Suddenly Summer

We waited a l-o-n-g time for spring this year in the Black Hills. I know a lot of you did, too.

But look what happened! We skipped over spring and went straight into summer!

Only four weeks ago, we were still in the grips of late winter/early spring. We took a trip with friends up to Spearfish Canyon and visited Roughlock Falls. Not surprisingly, we were the only ones there in light snow and freezing temperatures.

May 9, 2020

But we were thrilled to see the signs of the coming spring.

And only a month later, we are surrounded by green and beautiful flowers!

The perennial garden in front of our house is beginning to unfold. Since we moved into our new place at the end of the summer last year, every new flower bloom is a surprise.

This is what the garden looked like last fall:

Is it any wonder that I love seeing every new plant growing this spring?

And the wildflowers are beginning to bloom, too! In the front of our place (which doesn't face the road) we have this meadow-covered hill.

Almost thirty years ago, before our house was built, a forest fire passed through this area and destroyed most of the trees. As a result, we have a few tall Ponderosa pines around (which we love) and we get to enjoy this beautiful meadow. We often see a herd of deer grazing in the morning, or bedding down for the night. We're keeping a close eye out for fawns this time of year!

Those tree stumps are left from that long-ago fire.

And it's interesting that purple/blue are the wildflower colors for early June.

Will red, orange, yellow and pink show up later? Maybe...especially if I buy a packet of native wildflower seeds and scatter them through the meadow...


Another announcement is that Jack had a birthday on Saturday!

He's one year old now!

And Sam has discovered flies (aka, "sky raisins.")

How is summer at your house?

Jan Drexler is an author by day who is addicted to counted cross stitch and sauntering through the Hills with her dear husband and their puppies - goofy corgi Jack and growing-fast border collie Sam. You can find Jan's books and other fun things on her website: www.JanDrexler.com.

Random summer meals

Hello, everybody! Mary Jane here and I didn't cook anything really new this week, but I started to think about the strange food we eat in the summer: a mishmash of this and that and the other thing. I thought I'd take some pictures and share the weirdness. Maybe one of these sounds good to you!

                                                      
First of all, corn. Are we the only people eating fresh corn at every meal?? We have some many wonderful friends and relatives who bring us corn, and we grow our own, too. Delicious!

 Also, cucumbers. Oh my goodness. One of my favorite foods. I could eat cucumbers all day.
                                                           
 But some days I like to make a little tzatziki salad with it. Chopped cucumbers, a cup of sour cream, a dash of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and dill. YUM.
                                                          
I could easily be vegetarian most of the time, but I have some meat eaters in the house that would disapprove if all our meals were corn and cucumbers. So... pork chops.
                                                        
Now, strangely I'd been CRAVING fried pickles!! So, we bought some garlicky dill pickles and chopped them into smaller pieces.

 Coated in flour, egg, spices, and dash of Slap Yo Mama.

 Oh, we also decided to make fried mushrooms. Why? Nobody knows.

 MMMMMM. Fried pickles and tzatziki!! Is that a weird summer meal, or what? But it hit the spot!

 We're into those long dog days of summer where it feels like the heat will never end, but I know that fall is just around the corner. I hope you're enjoying the time with friends and family!
Be sure to stop by my author page at Virginia Carmichael or Mary Jane Hathaway for all my book enws!

When Deadlines Loom

Missy, here. I'm deep in a deadline fog with a book due June 30th. Down to the wire!

Sooo…not much cooking going on other than the regular recipes I've already shared here. So far this week I've made:

Pasta Bolognese (shared it here) and have eaten it leftover already. I have to admit this one isn't all that quick. But it's worth a little effort. And I needed a short break anyway. :)

Fettuccine Alfredo (shared it here). This is amazingly quick!

Are we seeing a trend here?? Yes, I love pasta! And it's a comfort food as I near deadlines. :)

I've also been making salads. And went crazy with buying produce at the grocery store over the weekend. Don't you love it when so many fruits are in season?! I even took a photo to share.

Yes, I probably went a little overboard. But we're eating lots of fruit and salads! One of the things I love right now is peaches. And since I don't like the fuzz, I like nectarines even more.

Here are white and yellow fleshed nectarines.

And here are something unusual, black velvet apricots. They're actually an apricot-plum mix. You can read about them here. Hubby and I decided they look and taste more like plums. And boy, they really do feel as if they're coated in velvet!

Oh! I just remembered I also got a seasonal special. It's time for Vidalia onions! (usually pronounced Vie (with a long i)-dail'-ya) I wrote a post about them (here). They're yummy grilled with butter and salt and pepper. Yes, just eat them by themselves as a side dish. :)

What are you favorite fruits and vegetables? Anything unusual like the apricot-plum hybrid?

Sights of Summer....

People that love heat, thrive on heat, that are not BIG BABIES when it gets super hot out, may move along....

I'm about to reveal a Truth-about-Ruth.

I don't love summer. Correction: I love the gentle days of summer, I hate heat. But I love the THOUGHT of summer, warm days, breeze-filled nights, yaddi-yaddi-yaddah!

Mostly I love kids and summer:

Kids on rooftops....

Kids and puppies. Aww, who doesn't love a puppy????

BABIES!!!!  :)

     Weddings.....

Gardens:

And cake:

And every summer should have a sombrero-wearing warrior princess!

So those are things I like about summer!  ;)

What about youse? Are you baking/roasting? Are you in a drought? (and I'm praying for those who are.)

Missy and the Texan are down South. As much as I love Southern-crazy, I don't know how they do it. 

And they probably laugh at me every winter, huddled in my blankets and throwin' wood on the wood stove.

Oy.