Nature's Beauty

From our garden.

Nice Stop

We went to Grand Rapids for an appointment yesterday.  Afterwards, it was so pretty outside, we decided to stop at one of our favorite restaurants, Blue Water Grill.

We sat at the outside bar and enjoyed the scenery, the fresh air, and a cosmo or two.

Ahhh.....a perfect summer afternoon.

Penny Does It Again!

 My blogging friend, Penny, from Illinois is such a dear person.  The other day, a package arrived in the mail for me!  Surprise!

 Penny made this lovely crochet-edged pillowcase for me.  I find all these ideas for her online and send them to her and she creates them.....and sends me her first!  How wonderful is that?

And this lovely handkerchief of my State, she found recently while thrifting.  It is so pretty...I think it will nice framed!










It's my intention to make a trip to Chicago soon.   I'd love for Penny to teach me how to crochet.  She does such a beautiful job.  I have tried so many times and have not yet been successful.  I'm thinking she could do the trick, sitting right by my side.  Oh, I could also get a visit in with Joslyn while I'm there.!
Thanks again, Penny!

Happy 60th Birthday Deb!

Friends of ours invited us up north to their cottage in Evart, MI.  They hosted a Hawaiian Luau in honor of Deb Vos'  60th birthday.

What a great party!  Despite the rain on the two hour trip to their cottage, it ended up clearing.

 

Here's Tim the Pig in the cooker for consumption later on!

Let the tubing begin!

I would say there were ample people ready to have one heck of a great time, rain or no rain.

Here we come, after three hours on the river!

Deb and Ron are the first to arrive back!

Richie bringing up the rear!

Ron and Richie bringing a kayak up the hill!

Time to have a nice little dinner, pig and lots of dishes to pass.  Yum!

I'm sure the party went way into the night, many were camping there for the night, but we headed back home.  I just couldn't bring myself to sleeping the night in a tent!  I'm getting to old, I guess.

Happy Birthday, Deb!  We had a great time celebrating with you.

Babs~

Fabulous

Richie and I had such a wonderful evening last night.  We decided spear of the moment to head over to Ferrysburg Park for a picnic.  It was warm, breezy, and just cause to be out in the sunshine.  We've been inside so much due to the heat and humidity, it was time to get out.


Ferrysburg is only a short distance from where we live.  I'd say 12 minutes.  The park we chose is right where Spring Lake feeds into the Grand River which heads out to Lake Michigan.  Lots of boaters pass through.

 

We had a nice little dinner.  I made a "new" salad.  It was yummy.  It was mixed greens, pears, red grapes, cranberries, pistachios, and gorgonzola cheese.  The dressing was made of shallots, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar.  Very good except next time I would substitute the pears.  I am not a pear person.





We sat and enjoyed some chilled Pinot Grigio (though no alcoholic beverages allowed).














 It was a delightful evening for the two of us.  Summer will be winding down soon. . 

 We'll do this again soon!  So relaxing!
Babs~

Bye Bye Starbucks!

I found someone else!  It's called Iced Coffee DIY.  So yummy!  and oh so much cheaper!  And what an addiction!
It's so easy.  It is a cold brew method and takes no fancy coffeemakers or equipment.  Just a large container as it makes a huge amount of coffeebase.

DIY Iced Coffee
For the coffee base:
16 oz. ground dark roast coffee - I used french roast
8 quarts of cold water
To make coffee base: combine the ground coffee and cold water in a very large container.  Stir well so that all the coffee grounds are moist.  Cover and let sit at room temperature for 8 hours or overnight.  Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth.  Pour coffee-water mixture through the strainer into pitchers.  Store coffee base in the refrigerator to keep chilled.
***Discard coffee grounds in your garden.  Your plants will love it!.

To make an iced mocha, pour chocolate syrup into the bottom of a 16 ounce cup.  Fill the cup with ice (I make my ice cups from leftover coffee .....thus as the ice cubes melt, it does not dilute  your coffee with water but more coffee.).
Pour the chilled coffee base over the ice, filling the cup about 3/4 full.  Stir the mixture well to blend syrup.  Fill the rest of the cup with milk, half and half, or cream(whatever your pleasure) and stir.  And lastly,, enjoy! sit back and count your change! Much more cheaper than Starbucks!.
I have not experimented with syrups yet.  I have store bought Irish Cream syrup.  I will be researching home brews so stay tuned.

This information from annies-eats.net/2011/08/01/diy-iced-coffee
 
I think I'll go and make another one!

Ahh.....Summer

Sunday, we were invited  by friends, Dick and Shirley, to their summer home on Fremont Lake.  There were four couples that got together and enjoyed a lovely summer afternoon.

We went for a nice pontoon boat ride.  The lake was mildly busy...mostly pontoon boats and jet skis.

A mama and daddy swan hung close to their dock with little baby.  They were so sweet!

Here's Dick and Shirley tending to the pork tenderloins on the grill.

What a great spread!  We had pork tenderloin, brats, cheesy potatoes, boiled shrimp, calico beans, salad, fresh Michigan sweet corn, feta/tomato bruschetta,  fresh fruit,  and homemade blueberry pie and brownies for dessert.WOW!

Dick and Shirley completed the house last summer.  It is so lovely.  I could live there in a New York minute.
It's decorated in teal, white, cocoa browns and neutral.  Everywhere you turn in the house, it emits style and taste.  For example, her bowl of fruit above, sitting on the dining room table.

On the way home, we stopped and picked up a dozen ears of fresh corn.  Yum...nothing better than fresh picked corn from a roadside farmer still on the wagon.

Can you believe it's August 1st already.  Summer is slipping away!
Babs~