Good Food, Fun Times, Family

1. A very tasty strawberry rhubarb pie with a crumble topping that had every flavor and texture exactly right.
2. Tess is home and it's fun to hear her weekend away stories and of the good time she had. A short while later she was napping; fast asleep with a little snore going on.
3. Today was a very pleasant Sunday with Claire and Daniel here. Claire is working on her genealogy book and we wracked our brains to remember names and dates. We felt so victorious when we remembered a detail.
4. We listened to the recording my parents made the year they were married, 1947. We heard my grandmother singing "O Solo Mio" in Italian. I wish I could have been there.

Roanoke Art Show, Relax, Great Dinner

1. Beautiful summer-like morning. We all head out to the art show downtown to say hello to friends who are showing their pottery. Lots of wonderful artists sell their work, the streets are packed, a band plays in the market square. Steve and I both like the same display and we bring home a 3-D pottery fish in nice glazes.
2. Time for a lazy nap and another book to start reading.
3. Impromptu guests for dinner make it more of a party. Sangria! It's always a pretty color in the pitcher and the fruit slices are tantalizing.

Free Time, Star Trek, Never Alone

1. Tess is packed off for the weekend and happy to go. This leaves two days wide open! Even if I have nothing planned, the fact that I could is a great feeling.
2. A date with Steve to see Star Trek. I wasn't too excited about going, but it was entertaining and I was caught up in the moment. I'm glad the movie wasn't too cheesy.
3. Claire and Daniel drove into town for the weekend! One child leaves, another returns...

Henri, Matchbook Garden, Rain

1. Henri-the-Schnoodle takes on a funny posture when he plunges into the tall grass. Head down, shoulders hunched, he becomes a hunter. Suddenly, a quail flies up! Henri is flushing quail! Funny little Schnoodle.
2. Claire gave me a novel item. It's called a matchbook garden. You remove each matchstick, which has seeds glues to the end, simply stick them in the soil and voila!
My Italian matchbook garden has now sprouted with little seedlings of basil, oregano and tomato.
3. The rain fell again during this quiet evening. The downpour hitting the leaves sounds like a rushing creek in the woods.

Dark Sky, The Fawn, Aprons

1. The sky had turned steel-blue and very dark, a solid sheet of it. A few minutes later the rain came in torrents. The sky scape is rarely boring here.
2. Audrey is pretty sure she saw the fawn with its mother. I believe she is able to recognize one fawn from another. In a year I'll be cursing this deer for eating my garden, but for now I am happy it has its mother.
3. I like putting on my apron in the morning. It makes me feel ready for the day.

Chamois, Piano Music, The Old Table, Hermits

1. Someone hung a chamois cloth on the basement stairs and I like the smell of it each time I pass by.
2. Tess plays the piano and the music drifts out the open windows to me in the garden.
3. The old table on the porch smells good and aged. My very own antique shop smell whenever I sit near it!
4. The hermit cookies are incredibly good. With candied ginger, soft raisins and icing, the flavor is exactly what I was looking for.

Vacation, Smile, Vandella

1. A vacation at home. Reading and coffee on the porch. So goes the day!
2. Audrey's smile.
3. Vandella is a beautiful horse, especially when she moves.