dinners to plan, dinnsers to cook

Add one more stunning day to the string of gorgeous weather days.

Good morning, farmette flowers and plants and chickens and cats and bugs and birds! And lilies. Because there are still some to be found (In fact, I snipped nearly 100 spent ones this morning, though most were from just two late blooming plants.)

Brilliant day for breakfast on the porch. Oatmeal begone! A return to croissants...

And then Ed and I sit down and plan out menus. He's set to go adventuring with his buddies next week and it is clear as anything that the guy needs help menu planning. (They're taking their own food.) Predicting what three clueless guys will eat is a bit of a challenge, but I do my best and by the end of the morning, the list is done. (Yes, it took that long.) 

And I face my own dinner plans for tonight. We've moved Sunday family dinner to this day because my daughter's good friend is in town and tradition has it that he should come for a farmhouse meal and it should include shrimp and we should eat on the porch. We all consider this guy to be part of the family by now  and what a welcome addition! One should always be so lucky as to rope in someone who is funny and smart and kind, all in one fell swoop. So I set to work on getting the basics done, before the kids come for the afternoon. 

Because yes, the kids are here today, in this last week of morning summer camp.

And yes, today is the promised ice cream day.

In the early evening, the gang arrives for dinner. Hi Sandpiper!

(all but Ed, who is off biking, as is his habit on Wednesdays: we ate corn from Stonemans Farm, eggs from the cheepers, green beans and tomatoes from the market and Krowki fudge candy from Poland; the seafood came from... the sea.)

If you think this is an abbreviated post, you just wait until next week when all hell will break loose and my days will be so full that you will be lucky to get a sentence out of me to let you know I have survived! (I exaggerate. When is the last time you have read a post here that is only one sentence long...)

I should mention that in the evenings, I tune into the historic Chicago convention. Call me sentimental, but I sure loved hearing the candidate spouse extol the virtues of his wife, and the dynamic super couple (our 44th and his wife) use their best oratorical skills to tell us why and how we should vote come November. So yes, it's been fun to watch and that is not something I could have said about days spent watching the counterpart to this convention back in July. Anger and hatred just doesn't appeal to me for evening TV viewing. I'm more of a hope and hard work kind of a person. Optimistic with a realistic slant!

And now it's time to exhale. With contentment. And love...