Isn't this beautiful ? I could have a spot like this, if it would ever stop raining and I had the energy to work this hard.
It actually didn't rain today. It wasn't supposed to rain yesterday either, but it did. We had days of rain and the temps were not getting past 70 degrees. IN MID JULY. Today it hit 97. And the humidity was suffocating. It is supposed to rain every day next week I think. We are drowning. The fields are looking weird and yellow, the corn already starting to look bad. The bugs (mosquitoes and gnats) are horrific, because there is standing water everywhere. I don't have much hope for my garden. We'll see. I am not giving up yet.
I harvested a good sized mess of green beans yesterday between downpours. Enough for a big meal and a little leftovers. They are beautiful and there might be a lot of beans this year. If we ever get enough sun. I sauteed them to a crispy crunch with olive oil, minced garlic and Himalayan sea salt and cracked black pepper. They were too good--first produce of the season always is. The lettuce and kale and chard are a sickly pale green. The carrots are spotty (and they usually do so well). Sigh...
Today I baked an Italian Creme cake for a 22 year anniversary celebration. The party was at 6, so we were home by 8, even though we hung around chatting. Always so good to celebrate sobriety. We got home and watched some episodes of Red Dwarf--one of the crazier scififantasy sitcoms I've ever seen. Last night we grilled steaks and had the green beans while we watched Young Frankenstein, Hysterical. I had a bunch of chanterelles my son found, so I grilled onions and mushrooms to go on the steaks. I love those mushrooms...this morning he came back in with another bag of beautiful chantrelles as well as quite a few hedgehog mushrooms that he is sure I will love. He says they're pretty rare, so I had to google them lol http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hydnum_repandum.html They are pretty and aromatic with a nutty taste. I have quite a bit of mushrooms in my fridge and need to figure out something to use them in in the next day or so. Was thinking maybe a garlic, spinach and wild mushroom fritata . Or something. lol
No eggs yet from the new chickens, but should be any time. One of the hens turned out to be a rooster and the little bastard is pushing his luck. Crowing from 4 AM til midnight. Chasing me in the run. I named him Earl, so I can sing "Earl's gotta die" (Dixie Chicks) lol. He's not long for this world, the mean little sucker. lol
Guess I'm headed for bed soon as it's after midnight and I'm pooped. Have a great week and hope everyone's garden is doing better than mine. I know we all count on that food.
Namaste.
Well, we survived the trip. It was hot and rainy, which had the humidity at roughly 400 %. The event was spread out over 3-4 buildings (Georgia World Congress Center, The Georgia Dome, The CNN Building and the Omni Hotel). and the amount of walking was brutal. This picture is from the Georgia Dome during the flag ceremony. 86 countries were represented. As you can see, it was a LOT of people. Estimates are between 59-65,000 sober alcoholics, getting together for some fun.
After being there the first 2 days, and walking, walking, walking, I spent Saturday in the motel room with my legs elevated on pillows and ice packs on my knees. I couldn't get a wheel chair or a scooter because they were all reserved. And mostly because when I registered, I refused to label myself "handicapped/special needs". If I get to go to Detroit in 2020, I will not make that mistake twice. My ego got it's ass kicked. I can still barely walk and am hobbling around like I'm 102.
I had a great time, all in all. It was almost impossible to find people, tho we did run into a group of young women from here in the International Hospitality Suite. And I got to see my 2 friends from California that I haven't seen in 20 + years--we had lunch on Sunday after the closing ceremony and before we left to head home. Also caught up with my old pal Viv from NC--completely accidentally--she was volunteering at the registration table. She lives in GA now.
It will take until 2020 to recuperate lol. I'm still so tired it's unreal. Of course, we've kinda been on the run since we got back home. But I need a break and plan to stay home and chill tomorrow.
Still raining here. And today the temps barely made it past 69 degrees. IN JULY !!!!! The garden may be a bust. I have 2 ft tall tomato plants that have tomatoes the size of baseballs on them ! Everything is over run with weeds. The lettuce looks really good though, lol If we don't get some hot sunny days soon, we will be screwed. This weather is so crazy...
I woke up tired this morning and am going to make it an early night. Hopefully I'll get caught up on my rest soon so I can manage to get something done. It's white clumps of dog hair season here. I cannot, I must not let it get out of control. My friend fell and broke her foot/ankle (?) in 3 places last week. Had to have surgery and had 11 pins put in. She will be in a wheelchair for 10 weeks. I'm going over with lunch Friday and we'll have a girls afternoon. Bless her heart...and they just bought a new house and are closing in 2 weeks. She can't even help pack.
OK kiddos--- I am outta here. Sweet dreams...
Namaste.
