I hear music...

I just got back from shopping and look at what was waiting -- Nicholas strumming "Smoke on the Water" on this shined up blast from the past.

Our next door neighbor is a guitar expert -- so just a couple of hours ago we asked him if he could resuscitate this one. I can't believe how quickly he did the job. Maybe it was the Ben & Jerry's ice cream I bribed him with -- to go along with the peach cobbler we brought over to his cute little pregnant wife.

So now, Nicholas -- and his funky hat -- are groovin' with the tunes!

what we do when it's really HOT outside...

We bake, of course! Every year I get the urge to bake at this part of the summer. This year, I am starting with a couple of peach cobbler recipes. Our local supermarket was selling these awesome, HUGE, perfectly ripe peaches for 99 cents/lb. They were so beautiful, and, so plentiful, that I was totally inspired. Growing up, we had a peach tree in our yard -- so this brings back some nice memories for me too. Of course, I didn't have my "little helper" back then -- so I got things done a bit quicker -- wink, wink! But, today's baking was just as much fun, and the results are looking good -- so far. We haven't tasted either recipe yet -- so I will update later on in the day when we do. UPDATE 1:12 p.m. -- there is no choice between these recipes -- either one is absolutely fantastic. Don't walk, RUN and get some big, ripe, juicy peaches and make either recipe today! We are definitely going to add the homemade vanilla ice cream later, for dessert -- if we don't eat it for an afternoon snack before that!



The recipe on the left is from Martha Stewart. The recipe on the right is from Erin's house on hill road blog (minus the pie crust).



Yum!

I smite thee...tree!

Here is what happened last night at dinnertime during our massive thunderstorm. The red blob didn't pass over us at weather.com -- we WERE the red blob. The storm didn't exist, and, we watched the sky as it formed over our heads and as it became a huge red blob on the weather.com radar. The last time I remember being in storm like that was in Staten Island, over 10 years ago. The wind and rain came from all directions. It blew a window screen off our neighbor's house, it tipped over the huge flowerpots on our front porch, it tried with all its might to blow open back door of our house, and, it did this:



Sigh... This is one of the trees in my family of 7 on the other side of the street. These are the trees that I have been caring for since we moved here. When they were dusty with construction dirt, I washed them down. When they were baking in the sun with no water during our 2 year dry cycle, I watered them weekly. When the weeds invaded their trunk space, we pulled them out. They were doing very nicely this year -- even after those landscaping men came and "pruned" them -- and now this. No one showed up about this today, except for a group of boys on skateboards who wanted to pull the tree apart -- yes, I chased them away.

I guess I will have to call the powers that be to remove it. I am sad...

morning mystery...

This is what we found this morning -- right outside our bedroom window. The window was open last night while we were sleeping -- and I heard nothing.




Any ideas?




Maybe it was that turkey hawk?

Another celebrity...gone...

This just in...

Marisa, a member of the Kelly club, has died of an apparent suicide. She was found at dinnertime, by Milton (the cat), floating face down in the water bowl shared by him and his feline sister, Cookie. Apparently in shock, Milton was not immediately available for comment.



Who will be next?

Hey, close the windows -- there's some rain coming our way...

Okay, mom -- they're all closed!



Sigh... x 7 windows! :-(

This is our third summer here and we've never had this much water dumped on us at one time.

Here is the watershed in the conservation area during the downpour:



Here is the swell (easement) behind the houses (look beyond the orange fencing!)



Temporary lake in the conservation area. This was created within a matter of minutes from the downpour!

And, my pink flip flops enjoying a summertime Thursday -- their day off too!

A frog went a courtin' and other summer stuff...

The building inspector came this morning. He knocked on the door, because he wanted to tell me that the electrical inspector would be here today. I thought that was odd -- but it was okay because he was in a talkative mood. I asked him if he had any advice on how to keep the frogs out of the pool -- and he corrected me, explaining that they are toads -- commented that we are the only pool in this area, and chuckled that he did not have a solution. Then we chatted a bit about the wildlife over in the conservation area. He also mentioned that sometimes the baby bunnies somehow get themselves caught in the pool skimmer -- so I will remember that and check ours before turning on the filter. The electrical inspector did show up -- at about 3 p.m. So now we're all set for the concrete guy -- hopefully he got our phone message and will just show up to do his job tomorrow.

Here is a nice picture to commemorate "our father's birthday":


These are the sunflowers that planted themselves out by the tree on the curb. There are 7 of them growing quite nicely. The peppers and tomatoes I just picked from the garden and will be used for tonight's dinner.

Don't forget to sing Happy Birthday at sunset! :-)