Summer Journal: Week 8

Patience rewarded: a beautiful sunflower! There are about eight nearby that are about to burst, too. I've never grown sunflowers before but I think I'm hooked.

We took my niece to the Blue Waters Bluegrass Festival in Medical Lake on Friday night. The main attraction for us was a young woman named Kaia Kater. She sang and played banjo and brought along an upright bassist. The two of them were captivating on stage.

I also enjoyed eating this treat and making a joke about this being the only kind of drumstick at a bluegrass festival. Har har.

I also endured 13 mosquito bites as a result of this outing, with the majority of them being below the knee. Worth it. Also, topical Benadryl is amazing.

I used a few remaining apricots for a fruit-melange tart.

Before the oven:

After. Leaky but good!

I've returned - for the moment - to the art of cross-stitch. I believe this was one of the first kinds of craft I ever attempted as a kid. I tried cross-stitching a pattern that featured two cats (of course) and maybe only got through the ears. This will eventually be a pineapple if my patience doesn't get the better of me. I find it hilarious how many times I poke the needle through the back in a completely wrong place. I'm getting better, though.

Joel created a game this weekend, and we played through a couple different versions as he refines his prototype. I must admit, it's pretty fun. I'm impressed. (A little whisky on the rocks makes it even funner on a late Saturday night.)

The sun is setting earlier. The sunrise is getting later. It's all beginning to sink in.

Continuing my quest to make recipes I save from magazines, this, from the June issue of Bon Appetit. Roasted red peppers mixed with feta, shallot, thyme, garlic, salt and olive oil make for a really lovely spread.

After a smoky week, the air cleared and cooled and I soaked it all in on the bluff at the end of the street.

I'm pretty happy with the way I've kept things relatively green, alive and weeded in the front yard this summer. The roses have continually bloomed, and I'm proud to be one of the few houses in a 3-block radius whose hanging flower basket is not dead. It's a nice thing to come home to.