Summer Days and Avocado-Ranch Dressing

Oh, how I love summer days!  DH planted these beautiful sunflowers
in the garden!  (That is my wonderful neighbor's yellow house by the
garden.)  The garden is also full of zinnias and marigolds and oh yes,
beans, cucumbers, peppers, okra, and tomatoes! Enough for great
salads everyday.  Speaking of salads, I tried Rachel Ray's receipe
for Avocado-Ranch Dressing from her insert in her magazine.  It
was "fabulous, darling"!  Forgot to take a picture before it was gone!

Avocado-Ranch Dressing

1  Avocado

1/2 cup sour cream

juice of 1 lemon

1  clove garlic, grated or finely chopped

2  tablespoons finely chopped chives

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Mix mashed avocado together with other ingredients and season with salt and pepper.

I love the way summer just goes on and on.  Tonight DH is grilling

the spare ribs and we will cut our first cold watermelon! Love it!

Hope you are enjoying summer days, too!

Love,

Lottie

A Walk in Salem, Virginia

You know me.  I LOVE old houses! Here is a cute pink cottage on
Union Street Salem, Virginia.  I'm a shoot and click photographer so
please excuse the quality of the picture! I had never seen a roof line
with double dental molding like this before.  Here is another view.

 Next door was this white house with the double roof molding, too!
Is this to keep back the snow?

Next door was this blue beauty! I just stood on the sidewalk and
stared at the roof! What beautiful windows!

.

 

There are hundreds of beautiful homes in Salem, Virginia and we
really enjoyed our visit there.  But I still don't understand these
roofs??? Let me know if you know what is going on.
Love,
Lotte

An Hour Unplanned

Yesterday I came home an hour early and realized I had not planned
what to do with my time.  Isn't it funny how we spend so much of
our time working and achieving goals that we never just relax and be?

So I relaxed for a few minutes on the deck enjoying the sunshine
and the wind blowing.  I started thinking about the garden DH had
planted and wondered if I could fix a big healthy salad for dinner.
DH wouldn't be home for dinner so it would just be me. 

 

So I started gathering cucumbers for the salad.

 

Wow! I see where they get the word "bountiful".

 

I visited DH's garden across the yard.  Just found a sunflower!

So I went inside and made a salad from yesterdays tomatoes
and the last of the lettuce from the garden.

Then I heard the most beautiful sound!  It was raining!

I took my salad out on the side porch and ate it while I watched
the rain.  And it was the best salad because it came out of our
garden.....and I was eating it alone....and I had come home an hour
early......and.... it was an hour unplanned.  It was WONDERFUL!

And then at almost one hour exactly the rain stopped.

Back to work!

I hope you take unplanned time to just be.  Sometimes we as
women feel like we have to be working ALL the time.  It wears
us out.

Hope you are having a good day!
Love,
Lottie