August already!

 Been a month.  Time flies and this summer has.  Finally getting back into the swing of things after TKR, Hernia and gall bladder surgery along with root canal and life in general. Whew, glad those things are over. 

Outside the patio tomatoes are coming back for another round.  I love this type of tomatoes as the always make a comeback. 

After a first round through July

August come back

New blooms

I made floret chive butter.

Love it on bagels and muffins

I mix chive blossoms with cream cheese 

Food lion had corn at 4 ears for a dollar.  The corn is locally grown that is sold in our neighborhood store. 

I cut it off the cob to freeze

Eton Mess as the dessert is called.  Traditional British dessert.  Associated with Eton College.

Simple ingredients are strawberries, crunchy meringue broken into pieces and whipped cream.

Meringue is easy enough to make but I purchased mine this time.  Strawberry flavor at that.  

I made the sauce with cut up mashed strawberries with sugar. cooked with a little thickener. Let it cool thoroughly before adding extra cut up strawberries to sauce.  

 You can just mash some strawberries in sugar and skip the cooking. let sit a little while.

Extra cut strawberries mixed into the mashed mixture.

Start layering.  Whipped cream, strawberry sauce with strawberries and crumbled meringue, repeat.  

It's also good if gently mixed before serving in dessert glasses. Don't over mix before spooning into cups.

Serve it right away while the meringues are crunchy.  I keep ingredients in separate containers until ready to assemble as it's easy to put together quickly. 

I love garden fresh okra.  I fried it in self-rising corn meal. 

Sauteed onions

Steamed garden fresh tomato slices. 

I made it like my mama did.  Love it.  Okra, with sauteed onions on top and then top it with tomatoes.

It's a meal for me

Outside flowers are still looking good.  Lot of watering these last couple of days. 

We have periods of rain and then zero. 

volunteer petunia 

Faux flowers in hanging pots on patio

Faux stump with flowers and and Mexican marigold at the base.

A boxwood I am training to a topiary. 

The mosaic duck I did ages ago.  A cement duck with different colors of glass I cut for it, glued then grouted. 

Swamp Hibiscus does well every year. 

This year's crepe myrtles really put on a show.  I purchased these 10 or so years ago and they are called California reds. 

From office window.  

Til next time

betsy

July 4th

Hope everyone's celebration of our country's 250 birthday was a good one.  Most had to deal with this heat wave and that made for us an outside barbeque a no go.   The heat index was around 111 degrees.  We took a drive to Gordonsville Va. and stopped in at "The Icehouse", in the old days it really used to be a real icehouse.   Back to our meal it was a burger for me and fried chicken for Steve.  It was delicious.   Afterwards coming home there was a big storm and limbs were in the road from the trees as there was a good deal of wind.  Didn't last long.

Gordonsville became a railroad stop in the 1840's

Local African American women previously enslaved prepared and sold fried chicken to rail passengers. 

Steve had his fried chicken and I had my burger.  

Mashed potatoes, biscuit, blackeyes with tomatoes like my mom always fixed them and apple butter.

My mom as I do now used to soak her chicken in vinegar water.  Made it delicious.  I have heard that is the secret to the good chicken cooked up by African American women, I will have to look more into that.    

   

On our way back the sky was looking like a downpour any minute.  

A short post of our day.   Til next time

 

 

Happy Birthday America!

 
  It's going to be a very hot one and we are not cooking out today.  The town parade has been cancelled because of intense heat. We will probably just ride out and get a hamburger in the next small town.  I read where it will be 99 degrees at 3 p.m. with real feel 109 degrees and that goes to 112 degrees real feel at 4 p.m.  I have kept up watering my flowers twice a day and sometimes more.  I mostly keep watering buckets filled and put near plants on patio.  I will cover a few plants with dark mesh as the leaves on a few and especially tomatoes look burned from sun.

Our driveway flag

This teensy little portulaca I pinched from mother plant has tiny blooms

Looks so funny being so small with one bloom each.  They are growing. 

Sitting out two nights ago by moonlight

I love this arctic air.  I sit out and the cool mist feels so good with the fan.  I put ice cubes along with water into the tank for even colder cooling. 

I 

Granddaughter used it in garden area while pulling weeds.

I love this wreath from Hobby Lobby; I see the sparkle from our road. 

Took a drive to our local produce farm; there I purchased the sweetest cantaloup. I asked the young man there how to pick a good one and he showed me this one.  I didn't want one too ripe so he showed me the stem area was where it was just a little green but barely green around the area of the stem a few inches beyond which meant I had a few days to cut it before it was too ripe.  He said not to get one where around the bottom is half yellow and other half greenish.  I was told it was not ripened evenly.  This was juicy and just perfectly sweet and tender. 

Til next time

Happy 4th of July to all!