Quarantine parties on

Birthday celebration part 2. Pool party at Candy’s pool. Pool party is always my choice. 

First off. Cake. I guess we figured , life is short.  Have dessert first. It was a lovely lemon cake. 

Make a wish that I’m not breathing out coronavirus. 

And I requested potato salad. I love her potato salad. Wish I had taken more pictures. Amy came by and brought a watermelon and Chris threw it right in the pool! Lovely gifts from Candy and Matthew. Chris sent home some homegrown okra. 

Jan brought me a fudge square from Primos. Love them. Got a sweet card from Mom that was definitely not dry. (Meaning it’s included money)

Pepper got in on laundry separation. I always miss Toby at this time. I used to tell him that I didn’t know if he should go in lights or darks. No doubt about where Pepper should go. 

Here he is in the famous toothpick picture. 

Here is an actual good picture of Pepper. 

And here is the direct opposite. Amy’s cat Trixie. 

She was doing cat yoga for us. 

Quarantine actually celebrates

We had our social distance Book Club at Sue’s house. We decided to celebrate my birthday at the same time since it is so hard to go out. 

She set a lovely safe disposable table! 

We all brought our own lunch. 

She did add in this cauliflower rice stir fry. As per Pam’s request. 

And I actually squealed with delight when I saw the dessert. I have been craving a lemon ice box pie. She said this was a buttermilk ice box pie. It was so good!!

With strawberries and whipped cream. And it HAS to be a homemade crust. The book we discussed was Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jilles. We all loved it. What a storyteller. 

On to presents. I was covered by the bounty. I think everyone was happy to shop a bit. 

Everyone really hit the nail on the head! Such sweet gifts. On the left are some homemade pickles from Kathy. She also included Blueberry Basil jam and her own chili sauce. Hope I can do them justice. How wonderful to have sweet friends like these. 

Jill always makes a card. Had to share this one. 

I definitely am forgetful. I think this girl forgot to take a bath too.  

I was unpacking my spoils and throwing away tissue and ribbon and discovered something I overlooked. Kathy’s tag was a work of  art itself. 

Quarantine slogs on

More on the fungi front. Tree mushroom. 

Really pretty. 

Why do I even have a table runner. Pepper does his zoomies all over the house. I probably should move that bowl. I love it. I inherited it from Candy. Her mom collected it. There were so many lovely pieces like an oil and vinegar set. 

Got some fresh green beans. Always unsure about how to cook them. 

Found a recipe online. Turned out well. 

Truff was getting to the squeaker in the only toy with one left in it. She destroyed it. 

Quarantine gets squashed

So...I get a picture from my cousin Karen. 

She is an excellent cook. I asked “is that fried squash?”  She said it was. I remember my mom making it. 

Oh, by the way, she also made peach cobbler. Oh please. I decided to try to fry squash. She gave me instructions. 

Well of course the kitchen was a disaster. 

Pretty hit or miss on the squash. 

Some was burned. Some was limp. Oh well. 

End result was not too bad. The crown of southern cooking goes to Karen. 

Quarantine on a stick

For some reason frozen treats have been missing in the grocery store. Finally fudgesicles are back. Even no sugar added. I also got  banana popsicles. I wish I could get some to Mom but not sure how that  would work with melting. 

Decided I wanted orzo salad like I like from Freshmarket. I looked at tons of recipes. Came up with my own take on it. 

Made a lemony dressing. At that point I decided I could look up Freshmarket’s  recipe. Too late. Sauce was made. 

It actually turned out great. Lots of fresh lemon juice and zest. 

Along with sausage, garlic Parmesan bread. Don’t tell my doctor. 

Quarantine Dad’s day

Couldn’t wait until tomorrow. To celebrate the best dad ever. 

Not sure where this was but he was always willing to help in the kitchen. 

How many dads will take a bunch of women camping? Including his mother-in-law ( he really adored her ). 

Carrying someone’s purse if need be. 

He loved to have pictures taken at signs along the way. 

Loved his golf!

Trying to recruit the nest generation to the game. 

Scooping  up some ice cream. Saved the best for last. 

Happy day!

Love you Dad and miss you so much!

Quarantine floats on

Mom and I had the same idea at the same time. It happens to us. A coke float. 

Our variation was Dr. Pepper and sugar free vanilla. 

All you do is pour coke over ice cream. It foams up like this. 

Then settles in like this. 

Gets all soft and creamy. I could be back at the Seale-Lily. 

What can I do with this?

Ahhh. BLT. Tomato was still only good. I’m still waiting on a great one. Know anybody with a garden?

Had lunch with Amy on her porch and tried to catch all 3 cats together. Nope. 

Spooky G doesn’t mind his picture being taken. 

This morning I noticed this piece of plant matter. Then I noticed it moving. It was a bug of some sort!! It literally walked across the chair arm. I looked it up and it is a Trash bug. If you look closely you will see that it’s camouflage is made of not only plant matter but the remains of other bugs it has caught and eaten! It is the larva stage of a type of aphid. Yikes. He was ambling on to find his next victim (and body ornament). 

My every changing sink arrangement. Cypress, monkey grass bloom, oregano and a weed of some sort.