July 5th brought this lovely little calico kitten to our home. Her name is Calico and we call her Coco. She is three months old, has six toes on each front paw, is terribly sweet and loving.
This is the way she spends her evenings....
and this is her favorite position in which to sleep on my lap.
The garden is producing well despite the over abundance of rain, did I say over abundance of rain, I meant a deluge (read on for more on the rain).
One of my favorite breads for sandwiches is Miami Onion Rolls which I have always purchased...but then it hit me, I was sure I could make them...
...and so I did...
they are really delicious.
Zucchini is of course aplenty right now. I saw a photo of this dish in a magazine and wanted to create it myself,
and so I did.
Very thin sliced squash, both yellow and green, (I used a vegetable peeler to slice them). Sitting on a bed of caramelized, onions, garlic with a touch of white wine, curled up tightly with cheese, and tomatoes stuffed inside. Not only is it really beautiful, it is really sumptuous as well.
Back to the rain. We have had more rain this summer then we can recall. Tuesday evening the sky was threatening but lovely...
...just across the road from our house...
...truly it was a sight to see.
however, that evening and the next day brought upwards of 5-6-7 inches of rain. The Kickapoo River, not far from us, was way over its banks, the town of La Farge was flooded, waters running in the streets, streets closed, etc.
My daily bike route takes me on Old 131, on the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. This is Bridge 13, the first bridge I cross on my almost 20 mile ride...The bridge sides 'railings' are probably 8-10-12 feet from the floor of the bridge, and as you can see, the water is up to the top of the railings...simply unbelievable!!
This is the last bridge I cross on Old 131 (I then turn around and take the same route home) and the river is up to the floor of this bridge.
As I write this, the waters have receded some, but not enough. The damage from the flooding is substantial, the waters have carried logs, trees, etc., to places they should not be. All of the damage has not yet been tallied, and that will take some time. Many roads are still closed, the river is inaccessible and dangerous. I probably won't be riding my route for quite some time.
In addition to all this, on Sunday the 9th Freddie and I set off to do an off-road bike ride on the Reserve. We hadn't gotten too far from home, maybe 3 miles when turning onto a gravel road to take us to the woods, something happened, which I do not recall. I wiped out pretty badly and found myself entangled in my bike unable to remove my foot, bruises everywhere, minor bleeding, and dents in my helmet. (I presume I was knocked out briefly as I don't remember the crash.) Yelling for Freddie he came to my rescue and freed my foot. At my insistence he went on while I rode home and googled broken ribs...as my left side was hurting something awful. Nothing to do for broken ribs and so I did Ibuprofen for several days. When I stopped taking the Ibuprofen my left ankle started hurting, hurting worse each day, and had not gotten any better even until this morning, despite icing, wrapping and elevating. (I must admit I still went biking.) So off to the clinic this morning. as ankle was really painful. It turns out I have a small break on a bone high up on the ankle. I will be wearing a 'brace' for four weeks...good news, doctor says I can still bike!! She also palpitated the ribs and thinks they are just bruised and not broken. Lungs look good, and she says I'm doing everything right.
What a month!!
