Yup

 Happy Saturday

* I just now remembered where I got this. Thanks, Pixie!

Grumpy Gus

I was off yesterday. The whole of it, from getting out of bed until getting back into bed. I tried to read blogs and just could not concentrate. I know what was making me this way. I had watched the debate and was impressed by Harris. That wasn't the problem. My malaise, if that's what it was, came from watching and listening to the other one. I haven't seen much of him since shortly after he left office. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but I was taken aback. He actually could and did get worse. That isn't what put me in a fog. What did was thinking throughout that "debate" that about 40% of the US population thinks this guy is the second coming. That takes the air out of a room.

Ok, 'nuff of that. Trying to explain my absence when I really should just leave it alone. 

We are having warm weather again, leaving wimp me out of yard work. I made an egg bake for dinner, forgot to add the bacon before cooking, so on top it went. Looks sort of like pizza. I'm having trouble with books, meaning finding something to hold my attention. I had a hold on It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. It became available yesterday and I'm going to return it. I don't like the romantic novels and that is where it's going. I'm not going along. It may be a good read, but the overload of sex in so many of these novels gets on my nerves. It's not offensive to me, it's boring. I also have Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. I am not in the mindset for it right now. Way too depressing. I just finished The Story of Edward Sawtelle, this one bothered me. The prose was lovely, but I guess I was not needing something so dark.

I do believe this is enough. I am seeming like that thunder cloud moving in on a summer picnic.

Kitty Ditty.

 Were I a cat, I would not chase a rat. I may call a mouse a louse, but I'd leave it in the house. I'd find myself a chair, I would not share. I'd lay my body down and never have a care.

A Good Day

This is something I don't get to say often......I had a productive day on Sunday. It's uplifting, energizing to accomplish even simple tasks when that has been difficult for so long. I know I am speaking (writing) this to many who know this well.

I made roasted eggplant soup for lunch.

Tomato sauce for dinner.

I made dinner.

And......I made pesto with two different types of basil, which went into the freezer.

On top of this, I picked tomatoes and got one more honeysuckle bush trimmed. Can we have a hallelujah! A feeling of accomplishment can carry over, as I have experienced already today. I got up earlier, put water on for my coffee, made the coffee and put the first load of laundry in the machine, which is happily whirring as I type. An aside. Putting the laundry room on the first floor of the house all those many years ago was one of the very best things we have done. Hands down.  Today I need to clean the mess in the kitchen, I am not a tidy cook, and do the laundry. If I have the energy I'll trim one more bush. It's going to be moderately hot today, so that may not happen.

Mark wasn't twiddling his thumbs. He trimmed dead branches in the ancient apple tree. It is very old, not a hybrid, and gorgeous in the spring. He was busy all day but that is the only thing I know he did. Bill said he is bringing more tomatoes and green beans sometime today. I've already put a gallon freezing bag of whole tomatoes in the freezer. Winter prep is starting.

Sunday Morning

After subjecting any and all to the image of my foot yesterday, my meager attempt at making amends. Kitties in repose.

Tri-pod kitty, Jigglet.

Monster kitty, Frieda.

 Frieda does have two eyes. Really.

About Shoes

Something I had't given thought to until recently.....the feet as they relate to the back. My back has been better, mostly because of pain medication, but I still have a lot of pain and I am limited in what I can do. Much more liberated than I was even six months ago, but not all that great. I have seen ads for barefoot shoes for at least a year, gave them a flicker of thought which was swiftly forgotten. I saw an ad a couple of weeks ago that had a BOGO sale, so I looked and then bought. Two pair for $70 seemed like a small risk. I have to say, they are helping me. The shoe is very comfortable. I have trouble with shoes as I have a high arch/instep. This shoe doesn't hurt my instep and I'm able to walk with a less forward leaning back for longer than I have been able to do. I grew up with the rule shoes are off in the house and it has stuck for me. It feels wrong to have a shoe on my foot in the house. These don't do that. They are light and pliable. I got a pair in white as the freebie. They also come in an ankle boot which I will buy for winter use.

This perspective makes it look like I have a huge foot! Sort of like a platypus.

We have another nice day ahead of us. I hope to get most, if not all, the hedge trimming done today. There is so much to do I cannot procrastinate. Too many years without my help around this place is showing.

Baking and Books

It's a clear, brisk morning in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. My kind of weather. I did get panini made. Not the best formed but they will do. I got one honeysuckle trimmed and quit. I have been barred from using the hedge trimmer for unfair reasons. Just because I cut not one, but two extension cords a couple of years ago should mean a life sentence? Injustice. I told the Lord and Master I am overturning his verdict and will be using the trimmer instead of loppers. He was all aflutter. No No. You cannot do this. I will. Case dismissed.

Yesterday Boud wrote about watching another rendition of Persuasion. I commented that I thought I had the book and had read it but didn't remember. I do have it and it looks like I'd started reading it as I had it bookmarked at chapter seven. In my teens I bought many unabridged collections of classics, so I'm sure that's when I bought this one. Interesting that I actually had been in the process, at some time, of reading the very story we talked about. Now I must read it, it seems fated.

Gobble Gobble Gobble

Wild Turkeys

This is the second hatching that I am aware of. The turklings grow fast so it could be the third. There's always at least two adults, sometimes more. They are like herd animals. They stay in a group, looking after at least twenty youngsters. They must be living in the trees surrounding us, as they are here throughout the day. We really enjoy watching them. These photos were taken through the window. The cats enjoy lounging in the screened porch watching them. I do hope Mark gets to that fence yet this year. This is the third year it was supposed to be gone. Like the fallen trees, not yet.

We've had wonderful weather for several days. Today will be warmer but not awful. The blessing is the drop in humidity. Not the drops of humidity. I finally finished mowing yesterday. Odd how what I got done in an afternoon now takes two-three days. I think it's more about patience than anything. I'm sitting the whole time but I find I am tired of it. Not tired from it. So, I stop. It does get done and that is the main thing. Or so I tell myself.

Since it will be warmer today I'm going to attempt inside productivity. Don't laugh, I am. I know I will mix dough to ferment overnight for panini buns. That is simple enough. Yesterday I roasted eggplant slices and chunks, one for eggplant involtini and the other for eggplant alla norma. We are coming into my favorite food season. 

That's the news from the western edge of the Twin Cities.

Sweet Repose

These two hard laborers want to see all hard laborers take a rest today.

Yesterday was an outside day. I had a yard that seriously needed mowing and Mark and Bill got one of the fallen trees from the storm cut up. We finally have weather a person can be outside in. My favorite season.

I'm certain there will be more labor today. Mark outside, me inside. The cats will put in an extreme effort to rest.