Summertime

Summertime, and the living is easy! But it is the strangest summer weatherwise I can ever remember ... temps in Arkansas in the 80's in July, and we have had lots of rain. I have never seen such green grass in the summer months. If only I had not planted my dogwoods in the woods where they get direct afternoon sun.

Days are spent puttering which is my favorite retirement hobby, but I do put off necessary chores! Don't ask what. I don't want to think about them! I am now a youtube user! So I sit around each morning and create movies. I am soonbgone2 on You Tube.

Robert is in town this week and yesterday we had a great visit. We met Kay to look at a garden home in the afternoon and had a nice visit while waiting an hour for the realtor to arrive. How nice to take your own realtor, even if ex, along. When we finished it was time for supper and Pompeii was a good choice. We shared chocolate cake after spaghetti, lasagna and wine, and declared it Robert's birthday dinner. Jeff and Wookie came down and visited after we got back home. Kay, sorry you had to go grade papers!

Now to go to the historical society and get the new book on the end of the gambling era in Hot Springs which was written by the head of the state police at the time. Leon is going out for biscuits and gravy. No thank you.

Farmer's Market

This little girl provided us some entertainment at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. How wonderful it must be if your dad owns the watermelon trailer.

Oklahoma City

We took a couple of days from our not so busy schedule to visit "where the buffalo roam." And they indeed seem to roam all over town painted with fine designs. This one was at Bass Pro.


The focus of this trip was Josh, Leon's oldest grandson. We were also delighted to meet Melissa.

Leon's daughter and other grandsons came from California. Blade, Trisha, Josh, Melissa, Leon and Gunnar pose at Abuelo's, a Mexican restaurant where we had dinner in Bricktown. Bricktown is an old towntown section of OKC that has been refurbished from the once busy business/factory district that it was.

We also visited the Oklahoma City memorial. When I was first there years ago there was just a bombed out building with a chainlink fence acting as a memorial created by the throngs of people who visited the site. Sections of fence are also a part of the city's memorial.

168 chairs fill the area where the Murrah Federal Building once stood to honor the lives of those who died when the building was bombed on April 19, 1995. Names are engraved on each chair and they are in nine rows, placed according to which of the nine floors the victims were on.

The reflecting pool lies alongside as a reminder to all who visit on what was once N W Fifth Street.

On our return home we stopped in Shawnee. And .1 mile from our restaurant there just happened to be a geocache. We stopped and signed the log. Horses are the animal of choice for painting in this town and this one was the location of this cache.

Harvest

A farmer I am not. I have no luck with a garden. I build it, then I dismantle it. This year I have planted a few squashes. I almost missed this zucchini. At last, I have a summer harvest!

Frozen Strawberry Layer Cake

Hot summer days call for something cool and refreshing, yet light and easy to make! Normally that would be watermelon but when I want to make it look like I cook I like this recipe. It is my new favorite summer dessert!

Frozen Strawberry Layer Cake
3 weight watcher points; serves 12

Ingredients
6 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup sugar ( I use Splenda)
2 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 t salt
12 oz. Angel Food cake cut into 1/4” slices (Warning: Walmart's is only 9 oz)
4 cups fat free vanilla frozen yogurt

Instructions
Simmer strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt for 15 minutes. Mash about half the berries. Cool to room temperature.

Thaw the yogurt so it is spreadable.

Line the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan with 1/3 of cake slices cutting to fit the shape of the pan. Top with 1/2 frozen yogurt and spread to sides. Spread 2/3 cup strawberry sauce over the yogurt. Top with 1/2 of remaining cake slices, the remainder of the yogurt and 2/3 cup strawberry sauce. Finally seal the top with the remaining cake slices. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least 6 hours or up to 3 days. Let the cake stand at room temperature 10 minutes before unmolding. (Longer is better in my opinion).

Ouch!

Up at 4:30 today so Leon could be at the hospital at 5:30 for his lumbar puncture. He has a shunt that drains the excess spinal fluid and he feels sure it has come loose or broken. Finally the day has come to get his spinal fluid level checked. Sure enough the shunt is broken so now he can schedule surgery to get it fixed. All went well. I had no idea the hospital had such good biscuits and gravy!

July 4

Saturday was a fun filled day which began with a few geocaching stops. There were two caches within 1 mile of my house that we had visited several times with no luck! While 2 Dog Knight, aka Don, is in town we thought we might solve the dilemna and indeed we did. I never knew what a "skirt lifter" was and had no idea that the base of the lamp post could be lifted. Had I visited the one shown I might have figured it out because the other spots had many other options. As soon as we did the first one we realized the other two were the same. Mystery solved! It helps that Don has 1700 geocaches under his belt.

The farmer's market had a good crowd and we were among them in search of some homegrown tomatoes. We scored again and treated ourselves. Now I can make my chilled dill tomato soup.

Kay, Mary and David joined us for a cookout to celebrate the red, white, and blue. We had a feast that included brats, pork tenderloin, corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes, potato salad, pea salad, Santa Fe salad, and mojitos. Then we were treated to Mary's homemade ice cream topped with frosted blueberries to accompany my strawberry cake! The day ended with a bang as Jeff put on a fireworks display atop the hill.

Gallery Walk

Again it is the first Friday of the month and time for gallery walk. We decided to eat German food first at Brau Haus in the hopes it would be a little cooler when we strolled the streets. There was a gentle breeze and a large crowd for Don's first gallery walk. Not a bad form of entertainment for our out of state guest! We were delighted that Kay joined us also.
I spotted the reflection of this building where I once worked for First Federal Savings as we were headed to the car. For some reason I was fascinated.

Summer delights

The daylillies sparkle at this time of the year. I like the new fancy ones but I am just as content with the old time orange glow! The hummingbirds are high in the Mimosa trees and not the least bit tempted by my feeder! Yesterday we harvested plenty of garlic. This morning I have been to the butterfly garden - no butterflies - just me!
It is time to celebrate the red, white and blue! We practiced last night with grilled chicken and vegies. Don has graced us with his presence for several days enroute to Houston. He is winding up his trip to Pennsylvania to visit family.
Leon got a new trailer hitch put on the 5th wheel yesterday so we can add a rack and take more toys when we travel but right now there are just too many projects at the dead end!