Happy Fourth of July to my fellow Americans! I think I'm probably one of very few Americans these days who is careful to keep at the forefront of her thoughts the sacrifices made by so many over the years to fight for our many freedoms. It doesn't stop at an appreciation for just America, though. I acknowledge that many other countries offered those same sacrifices in order to defeat enemies hell-bent on destroying both them and us. If we don't live our lives with an appreciation for them, then I think, probably, we don't deserve the priceless gift they gave us. I am forever and always grateful.
Thanks to Covid-19, lots of celebrations got canceled today. However, if you are missing fireworks productions, fret not. They're all at our neighbor's house this year - for several nights in a row, and who needs to sleep, after all? Sleep. So overrated. Anyway, I was a tad frustrated last night, but then, I got up, walked over, pulled the curtain aside and watched a few explode over the field next to us. The sky was clear - you could see all the stars, the mountains in the background, and the nearly-full moon (full moon is July 5th). It was really beautiful. I'm sure there will be more tonight, and I think I may sit out on the front porch this time- just really embrace the show. It's a good excuse to eat a leftover piece of cherry pie at 10 p.m.!
Speaking of cherry pie - thank you, Peggy Ann Bakery! Their pies are homemade, and I nabbed one yesterday for our Fourth of July picnic. I got to the shop as soon as they opened in the early morning. Isn't this beautiful? They have the BEST crust, and notice that sparkling sugar on top? We have vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce to go with it. God bless America, am I right??!
We have a tiny group getting together for lunch today- a whopping six of us. We will be practicing social distancing and keeping the meal extremely simple.
Our tomatoes. . . . what can I say? They seem to be taking forever to ripen. I did find one yesterday that appeared to be on a path of turning red. Pictured here, if this beauty will show the rest how it's done, then maybe we'll get a whole mess of them soon.
I have a recipe for a green tomato pie, and I may make that next weekend. I'm thinking that using some the overly-large ones for the pie may be a good idea. Those tend to be the water-logged ones, and, by the time they ripen, the bottom often bursts out from heavy water that has pooled, and you don't get to eat them anyway. The pie has mayonnaise in it. I'm sure you'd never guess what type I would insist on using?
I had forgotten that I accidentally ordered mult-colored giant zinnias this past spring. Since they grow so much bigger than regular zinnias, I opted to have my dad include them at the front of the giant red zinnia patch. As you can see here, they're thriving very well in the full, hot sun. Zinnias love full sun, and they're drought tolerant. Even with several hot, dry days in a row, my zinnias have always flourished. The only thing you need to know about zinnias is don't plant them in a pot. They store water at a rapid pace (which is probably why they tolerate drought so well??), so you spend a lot of time watering them if they are in pots. If you plant them in the ground, generally, unless you are in a full-on, declared drought, they do just fine with whatever rain nature sends your way.
Critter fix! This is my only senior baby. The rest of our rescue crew is all under the age of three, and yep. That means we've got our hands full, especially since three of them are literally babies at just a few weeks old. This is my Georgie, and she's fuzzy and soft and smells, oh, so good. She's truly my girl and chose me as her person when we adopted her several years ago from a not-so-great home situation. She has flourished with us and is now my little chunky girl. She gets whatever she wants.
Today's weather - 90 and dry and sunny with a mountain view and a breeze - calls for eating under the giant shade trees! That's where we'll be at 12:30 p.m. today with burgers (vegan for me and my husband) and fries and cherry pie and ice cream with a tiny handful of family. For now, though, I see through the window that the nearly-full moon and stars need some company. Fireflies are lighting up, too, so I'm going to grab my border collie baby Lacey and we are going to go play out under the stars for a bit. She howls and bunny hops these days, and it's just the very best thing to see. It's in the 60s at the moment. The heat will set in today, so we'll enjoy the next few minutes in the cool together. Just me and Lacey and our night sky, created just for us by a Creator who loves us. It's these moments in time that we truly feel that "we are loved with an everlasting love" - Jeremiah 31:3.
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