I love summertime meals! Last night we had salad. The produce is almost all locally grown...and my own garden is close to producing cucumbers. I've been eating my own yellow and red grape tomatoes but only 2 or 3 a day are ripe. But it's looking good!

Our weatherman said there is no foreseeable rain for at least a week...yikes! We are already pretty dry. So I'll keep moving those garden hoses!

Today was a long day for me and I came home emotionally whipped. Now that I've had a good cry and a time of prayer and reflection, I'm feeling much better.
Several times a year we will be driving on our dirt road and come across a straight black stick lying across the road. This guy wasn't so straight...so I knew in a second he was a black snake!

They always take awhile to move out of the way.

But once they get going, they take off! As long as he stays out of my raspberry patch, I'm fine!

Maggie usually has her appts back to back, one at noon and the second appt at 2 pm...with barely enough time to get to the second one on time. Today we got a call asking us to come in a half hour later. So that means we had time to meet Mike for lunch! We decided on mexican food at Monterey Restaurant.

This is Maggie's chimichanga, her favorite at this restaurant.

And this is Mike's steak fajita. I really wanted guacamole and chips for lunch but they only had guacamole with dairy sourcream already mixed in. Then I realized I really wasn't hungry at all, so I just chatted while they ate.
On the way home, I stopped at the amish store to pick up 40 lbs of fresh blueberries. We had fun eating them by the handfuls. These are the best I've ever tasted!

My Dad gave me this jar of Zatarain's crab boil...similiar to Old Bay seasoning...but much spicier! How spicy? Cayenne pepper is third on the list of ingredients! I was disheartened to see MSG on the list...no wonder it was tasty. (I took the picture of the mustard next to it so you could see how large the container is.) I sprinkled a bunch on my corn on the cob...it was delicious! Thanks, Dad.

For years I have told my children about when I was a child, living down the street from a Snowball stand. It was always a treat to be allowed to take 50 cents and bike on up to get a snowball. My favorite flavor was always chocolate syrup with marshmallow topping. Yummy! I have been amazed at how few people have tried that combo.

Today when I was in Walmart, I found a nondairy chocolate syrup and an eggless marshmallow topping. Ruthie made the snowballs on our commercial snowball machine (a gift from freecycle.org), and we had fun pouring the toppings on. Delicious! I was immediately transported back to the bridge on Meadowbrook Road in Glen Burnie, Maryland. We always sat on the bridge and dangled our feet over the edge while savoring our snowcones. What a good memory.

Just a note about the marshmallow topping: if you want to try this recipe, do not use the fake Smuckers topping as shown above. Find a whipped marshmallow topping that has egg whites...much tastier although gooey-er. (Is that a word?!)

Years ago on PBS, I watched a show that featured a snowcone stand in Hawaii that sold snowcones that were layered snow+ice cream+snow+syrup! People drove for miles to come to that stand. Someday I want to be brave enough to try the snowcone/ice cream combo.

So ends another eventful day. Oops...I had just typed those words when I got a phonecall from Sarah, who was sitting in her truck on our driveway. Copperhead! Everyone grabbed flashlights, shovels, and camera, and ran out the door. We saw him...but he got away. I drove everyone around in the truck searching for him, but he was gone. So exciting!

We are having a few days with beautiful weather in the 80s. It's wonderful! Hope you are having nice weather wherever you are.

Many blessings ~ Kathie