Rainy Monday

Raindrops pecking at the window over my head woke me around 5 o'clock this morning, then I heard the thunder, saw the lightning, but it wasn't a gangbusters storm, just a summer storm.  Nice.  It's still raining but no longer storming.  Very nice, although I do like a crash-bang-flashing storm--when I'm safe and dry inside.  We need the rain.  The garden needs the rain.  DS & DIL1's new sod really needs the rain.  You pay that much for grass and you love the rain.  He's got all their hoses out on sprinkler duty in back so he stopped over to borrow one of ours so he can water their row of garden pots in front.  They weren't going to have a garden this year because of the total backyard redo so DIL1 had the idea to plant a few things in pots and line the driveway with them.  I think that was brilliant and it looks nice too.  Way to go, DIL1.  Naturally I spent a good bit of yesterday watering everything because it hadn't rained in about 10 days so now it rains but that's okay, watering got me out of the house, out into the suffocating humidity, and off my keester on the couch.  I didn't sew up a skirt after all.  Didn't even cut one out.  I just read and knitted and iced my shoulder, but I'll get to that skirt, don't you worry.  I grilled out some pork... pieces.  They weren't chops or country ribs or roast they were just... little globs of meat, but they sure were tasty.  Durwood chopped fixings for salads and steamed fresh green beans, and we had half a giant sweet potato to share.  You totally wish you had come here for supper.

Blueberries!  I have picked blueberries.  Okay, it's only two but still... I was sure I wouldn't have one berry and I'm going to have a few, more than in year's past, that's for sure.  And I think it's time to release the butternut squash from its protective cage and train the tendrils on the fence.  Yay, squash!  I'll be tying up the tomatoes again tomorrow too.  Things are growing here in Barbara-land.

I didn't show you the Spiced Honey Almonds that I made on the 4th, did I?  They're so good I can't stand it.  I put about 1/3 of the red pepper flakes the recipe calls for in the honey to coat the nuts, switched the chili powder out for cinnamon and only put in half, but we love them.  Maybe next time I'll increase the cinnamon to the full 1/2 tsp. but I don't think I'll increase the pepper flakes.  Ten nuts = 3 WW Plus Points which makes a great snack.  Oh, hey, according to the scale I dropped 2# last week so being a lot stricter with what I eat and working out more pays off.  Who knew?

July 8--Southwestern Arabia, Standing Female Figure wearing a Strap and a Necklace.  Dickon was convinced that the palm-sized statue was a female but Nadine was just as sure it was a male.  Dickon turned the figure face up and pointed.  "Look," he said, "no tackle."  Nadine's lips thinned.  "No nipples either."  They'll never agree, thought Mort, and then he went back to sorting through the pieces of pottery on his tray to see if he could make something of them.  The next morning when Mort unlocked their lab he stood looking at Dickon's lifeless body sprawled on the floor, his head bashed in, and the bloodied sandstone statue lying inches from his outstretched fingers.  "Well, there goes today," Mort said under his breath and he turned away to ask the director's secretary to call the police.

I like Mort.  Okay, it's time to go fish something out of the freezer for Durwood to make for supper.  See, I bring up the meat to thaw and then he figures out what to make with it.  Then I'll have breakfast (yogurt, fruit & granola today, I think), take a shower, dress, and go off to work where I'll get my paycheck and keep the world safe from SCUBA diving.  Avaunt!
--Barbara