Cooking Class

When my sons were growing up cooking was more of a necessity than something I saw as fun. We were like every young family with schedules that were full with school, sports, work and managing a household. We cooked for fun during the holidays and I still remember the big batches of salsa we would all put up together in the summer, but most of the time, cooking was pretty basic. I had two sons and they were always hungry, meals were made to fill bellies and hopefully they were tasty too.

Now that we are Empty Nesters we have been able to experiment a bit with cooking and it's something we both enjoy doing. We both like trying new recipes and my husband has perfected some awesome Sourdough Bread which he makes on a biweekly basis. (from a start he received from our youngest son almost two years ago) Our youngest son also enjoys cooking and when he's visiting the kitchen can get a bit crowded with all of us cooking but it's a lot of fun. When he was home last he made a killer Carrot Cake. When I looked at the size of it I was sure we would never eat it all but that wasn't a problem, it was gone in a week.

We have always wanted to take a cooking class so when we went to Charleston we found one that had spots available so we signed up.The class turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip (and yes I learned a few things too) If you come to my house I now know how to make a quick dessert of seasonal fruit and puff pastry (special tip, use frozen puff pastry) We made a four course meal and ate as we cooked, it was a delightful evening, so much so, that we are looking to do it again, perhaps in our little city. So tell me, do you enjoy cooking? Have you ever taken a cooking class, did you enjoy it?

Southern Charm

We've done a lot of travel this year, mostly to the Mountain House to take care of business. But last week we decided to spend a couple of days away to celebrate our anniversary. It wasn't a milestone anniversary or anything, but I am thankful for every year that we are together, and we both felt that we needed to get away for a little bit, our destination city was Charleston.

We stayed at an Airbnb again and had the most charming hostess. This is our third experience with Airbnb and have had good experiences each time. I think the key with finding a good Airbnb is to read the listing and the reviews and find one that best matches your lifestyle needs. We like centrally located places and prefer homes over apartments. It's a great option for couples. Our hostess would have coffee with us each morning before she headed off to work, and would give us suggestions on what to see or do, then we would be on our own.

We spent our days exploring the city, riding the bikes to Sunrise Park and trying out some yummy places to eat. It ended up being a pretty low key getaway and exactly what was needed. We came home refreshed, (not knowing we even needed to be refreshed) and a new appreciation for each other.

In case you were wondering we celebrated 41 years, I'm not sure where all the time has gone, but it has gone by pretty quickly. Like all marriages there have been good times and bad times, lots of laughter and plenty of tears. I'm thankful for this guy but mostly for the Lord who has been the foundation of our marriage, the Rock we have turned to time and again while navigating this journey.

Hello June

Hello June, we are really glad you are here.
It's been such a busy Winter and Spring, which has been evident by the neglect of my little blog.

We have been busy, ridding Winter debris and making it look like Spring again. Sweet Husband and been staining and cleaning and raking and digging. one *fun* event was cleaning out the gutters. I was tasked to *hold* the ladder while he blew water through the gutters with a power washer. He had suggested I wear a hat because I could get wet. I should have thought it through more. He was cleaning out the gutters, where was all the gutter debris going to go? I didn't realize it would be raining down on me, the hat did me little good as I ended up being soaked with gutter goop. I got suspicious that getting me wet was in the plan the whole time...lol

There is still work to be done, painting, mending of fences, replacing doors, more staining but things are done enough for us to be able to sit outside and enjoy the quiet time in the garden.

Our biggest challenge has been the rain. Either it's raining or the ground is too wet because it had been raining, so that has slowed us down a bit when it comes to working outside. The photo below was taken on Memorial Day as Tropical Storm Bonnie paid a visit. Made for quite a wet day and an interesting one for us because we had our Community Group over for a barbecue. It was a bit wet but that seemed to add to the enjoyment.

I hear there's rain in the forecast for the next week, my plants will love it and it will save me from having to water. Here a little of what is blooming in our garden, what's blooming in yours.