Show your friends some love

This is the old ice cream bucket where we store peanuts for the squirrels that visit our back yard. We leave them on top of the compost bin and then enjoy watching them have their afternoon peanut feasts.

Whenever we go out to the back porch, after a few minutes two or three squirrels will present themselves for feeding along the back fence. As soon as one of us walks out there and leaves a handful of peanuts, they rush over and help themselves. It's cheap fun.

Speaking of fun...my book club met this past Wednesday night. The book wasn't very good, but it was great to see my friends. As we were getting ready to leave I saw Karen H. preparing to take a selfie and said, "Hey! Can I get in on that?" and she said, "Sure!" The next day she sent me this montage. 

Last but not least, I finally put up a little bit of autumn decoration on our front porch. While I was out there arranging the wreath just so, my sweet Georgie showed up and watched me. I sure love that old boy.

A coincidence, and a blast from the past

Last night I dreamed I was back in high school, and I was hanging out with my friend Trey. We were at the grocery store, picking out snacks because he was coming over to spend the night at my house. We were making plans to stay up late and watch scary movies. 

As soon as I woke up and took a shower, I sat down in front of my computer with a cup of coffee and opened up Facebook. And would you believe it? Trey had sent me a private message with a picture of the two of us in high school that he found recently! CRAZY.

Baby Trey and Baby Jennifer, circa 1989. We were freshmen in high school. 

We're still good friends all these years later. We met in kindergarten and now we're both on the verge of 50 years old. 

Friendship

This past Saturday Marla came over and spent the afternoon with me. I hadn't seen her since the week after my dad died back in early January. I've been really busy with all the changes happening around here, and then she got sick (pneumonia) and was out of commission for a couple of weeks. 

We spent hours talking, snacking, and drinking wine, and it was just exactly what I needed!

One of the snacks I served: a round of Brie topped with jalapeno jam, wrapped in puff pastry, and baked. Served with crackers and apple slices (and wine, of course). It was delicious!

Talking over all the stressful stuff that's been happening with a trusted friend made me feel so much lighter.  She's always so supportive and encouraging, plus we laugh a lot when we get together. I'm so grateful for her and her friendship! I hope I'm a good friend to her in return--I certainly try to be. 

Another weekend rolls around

The full Hunter's Moon rising over our street Friday night.

October is really flying by this year. Before we know it, it's going to be the holidays and then the end of 2023. I wish it would slow down a bit.

Marla and Martina came over yesterday for one of our "girls' nights". Marla's birthday was Thursday, so I invited them early in the week, then almost canceled at the last minute. I've had some low-level depression going on, and then yesterday morning my dad had to go back to the hospital, so I wasn't sure if I felt up to company. In the end I decided to go ahead with it since I'd already purchased food and drinks, and I'm glad I did. Spending a few hours with my two best friends really boosted me up and made me feel better. As always, we laughed and laughed. It was just what I needed. 

I kept the food super simple. We had toasty ham and Swiss sliders on Hawaiian rolls covered with a buttery sauce and poppy seeds, homemade guacamole with assorted chips, one of those pre-made rings of cold shrimp with cocktail sauce, and store-bought cupcakes. In keeping with the season I had an assortment of chilled ciders to drink. 

I didn't get a picture of the ham and cheese sliders, but they were the best part. 

And Martina brought me a present! She was shopping for some new baking dishes and she saw one she thought I'd like. I was chuffed!

Isn't it pretty? And I really need new baking/casserole dishes. I told Martina that the next time they come over, I'll bake something in it to share. That was so sweet and thoughtful of her!

Today I'm on my own until early afternoon. Gregg has started going to the three nursing homes where he cleans aquariums early on Sunday mornings. There's not much traffic and things are quiet and he's able to work efficiently. Plus, he has to take my car, since all three jobs are out of town and his old truck just isn't trustworthy to drive that far. We really need to get him another car, but we'd have to scrape to afford it at the moment, so we've been putting it off. Getting a decent raise with this new job has unfortunately been somewhat eclipsed by inflation.

But anyway, I have several hours to myself this morning. It's a pretty day and I'll take the dogs for a walk whenever I finish this post. Fall color is almost at its peak and it's nice to be outside. This afternoon I'm going to make soup. Not to brag, but last week I made the most delicious batch of chicken soup ever! Gregg isn't normally much of a soup guy, but it was so good he eagerly ate it for supper three days in a row. We finished every drop! So when I was looking for a good, cheap recipe for making my customary large meal-with-leftovers Sunday supper, I asked him if he wanted soup again and he said, "Sure!" A cold front is on its way next week and temperatures will be going down almost to freezing, so soup will be just the thing.

I always serve chicken soup with grilled pimento cheese sandwiches. Yummy!

Cinderella

Seeing my first ballet last night, Cinderella, was a real treat. The music, the dancers, and the costumes were just beautiful. And if I'm being very honest, the view from Prince Charming's backside while he danced was an absolute delight! Martina and I, as well as the two women from her office that were there with us, all agreed on this last point. 

Here are a few (not so great) photos I snapped towards the end.

 

And here's a playbill I picked up as a souvenir....

Afterwards Martina and I stopped for coffee and a light meal before heading home. What a spectrum of culture in one night....from the ballet to the Waffle House! :)

Wednesday miscellany

 One reason that I decided to miss last Wednesday's book club meeting was because I had a very small, very careful social gathering planned at my house Saturday night. Doing both would have seemed like too much socializing in one week during a pandemic. Marla and Martina came over for food and drinks to celebrate Marla's birthday (which was actually Monday). Since it was a birthday celebration, I made a lot of food, all of our particular favorites: ham and cream cheese pinwheels, grape jelly meatballs, crudites with sour cream dip, and for sweets I made two desserts: a pumpkin spice bundt cake and double fudge brownies. And of course, there was plenty of wine. Not only did I have a couple of bottles, but Martina brought two more to share and Marla brought hard apple cider. We had a really good time.

I'm very lucky to have such good friends in my life that I can count on. Especially considering what my blood relatives are like! 

Happy Surprises

I've received some wonderful gifts and happy surprises in the past week. I'm so very fortunate in life to have many, many wonderful friends! First up, from Parsnip in Tucson:

A care package for Ginger and George! They love the chicken crisps (she's sent them to our lucky canines before) and George loooooooooves new toys. He's been hoarding both of these in the dog bed and he barks like mad when Ginger grabs one of them. Which she does strictly to annoy him; she's never been big on toys but she delights in anything that bothers George. (As you've probably surmised, she's feeling much better!) Thank you so much, Parsnip. You're a thoughtful and dear friend.

Next: I won a book giveaway for the first week of October from the delightful Rue! Her Great October Book Giveaway is an event to look forward to each year. Pop over to her blog if you're interested and leave her a comment for a chance to win a magical/Halloween/Samhain themed book! This is what the package that arrived looked like:

And here's the book I got, which is very serendipitous considering a craft project that I'll be starting next week (more about that later!!)….

What fun!

On Sunday morning I texted Marla just to say hello, since what with one thing and another we hadn't seen each other in a couple of months. We decided to have a little impromptu visit that afternoon and she showed up about 4pm with this little cutie-pie:

Isn't she precious? I love those pink cheeks and big brown eyes. It was so good to see little Carsen, who's already walking and talking. Man, that happened fast!

She's been fascinated with our aquariums since she was a tiny thing. Speaking of Carsen and tiny things...…….we had a small house sparrow that lived with us for over a decade named Chip. After Chip died a while back Marco stopped saying his name....until Carsen came along. He's always (and consistently) called her "Chip". Every time he sees her, he says, "Hey Chip! Heeeeyyyy Chip Chip!"  I guess in his mind Tiny Bird = Tiny Human. How cool is that?

After Carsen spent about 30 minutes here, her daddy came and picked her up and took her home so that Marla and I could have some baby free time to hang out. It was so much fun! We got caught up and we even had wine together for the first time in two years! Marla didn't drink while pregnant, of course, and after that she was too cautious to even have a small glass of wine while breastfeeding. I totally respect her for that, but I'm glad we can finally have drinks together again! My new back porch was just made for wine and conversation. It was so very good to see her. :)

All of these happy surprises really helped lift my spirits after several weeks of stress and unhappiness. Things are feeling much lighter around here!

Catching up at the end of March

This month seems to have flown by at the rate of January and February put together. March is my favorite month of the year, and it's almost gone already!

I realized I never posted pictures from my little birthday get together(s). It was such a lovely weekend that I want to blog about it to remember it.

First up: I decorated the dining room with paper flower garlands purchased years ago from the dollar store, no doubt for one of my "girls' night" gatherings. I made lots of party food, which included ham ranch pinwheels, raw spring veggies with dip, strawberries and grapes, a fruity white wine sangria flavored with apple brandy, and of course the carrot cake I had bought for my birthday.

And Marla brought this little sweetie along with her, which was fun for us all. Martina gave the baby a tiny stuffed turtle, which she loved:

I got a lovely gift from Martina: a pretty basket with gardening cloves and wooden cooking spoons, which were handmade by a local artisan. Aren't they pretty?

The birds are Carolina Wrens, which is our state bird and also a species we see frequently at our backyard feeders. I love these and can't bear the thought of actually using them, even though they're supposed to be fine for use as long as you're willing to do a little extra maintenance. Carolina Wrens are also on one of the mugs I bought myself as a birthday gift earlier that day from the Wild Birds Unlimited store (I dropped in to buy seed in bulk for the feeders).

I love these bird mugs and want the whole collection. I started with these two.

The day after my birthday, I went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant with some of my book club friends: Marian, Rita, Karen H., Karen R., Paulette, and Kathleen. The place has wonderful margaritas and fresh tableside guacamole. I got a bunch of cards, and one gift of a tiny stuffed narwhal from my friend Karen H. It puzzled me at first.

Then Karen reminded me of something I shared on Facebook the other day that she particularly enjoyed:



When she saw the tiny pink narwhal, she thought of me. I love my friends!

After the birthday weekend fun it was hard to go back to the grind of work last week. We still haven't had our spring break yet, because it's tied to Easter which is very late this year. We also had a few long weekends taken away since Christmas because we had to make up some of the days lost to Hurricane Florence. The kids are wilder than ever and everyone is fed up and sick of being at school (the staff too!). Good Friday (our first day off) can't come soon enough!

I start a conversational Spanish class on Tuesday. Keeping up with my lessons on my own has proved challenging to say the least and I think the structure of taking a course will help me reignite some enthusiasm for continuing to learn. We have lots of parents at the middle school who only speak Spanish so there's a real need for it at work. The adult education center connected with our school district is offering the course for only $35. Classes are from 5-7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays for all of April and May (with the exception of the week of spring break). I'm really looking forward to it!

That about finishes up what I've been doing/thinking about this month! It's so beautiful outside right now. Our screened in back porch has become my "happy place" and I spend hours every day sitting out there, enjoying the mild spring weather and watching the birds at our feeders. Spring in South Carolina is something to see.

The view from our driveway.

Our neighborhood is filled with blooming wisteria.

Our dogwood tree out front is blooming.

View from our front door.

My favorite kind of weekend!

It's been a wonderful weekend, filled with lots of the people and things I love most. I am so lucky.

Yesterday morning began with meeting up with some book club friends at 8am for coffee, then we were among the first to arrive at our county library's big annual used book sale. What fun that was! I was on the lookout for a few specific authors and titles, which I didn't find, but I did leave with two hardcover and two paperback books for the grand total of $2.50. One was an old book titled "The History of the Fragrant Rose" which looks like it will be a nice addition to my gardening collection.

Pictured here alongside the David Austin catalogue that was already residing on my nightstand, ironically enough. 

After buying our books, my friends and I drove downtown to the city's Saturday morning market to have breakfast and shop. Several local vendors set up their wares under tents from 9am-1pm in a large parking area. It's mostly farmers selling local vegetables as well as wonderful grass fed meats, milk, cheeses, and eggs, but a couple of tents were selling crafts, food, and coffee.

See the lady in the above picture, wearing jeans and turning towards me? She's part of a farming family who were frequent customers of mine at the bookstore, and some of my very favorite people from those days.  As soon as I snapped this picture she spotted me and ran over and gave me a great big hug! I haven't seen any of them since I got my new job, and running into her was a real treat.

Her family sells wonderful local meats raised humanely on well run, all-organic farms. I had to buy a few things from them, including sausages, a gallon of rich grass fed milk, and a dozen fresh eggs.

Speaking of eggs, the market manager was under a tent cooking up breakfast frittatas with local eggs and veggies. Here's mine cooking. It had chorizo sausage, zucchini, minced sweet potato, diced heirloom tomato, kale, and a sprinkling of soft white farmer's cheese to finish it off. The guy wrapped it in a small, warmed tortilla when it was done, and it was absolutely delicious! Cost: $4.00

Also for sale: the best, sweetest, most delicious strawberries I've ever had. I bought one of these big green buckets and I haven't stopped popping them in my mouth yet!

The same guy selling the strawberries had heirloom tomatoes for sale. He said they're still coming from Florida at the moment, but the local tomatoes will be ready in three more weeks, give or take a few days. I love a good tomato more than most things in life, so I bought a big bagful of them......

......and made myself the quintessential Southern lady lunch later that afternoon. Behold the makings of the classic Tomato Sandwich:

It has to be Duke's mayonnaise, and it has to be soft white bread. The only other ingredients are a perfect ripe tomato and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. That's it: perfection.

Since yesterday was also Cinco de Mayo, I had my friend Martina over last night for margaritas. We had hoped Marla could join us, for the food if not the tequila, but she wasn't feeling up to it at the last minute due to an ear infection. Which was just as well, since we wanted to discuss a small party we're planning to have for her and the new baby this summer. We were also able to drink all the margaritas we wanted without feeling guilty doing it in front of her!

And we did have a few! I think the only things that saved me from a hangover this morning were using only good quality tequila, triple sec, fresh lime juice, and ice for the drinks and eating lots of fresh veggies, chips, guacamole, and strawberries while drinking. We both got a bit tipsy, and it was a lot of fun. A perfect way to finish out a great Saturday! 

How has your weekend been?

Sweet summer afternoon

What a beautiful day! It's still cool outside, but the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and I am off work. There are so many things I want to do this afternoon that I'm having trouble decided what to do first!

 I'm reading a good book (The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley), working on a knitting project that I'm anxious to finish (a baby blanket for a friend that's due to give birth in about two weeks), and I need to clean up our back patio and give Ginger a bath in anticipation of the girls' night I have planned for my friends this coming weekend. I also need to go to one of the local u-pick farms and get a couple of baskets of fresh strawberries, since I will be making my special strawberry daiquiris for the party. They are my signature drink in the summertime! Fresh strawberries, frozen, go in the blender along with fresh-squeezed lemon juice, superfine sugar, rum, and sparkling water. The fresh strawberries are the key to making the drinks over the top!  Actually, it may be better to wait until the day before the party to pick and freeze the berries, since I will need some left unfrozen for garnishing, and they won't last all week. So berry picking might be one task I put off until Friday (my next day off).

Today is so lovely, I don't even mind that I need to spend part of it cleaning out back and giving Ginger a bath. As long as I'm outside, nothing can spoil my good mood! Everything is so green, and jasmine and roses are blooming in yards all around the neighborhood (it smells like heaven), and the birds are singing and flying back and forth to the feeders and birdbath. It's a pleasure to do chores out there this time of year! And when I finish with the necessary stuff, I'll resume my book and/or knitting from a shady spot in the hammock. What a sweet afternoon it's going to be!

I have a soft spot for roses.

And a good time was had by all....

My Sunday afternoon with friends was a success! I had hoped to take pictures, but everyone was running behind and by the time we got started it was almost dark. It was so nice to be able to sit outside this time of year. The crazy warm weather we've been having probably can't last much longer, but it sure is pleasant!

Gus the puppy came over. That boy is growing like mad! He's only 4 months old and already he weighs 50lbs, and his paws are still huge in comparison to the rest of him. He's a total sweetheart, just 50lbs of pure puppy goofiness. Ginger and Gus are going to be good pals; they ran around the backyard and played hard for an hour or so, then Ginger went inside and took a small nap. She's a high energy dog, but no match for a 4 month old! Haha.

While the dogs played, my two guests and I drank margaritas and talked. I served Black Bean Thingies (the recipe came from a knitting superstar/blogger, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee The Yarn Harlot, from her blog back in December) and they were a hit! The idea is to cut soft tortillas into as many 4inch circles as you can (using a pint glass to measure), then put the circles down into greased muffin cups. Then you fill them with a mixture of drained and rinsed canned black beans, corn, Roma tomatoes, green onions, diced green and red peppers, avocado, lots of cheddar cheese, chili powder, salt, and cumin. After filling the cups, you bake them in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. As long as the mixture isn't too wet, these little cups bake up crispy and delicious, and are equally good hot or at room temperature. They're perfect finger food for parties! We also had homemade cheese dip and crackers, and I bought cupcakes from the grocery store for dessert. We all ate too much and drank too much, and laughed a whole lot too! A good time was had by all!

I can't wait to see what we come up with for our February gathering. Our resolution to make more time for friendship this year has gotten off to a great start! I love my wonderful circle of friends!

A beautiful Sunday with friends

Today is going to be a great day! Some friends and I decided as a mutual New Year's resolution to have small monthly get-togethers this year. It's so easy to let weeks slip by without any contact; everyone is busy and it's easy to put friendship on the back burner, so to speak. We've decided to do something about it this year, and today is the day we chose for our first gathering.

As a mini theme for the month of January we decided on "Beat the Midwinter Blues". We're going to have margaritas and a small potluck of "summery" dishes. (I plan to make miniature taco salads and provide the margaritas and iced tea.) The weather might as well have been special ordered for us; it's going to be 78F today! We're in the middle of a freak January warm spell this weekend, so we will get to have our party out back on the patio. The weather is beautiful, with a warm wind and blue skies. Gus the puppy is coming, too, so even Ginger will have a friend to play with!

It's going to be a fun day.

Fun weekend

This morning I woke up to the sound of cicadas humming outside.  It's a sign that summer is in it's late stages when we hear these little creatures in the morning. Early in the season, it seems they mostly sing in the evening. We finally had another week of rainy weather, which broke the incredible heatwave we were experiencing. It's still hot, but a normal level of hot, not 100F+ each day. That gets old quick! Especially when the power bill comes in.  The latest bill is a scorcher, too!

It's been a sociable summer for me. Old friends have been calling and visiting much more frequently (since GB is continuing to recover) and we've been invited out several times now. I have actually made some new friends, too, which is exciting. And last night we went to a dinner party given by my brother-in-law's family.  There was good food, good wine, and good conversation, and we got to catch up with family members and friends we hadn't seen in awhile. A good time was had by all...almost too much of a good time, as I woke up today with a pounding headache from all the wine and champagne! We were celebrating a milestone birthday, and my brother-in-law's wife doesn't believe in a guest seeing the bottom of their glass....but it was totally worth it!

Today an old friend is coming over to have lunch with me. We haven't had a chance to get together for awhile so we will be catching up and possibly knitting, too. (We love to stitch-n-bitch!) I was able to get rid of my headache so hopefully I won't be too hung over to enjoy more company.

It's been a fun weekend. I hope you all are having a good one too!