Look at Mom’s cute cat display. It has gotten a lot of attention. Especially the cute painting done by Paul’s mom, Brenda. 

Wanted to make chicken enchiladas but was out of green chili sauce so I improvised with a white sauce with green chilies in it. 

May need to permanently switch. 

Sweet lady. 

One second later being a goof. 

Birthday boy

Begging. 

Next level begging. 

Don’t blame her. It was good. 

Ed turned 68.  You know what birthdays mean…fried chicken livers and gizzards  

And beautiful gravy. 

The girls. 

Mary Grace’s cat not her cat. So they claim. Cletus spends most of his time this summer on their porch. He likes to press his forehead into things. Weirdo. 

So, I had a small pork loin filet that I needed to use. I took it over to get MG’s professional help. She learned to make this years ago from Candy. 

It is stuffed with fresh mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes and spinach. It was perfect. 

It was an honor to provide these family recipes to Ryan for adaptation for the restaurant. Hope he can read Mom’s writing. They don’t teach cursive in school anymore so I wonder how kids will translate old recipes 

My terrible writing. Also may need to explain what “oleo” is!

Made pepper sauce for the first time. The big one is a poblano pepper from Sophie. The little ones are mystery peppers that came home in my Kroger bag. I think they are jalapenos. 

Aren’t they pretty. Next thing you know I’ll be cooking turnip greens. 

Anyone who followed the great SPAM experiment on Mom’s blog (The Dot Spot, accessible here), here is the final experiment. The can became a vase. 

This beautiful vine came over the fence. Took a little maneuvering to keep my shadow of me in my nightgown out of the picture. 

Oh , what the heck. Here is me in my nightgown. 

Tricky August

There are rare days in August when the slant of the light changes and a breeze blows and it’s only in the low 90’s, that you can almost see fall in the distance. 

It wasn’t half bad monitoring the grill. Ed and I both thought of how toddler Sophie called them squish-a-bobs. These were teriyaki chicken and sausage. Added pineapple, peppers, red onion and mushrooms. 

How about some dog fun. She wouldn’t look at me when I was taking her pic. Guess she thinks this is her best side. 

In the crate by choice. 

They surprised a rabbit from this spot yesterday and keep investigating it. 

I hope there is not a bunny hutch in there. 

They both wallered in in to be sure to get their scent on. 

This morning was cooler than usual and they got full yard zoomies. I could barely get pictures. 

Check out this dazzling turn in the dust. 

This glorious plant which has new politically minded name of Wandering Dude, is going crazy on my deck. 

Exhausted from that brutal run. 

Also thirsty. 

Comfort food

A church friend has suffered a broken knee cap while recovering from rotator cuff surgery. Ouch. I’ve been craving stuffed bell peppers. They are cheap right now. So I made enough for both families. 

Sorry I attacked this plate before I took a picture. I hope they liked it. I never had stuffed peppers until I went to MSU in 1976. Mom didn’t cook with them because Dad had a stomach ulcer and that was the protocol. Also I thought it was gross when Dad put pot liquor (likker?) on his cornbread. Now I love it. Our tastes change. 

Finished it off with Aunt Charlotte’s brownies. When I delivered them they were still hot. 

Treasure

What is this !?!? Mary Grace and Ryan got very little of their wedding china and it has been discontinued. So Mamaw gave Mary Grace a few plates from her old 1970’s Franciscan dinnerware. She loved it. Sophie (our shopping guru) found a bunch of it on eBay. Big score. 

This is it. Remember? 

Well they got a cabinet full!