Cooking on the grill

Out on the deck grilling hamburgers. Potatoes on the side burner. After a storm passed it got less humid and cooler. Great.

A lovely day

After really hot weather early this week we got rain late Wednesday and all day Thursday. Today, after a cloudy start, we had lovely weather. Sun, low humidity, moderate temperatures. It was a semi productive day with laundry and ironing done. Right now I'm pressure cooking beets we got at the farmers market. YUM
We went out to eat twice this week and so we are having leftovers (and I'm also having beets).
Honey is chewing on her new toy B got her and we are sipping drinks. Yes, a very nice day!

Storm Clouds

 

While today is lovely out – cool and clear, Saturday was hot, muggy and windy. As I took Honey out for a walk (she hates rain so I wanted her to potty before the rain), I looked up and saw these awesome clouds. I ran back in to get the camera and took several pictures. Fortunately, we did not get too bad of a storm. While it rained very heavy it was for a short time. No storm damage and the plants sure needed the rain.

The Raspberry Lady

I grew up in South Jersey, with many farms near by. We would often go to a market on the Ellisburg Circle that had "just picked" white corn, green beans and other farm fresh vegetables. But my fondest memories are of The Raspberry Lady, who would bring fresh fruit and vegetables door to door in a wooden crate that had a handle on it (probably home made). She would park her station wagon and walk up the path and I often answered the door (I'm thinking I was probably 7 or 8) and yell to my mom "the Raspberry Lady is here". Of all the things she would bring, raspberries were my favorite and were only available from her. Tart but sweet, a bit of texture - I just loved them. She also had corn, string beans, strawberries and other home grown food but we could often get them at the food stands. I'm sitting here typing eating raspberries on yogurt with a bit of granola. YUM - and the memories are there, in the back of my mind.

It's strange what we remember from childhood. A simple smell or taste can bring back a flood of memories. Thinking about food also reminds me of our back screened in porch. Just wide enough for a round card table with room for 4 chairs. As an only child, only three chairs were set out. We spent a lot of time on that back porch in the summer as we didn't have air conditioning when I was a child. Dinner would often be some meat (don't remember just what) and corn on the cob with either green beans, peas, or a salad of Jersey tomatoes. Those tomatoes were sooooo good! The tomatoes of today, even those from the farm, just don't taste like those large Beefsteak tomatoes that were red, juicy and didn't have that hard core in the middle. My mom would serve ice tea that she mixed with fruit juice. Any kind of juice she had - orange, apricot nectar, pineapple. This summer I'm again making that ice tea - a bit stronger than normal so that it still has a tea taste when I add the orange juice. Fresh mint (which I grow in containers on the deck) also taste great added to the tea. Thanks for the memories Raspberry Lady, thanks mom.

Boating on the Lake

It was a lovely morning. We turned the air off late yesterday afternoon as the humidity was to be lower as were the temperatures. The sun was out and it was a bit cool at home. We loaded up the two large totes, one from our boating days on the Chesapeake and one relatively new (and a bit larger). While we had been out before, the Bimini top was not yet open and we wanted to take the cover entirely off and make some changes to the dock lines as well as take a short ride. With those goals in mind, off we went.

The boat looked good as we hopped on after unsnapping the cover part way. This is the first time we had a full cover - before there were several covers each covering a seat or bench. Boy, the cover is BIG and very bulky. We had used WD-40 to make the snaps easier to use and so the removal went smothly. We then opened up the top cover - and found a wasp nest in the folds. Fortunately, it didn't appear any wasps were using it. Opening went smoothly but we had trouble fastening the two arms to the side of the boat as the canvas was not stretching. It finally fastened and hopefully it will be easier now that it's staying open for a bit. Then we cast off and away we went!

The Captain! He was checking the mapping app on the iPhone. It shows us where we are in relationship to roads and towns.

All the "stuff" that the Captain needs to be captain.  On the side you can see the arm of the cover and there was the very small pin to fit into the slot to secure the cover. Working together, we got it!

I tend to take pictures of the wake. I'm sitting on the sofa area beside the Captain, where a good first mate often sits, looking back over the expanse of the aft lounge. The smooth area pops up for a dressing area (great storage when down) and the back textured area is for lounging.

Another "this is where we were" picture - wake, land, clouds, water - all the needed components for a nice screen saver or computer background. Great to look at in the winter when all you can see is snow!

We did a great job docking and then worked on the lines. When we go out, the two spring lines stay on the dock and the four docking lines get tossed on the boat. The spring lines were way to long so B cut them and then I secured them properly to the finger docks. They look much better! Had a great time and was home for a good lunch of Costco pizza I had frozen.