Bzzzzt!

 

I found something downstairs the other day that became today's toss.  It's one of Durwood'sgadgets--a battery powered flyswatter.  I never thought it worked very well and usually managed to zap myself instead of a fly.  It goes.




 


Today's Investment Cooking recipe was Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls.  It has all of the ingredients of cabbage rolls in stew form and today I jazzed it up with a little Worcestershire sauce.  It's one of my faves.



I also dug out a chicken breast and made a half-batch of Hoisin-glazed Chicken.  A full batch makes only four servings and as I put yesterday's make away I thought that it was too bad that I didn't make extra.  So I did.  Now I have six servings of everything so far.  Which is a good thing because I ate the last of last month's Investment Cooking meals for supper tonight.

Three different cool birds stopped by this morning--a Flicker, a Downy Woodpecker, and a Bluejay--but none of them stayed long enough to get their picture taken, dang it.  No hawks either.  There were two chipmunks wrestling on the patio and I tried to alert the hawks to no avail.

These daisies are for Aunt B.  When I was three years old she married for the first time and carried daisies as her bouquet.  She was so beautiful that day.  When I see daisies, I always think of her.







I've spent the last day thinking about knitting on that Hawk's Wing shawl and not having to rip it back and start the lace over again, so this evening I sat myself down at the table, with the TV off, and focused on imprinting the pattern in my (thick) head.  Right after I took this photo I went to the computer and wrote out the lace rows in bigger type and rearranged so it's easier to follow.  That should straighten me out.  I have to get better at it because it's the only thing I have on the needles so it's what I'll knit at Friday Night Knitting, Zoom edition.

08 July--Barbara Malcolm, Tropical Obsession. 

Rooibos cleared his throat and they both looked at him.  “I am interested in knowing what exactly occurred this morning at Thousand Steps.”  He stopped talking and left it up to the Clarks (Clucks) to fill the silence. 

Sam and Maxi looked at each other for a time as if having a silent conversation.  After a couple of minutes Sam shrugged and nodded.  Maxi cocked her head and then nodded too. 

She turned to face Detective Inspector Rooibos and took a deep breath.  “Well, there is not much to tell really.  Sam and I got our gear together and suited up.  We walked down the steps and Sam was counting to prove to me that there really are not one thousand steps and I turned to laugh at him at that landing place there in the middle.” 

Rooibos nodded to encourage her to keep going. 

“When I turned my eyes swept the shallows and saw that, that man.  I thought he was snorkeling and commented to Sam that it was funny that he was wearing clothes.  Then we looked harder and realized that he was not wearing a mask or snorkel or fins, and that,” she shuddered at the thought, “there were a lot of fish around him.  Eating him.”  She turned pale and her breath became shallow.  “I turned right around and headed back up.  I could tell that there was no saving him and I was not going down there to pull him out or let Sam do it.  So, we went right back to the truck, took our gear off, and drove up to BOPEC to call the police.”  She reached out with a shaking hand and refilled everyone’s glass, then picked hers up and drank half of it in one swallow.  “Your Officer, um, Hale, was it, Sam?” 

He shrugged. 

“Oh, your memory is a disgrace.  I am going to get you some gingko boloba when we get home.”  She patted his arm and then turned back to Rooibos.  “Officer Hale did not believe us when we said we did not know the man.  He made us look at him when the paramedics brought him up on the stretcher.  It was horrible.  A crab crawled out of his eye socket.” 

Rooibos said, “It must have been terrible for you.” 

“Well, to be honest it was more gruesome than terrible, but not something I want to see/ on my vacation, unless I am watching a movie, of course.  Anyway, I got a little woozy, Sam got mad, and we came home.  That is all we know.”

They keep saying that it's supposed to cool off into the 80s and the humidity is supposed to be much lower for the weekend.  I sure hope so because I'm tired of hearing the air conditioner run most of the time.  It's like dollar bills flying out the window.  I even tootsed the thermostat up a couple degrees and drew the sheers over the windows to help it be more efficient.  I also need to mow the lawn, especially the back lawn, but I'm not going out in 90 degrees and 70% humidity to mow.  Nope, not doing it.  I'll mow Saturday or Sunday when it's bearable.
--Barbara