Welcoming June with Open Arms

Well I've flipped my calendar and am celebrating the arrival of June. The weather has been great (hot!), the packs of mosquitos are thinning, and it is finally raining. It has been far too long since we had a good rain and the sight of it this afternoon is making my heart smile. My flowers are smiling too. My cat, however, is hiding. She is not one for rain.

May didn't leave without a fight though; John and I both got colds. Mine is just a head cold (manageable), but he has both a head and a chest cold and is sick sick sick. No fun. Luckily I did a big shop for groceries and we have lots of easy meals to choose from. Tonight will be bacon, eggs, pancakes, and toast. A little breakfast for dinner to heal us right up.

The last day of May also included an unexpected shock as I made myself some chicken noodle soup:

The bottom of my soup bowl fell out! While it was full of soup! Thankfully the soup wasn't hot (it was pre-microwave), so the counter and the floor just got covered in cold, wet, soup. Kinda gross. I'm sorry to lose the soup bowl, as it's been a favourite since the early 2000s. I suppose I'm happy it lasted as long as it did. Plus the chicken noodle soup was on sale for $0.50, so I'm glad it happened with it, and not the fancy $2 soups I recently purchased.

So Happy June, Friends! I'm going to spend the rest of the day nursing my cold, listening to the rain, and reading. Sounds like a good, relaxing start to the month.

Dill Pickle Potato Salad #FoodPicFriday

I've been craving dill pickle potato salad ever since our friend Corey made some and shared it with us at our last game night. Today I made a really simple version, based off a recipe found here, and it is my new favourite potato salad recipe. The softness of the mashed potato mixed with the crunchiness of the chopped dill pickle make it soooo good. Plus the addition of the pickle juice enhances the tangy flavour. I love this salad. Tonight we served it with smoked sausage on a bun for a lovely Friday night meal.

Easy Dill Pickle Potato Salad

2.5 lbs potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed

3 small pickles, finely diced

1 tbs yellow mustard

1/2 tsp pepper

1.5 tbs pickle juice

6 tbs mayo (or more to taste)

sprinkle salt

Mash potatoes and cool. Add all other ingredients to potatoes and stir. Refrigerate until cold. Enjoy!

Monday Fun-day

I can't claim to have had a lot of stress free days lately, but today I am having one and it feels soooooo good. I am actually blogging too, which is something that always falls to wayside when I am dealing with the less fun aspects of life. But it feels good to be back at the computer and to catch up with blogs and bloggers I've missed over the past few weeks.

Today I'm celebrating being stress free by having a music/dance party. So far I'm focusing my attention on Paul McCartney's Unplugged album from 1991. It is a rocking good time and making me smile big this afternoon. I had a hard time picking which song to post from it (they are all equally good), but decided on Blue Moon of Kentucky. It starts slow but it is so much fun.



I also made and enjoyed some breakfast (late lunch) wraps that had bacon, scrambled egg, spinach, and grated cheese in them, all on homemade tortillas.

Probably going to spend the rest of my day with more music, more food, and maybe a little outdoor time when the sun is less harsh. There is a 'Very High' UV Index for us today and we don't have any shady spots free of mosquitos at the moment, so I'm staying inside until after 4:00pm or so. Playing it safe.

Exploring New Trails

As part of the 30x30 Challenge I've been getting lots of time outdoors lately.

After hitting the library today, I went and explored a nature trail that I hadn't been on before. It was very secluded - no one in sight but me. I explored the trail without my iPod. Instead of music, I heard all the sounds of nature: the stream, squirrels playing, and birds chirping. It was a really nice day to be out walking around.

Bridge to the nature trail

View from the bridge

Really lovely trail for walking

Celebration Pie

My Dad turned sixty-five in April so I made him a pie to celebrate.

I had success carving a pie crust top when I made my pi day pie, so this time I tried carving numbers.

It mostly worked, but the berries did leak a little. The pie was enjoyed just the same, as it was raspberry pie (my favourite) and one of dad's favourites too.

I also got to test out my pie crust shield and it seemed to work just fine.