Katie rolled in over the weekend from her new home in Tennessee. She came bearing gifts — not that just seeing her wouldn’t be enough. I sure do miss her even though we Facetime a few times a week.
This trip, she brought a strawberry scented candle made by McCall’s Country Canning — and a pink pineapple.
Not gonna’ lie, my southern Indiana self had never even HEARD of a pink pineapple. If you’ve been eating these things for years, please raise your hand so I feel even more like an oblivious hillbilly.
Where do these come from?
Pink pineapples are known as “pinkglow” and are grown in Costa Rica by Del Monte. Grown on a select farm in the south-central region of the country, they are sweeter and less acidic. Each pineapple is harvested by hand and it took Del Monte 15-years to fully develop the fruit. Just one set Katie back right at $13 bucks.
For the record… it was amazing. It also made a sticky mess on the counter as we stood over it slurping the juicy goodness. 🙂
And then we ate s’mores.
After gas station pizza, we also broke out the marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate candy bars. (The pink pineapple was better.)
If I wasn’t thrilled with the ole’ barndo I’d be looking for a place in Tennessee. Now it wouldn’t be just to live closer to Katie — I want more pink pineapples!
Now you know: Ted Cassidy, who played Lurch on The Addams family, skipped 3 grades. But due to his size he played varsity football and basketball as a freshman in high school, despite being 11-years old.
I have a friend on Facebook that is always showing photos of her patio filled with flowers. She says it’s her “happy place.” It’s a great set-up and the flowers are lovely, but sitting where other condos or townhomes are the view wouldn’t be a good fit for me.
Where do you feel calm? Where do you relax?
So Disneyworld is my happy place — and it’s definitely not calm or relaxing. And because I can’t be there nearly as often as I’d like, I do have a spot here at the barndo that’s a darned good substitute.
It doesn’t even matter that there’s landscaping all around me that needs to be done or that I’m wearing my mowing shoes. I don’t even care that the pool is still too frigid to enjoy. I like to sit in that one chair and listen to the water, the birds, and the windchimes as I feel the breeze move through.
And sometimes I think about how old I’m getting. Like yesterday, for example — Coco’s birthday.
My favorite and only granddaughter is officially 14.
Her Mom — Ben’s ex — sent a text today (she has Coco this week) with a photo.
She went on to say that when she first started talking to Ben, she was 14. Holy cow, y’all! That made my stomach jump. I sincerely feel like Coco should be 8… 10 at the oldest.
Now you know: Steve Jobs had tendency to eat only one or two foods, like carrots or apples, for weeks at a time.
Coco’s first week of summer vacation and she’s here today while her Dad works. I’ll be humming video game songs in my sleep tonight. 😏
This girl has been deprived!
Taco Bell for dinner (I didn’t want to cook, don’t judge me) and she’d never tried nacho fries. Who has NOT tried nacho fries?? They were a hit and I figure both parents will be purchasing them in the future. Put a mark in the win column for grandmas everywhere.
Finally, no rain — just windy and cool… and cloudy.
With many off for the holiday weekend, it would’ve been great if the weather would’ve cooperated. Not complaining since at least it didn’t rain.
We dodged bad storms over the weekend but they were all around us. The neighborhood where my cousin, Celina, lives in Oklahoma got hammered. While everyone is ok, she had a tree on her house. And of course, I worried about Katie and the storms around her, but she too is just fine.
Now you know: The most venomous snake in the world is not a sea snake but the Inland Taipan, from Australia.
If my pool ever opens again like it did this year, I’m done. It’s too much work! She went coverless all winter and rests near a whole bunch of trees. You can imagine what shape she was in. If you can’t, I’ll tell you — it was a stinky, black body of water.
Sweeping for days and more chlorine than Crothersville uses to treat water for a year…
We named our pool vacuum Robbie. Ole Robbie broke loose from his lead today and try as we might, we couldn’t reach him. Perry got in the cloudy water hoping for the best — a quick retrieval, but fearing the worst — potentially a dead critter putrefied at the bottom.
After many expletives…
Robbie was pulled to safety but we found he’d been injured. Parts will be in by Wednesday. In the meantime, I think ole’ Perry will ready for another dip tomorrow… especially since he holds the title for the first swimmer of the 2024 season. 🙂
Now you know: During the Black Dahlia case, The Los Angeles Examiner scooped the victim’s personal details by lying to her mother, saying her daughter had won a beauty contest rather than been murdered.
Just as the stinkbugs vacated the premises the ants arrived. I made hand pies yesterday (recipe below) and someone left a fork in the sink. Using a highly sophisticated foraging strategy, Mr. Scout Ant located the source, returned to his nest in some unknown location, and left a pheromone trail for his buddies.
Sadly, they all perished.
Yes, it was me. I turned on the faucet and killed them all by drowning. I also destroyed their trail with lemon juice and clove oil. I have no regrets.
Rain all day long…
Sitting here at zero dark thirty, I have no place I have to be and should still be sleeping. Perry has a meeting in Louisville today and he’ll drive in storms to get there. I have a grocery delivery scheduled for this morning and I’m happy that’s not my job.
Even Mom may have to brave this storms today. She has gout and has FINALLY decided to see the doctor today if any appointments are available — I’ll attempt to schedule her the second there will be someone to answer my call. Her foot looks like a red football and all I can think of is sepsis. Eeeek!
How do you spend rainy days when work isn’t a priority?
You might take time to create some hand pies yourself today… just don’t leave a fork in the sink without rinsing it off first. 😉
Fruit hand pies
INGREDIENTS:
2 boxes (14.1 oz each) refrigerated pie crust
1 can (21 oz) pie filling (peach, cherry, apple…)
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425°F. Remove pie crusts from package and allow to come to room temperature while you prepare filling.
Unroll pie crusts and cut 6 circles from each crust.
Drop pie filling into center of each pie crust circle. Fold in half and pinch edges completely. Fold pinched edges over and press with the tines of a fork to seal. Poke hand pie with fork once, to prevent bursting.
Bake on a parchment paper lined baking sheet (1 inch apart) for about 15 minutes, until browned.
While pies are baking, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Remove cooked pies from baking sheet and drop (while warm) into glaze, coating them completely.
Now you know: Only three objects have ever been found inside the Great Pyramid of Giza: pieces of wood, a ball made of diorite, and a copper hook. They were found in 1872 in a shaft leading from the Queen’s Chamber.
