YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE - AGAIN...

 

There is a shortage of real sunshine around here 

as the skies are filled with smoke,

so we are moving into the sitting room to find more shining sunflowers. 

 My sweet Captain trekked to the store,

 mask in place, to pick me up a couple of the real things.

.  Placed in a salt glazed crock

 along with some greens from the garden

 and they bring a smile to our faces

 which is greatly needed these days.

I ordered four more of 

the "cheap" pillows from Amazon.  

Sometimes cheap is a good thing and sometimes not so much. 

 They were actually pretty ugly 

and not exactly what I expected. 

 No worries, 

just turn them over and stencil something else on the back.  

Blue and white checks saved the day on two of them,

 and two more have their sights set on black and white checks. 

 Just a little something extra 

for a cheap price.

Our Covid counts 

keep going up 

and to the ones who are making it happen,

 I have a small reminder 

for you here.

I don't know if we are in dress rehearsals for the real thing,

 but this is the second time in two weeks 

that we have been close to evacuating. 

 This last one, the Bennett Fire,

 was very close 

and they stopped the evacuation line just two roads over from us. 

 Before, I had just almost reached the point

 of loading up a box with the essentials 

should it become necessary, 

but this time I actually did do it. 

 The box now sits in the corner of 

the dining room,

 waiting for a reality,

 which we hope never comes

I am still resting my back

 and found a couple of canvas squares sitting around 

and I thought it would be fun to paint some little quilt squares. 

 I doubt that anyone seriously making a quilt would use these colors

 but they seemed to compliment the painting on display.  

I made another that will go up

 when fall gets here.

Speaking of fall, 

it cannot come too soon.  

We usually get a bit of rain,

 just in time when the trees are turning, 

so that the colors don't last as long as I would like, 

and I complain about that a lot, 

but I will take it this year,

 if it will stop the chance of more fires.

 

Remember when I finished
 this paint by number painting last year? 
 I didn't think 
the original, large flower
 in center of painting, (left bottom corner),
 was to my liking. 
 I tried to make it more appealing 
and after numerous tries,
 I came up with the (right bottom corner). 
 This year, I tried again
 and finally came up with this one (top). 
 It is a little better, I think!

I made a bolognese sauce recipe 

from Kim

 at Exquisitely Unremarkable (here). 

 I followed her instructions to a T

 and it was undeniably delicious. 

 We will eat it for three nights

 and I can't wait until the next two. 

 I went old-school,

 and I do mean oooooold school, 

with the side dish. 

 My grandmother, and then my mom, 

made what they called Spanish Beans 

and they always served jello salad along side. 

 I remember them saying 

that it was good with

 anything having a tomato base and I agree. 

 It is so refreshing

 especially in hot weather. 

 I use lime jello and add

 a can of fruit cocktail to the first layer

 and cottage cheese, mixed with

 a little mayo, in the second. 

 Before you roll your eyes 

you should try it. 

 Sometimes it just feels good 

to go back, and beyond,

 to the good old-fashioned days. 

 Just ask any grandma!

More Shining Sunflower Days

 to you all.

...Judy...

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