Chive blossoms, cemeteries & caravans

The chives are blooming right now --- out front where they seeded themselves; and in back, too; where they're supposed to be. This bunch is growing in gravel --- chives are hardy, at least when they're growing where you don't necessarily want them to grow. 

The herb garden chives took a big hit not this winter, but last --- and are just coming back this spring.

Anyhow, sometime this weekend I'm going to have a chive blossom omelet, just because I can. Rinse the flowers, pull them apart and scatter into an egg mixture, maybe with a little cheese, for a mild oniony flavor. These can also be used in salads, as flavoring in other dishes and, if you like, suspended in white vinegar to produce a pinkish, flavorful infusion.

Maybe this will be the year I'll pull the tough flower stalks before they go to seed. This prevents the chives from spreading (providing you don't want them to spread), improves the looks of the plant --- and keeps them producing.

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If you're headed for the Chariton Cemetery this weekend (I've got to get out to Salem, too), remember that the shelter will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday and Monday. There will be lemonade and cookies, plus a chance to look over some of the cemetery's original records --- which go on the road this one time every year. Or just sit on the front porch and visit.

Members of the Chariton Historic Preservation Commission (provider of cookies) and Lucas County Genealogical Society will take turns staffing the shelter. Better check, but I think my assignment is 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

The goal is to provide kind of an in-person "find a grave" service and to give folks an opportunity to look around inside the shelter, or chapel, or cottage --- whatever you want to call it --- which is a contributing structure to the cemetery's status as a National Historic District.

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We're starting the Memorial Day weekend at the museum today with a caravan of vintage cars and their owners, arriving at mid-morning for a tour. They're going to be at the cemetery after lunch for a "grave witching" demonstration, too.

Although we're always more or less open, the official season at the Lucas County Historical Society Museum begins today. Kathleen will be there from 1 to 4 p.m.; Marilyn, on Sunday and Monday afternoons.

Thereafter, the museum will be open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. daily Tuesday through Saturday. Admission as always is free.