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

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