THE LIGHTER SIDE CAFE FRIDAY JULY 24!

Good morning all,

TGIF!  Another hot one...

Ann, sorry about your friend's son and the divorce. I certainly relate.  It takes its toll on parents.  

Sue, Bravo on three walks already! That is great.  I'm sorry about your sore arm.  I remember my arm being a bit sore but nothing bad.  Everyone reacts differently.  My DH had more of a reaction than I did.  Hope it is better today.  Thanks for the compliment on real estate but truthfully i have been a deadbeat realtor for a few years since my license was current with Keller Williams before but I had no time to invest it in. However, you must be affiliated with a broker to keep a license current so I am glad I switched to this new firm - Exit Realty.  They are a good group and smaller and very honest/upstanding. 

Pam, I am living vicariously with you on your DGD visiting days.  Our DGD in CA Facetimed last night and said she wanted to come to grandma and grampa's right now.  Poor kid.  I feel terrible for her but hoping they can come in Sept. My DD said she (DGD) keeps a suitcase packed in her room with all her favorite art supplies for the trip.  DGD also told me that she would ride in a car to get here. :-( Breaks my heart.  I also love TCM channel and the movies you watched!  It's such a nice escape activity.  Safe travels to the beach house.

I made it to book club.  By 5:30 the sun was out and the showers had passed.  My friend's backyard is truly like a big park and one of the prettiest yards I've seen.  Such beautiful landscaping that her DH does - his hobby. What a lovely evening, and great to finally see everyone as though we were sitting in the gorgeous gardens of a country manor house. Only the tea and gift shop were missing!



I brought my salad, had a glass of wine and I did splurge on the scrumptious chocolate cake - recipe from Ina Gartner and SO good.  Plus, she made homemade vanilla ice cream for the topping.  When you decide to splurge, this is the way to do it! 

We all commiserated about the pandemic and how it is affecting travel and seeing family.  One friend has not seen her son in NYC since before Christmas. Sad.  Another is so stressed for her daughter having to go back to teaching full time high school in September here in our town and putting her baby in daycare.  High School hallways are always jammed with kids and doesn't sound like they have ironed out plans yet.  Like Ann, I am sick of the "new normal" name. There is absolutely NOTHING normal about it.  I want real normal back as we all do.  

We are going to the Cape later tonight or tomorrow.  I would stay longer but once again, I have two appointments next week. We will be there for 10 days in August so that's good.  

Off to work and then scrub the floor!  Fun times here at the Black Rock Cafe - my name for our "palace" ha ha!

Moving right along ......

I have done about an hour and a half's worth of gardening so now all my patio pots are dead-headed, pruned, fed and watered, and the mint patch was thinned  out.  The front porch pot only needed fed and watered. So I mixed larger cans of feed and gave my front flower beds a good treat.  The Daisies needed some dead-heading and thinning but the Black-Eyed-Susans are just starting to bloom.  I was surprised how long all of that took me.  But it was a worthwhile investment in time.  My two smaller petunia pots were so dry that the water didn't soak in - just ran right through, so I had to give some TLC.

Judy ~ That is so sweet about your DGD.  Thanks for the explanation about your realtor license. Your book club gathering sounded like a much needed relief!  Glad you had a good time (and that the weather cleared for you).  Enjoy your weekend at the Cape.

I am deciding whether to go for another walk (since it is not yet 80) or go to Office Max. I have a new Instant Pot cookbook (that is all the rage on the FB page) and people are taking it in and having it punched and spiral bound so they can lay it flat - and that sounds like a good idea to me too.  But it doesn't have to be done today. 

So many choices, so little time ...... oh wait a minute - we have plenty of time. <LOL> I meant to tell you all that there was a segment on our noon news about isolation especially among seniors and the importance of contact and social interaction.  I immediately thought about this group, as you are all definitely part of my mental health strategy in this troubled time.  Thanks for that!!  

Hey again,

It's been a busy morning. I had four long phone calls - work related plus a call from DDIL and DD.  DH has called a couple times, too.  PHew.  My ears are tired.  

Sue you must have a big garden - I know it takes time to do all the weeding. I'm not a gardener, but my DH can spend hours and hours pruning and trimming and mowing and moving plants from here to there. :-)  He loves it.  

I'm trying to get a hold of a fence company to install a new fence and gate here.  The old one needs replacement.  IT's not too big so should cost too much. DH said "oh, I can do it." But realistically, he has no time for that now.  His list of "Oh, I can do it." is very, very long. lol

Ann, glad you are getting jammified. I loved that expression, and I agree with you and Ann - we need our quartet here in the cafe! It keeps us connected.  I enjoy hearing about Lousiana, Michigan and your area, Ann.   I am thinking that you must have meant that woman I met while swimming at the Y?  She said her mother worked with you and that you were good friends?  I don't remember another person from the city.  That was a couple years ago though so maybe not.  Oh, I love owls, too.  We have screech owls in our neighborhood.  I love to hear them.  We also have a big stuffed owl from the 1920s.  I don't really like taxidermy but this was one DH bought at an antique show in the 70s.  Anyhow, it is a beautiful Great Horned Owl, and we gave it to our elementary school where the teacher had it in a big case for nearly 30 years since the 2nd graders studied owls and owl pellets.  Believe it or not, she gave it back a few years ago with a beautiful note about the hundreds of kids who enjoyed it over the years since 1990!  Not sure what to do with it now. I may donate to the science museum or something.  

TTFN...have a good day and waving to Pam!! I started a new book called Dear Edward. So far, so good.  It's a bestseller. Was on hold from the library for ages. 

I am back.  I decided to walk two more times around the complex after lunch, and good thing because it started heating up!! Then I came home and put my new cookbook in a bag and looked up what batteries I needed for my lighted magnifying glass. DH had told me about a battery place up the highway, so I headed out that way.  She had my batteries but wanted to charge me $1.99 each (and I need 4).  The package of 4 is only $3.69 from Amazon, so I decided to come home and order from them.  Sad too, because I would have liked to support a local small business - but not for more than double the price!

Ann ~ The cookbook is entitled "The Step-By-Step Instant Pot Cookbook" by Jeffrey Eisner.  It has "100 simple recipes for spectacular results with photographs of every step".  I ordered it through Amazon. I follow the FB Group "Instant Pot Community" (though I know you aren't on FB) and everyone is raving about this particular cookbook.  It really is "all that" so I'm glad I read the recommendation to have it spiral bound.  As soon as I went in Office Depot and pulled it out of the bag, the gal knew exactly what I wanted. And they did it while I waited!! Doesn't get any better.  If you want to see the book, you can google "pressureluckcooking".

Judy ~ Actually we have a small patio with a privacy fence.  DH has put up hangers for my petunia pots (1 large and 2 small) along with one more bigger one he bought for the 4th of July that is sitting on a table. The mint grows along the fence line, underneath the privacy fence.  I use it in my iced tea (yum!). I am honestly NOT a gardener, but we enjoy opening the door wall blinds in the morning to see our little "garden".  We have two long flower beds in front on either side of the porch that are mostly daisies and black-eyed-susans, along with some ground cover.  My DH has a small "garden" outside the privacy fence where he plants Spring flowers (daffodils, tulips, etc) and then when they're done - he adds wild flower seeds.  He actually has wild flowers coming up from last year!!  No gardeners here, but we dabble.

So I didn't have to chose what to do this afternoon. I got my walk done (again) and also ran my errands. I need to go on Amazon and order my batteries.  Drats! If I had just gone ahead and ordered them when I first found them, they'd already be here and I wouldn't be dealing with this.  I also need new Rubbermaid ice cube trays as mine are older and cracking.  I think I'll order them with the batteries.  The ice maker in our fridge died years ago, and then DH bought a replacement and installed it, but one day it shorted out (what!?!) and flipped the circuit breaker, so I told him to just get rid of it. I will make my own ice and I still had my (IMHO too expensive) ice cube trays, but they worked well and lasted for years!  Now it is time to replace them, as all good things must come to an end.

Apparently I'm feeling better than yesterday because I certainly had a hard time getting out of my chair yesterday! Today I feel like I have actually gotten a few things accomplished!!  Yay!!  

Thanks for the book title Sue. I so appreciate it and will Google that site.

Yeah to the tv working. Yup, why replace it if you don't have to.

Great job on your walks.

Our smoked turkey was fantastic. Even with giving half away, we still have plenty more to enjoy.