Summer Has Arrived

We have enjoyed being home this long Memorial Day weekend and mostly relaxing, entertaining and a little yard work. We planted some color spots around the yard and did lots of weed pulling - fun! Bruce's sister, Lynn, was visiting while she attended a wedding in the area of the daughter of a friend from her hometown of Kansas City.

She is an avid gardener herself, so she was more than happy to help out around the yard but we did lots of other little fun local activities, too, like visiting Volunteer Park

and the Conservatory

where there are lots of gorgeous plants.

Her visit was perfect timing because our own wisteria is in full bloom on our front porch so we all took lots of photos in front of it.

We wait all year for the two weeks of it's bloom so we need to enjoy it while it lasts.

Lynn aims for 10,000 steps a day so we made sure she had opportunities for that. On her first day, we went down to Alki beach. I still can't walk that much because of my bone spur removal so I found a nice shady spot to wait. Yesterday, they walked around Green Lake and finding a spot to wait was easy. I went to my favorite Chocolati, chocolate cafe. I love their drinks called the chill but even in cold weather, their hot chocolate is the best. I mean, it is a chocolate cafe, after all.

On Lynn's second day here, we went down to the waterfront and visited our favorite distillery called Copperworks. She and I just stumbled across it last year when she was visiting and we fell in love with the place and their products. They have a wonderful tasting bar.

They have expanded since last year with more products and have now won many awards.

Last year, we loved their gin. Now they have added a whiskey to their lineup that we tasted and Bruce bought a bottle of that, too. We need a punch card for this place...

We also bought a bottle of one of their wonderful flavored balsamic vinegars. It's a beautiful distillery with lots of beautiful copper and tables with stools to sit down while you taste all that they have to offer. A great place to visit while on the waterfront. We had our Memorial Day barbecue on Thursday evening because that was Lynn's only evening here. She had wedding festivities on Friday and Saturday evenings and left Sunday evening to return to Kansas City. Bruce made his barbecued ribs and I made my macaroni salad along with corn-on-the-cob and baked beans. I made my chocolate brownie cookies for something sweet afterwards. It was fun picking Lynn up when she arrived because she was coming from Orcus Island after visiting Bruce's brother and his wife who have a second home up there. She arrived via float plane on Lake Union, not your usual kind of airport.

It was an hour flight from Orcus Island so then we went home for lunch of our family- favorite chinese chicken salad. Of course, Bruce had to make another family-favorite breakfast of Dutch babies while Lynn was here. Lynn lived in Portland, Oregon in the 70's and it was at Portland's Original Pancake House where we all had our first Dutch babies. They made an impression on us and we're still eating them today. And the restaurant is still there.

Between all our good food and drink for Lynn's visit, we've had a very successful Memorial Day weekend.

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of meatloaf . This must be meatloaf season. It was surprisingly similar to the Pioneer Woman's version who was also recently on. I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book, Food Matters . His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese! I must be doing something wrong. The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life. If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health. He tells his story in Food Matters and provides a plan for responsible eating that covers a no-nonsense rundown on

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free. But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one. My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends. We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop. She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots. We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.) The views are always quite lovely, too. Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception. I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, there was a big party go

Waking Up in Vegas

and just like that...we were Waking Up in Vegas. Just like the Katy Perry song. We went to her 78th performance which was her second-to-last Las Vegas residency show entitled "Play". That was perfect for us because we went to Vegas simply to play. Her concert was a great finale for us because it was high energy and full of silliness, just the way Katy Perry is. And we were feeling it after three nights in Las Vegas. "Get up, and shake the gutter off your clothes now, That's what you get for waking up in Vegas". Here's what she said about her show: "I created this show after the birth of my daughter, Daisy Dove. When I met her, it was like all the love I was ever searching for finally showed up. This show is for everyone’s inner child and for the hope that maybe if we could all see life through the eyes of a child, we would be free. Because never forget, love is and will always be the key,” she said. We went to Vegas spur of the moment because Br

Sylvia's Scenario

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