WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!

I may have awoke at 4 AM but shortly after I had posted the message before this one I noticed that it was below 60*F and decided to open some windows. Then I sat in one of the recliners and slept a couple more hours of good restful sleep.

I made pancakes for my breakfast and didn't realize I had used the last of the syrup so I put the batter in the fridge and we will eat the rest as either dessert tonight or breakfast in the morning.

After Scott got up and made himself a sausage and eggs breakfast we decided to go for a walk by the river and then to the library and Aldi's. We went to the West Columbia Entrance today for something a little different. The flowers are trying very hard to put on one final big blast of color before the weather turns cooler. And of course I had to try to capture some of their essence....

The colors were all so rich and vibrant they absolutely GRABBED our attention and demanded their photos be taken.

      Nature's Beauty surrounds us EVERY day!

There were quite a few Canadian Geese enjoying the morning. It was most enjoyable watching them bob for food and then fluff their feather. They were honking to one another and we wondered if they were going over what they were to do today. 

This little fellow is a 5 lined skink and they are so beautiful. We have one that lives under and in our compost bin that is 8 to 10 inches long. They are great little bug hunters and I so enjoy seeing them.

This dragonfly caught Scott's eye because of it's coloring and I am glad that he pointed it our to me. Isn't it striking?

Of course the Gervais Street bridge is always "eye candy" for me and with today's blue sky and wispy clouds I had to take even more photos to share here.

 Scott wanted me to take a couple picture's of our Capital City of Columbia from "our side" of the river so here they are... isn't the sky wonderful?

It really won't be long until the tree's have lost their leaves and we will have a clear view of Columbia.

 After our walk along the river we stopped at the library so that Scott could try to get on the Department of the Navy's job website but apparently their site is down. While he was doing that I decided to just look through books and came home with a small stack to enjoy the next few weeks. I'll share more on them later.  We then went to Aldi's for syrup and ended up about filling the cart with more groceries - I shop better alone! We will use everything we bought and the prices were unbeatable.

And to round this day out I made a spicy vegetable soup and Scott made corn bread for our supper. It was DELICIOUS!

Weekend over....

Well that weekend passed so quickly! Scott has left for work and Greg is planning his day - he needs to go check in with his temp service and stop at the Brewing store to see what he needs to do about his Mead as it keeps foaming over the valve at the top. He started this Saturday and I think he stayed up all Saturday night watching it ferment and "burp". He is quite excited about this and I am hoping that it turns out drinkable or he will be so disappointed.

On Friday I took what was left in the fridge of a beef roast and a variety of vegetables and made beef vegetable soup by adding a can of tomatoes, about 2 cups water, a bay leaf, garlic salt, black pepper, parsley and a bit of basil. I cooked it in the slow cooker all day on low so that the meat would get more tender and so that the flavors could meld together. Sunday I took the leftover soup and brought it to a boil in a pot on top of the stove and made parsley dumplings that I cooked on top of the soup.
So from one beef roast we've had 4 separate meals and NO WASTE. The last meal will be our lunch today. Tonight I will be starting the week with a whole new meal - pork chops, mashed potatoes, salad and perhaps some dinner rolls. And I want to try to make a Julia Child recipe called "Tarte Tatin" - a caramelized apple dessert with cream topping. I watched her make it on the PBS.com site and it just looked so heavenly. I almost forgot about the wonderful egg custard that I made on Friday... I've just been in such a Nurturing mood I guess. Egg custard with wonderful Nutmeg.... YUM!

My white Rose of Sharon is really throwing out the blooms now... I just love how dainty they look when the sun is shining on them.

Saturday I went out to the garden and finally found a few tomatoes that were not completely rotted from the heavy rain and heat. Most are cherry tomatoes but the one larger one is actually an "Orange" colored tomato. I thought it would be a fun thing to add to the garden. While I was out there I tied up some of the cherry tomatoes that had fallen over because I used those wimpy cages that you find in all the stores. I will get Scott to make me some more REAL tomato cages from the wire Greg brought home - it's concrete reinforcing mesh and makes the BEST tomato cages. I also got the grass and weeds up between a row of raised beds where we haven't been able to get rolled roofing down. The rolled roofing has made keeping the walkways weed free so much easier - Scott had an excellent idea there. I also cleaned out and turned two of the empty beds and planted Lima beans and pole beans but I believe I've told most of this all ready - sorry for repeating myself.

We went for two very lovely walks by the River and that always lifts my spirits. A little orange butterfly decided to light on Scott's hand - I think it looks like he is wearing a really cool glowing ring in this picture... Of course me and the fungi have this love thing going on and I had to get two shots of this one that was growing along the path - I think it looks like the main section of the Enterprise - nearly floating in the air...