Friday the 11th: More progress

 *The goal is to get all the trees surrounded with stones. They are all different kinds of stones, depending on when and where I bought them. I made a pretty good haul yesterday and the Son helped me place them.

 

 

Thursday the 10th: Music

 *We just finished final selection with a bride of my second wedding of the summer. While part of me likes doing weddings, another bigger part of me doesn't like the back and forth and the waffling when a couple isn't as on top of things as I'd like them to be.

*I'm also working on Widor's Toccata, and I think I almost have the fingering down, now it just getting it more comfortable and starting to add the pedal.

*I pick up the music for the musical next week, so that will be added to daily rotation soon! 

Wednesday the 9th: Food of the Week

*The biggest success this week was these chocolate chip cookies from Smitten Kitchen. I ended up getting about 42 cookies out of the dough, in three different batches. Ageing the batter is not required but definitely added a deeper, richer flavor.  

*We also tried two different cocktails from Smitten Kitchen this week, a watermelon mojito and a coconut limeade. The second one was more successful, but both required more sweetness for our tastes and quite a bit of tinkering.

*What else are we eating this week? Yesterday we had tomato-orange beef patties similar to the linked recipe.  We're trying a squash pasta bake tonight. We had a corn salsa and margarita brined chicken over the weekend. Monday we had a big salad with cheddar and toasted pistachios and leftover chicken. Probably tomorrow I'll make waffles.

 

Tuesday the 8th: Plants

 *I know new plants should come in April or May, but 1. I try to wait until after Mother's Day to avoid frost and 2. I didn't have the energy until now. Our front beds always need more shade plants, hopefully some of these will last. I've filled in the bed with mulch, and now I'll add more rocks in the back to protect other new or transplanted plants.

 

 

Monday the 7th: Saint of the Week

 *The saint this Friday is a feast day for me as an Oblate. An oblate is a lay person who follows the Rule of St. Benedict as they are able in their lay life. St. Benedict is such a great saint in part because of his emphasis on moderation. As college students, we would joke, "all things in moderation...including moderation" but there is a lot of truth there. Finding God in our everyday work and prayer, wherever we have been placed, is key for St. Benedict.

 (Picture found on Pinterest)

 

Friday the 4th: Celebrating with Food

 I'm at the point of the summer where I have lots of energy. So our Fourth of July celebration for just the three of us, is pretty fun.

We cut up watermelon and froze some to make watermelon mojitos.

The ice cream custard was made last night and we put it in the ice cream maker this morning, and it's hardening in the freezer. 

We bought beer and brats and onions to grill sausages.

I might make a corn salsa.

I might make chocolate chip cookies.

Happy Independence Day! 

 

 

Thursday the 3rd: Music for the Summer

 *I had a wedding to play for at work, so I used time before the rehearsal and wedding to build this shelf for our office to hold our tea supplies.

*Over the summer, I'm working on one song for work that we might do in the fall that looks a little tricky. I don't have any other music for the fall yet (including the musical), so my other music is Final Fantasy IX, Widor's Toccata, music for Masses, and any other fun project I want to do while I have time.