Coffee & Ice

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads each week and offers a unique way to merge booking with cooking! Go check out her blog and see what other people have linked up with today.

Well, summer is trying to arrive here in the great Northwest--in fact we might actually have several days in a row next week in the mid to upper 70's! And you must know that being a native Seattlite, I do love my coffee. Warm temperatures + Iced coffee = Perfection.

Imagine my delight when I stumbled across this post by Bethany, aka: Dreadlock Girl.













Iced Coffee.
Oh heavenly days.

Curiously, for as much as I love coffee, and iced coffee at that, I have never stumbled upon a good recipe for making the cold stuff.

But, my search is now over---Please excuse me while I go off to start a batch right now, so it will be ready to go tomorrow morning!

Friday Night Check In

Hello again dear readers..aka friends!

The month of June has spiraled away from me--can someone tell me how that happens?

It has been another slow reading month for me--and part of that reason has not been busyness--it has been poor/changing eyesight. Dry eye and a right eye prescription change that doubled has put a bit of a damper on the reading arena. I do love my Kindle though---you should see how large I made the font on it! I just received my new right lens, and things still just aren't right. :(

Summer has arrived in the Seattle.. technically, but not in the reality of warmth and sun. We did manage to have a beautiful day on the first day of summer--nearly 80 degrees, but the rest of the week has been gloomy, gray and cool. We took advantage of the beautiful day we did have this week, and took the grandgirls to a little city park with little water fountains. It also happened to be my own baby, Sam's last day of school. The joy he was feeling is quite evident in the photo below.





You might be wondering what I am reading--and I am happy to report that I am finally getting around to Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. I am really enjoying both the plot line and her writing style. I hope to finish it in the next few days and then maybe start a few of the Amy Einhorn books I have received. I almost always like the offerings from that imprint!

I have also managed to find lots of knitting time while vegging in front of the tv. Here are a couple of photos of the little top I have almost finished for

baby Amelia....

(part of a set of my new favorite little stitch markers)

Well--that is all the news for tonight--I am hoping to do a weekend cooking post tomorrow--and get around to visiting all of you!

Monday

Mailbox Monday is on tour for now, and the month of June finds it being hosted over at Bluestocking Guide!

Well---if you read my Sunday Salon post, you will know that my reading time has taken a hit this past month or so---and because of that, I am thankful that I have not been receiving tons and tons of books right not. Last night I cleaned off some book shelves and filled one paper grocery back full of books to donate--and boy did that feel good!

But here is a picture of what I have received recently:

From 1/2 Price Books I picked up:
1. The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Miller
2. The Dairy Queen by Allison Rushby

From a used bookstore we found on a rambling day trip over on the Peninsula:
3. The Yarn Girls Guide to Kid Knits

For review from Plume/Penguin Books:
4. Tassy Morgan's Bluff by Jim Stinson

What goodies have made their way into your mailbox? And better yet, what are you reading right now.........................................

What are you reading on Mondays? is hosted each week by hostess, Sheila from One Person's Journey Through a World of Books.

I need to get back in the reading mode and decide what I want to read next. It took me a month....yes! A month to read one book in May and in that time I have not really been looking at other books on my piles.

I am thinking about:

1. Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt
2. Prayers For Sale by Sandra Dallas
3. Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine
4. or a Wendell Berry short story collection....

The possibilities are endless!
Have a happy Monday everyone.....

The Sunday Salon: daybook

Outside my window: Sun is setting, window is open and all is still and quiet. We had our first summer/spring like weekend of the year. Sad to say, rain is coming back this week...

I am thinking: How much I hate high school group projects, how much I love my family, how I don't want to go to work tomorrow, and how I have felt frustrated that I haven't had enough time to read as much as I like, and knit at the same time!

I am listening to: Pandora, "Nat King Cole" station

I am grateful for: good health, 2 sweet granddaughters and the school year almost being over.

I am reading: I am going to start The Three Weissmanns of Westport on my Kindle and have a Wendell Berry collection I might start also.

What I have finished reading: I just finished a review book that took me a whole month to read! Sheesh--I even liked it but between busy end of the school year stuff and the knitting I have enjoyed, it just plain took me time to get through it. The book is The Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen and review is to come.

I am photographing: Here is what has been dipping into my reading time:

A sweet little lacy dress for newborn Amelia

An autumn colored vest for Lyddie. There will be a matching vest completed soon for Amelia.

I am listing: knitting projects I would like to complete during the time period between July 2011 and July 2012 for a knitting challenge I have signed up for.

I am creating: Another vest for a coworker's baby due in August, and a little red,white & blue baby hat for another coworker whose baby is due the 4th of July!

To live my faith: Church this morning and now praying for a dear friend who will be sharing her very dramatic testimony on the radio tonight from 10:00 PM to midnight.

I am hoping and praying: God gives us some direction about what we should do next..

Around the house: I spent time today sorting through piles-organizing books and yarn and paper stuff. I actually ended up with a large grocery bag full of books to donate.

From the kitchen: I think I am going to make these Lemon Burst Cookies

One of my favorite things this week: Watching and hearing my boy, Sam, at his last school concert of the year. His Freshman year is almost over--and I sit here thinking, "Where has this year gone?"


The child this week: 2 baseball games and a very nasty group project to work on for his social studies class....

Plans for the week: knitting, watching baseball, cleaning house for out of state company next weekend, working, and watching episodes on Netflix of our new favorite show--Flash Forward. (Sadly it was a one season wonder and we will be out of episodes soon)

The Blog: That restless feeling that hit me last summer regarding blogging and reading feels like it is creeping up on me again so I have made an executive decision---I am ditching most of my challenges. The ones I am keeping: A-Z 2011, Wendell Berry, What's in a Name, and the Amy Einhorn Perpetual Challenge. I just know that I will start to feel stressed about these hanging over my head, and I am trying to just let my reading take me on a meandering path....

Hope you all have a great week--:)