Monday, August 22, 2022

Weekending 8/22/22

 Hello and Good Morning!

How was your weekend?  Mine was filled with all kinds of lovely things.  First of all, Dee and I met up on Saturday morning for our knitting/chatting/sipping time together.  That is always a nice time and this week it was too, other than the obnoxious woman talking on her phone - speaker phone - sitting right behind me.  Luckily she and her friends left after a little bit.

The rest of my weekend was spent wandering around looking at stuff in the yard, doing some laundry and cooking some.  In no particular order, here is what I saw.  First up the regal one:


Such a sweetheart.  You can see how our yard is beginning to turn brown.  Everything is SO DRY.  Fletch said that's what he could smell the other day - dryness.  We are getting a little rain today...hopefully a bit more than a little.

We have an Elderberry bush and the berries are beginning to turn a deep purple.


Fortunately, I am not interested in making Elderberry Syrup or Wine...or dying anything because the deer have been munching on the berries quite a bit (and all of our Winter Berries have been digested by those critters).  Elderberries in this state are not a good thing to eat.  They are not really poisonous, but they will make you pretty uncomfortable if you eat them raw.  But what a PITA it would be to get all those berries off the stems.  So, I say let the deer have a feast!

You can tell summer is winding down because the Goldenrod is blooming.  It is very pretty this year.


When I was a kid goldenrod and marigolds were the worst things for me.  I had very bad hay fever as a kid and those two plants were the main culprits.  Now they don't seem to bother me, thank goodness (because we have a lot of it!).

There are a few flowers the deer have left alone (most likely because they are too close to the patio and house).


The deer also have not bothered the snap dragons and I picked some for a vase yesterday morning.


And a shot of the entire buffet:


(Do you see that I'm hanging on to the dried Protea bloom?  I even like it all brown and dry!)

As mentioned, I did a little cooking.  Yesterday morning I made a Blueberry Gateau.  Yum!


Delicious with a dollop of whipped cream!

And I made a new salad - a vegan recipe I came across recently (can't remember where) for a Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salad.


We had that last night with fish (baked cod for moi and fried blue fish [yuck] for Fletch).  The salad was fabulous and I definitely will be making it again.

And that rounds out my weekend.  I'm heading to the office this morning to do a few things, but hopefully will be home in time to do my workout before lunch.  Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!

15 comments:

  1. I am sorry your visit with Dee was marred by that rude woman -- why do people think it's okay to talk loudly on speakerphone when around other people? Your cooking looks and sounds delicious.

    We had a ton of rain yesterday and are expecting more today, so I hope it holds together to make its way to you!

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  2. Queen Mabel does look regal and I think you are wise to leave elderberries for the deer. I love adding elderberry syrup to some elderberry liqueur, but after I helped my SiL make it one year I'm glad I don't have elderberries of my own. It's actually finally raining here; just 1/4" so far but I'll take any amount. I hope you're getting some, too!

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  3. How I wish I could have sent some of our rain to you. We got four inches inside of only about 90 minutes yesterday. You can imagine the areal flooding in our town. My neighbor's entire back yard was a lake. The street looked like a torrent.

    Those elderberries would be a pie if my mother had any say. I am not fond of elderberry pie, but it was a big deal for my grandmother always. I say let the deer have a treat, and if it deters them from the rest of your yard, even better!

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  4. Mabel does look very regal. I love her spots. She's such a beautiful kitty. As for the lady on the phone, why do people think that's okay? It's like everyone has lost all social etiquette skills isn't it? I'm glad she left and didn't ruin you and Dee's entire visit.
    Take care and don't work too hard this morning. I have an entire day of things for Mom today including a CAT scan this afternoon. It's shaping up to be a crazy time.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  5. Mabel's spots are so cute. She is a beautiful girl. (Can you imagine the cuteness of the babies if her and Giroux were Mom and Dad???? Well THAT ship has sailed, hasn't it! But, they would be cute!)

    The gateau isn't what I thought. I was thinking pie crust. Yours looks delicious. And the snapdragons ..........so pretty! I love squeezing them and seeing the little "teeth".

    Have a good week.

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  6. The hail last week wiped out most of my flowers and they were starting to really show off their blooms. Oh well, there’s next year. Mabel is a beauty.

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  7. It continues to puzzle me that people have LOUD conversations in public. No one wants to hear it.

    Do you think Mabel might be part Ocicat? She has the markings - such a pretty girl!

    The Blueberry Gateau looks heavenly ...

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  8. That sweet potato and black bean salad sounds interesting--I have to take a dish to a potluck this weekend and usually I take black bean and corn salad but maybe I could mix it up a bit!

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  9. I used to love blue fish and we always had a freezer full of it when my mom was alive. She was an avid fisherwoman (?). They've all but disappeared out of the bay so they are hard to come by around here anymore. I didn't realize it was goldenrod season already. That explains my terrible allergies. I never grew out of that one.

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  10. That salad looks incredible Vera! Thank you... I am snagging that idea! (and adding sweet potatoes to my list! lol)

    Happy Tuesday (that feels like a Monday to me)!

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  11. she is a regal cat and is so very lucky to have you guys love her so much!! I'm sure you feel lucky as well. My gram used to make elderberry pies I guess there were great but it was decades ago that I ate one.

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  12. Mabel is a beautiful kitty. It is very dry here. The ground is hard as a brick with big cracks. We haven't had much rain at all and none is forecast this week. I'd leave those elderberries for the deer. I can see how they would be a lot of work.

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  13. So your little herd is eating the elderberries? I did not know that! We scour the country roads looking for good bushes and found several this year. It's such a hassle to get enough for a pie since the birds beat us to the ripe ones daily. A PITA to clean, but our hands down favorite pie. Thanks for another recipe.

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  14. That blackberry gateau looks wonderful! Blackberries are my favorite berries, yum. And your flowers continue to amaze me. I deadheaded some of our snapdragons with the hopes that we might get a few more blooms before fall gets here. Fingers crossed!

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  15. The kitty has the perfect superior expression so common to kitties. I love them anyway. If I didn't live 1,000 miles away I would be over to share that blueberry gateau! And I apologize in advance for being Miss KnowItAll, but goldenrod does not irritate hay fever (unless you stick your nose into a bouquet of it and inhale mightily). It gets that bad rap because it blooms at the same time as ragweed. Goldenrod is not wind-pollinated like ragweed. Here is a fuller explanation. https://blog.nwf.org/2014/09/the-goldenrod-allergy-myth/#:~:text=As%20dependable%20as%20the%20pollinators,that%20this%20isn't%20true.

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