It's not often that Marti and I get to meet up, but when we do we take advantage of it. She and her husband had rented the cutest little cottage for the month of July, and since I had to go back to the area for a doctor appointment it provided me with a place to crash for the night. Here's my bedroom...I fell in love with it instantly.
The weather was nice, so we spent some time sitting in the "outdoor kitchen", which is a covered porch decorated with this great old cast iron stove and all sorts of things from the past.
They also had a little sun room to enjoy.
The entire place was tastefully decorated with items from the past and lots of books antique cameras.
After I left her house in the morning I did some wandering before I went home. After a shopping trip in Woodman's for some gluten free items I went to Barnes & Noble. Here I found the next version of "How Can That Be Gluten Free", so naturally I bought it. It also gave me a chance to visit Jonathan, a friend of mine that does a lot of theater work. After glancing at the book for a bit I realized I needed to purchase some "teff" flour, so went over to Festival Foods to pick up that. Now I'm ready to move on. I made a brief stop in Winona to meet up with my pickleball group who was celebrating Bill's 75th birthday. He said he wanted a six pack for his birthday, and since he is known for always having a banana with him, he was presented with a six pack...of bananas. I was trying to wrestle one away from him when they snapped this photo.
And then there was one last stop in Lake City on the way back to the campground when my eyes spotted a sign that proclaimed "FABRIC". I wandered about the quilt shop for a bit and picked up a couple of things that struck my fancy and then I really did have to boogie as I promised Left Brain I'd be home for supper. Long Live the Wandering Queen
Since I'm making the most of this 65th birthday, we got tickets for the family to attend The Lion King on Sunday. That's one of the best parts of living in the cities...the entertainment is incredible. Here's a clip from the ad running on TV for this production:
Oh it's good to be old. Long Live the Queen of the Lions
Ok, I am truly in my element now. I found a garden center that sells field stone for $18 a tubful, and it's a large tub.
My first visit I thought I had plenty, but after lugging them home and putting them in place it was obvious I needed another batch.
It's a good thing my shoulder has healed because first you place the rocks into the bin for measuring the quantity. Then you pull them out and place in the back of the car. Once home it's hauling them out of the trunk into a pile to be washed. Then it's one more move to put them into their new homes. Since rocks look really weird if they are just sitting on the ground, you need to dig a small depression to settle them in and then back fill the area with dirt. I'd normally say soil, but this stuff is purely dirt. My little garden is really looking established now with a meandering line of rocks at the edge. The most fun area is in the full sun, where I piled extra rocks to tuck in some hens and chicks and ajuga. This is the area that had the septic connection, but that site is no longer used, so I wanted to cover up the concrete and pipe and make it blend in with the garden.
One of my favorite flowers is the butterfly weed, and they look the best cascading over some rocks, so now the look is complete.
It's so good to have a garden again. Long Live the Queen of Rocks
I finally had my last physical therapy session and things are going well. I've been playing some heavy duty pickleball without any pain and that's a good thing.
There have been two pickleball clinics that I attended during this therapy with lots of repetitive arm movement and running. I've never worked so hard in my life. But hopefully this will provide me with some much needed skills to further my game. There is a ratings clinic coming up, but we'll be back on the road by then, so I'll have to wait until we reach Arizona to find out what level I'm playing at. Its nice to finally be out of pain, with only some minor tingling in the arm and hands during the night and early morning. I'm working hard to learn to sleep on my back, but after 64 years of sleeping on my stomach, it's hard to change. Long Live the Queen
The internet is actually allowing me to finally check email and catch up on blogs. So I'll post this quickly in case it dies again. Zucchini and yellow squash have become one of my favorite vegetables lately. They are so versatile and easy to cook. This tart looked very fancy schmancy and it gave me an excuse to buy a tart pan.
It actually tasted okay, but was so showy in its presentation that it was worth all the work involved. The filling portion is pureed cashews combined with some lemon juice, basil and oregano, since Paleo doesn't allow cheese. We had some roma tomatoes that weren't that great by themselves, so it was nice to have a use for them in this dish. The finishing touch was to drizzle some minced garlic and olive oil over the top before presenting. My friend Marti would be so proud of me for all the effort put into these creations. Long Live the Queen of Tarts
