Friday Food 07-14-23

I don't eat out much and I never order delivery.  Can't really explain why not, just  seems easier to go out, although sometimes  I pick  up  something and bring it home.  I won't show  a pizza because everyone knows what a pizza looks like!

Other  than Starbucks twice a week I do  drive  thru, especially at In-N-Out.  We go about every  6 or 7 weeks and bring home a cheese burger, fries, and a chocolate milk shake.  I especially enjoy the fries because they make them from scratch.  I am allergic to sulfites and  most places serve  precut fries that  come in a large plastic bag with  water and sulfites to keep them "fresh".  KoKo doesn't eat people food, he just goes along for the ride.

Salmon salad at Fitness  Grill in Yorba Linda. My frequent order.  Just enough and I do love salmon.   Growing up in Oregon salmon was readily available fresh, but we  also ate canned salmon, frequently home-canned.

Friend Carol  and  I had lunch  at a crepe restaurant  run  by a husband/wife team (we think) where he is the waiter and she makes the crepes where everyone can watch.  We should go again, the crepes were  very  tasty.  And not expensive. 

I  am very fond of  Japanese food and eat it out more often than any other choice. This lovely tray of Sushi was at a private party.  A nice variety, each one delicious. 

I  do enjoy breakfast out and don't take it home.  Toast in Brea has the most fabulous benedicts with a choice of sides.  These are their very crispy potatoes (no sulfites) but the other sides are just as tasty.  

Because I take the boys to school the family brings me Indian food every now and then.  This is tilapia, curry "stew", rice, and green beans.  Not just the usual green beans, but very skinny ones about 1/4" diameter cut into 1/4" bits and cooked with spices and onion.  My favorite.  They are very generous, so I have two meals  each time.  Oh, so good. 

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Wordless Wednesday 07-12-23

 

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The first really hot day.

Today was the first really hot day this summer - 97F.  I realize that other parts of the country have bee excessively hot, but our temps have only been in the low 80s.  I  have  the whole house fan on to draw in some of the cooler night air.  I have  rarely seen the heat carry into the night hours, it always cools off 20 degrees or more. 

Cheesecake with whipped cream, chocolate, and  strawberries.

Green tea ice cream with chocolate drizzle at Ikiru.

Peach Ice Cream with black berries. 

I wish I had something cold and wicked like these, but I have to settle for....

Talenti Coffee Chocolate Chip Gelato

Which is pretty wonderful and what I have in the freezer.

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Summer Flowers 07-10-23

 

A really bright lantana hedge.

The smell of lantana immediately brings to mind my grandparents house in Highland  Park/ Los Angeles during WWII when my sister and I lived with them.

Their house was about 30 steps up from the street with one terrace that was filled with lantana bushes.  It was my secret hiding place when I wanted to just read  undisturbed.  So the fragrance is a somewhat comforting one. 

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I love the true blue of Lily of the Nile (agapanthus)But they do come in different values.  Mine have  not produced  many blossoms this year, perhaps the lingering cold and the shade they now receive. 

So delicate, the tiny lowers gathered in globes which delight the hummers. 

Star Jasmine hedge abundant with blossoms.  The fragrance is intoxicating.
  

Artificial fragrance, such as perfumes and laundry products just kill me, but natural fragrances are a delight. 

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Miscellaneous 07-08023

I finally went to the doctor on Thursday and she prescribed a Z-Pack and a chest X-ray.  Also gave me an inhaler unlike any I have used before.  It isn't a rescue inhaler, but one that you suck up once a day.  Something is working because I don't have the coughing spasms  and just a normal sort of cough.  I don't have much energy, which could be my age, lack of activity, or a result of whatever I have  - "The coughing sickness".  It may be bronchitis, but it is not like the bronchitis  I have   pretty regularly  every January!   Anyway, I AM better.

Caiden across the street had a birthday this past week and he always wants a  water slide to celebrate.  In this picture he is on his way up the stairs on  the right and his friend is in the pool at the center left.  They have SUCH a good time and there are always lots of girls and boys later in the day.  I think Caiden is now 10. 

The newest gardener came last week and cleared all the weeds from front and back yards.  We had agreed on once a week on Friday, but he didn't show up.  Not much growing in either yard.  There are several Feverfew plants in bloom, I guess he recognized they are not weeds, and the day lily given two years ago by friend  Verna when she thinned her flower beds has three blossom stalks with buds.  I don't know what color it is.  I do love the pure yellow ones. 

Meanwhile, KoKo and I go for our walk twice a day.  A few times we have only gone up to the corner and back around the two cul de sacs, when I am struggling to make it out the door.  But we both need the walks and the full loop is a bit less than a mile.  There are three low walls along the way that I can sit on for a few minutes if I need to.  Our goal is to walk the distance without sitting. 

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It was the usual 4th of July 07-05-23

Every year for the last decade our neighborhood has held a "parade" on the 4th.  And each year there are more children, more participants.  KoKo and I sit on a folding chair in the driveway and hoot and holler as the parade goes by.  Well, KoKo doesn't hoot or holler, he usually goes to sleep in my lap - not into parades. 

Usually the leader is Mr. Rohr in his little Jeep, fessooned with balloons and streamers.  But this year he and wife are on vacation so the fire truck moved up to first place.  I don't know how we rate a fire truck AND a Placentia PD car, don't know of any neighbors who are either firemen or policemen.  (Or women!)

 

There seemed to be fewer decorations on the bikes, scooters, skate boards this year.  Economics or perhaps just laziness!  I know that I will be picking up debris for several days.

The adult who usually shows up in a weird costume was not walking this year.  Maybe he is also on vacation.  There were plenty of kids and quite a few parents walking, waving, and yelling Happy 4th of July.  Didn't notice any MAGA hats this year, even though this is a heavily Conservative area.

At the very end were this couple with their poodle mix dog.  He always gives us a tentative bark when we walk by his house, but he has learned my voice so i tell him what a good dog he is and he stops barking.  LOTS of dogs and children in our neighborhood.   These pictures show what i see out my front windows.  I do hate those motor homes reflecting the hot sun back to me.  The law says we cannot park them where they are seen from the street, but these have been parked in the driveways for decades.  It is just a small irritation, not worth losing good neighbors  over something so small.   But it still bugs me!!

I am still coughing until sometimes I think I will choke!  Still doing the "croup tent" which helps for a short time and I'm trying to not talk because that will set me off.  I have an appointment with my new primary in the morning, maybe she has an answer.  To me it is odd that it is so hard to be sick now.  All the years I had bronchitis every winter I knew what to do, but wearing a mask seems to have protected me from sickness these past three years and i have forgotten how to be sick! 

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Mary Quinn quilt from Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collecion 07-02-23

Sunday again and another quilt from the Collection.   I purchased this one from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, CO, when I was traveling in 2011.   I think the exhibit was of quilts made by members of the Front Range Quilters, a large Colorado guild that tends toward art quilts.  I was attracted to the theme, the unusual color, and the interesting technique.  

"An Exaltation of Larks"  Mary Quinn - Colorado 2010  33"W X 67"L

Cotton fabric, paint/ink, cotton batting, cotton thread. 

 Deconstructed silk screen, hand applique, inking, machine quilting. 

With the exception of the wings all of the white parts are a result of deconstructed silk screen, including the barbed wire. 

This is really a whole cloth quilt with the exception of this nest with it's soft blue eggs appliqued a the lower left.  

:Many details if you look close.  The larks with their beaks open all have musical notes coming out of their beaks.  

 

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