Can't. Wait.

I just saw this preview. I HAVE TO see this movie. Maybe even in the theater. (Gasp!)









I mean, wow. Nora Ephron? Meryl Streep as Julia Child? YES. Just yes.

To the Tune of Loch Lomond

Oh, you'll pick the high ones...

And I'll pick the low ones...

But I'll have my buk't filled afoooooore yeeee!

But me and my true love
Will be eating cherry piiiiiieeee...

Once we pick out all the bugs from the cheeeeerries!

Sunshine

See what I found in my kitchen when I got up this morning?




My sweet husband had gone for a walk in the field and picked a bucket-full of wildflowers for me!

Isn't he wonderful?

(Aside: I do have to admit that this is the first time he's gotten me flowers since before we were married... So that was what... seven years ago? But that makes it even more special, right? Rrrrright?)




Not that my floral arrangement (or floral photography) skills are much to speak of, but hey... I have flowers in my kitchen!

Atrophy

All day, I've been thinking about a blog post. It's been rattling around in my head, but I haven't quite been able to formulate anything concrete.

I'm having a lot of trouble posting here lately. A dry period, I guess. It happens from time to time. Drought. Sooner or later, the rains are bound to come again.

But it doesn't make for keeping readers around, now, does it?



This blog is supposed to be bits from my daily life, right? But I really don't lead a very interesting life. It's actually quite... um... zzzzz...

What was I saying?





Oh, yes. Dull. My life is dull. So I really have to exercise some creativity some days. I don't have cattle ranch excitement. Or freakish imagination excitement. Or world-traveling excitement. I just have monotonous country life. Not that I would have it any other way, really. But we pretty much do a lot of the same stuff day in, day out around here. I try to avoid dry reports along the lines of "...and den... and den... aaaaand deeeen... AND DEN! And den and den and den!" (Name that movie)

But my creative muscles are feeling a little atrophied these days. I don't get in touch with my right brain nearly as often as I used to. It's kinda sad... really.




Soooo... where am I going with this? I think maybe... I don't think. Not enough, anyway. I'm busy, doing things all the time. I read a lot, but I don't always take the time to digest what I read. My thinking and creating side is getting a little lazy. Besides that, summer is giving me a bit of a butt-whoopin', so maybe I'm just moving too fast to slow down enough to notice the details that I would normally post here. And to take the time to upload a photo or five...

Maybe I should tell some stories. I'm kinda young and don't really have a lot of stories. Besides, I seem to have hit a flush button somewhere and things don't stay in my head very well. I guess those things are all just filed away for some other time.

What do I want to be on this blog, anyway? Funny, definitely funny-- feble though my funny may be. It's a lofty goal, however. Introspective? Sure... I have lots of introspections. Just not sure I want to pontificate on them here... Also-- too lazy to put them into coherent words. Yeah... Opinionated? My veiwpoints are so radically non-mainstream and un-PC that I'm a little afraid to show them around this very public place. Sometimes. Sometimes, I guess I do.

And then there're times like these where I get so behind and behinder that I'm not sure where to pick up. I just have to write a ramble to get the ball rolling again. Momentum. It's all about momentum.


A little of everything around here I guess. This'n'that. And that includes this post that isn't really a post where I'm not even sure exactly what I just said that I'm going to publish anyway.

Trying to Keep Up...

I've been trying to write a post here all day.

And yesterday, too.



But I've been busy.

And hot. Very hot.

Actually, it's not the heat so much as it's the sauna that goes with it.

Cuz I can take heat. Dry heat. But this drippyness is getting to be a bit much.



Yes, summer has hit me in all it's sweaty, butt-busting glory.

I get up as soon as I can crack my eyelids in the morning and I fall into bed at night when they start insistently slamming shut. It doesn't seem like very much time goes by in between those parts of the day.

I'm really still catching up from my vacation --weeding and mulching-- as well as doing the usual work for the season-- late planting, picking, canning, herb-collecting, household damage control...

Some days, I admit, I feel almost on the verge of despair because I am only one person and can't seem to complete everything. But then I sit on the front porch for a few minutes to cool off with a glass of iced tea, and I realize that I don't care if everything doesn't get done. It'll all be there tomorrow, and I'm glad for it.




But summer is still my favorite part of the year.

I love the sheer abundance of it.

And the tastyness, too!



There's something indescribable about going out to the garden each evening to pick some supper. About seeing everything grow like crazy. About being so deliciously sun-soaked.

Not so much on the "sweat-soaked" part, but I'll get along alright.

Chicken Rustler

Father's Day Food

I like to make my sweet husband special food. You know, "the way to a man's heart" and all that. Just keepin' the pathway open... Yeah. Anyway, I've very fortunate to have a man who likes everything I make and is more than happy to eat all my experiments.


So for Father's Day yesterday, I decided to try my good basic white sourdough as a pizza crust. I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I just never think ahead enough to get the dough going. But this time, I actually thought to feed the starter on Saturday and then I got up a little earlier Sunday morning and mixed dough so that it could be rising while we were at church. After church, I stretched it onto my pizza stones and let it rise all afternoon.




It was a little thicker than necessary, but I was so pleased with the bubbly dough!

I folded the edges over and brushed on some olive oil with salt and garlic powder for a crispy garlic flavored crust. Like "Hungry Howies" but waaaay better.

Add some homemade sauce...


Plenty of cheese...




Piles of toppings...




And end up with "yum".

Truely.


I really have a fondness for good, pizzeria pizza. It mainly revolves around the crust. It has to be bubbly and chewy and crispy-- artisan style. So I have a goal to be able to make crust like that. I came pretty close with this pizza. I figured out a few things that I need to try to improve, but, well, that just means I need more practice, right? Oh, darn... Practice pizza. How sad. I'll just have to make more...

I love practicing yummy food.

Nathan loves practice food, too.

For desert, I went out to the berry patch and picked a bucketful of fresh strawberries and made them into a pie. I had some trouble with the crust because it was a warm day and I didn't let it chill long enough before rolling it out because I didn't start it early enough because Nathan was taking a nap so I didn't want to run the food processor and I didn't want to do it by hand because I'm lazy.

So there. Lazy pie.

I know how to make a good pie. My mama taught me well. But she didn't quite get the laziness out of me, evidently. At least I know what I did wrong...




It was still pretty darned yummy. Especially with a pile of fresh whipped cream.

It was even better for breakfast. Is it horrible of me to eat strawberry pie for breakfast?