all’s well that ends well

Today, on day 135 of covid quarantine and day 7 of anniversary staycation, we awoke to a major plumbing leak. Obviously this changed all of our fun plans for Friday morning, but we are vividly grateful to have pinpointed the leak behind the downstairs bathroom, accessed it with only moderate wall deconstruction, and repaired it without calling for outside professional help. Also with just one trip to the hardware store, whew! Winning.

After regrouping midday, baking was in order. I made this Greek yogurt cake from Sandy’s blog (hers is one of my favorite spaces on the internet, truly). I swapped the strawberries for blackberries from my garden and added shredded coconut. It’s delicious!

Since this isn’t quite my husband’s kind of treat, he got his very own weekend batch of cookies made with chopped up Hershey’s bars, not semi sweet chips, and zero nuts or oatmeal. His life has been hard enough this week to have to deal with such nonsense ingredients, ha.

This evening we will gather at my childhood home in the City to say farewell to Halee, Greg, and Connor. In a few days they will join my brother Joey in Spain for what will likely be their little family’s final U.S. Navy chapter. We are so excited for them!! And as weird as the last few months have been thanks to patchy quarantining and iffy health conditions for several family members, we are thrilled to have spent so many quality days and nights together, making summertime memories. Our family is big and energetic and sometines unwieldy, but man do we know how to love each other! My friend Mickey, after hearing so many of my fun family stories, once observed that I “come from a long line of effort.” And that might be one of the best compliments we could receive.

One of the ritials Handsome and I keep in our marriage is the issuing and redemption of fun coupons. We do this at birthdays, on vacations, in the doldrums of winter to spice things up, etc. Obviously, we created some this week, with the intention of using them by Sunday night. But after losing almost all of today to plumbing drama and two days earlier this week to electrical repairs, we are extending the coupon redemption deadlines until next Tuesday evening. This is a correct decision.

I just finished Cold Mountain and just started reading Born to Run. These books could not be more different except in their common ability to make me crave to do all the things except sit still.

What’s new in your world? How are you spending these summer days and humid nights? Any good recipes I should try, books worth readi ng, or ideas to ruminate?

Thanks for checking in, friends, hope to see you again tomorrow!

XOXOXOXO