or from concentrate

Mix together in a half-gallon pitcher of water until dissolved. Enjoy!!

Switching it up:
Raspberry, Blueberry, or Strawberry Lemonade: thaw about a half package of frozen berries (5 oz), & toss it into your pitcher. Add a bit more sugar as needed. If you want to use fresh berries, crush a few cups in a large bowl, toss two tablespoons of sugar on top, & let sit for an hour before adding to lemonade.

Passion Tea Lemonade: the incredibly refreshing, very popular Starbucks variety, now available at home! See the archived post for all the details.

Bing Cherry Lemonade: heat the cup of sugar & one cup of water on your stove until the sugar dissolves. Add one cup pitted bing cherries & bring to a boil until the cherries begin to soften, about 2-3 minutes. Strain cooled bing cherry syrup into a large pitcher, pressing on the cherries to release their juice.

Lavender Lemonade: steep two cups of dried lavender into a very strong tea in two quarts of water. Allow to cool, & then add lemon juice & sugar as directed above. Lavender lemonade is a beautiful pale pink, perfect for picnics & tea parties.

Minty Lemonade: add a stem of fresh mint or spearmint to your glass!

I’m rather fond of eating a large bowl of air-popped popcorn (lightly salted), with a tall glass of lemonade. Enjoy!

I guess there’s not much else to say, is there? Regular posting resumes today, & I have many posts planned for the next few months. Thank you for your patience while I worked some things out!

In order to really plan & organize, I made myself a six-month calendar to inspire & assist using some of my favorite photographs from Flickr. I stuck at the beginning of the notebook I use for blogging ideas with a big office clip, & I’ll be using it from now on! If anyone would like to download it for themselves, I uploaded it to share.

{ Download PDF 1.48MB }

Things are getting a bit behind; in my personal life, at work, & with my writing. I’ve several half-written entries sitting in my drafts folder, & many ideas for the direction I want this blog to go, but I mostly just feel awful for the lackadaisical posting schedule I’ve kept of late. I feel scattered & unsure, so I think it’s time for a break until I can sit down & make some plans.

Don’t worry; I’ll not be gone long. This weekend will be devoted to thoughts, plans, & directions. See you soon!