Oh, it's so very hot here!

Yes, I know I complain about the cold....so I'm not really complaining about the heat. But it is very warm here lately! The tomatoes are wilted in the afternoon but revive overnight.

From the dash of my car yesterday. This was while driving, so not just overheated parking lot air. It displayed 105 degrees before I moved the car.



There was a week or two that nothing was blooming in the yard. I'm pleased to see the pretty glads starting to flower.






And my hydrangeas - one that Mom brought me and one that Richard got me for Mother's Day many years ago. Particularly pretty this year for some reason!

Work Day at the Boat

A fun "work day" at the boat this weekend. We (Duane and I, Marco and Antonella) met at the boat on Saturday to do a few chores.





Duane and Marco troubleshooting the dinghy motor. It's fairly new (we bought it 2 yrs ago new) - but it hasn't been running too good lately.....after about 5 "soaks" in carburetor cleaning fluid - it's good to go!!!




Marco and Luca on Father's Day.



The boys all working on the windlass in the bow berth.



Meanwhile, Simone is fishing off the bow! Sheepshead for dinner at their house tonight!

Another quick trip to Hendersonville

Yesterday, we buzzed up to Hendersonville to take my sis back to meet her hubby's airplane. I forgot to take any photos, a fact of which I'm sure he's glad......

I stopped by Granny and Cordy's on my way back to Pittsboro for a quick visit. I found them inside (it was about 88 degrees and sunny outside) cutting up beans for the night's canning fun. I felt quite pleasant inside - coming from 96 degrees at home!

All is well there - they seem to be enjoying their garden. (It is beautiful, as usual!!)



This photo is for Sharon - it's the PURPLE sweet potatoes that she brought them recently to plant. They're nicely started and about ready to plant. Will be fun to see them at harvest time.

Visiting

My sis and her son are down for a visit. Lot's of summer fun this week!

Pat and Diane had offered us a cool dip in their pool, so off we went in the 96 degree heat! Ahh - the pool is just the right amount of cool!




Fun with the underwater camera...


"Scout" has been driving the golf cart around the airport - while my sis and I relaxed in the pool, he drove up to Gretchen's pond and took some photos of the goose and ducks.


Next, we drove into Raleigh for a quick museum tour. Rich and Miranda went with us (and Richard pretended to be enjoying himself looking at the NC Art Museum!)



Busy day!! We stopped by a new yarn shop in Apex - Downtown Knits. Great little shop, run by a lady that once worked near me wayyyy back when I worked at IBM.






By then, Scout was famished! So it was a short hop across the street to the ice cream shop. And it's his BIRTHDAY!! So, he got a cone of, what else, Birthday Cake Ice Cream!!

No-till Garden

We're in the summer doldrums!! And we're not technically in "summer" yet!

Not a lot going on....just grass and garden growing!

I've put my little "no-till" garden in again. I'm just growing the things I hate to buy - squash, cucumbers and tomatoes!! Squash and cuc's because they are so easy to grow and I hate to pay the grocery store price.....and tomatoes - you know why!! Because homegrown is 10000000% better!!!!!

Toatl cost - about 1 dollar from the 5/$1.00 rack at the local dollar store.

I dug a hole for each plant and buried them several weeks ago (before the St. Martin trip). Luckily - we had nice rain while we were gone, so all is well.

Now, I just use the weed-eater and lawnmower to trim around the plants.



Yum - first cucumbers will be ready tomorrow!!! You'll have to forgive the Carolina Blue "croc" knock-offs. They are sooooo comfy - $3 on clearance last year.......too bad they didn't have State Red!!



Zucchini squash - yes, tomorrow will be a good start!



See the yellow squash hiding in there?? It's covered in "spray" left from the weed eater this morning. Hey, it's not pretty , but it's a lot better than hoeing or weeding I think!!



And here is the prize jewel....the grape tomato vine. I'm reallllly looking forward to those.....candy on a vine!!!

Plantains

While in St. Martin, we were served plantains as a side dish several times. I've had plantain chips before, but the fried ones we had were a yummy change. They were also VERY caloric!!

I went online and found a recipe that promised similar results by baking them....

First, the pretty yellow/green ones in the grocery store are about a week away from being ready. So, they laid on the counter for the past week.


Trimmed the ends, they peeled mostly like a banana. Slightly banana scented, but very starchy.


Spray a baking dish with PAM - spray a little on top also to keep them from drying out.


Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes - turning them once. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Yum - they were really good - almost as yummy as the fried ones. I served them with refried beans and saffron rice. Good eats!

Hendersonville Visit

We flew up to Hendersonville yesterday for a quick visit. The Hendersonville airport was having their yearly fly-in, so we wandered around for a while before Granny and Cordy came to pick us up. Beautiful day and lot's of folks flew in.


They had "plane-train" rides for the kiddo's - cute.


We went for a ride around Edneyville - I never was there much growing up. Beautiful countryside and we found these longhorns....those horns look sharp!


Obie the cat is doing fine - spoiled rotten!


Time to get back home before dark - the crowd was down to just us!! Lonely looking plane....


Arrived home just at sunset....pretty!

Just a pretty flower photo

When I went to the Asheboro airport yesterday, the first thing I noticed was this "vase" of flowers on the counter....Bobbi didn't know where they came from so Ben must have brought them over the weekend.



I looked very closely - they are not fake....they are not painted. I can't see where they have been dyed. I know the color can't be real - sure are pretty!

Late BDay Post

I know, it's been a few weeks since my birthday....but I've been busy and forgot to post this!

My lovely sis always sends me special treats for my birthday! I had to waited to open them until after our trip. Isn't it great to get LOTS of packages?


Great handmade things- apron from her vintage cloth, covered notepad, open weave dish cloth (particularly love this!! just right!!) and shopping bag.



Putting it all to good use already....love the shopping bag! I go to a discount Food Lion grocery outlet in Asheboro that doesn't have bags - so I always carry my own. Great bag design - actually better than the normal reusable bag with sown-on handles. (Is sown-on a word? looks weird). Thanks, sis!