Summer Photos

We haven't been "on the road" very much this summer.  It's just too dang hot to ride the motorcycle.  But I'll share some photo highlights of the last couple of weeks.

One day last week, I accompanied D on a short business errand to Shelbyville, KY.  We stopped for lunch at the historic Science Hill Inn where we found this kitty making the most of any shade he could find on a hot summer day.

There's been a little pool time, in the "little" pool!  This little grandson enjoys it but sometimes it's almost like getting in a hot bath!

Before the heat wave made an extended stay, we had a few nice days.  The Belle of Louisville cruised by one evening when we stopped at the River Stage to check out the Friday concert.

I have been doing some sewing since it stays nice and cool in my basement sewing room.  These are some little bags I finished last week.  I've also been practicing some free motion quilting on a little baby sized quilt.  That technique still frustrates me so I've signed up for a machine quilting class at The Smocking Shop in a couple of weeks.

We do have a couple of RV/motorcycle trips in the planning stages for later this summer.  More on those later.  Hope you all are enjoying your summer!  Stay cool.

Cool and Yummy

 I'm watching the weather forecast for the next few days and the prospect  for some hot, humid and stifling days this coming week is depressing.  I think I'll spend some time in my sewing room in the cool basement.  But today I was in the mood to spend some time in the kitchen.  With two boxes of strawberries in the fridge and a basil plant that has been growing faster than I can harvest, I found a recipe for Strawberry Basil Sorbet.

Since I enjoyed this sweet treat, I thought I'd share it here just in case you need something cool and refreshing to try on a hot, humid summer day.

You can find the recipe here at Two Peas & Their Pod, but I'll go ahead and post it here too.

Strawberry Basil Sorbet

1 lb. of strawberries, hulled and sliced

2/3 cup of sugar (a little less if your strawberries are extra sweet!)

1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil

1 teas. fresh lemon juice

Mix strawberries with sugar and let set at room temperature (about 45 min to 1 hour) until sugar is dissolved and syrupy.  In blender, combine strawberry mixture, chopped basil and 1 teas. lemon juice.  Blend completely and then place in refrigerator until well chilled.  Using an electric ice cream freezer, place chilled strawberry/basil mixture in chilled container and follow manufacturer's directions for sorbet.  Mine mixed for about 20 minutes to a point when it was nice and firm.  Spoon out and enjoy - or place in freezer safe container and freeze until ready to serve.  

Enjoy!  And stay cool!

Time to Blog

It's July already!  I know, that's not news to anyone but it does seem like this summer is speeding by and I've not taken the time to blog about anything after we returned from the Oklahoma wedding.   I certainly haven't abandoned you all because I manage to compose blog posts everywhere I go, it's just that I haven't taken the time to write them down!  So today I'll just try to get up to date with some mini-versions of the blog posts in my head.

Just a few days after the big event, the mother and father of the bride made a stop here in Indiana for a few days on their way to Washington, D.C.  They probably were just trying to escape the high temps back in OK but we did our best to entertain them with a trip to the horse races at Churchill Downs and a road trip to French Lick and Corydon.  My sister and I knew that we had a great, great, great, great grandfather buried somewhere near there so finding his gravesite was one thing on her list to accomplish at some point.  When we came upon the cemetery and saw the conditions of some of the markers, our hopes were dimmed.  But fortunately his grave stone was in pretty good condition, considering that he died in 1852.  How amazing is it that after growing up in Kansas over 750 miles from here, I would end up living within 30 miles of where some of my ancestors also lived! So here we posed  (for not the greatest photo!) in front of his grave as proof to our families that we found  (4 greats) grandpa John!

Having company gives me the chance to try some of the recipes I've been collecting.  This is a Guinness Chocolate Cake for my brother-in-law.  I don't know how the subject of this came up, but he's been wanting someone to bake him this cake for quite some time.  It was delicious and even had the look of a glass of Guinness with it's foamy head.  The recipe I found online here and can be credited to Nigella Lawson.  

Have you heard of Pinterest yet?  I am addicted.  It is basically an online scrapbook of all the cool things you find while browsing  the internet.  It's kind of like window shopping and taking visual notes.  But it is great for recipes too.  The Sugar Cookie Bars and the Overnight Baked Blueberry French Toast are in my Recipe Box and were on my "want to try" list.  Both were good and I would probably make  again.  

More cake baking, but this one by daughter B.  The little guy turned TWO last week.  B made this awesome Nemo cake with a layer of chocolate chip cheesecake and a layer of chocolate cake.  And yes, it was a wonderful as it sounds!  She did a great job with her Nemo design too! (I didn't notice until just now that their pet fish is making a cameo appearance in this photo!  Can you find Nemo?) 

Welcome to year three Mr. D !  It's going to be fun times at your house!

The 4th of July was a fun day too.  We made a quick trip up to Ohio to meet up with K and J (on their return from D.C.) at our Uncle Larry's home.  It was great to visit with him, our aunt and a cousin and some of her family.  We are looking forward to a  ride on the motorcycle up there some time later this summer for more visiting!

We got home with plenty of time to enjoy our neighbors' firework displays.  Happy July!