Last week I was driving through town when I saw a man raking piles of pine needles. There was already a huge stack of bagged pine needles. So I stopped and asked him what he was going to do with them. He said he had already taken 142 bags to the dump. Arrgh! So we came home and got the truck and brought home the remaining bags. This morning my children and I tried to beat the humidity and laid the mulch on top of landscaping fabric. Last year there was a strip of grass between the pool tarp and the hydrangeas and it was always overgrown and ugly. (Yes, I know I didn't prune my hydrangeas last fall!)

This evening when Lizzie and I got home from violin lesson, we ate a delicious dinner that Maggie made. We had a rice salad with avacados, artichokes, green onions and waterchestnuts. With that we ate chicken and dumplings. Everyone loved it but Ruthie, but the fact that she ate 2 nutbutter biscuits before dinner probably had a lot to do with it!For dessert, Maggie made Apple Pie Bars from the September 2004 issue of Country Extra (Reiman Publications). Of course, Maggie made all these dishes dairyfree and eggfree. She is going to post the recipes on her blog this week.
Before violin lessons, Lizzie and I dashed into one of our favorite stores in Leonardtown. It is a kitchen store called Quality Street Kitchen and Catering. This link takes you to their blog which has lotsa great pictures. This store is a wonderful place to browse. Most of the items are high end kitchen items. Today Lizzie and I bought two pineapple upside down cake pans that we had special ordered. Tomorrow I will show you a picture of the pans and a sample cake...hopefully! But if you are ever in Leonardtown, please stop here. (They also offer cooking classes that are well-known around here.) This picture shows only half of the store. We've also been in there when they were cooking in preparation for a class or catering event. Smells heavenly!
Sometime this summer I will post a visual tour of Leonardtown to entice you to spend a long afternoon there. There are so many quaint little stores. So go park your car behind the thrift shop and plan to eat al fresco at the Cafe des Artistes, then walk from door to door windowshopping.

Hubby is home now, so time to go reconnect and find out about his day. Many blessings ~ Kathie