Absolutely NOT wedding related, but still it was something old, something new - well new to me anyway, and that counts!   Ever hear of a spatchcocked chicken?  That doesn't sound right, does it?  Well it 's a real thing and I cooked a couple of them on Saturday for the very first time!

First of all Spatchcocking is not new at all. It harkens back to the 18th century in England and Ireland, which means I am very late to the party.  But I'm glad I finally got there :) And Second of all, what it means is that the birds backbone is removed and then it's all butterflied or flattened out.  And when cooked, it looks a little something like this:
​

Spatchcocking, allows the chicken to cook faster and more efficiently which also means juicier and more flavourful. All good things.

It was Tim's idea. Not mine.  I had only ever heard the term once while sort of watching an episode of Good Eats with Alton Brown.  I like the show, don't get me wrong, but a lot of the time, (to be honest most of the time) I'm only ever sort of watching any TV show while also doing other things.  At any rate, all I remembered about that show was the funny word.   "Spatchcocking" is a funny word, let's face it, and that it looked very complicated. And since I am, to be perfectly honest, kind of lazy, mentally I wrote it off as something I would never do and then continued doing whatever else I was doing while sort of watching the show.

Never say never.

This past Saturday we had guests coming for luncheon.  So obviously during the preceding week, Tim and I were discussing the menu.  I had thrown out the idea of cooking chicken on the grill, probably thinking chicken breasts or tenders.  Tim asked what I thought about the idea of doing spatchcocked chicken.  I said, "excuse you?" before I remembered that I sort of knew what it meant.

After a quick google search I courageously said, "Why not?"  I had never made it before but I can be brave.  Well, not the kind of brave that jumps out of airplanes but the sort of brave that means cooking something I've never made before for guests!  That is it's own sort of courage. It is, I swear!

Anyway, I landed on a recipe that sounded do-able and Tim found a place with chickens already cut and flattened and ready to go so I didn't have to do the hardest part. Woohoo, Even Better! I was ready to roll.  

I read through the recipe multiple times to be absolutely sure what I thought I was doing and then, I took a deep breath and commenced. 

The particular directions I was following required "dry brining" which was another thing I had never done before.  If you've never done it, it means pulling the skin gently from the meat of the bird so that the brine which is a salt/pepper/baking powder mix, can be tucked between the skin and the meat first and then rubbing the mixture all over the outside of the skin as well and then putting the uncooked, brine bird, on it's  foiled tray into the fridge overnight, uncovered.  

About an hour before serving the entire bird comes out of the fridge and is then rubbed thoroughly with herbed butter.  After that it's into the oven for roasting for 45 minutes,  broiled for 5-10 minutes, let it sit out of the oven for about 5 minutes and voila, it's done and ready to be served.  

Yes its true there is a little more prep work than usual, but not difficult work. The hardest part was pulling the skin gently away from the meat while not tearing it but I did the best I could.   I will be honest,  I didn't do a particularly good job of it, but I did the best I could and since it all came out great, I suppose it was good enough.  Perhaps next time I will do better?

And I promise you, there will be next time because it was so tasty!  And a little impressive looking!   Our guests could not stop talking about how good it was, so I guess it really was good and not just me being full of myself.  I am so glad that Tim had the idea and that I was brave enough to try it.  

I find it so easy to fall into a same old, same old kind of routine with cooking. Everything is so expensive that if a new dish doesn't turn out well, it is money down the drain and that hurts!  Ouchie, right in the tender wallet. I totally understand the why behind constantly making the same tried and true dishes over and over again. But I definitely feel the need to be braver and try more new dishes, more new techniques even if we don't have guests. Just for us.  As long as I'm very careful and judicious in my choices, why not?

Eleanor Roosevelt famously said that a person should  do one thing that scares them every day.  I'm pretty sure she wasn't talking about spatchcocked chickens but, who knows, maybe she was?

Try new things.  Even new things that are really very old ideas :)







​

Howdy do you all of you!  Happy Friday!

What we have here, as you can probably guess, is another Photo Safari Report.  Joy and I went to Myakka State Park this time.  We found out that they had rebuilt the towers  and that's what you see here, the two of us at the tippity top, me on the left and Joy on the right, pointing out the horizon line (as if you cannot see it for yourself).  And since we, so very bravely did indeed climb all of those freakin' stairs, I am calling this one the Taller Than the Trees Hike!  And if you truly knew the enormous height of some of those trees, you would be very impressed with us.

I will go ahead and start with the towers, since I've already mentioned it.  The first tower is a mere 74 feet high.  The Second tower reportedly is 76 feet though at that point it feels like a lot more.  There is also a bridge between the two which is only twenty-five feet above the ground and about 100 feet long.  In the pictures the bridge appears to be stationary but I can only assure you that it is not, you can feel the movement beneath your feet as you cross.  At one point while navigating the bridge, there is a branch that most folks have to  duck under. Joy and I being shorties had no issues - heh.   The view at the top was worth every step I promise even though I mumbled to Joy at one point that it felt as if we were going to just keep climbing that thing for the rest of our lives.  The crazy part is that I was the one who said, "I think we have to do the towers". Yup me.  what was I thinking?  hehheh

Here's a few more photos of the tower, the bridge and the view from the top:

  It was one of the best hikes we've done in awhile as far as variety of photo subjects is concerned so that was an unexpected delight.

We both heard and saw loads of birds, but as per my usual, I only captured a few. Sometimes I get so caught up in just seeing what I see, that I forget to take a picture!  Silly me!  As I said, there was such a huge variety of birds there which I did not get photos of and that is a shame. In fact, I even missed out on one of my favourites, the Kite.  I could just stand and watch the Kites soar for hours. AND I have no photos to show for it, dang! Oh well. Anyway, here are some other birdies:

Finally I got some dragonflies. I like butterflies and there were loads of those too though I got no photos to prove it. But Dragonflies are my favourites so I was tickled when to get even one photo.  There were so many and in such vibrant and beautiful colours everywhere around us, all zooming about, busy with their day, I was delighted with this group. I swear to you that this is 4 separate dragonflies. Oh and one bee!  Bees are also tricky, too quick and their paths too random to predict:

There were far more flowers than we've seen in other places too so that's a big yay!  Not what it normally would be right now, but it's looking up and it's looking colourful:

Other wildlife that we saw?  Well there was a bunny, a squirrel, a turtle, lots of alligators and a snake.  All of them were a surprise, there is no rhyme or reason to what we might come across or where, but the snake was the biggest surprise of the day.  Joy was ahead of me on the trail and there we are just stridin' along and suddenly she comes to a toe-stop. That is to say a sudden, unexpected halt that started at her toes and made her heels come up off the ground. It was so abrupt that I nearly crashed into her. She said not a single word, so I peered around her silently, saw the snake in question and very softly said, "oh". I'm not certain who was more shocked, us or the reptile in question.  We backed up a few feet and allowed the snake to do whatever it wished and what it wished to do was turn around, and return from whence it came.  whew!  That was a close one:

All that remains now are the randos, my favourites!  Got some great ones this time too!

And there you have it, the Taller Than the Trees Hike! Thanks for coming along :)  Hope you enjoyed.

Have a Terrific Weekend!

I think it's fair to say, especially as we cruise our way into the summer months, that one of the best inventions ever have to have been thought up, is Air Conditioning.  And Further, I think it is of particular importance, survival-wise, if you live in a place that is hot and humid. Hot is bad enough, humid just is that little extra dollop of crap on a dumpster fire.

I know, I know, I'm spoiled and pathetic and oh well.  I believe that if the original inhabitants of this area, the Caloosa Indians, had access to Air Conditioning, they would have loved it.  I am absolutely positive that the homesteaders who arrived in the late 1800's would be been delighted about.  I look at the old (very old) photos of the people who built this city and one generation back, the men in their dark jackets and high collars, the women in long sleeves, long dresses with petticoats for heaven's sakes and I marvel at how they survived at all.

Before you write me off as a total wimp, I want you to know that not every house I ever lived in throughout my life had Air Conditioning. Of course some of those houses were in areas of this country that don't really require it. Even when I lived in Connecticut, there were never more than a couple of weeks through the summer where the heat and humidity made it hard to sleep and any physical activity at all, including showering, caused us to sweat.  A few fans in windows and we managed just fine.   Doesn't mean we wouldn't have appreciated AC on those miserable days. We absolutely would have!!!  The same way that we, even here in Florida,  on very rare winter days, appreciate having a heating system. Rarely used but always grateful it was there.

 All that said, Florida summers are an entirely different kettle of hot pockets fresh out of the microwave.  Not just hot but molten hot and of course there are the days when the humidity is so high that when outside it feels as if we are trying to breathe underwater. Unpleasant is the mildest term I can think of to describe it.  All that whining about the heat and humidity is firmly balanced out by how gorgeous it is the entire rest of the year so in case you wondered why anyone lives here,  that's why.

Air Conditioning, by the way, was invented by Willis Carrier way back in 1902 in New York City of all places!   But it wasn't until after World War II that the concept began to be integrated into commercial enterprises such as movie theatres and department stores and then, eventually into residential buildings.  We seem to come around to accepting new ideas slowly, even really really good ideas.

When we bought this house, ten years ago, one of the first things we did, even before we physically  moved our stuff into the house, was to have the existing AC system updated.  Because we had never lived in Florida before, we relied on the expertise of the fellow we hired to do the job. His recommendation was the one we took and honestly, for awhile, the house was much much cooler. The improvement was instantaneous and glorious.  And it served us very well, for a time.

The past few years though,  even though we are very good about having it checked out by the professionals every year and maintained exactly as instructed, the system was working harder and harder but the room temps were getting higher.  We adapted to the slightly less comfortable levels, as people do but we could not ignore the rising cost of electricity.  And no, it was not just, prices are higher now. Well  yes, they are, but it wasn't the sole reason that the monthly bill as becoming astronomical. It was a slowly failing system trying like crazy to do what it really could not do anymore.

There was a notable and increasingly uncomfortable shift in temperature throughout the day and night as the system cycled, high and slightly lower, back and forth, from acceptable to almost tolerable. And clearly something had to change.

Tim did his research, as he does,  and we ended up having an entirely different sort of AC system put in which meant the old one had to come out.  All of it, including the miles of ducting in the attic, the condenser outside and the great hulking brut taking up a considerable bit of real estate  in the utility room, gone!  In it's place is a non traditional, unconventional system called a Mini Split (for reasons unknown to me).  There are 5 units through the house hanging on walls, that look exactly like the one at the top of the page; one in each bedroom, one in the family room and the last in the living/dining/kitchen area.  Two condensers this time, wall mounted outside and elevated (in case of flooding) .

The system is quiet, the entire house is comfortable, does not cycle up and down constantly,  and in fact, for me, maybe a wee bit too cool for me (not Tim) sometimes but that's why sweaters were invented and each room can be a different temperature if we wish and Tim can adjust right from his phone (or with the remote).  It's a lovely change.  The big old AC on the wall are, well, they aren't art.  BUT I suspect that after a while, I probably won't truly notice them.

It seems that this Mini Split AC concept was invented in Japan in the late 1950's-60's to accommodate their small, closely spaced homes and apartments.  The idea spread through parts of Europe first and now is slowly making its way into American Homes. 

Well, so far, we are impressed.  It was a huge decision and a big investment but theoretically, our electric bill should be noticeably smaller now and, most importantly, we are finally cool and dry once again in the house.  I don't even think about the AC anymore, we just live our lives, comfortably even when it's truly hot and miserable outside.  We've been "testing' it unintentionally lately as we've been under a steady stream of Heat Advisory Days.  Inside is gorgeous.  Once we step outside, it's all bets off.

Oh, and while the kitty boys were NOT happy about strangers in the house making a racket for multiple days in a row, they are loving the cooler air.  Fair Trade I'd say.

Anyway, that's what's new at our house.  How about you?

Well howdy do folks! Haven't talked at ya since Monday's blogpost, so I suppose that means this will be another one!  And as you can probably guess from the photo above of Joy on a hiking trail, Yes, this will be a Photo Safari Report!  I'm calling this one the Yellow Flowers and Cardinals Hike. The reasons will be obvious, shortly.

 Our part of Florida is currently under a heat advisory, so even though we do set out pretty early in the morning, we were also clever enough to choose a preserve with a lot of shade. The little breeze off the river was a nice addition.    And even though we have had some rain, technically, far less than normal, which makes us still smack dab in the middle of a drought.  Despite that we were delighted to see not just a higher level of water in the river but also a few boggy spots here and there and one place where we had to step over water moving across the trail.  Yay!  Never thought I'd be happy to see swampy stuff!

Once again not a lot of wildlife. We saw one squirrel, two lizards and a few birds. I only captured one lizard, zero squirrels and only one sort of bird. Lots of photos of that ONE sort of bird tho. Obviously, from the title, cardinals.  Here are a few of those. None of them are great shots but hey, is what is y'know?

oh yeah, and two lizards:

 No squirrel photos. He was moving way too fast, leaping from branch to branch, tree to tree clearly on a mission!

Because we were hiking primarily along the river I got a lot of photos of two specific things:  Reflections because the river was especially slow moving which made the surface like a mirror:

And Obstacles.  In this particular preserve, the trail is narrow  and cluttered with downed trees which Joy and I go either over or under, as best we can.  This was also where we had the tiny rivulet of water crossing the trail at one point. Naturally I had to take a picture of it to celebrate More Water which is so desperately needed right now. Anyway, obstacles of one sort or another:

    The other thing we found, in abundance, was yellow flowers!  Masses of them, everywhere.  Sometimes in surprising places!  Of course I clickity clicked on those.

There were a couple of other colours of flowers here and there and I didn't want them to feel left out so I snapped those too:

I suppose all that's left now are the randos, which, as you know, is my favourite category:

OH!  And one dragonfly!  I was especially tickled that i got this one because while there were a zillion or so dragonflies zipping around, they were all moving at light speed. I move more at donut speed.  When they finally did slow down or stop, they would be in the most difficult spots to capture.  I always try anyway and usually end up deleting the picture in the end. But this time 'round, I got him!  (or her, I have no idea)  Anyway, here it is. Hard won but nonetheless a Taadaa!

Anyway, have a great weekend! Celebrate all fathers while doing so!  They deserve it!

​Hugs all 'round

I'll give you three guesses what Tim and I did this past Friday.........give up?  We met our friends, the Minocks, up in Tampa to visit the Titanic Exhibit!  Woohoo!

It was the travelling version of the exhibit not the permanent structure one and I've been told how the permanent one is even more awesome than the travelling version, but Honestly, I find that hard to believe coz this one was Awesome!

Well start with, yes, Tim played hookey so that we could go on a weekday, the assumption being that it would be less crowded on a Friday. It was also toward the end of the exhibits run which, presumably also helps there be smaller crowds.  And it worked!  While there were other folks there enjoying it all, it was very do-able and Sam-friendly!  

If you haven't been, I'll tell you a bit about it.  We were given our lanyards to begin with AND a paper that assigned us the identity of an actual passenger of that fated ship. I was Mathilde Weisz of Belgium - a Second Class passenger.  Tim was David Bowen of NYC and he was travelling third class.  Much like Jack of Rose and Jack fame.

As we walked through, we saw actual Titanic artifacts and also wonderful photographs that really help to tell the story.  We learned all about how the Titanic and her sister ships, the Gigantic and the Olympic, came to be, who the officers were on the ship and where she sailed from with all stops along the way.​

We learned all of the crazy unexpected things that happened along the way, each thing unfortunately, leading directly, though unintentionally, toward it's tragic end.  For example, at the last minute, one of the officers was re-assigned to a different ship and naturally he followed orders and immediately headed to his new post, without realizing that he had the key to the binocular locker in his pocket! Oh no!  Additionally, it all happened in the dark of night, on a flat calm sea (which makes distances harder to determine) AND there was a hazey fog kicking up.  None of those things were ideal for spotting ice bergs!  We also found out that there was an unprecedented amount of ice berg activity in the area.  Oh there were more small things that all added up to disaster, but  I'll leave a few for your own eventual discovery.

 Just for fun, we also got a pose on "deck" of the great ship:

We also got to pose at the bottom of the Grand Staircase.  Not the real actual staircase of course and oddly there were no photographs taken (that anyone ever found) of the real Titanic Grand Staircase.  The one seen below is of the Grand Staircase of the Olympic!  

At Eventually we made our way to a total surround video that was brilliant, very sad and made me kind of dizzy.  It wasn't just on all four walls but also the floor and ceiling!  Total Immersion.

At one point we got to look up our New names to find out what happened to our people. Were they rescued?  Did they survive?  (mine did, Tim's did not - very impactful)

The second to last part was an oppportunity to do a Virtual Reality deep sea dive to explore the wreckage!  Wow~!  I actually declined that part.  I'm clumsy enough in The real reality, I don't need an extra opportunity to damage myself.  But everyone else had a blast :)  Here's Tim getting into it.  By the way, He LOVED the VR experience.

At the very end, of course, we ended up in the gift shop, which is where the posters came from.  But my favourite part was an AI thing that, if you wished, took your photo and then after a moment produced multiple version of your face in Titanic era fashions.  That was fun.

It was a terrific history lesson, interactive, interesting, and creative!  if you have the opportunity and have not yet done it, I recommend it highly!  Rank super high on the Sam-Scale of museums.

Hey there!  How was your weekend?  Our Sunday was a day of adventure!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we had such uncharacteristic weather that I felt the need to be out in it to fully enjoy it before summer heat and humidity once again reared it's ugly head. Tim was up for it so I grabbed my camera and we headed to Felt's Audubon preserve.  It's up in Palmetto, about 40 minutes North of us so not a place we go often but one that never fails to result in birdie photos.  It's right in the name after all, "Audubon" named after the famous bird conservator James Audubon!

Well I did get a few bird photos. Very few. But they count!

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We set out to hike a few of the trails just in case we happen to see something photo worthy.  The trails were fun, a few low bridges where we had to nearly crawl under a fallen tree but mostly just normal hiking trails:

And then we wandered down by Olive's Pond.  Normally this is a huge pond and related creeks that is absolutely teeming with wildlife of all sort.  Sadly, here is the current state of Olive's Pond:

If anyone ever doubted that Florida is currently experiencing drought conditions, here is some very sad proof. No water means no wildlife :(

We did see a couple of cute squirrels, some interesting fungus and a few bee hotels!  yes that is a real thing:

It didn't take very long to make our way through all of Felt's so rather than just return home, Tim did a quick search on his phone and found a place we'd never visited called Emersen's Point in the same town only about ten minutes away!

Off we went!  As we knew nothing at all about Emersen's, I read aloud about it on our way over and learned that, as the name suggests it's on the water with amazing views and a surprising number of hiking trails.  The biggest surprise were the Indian Mounds which had steps and ramps to go up to the top.  It's especially cool to us because Florida is so very flat. Obviously there was no question about whether or not we were climbing up!

A few shots of the lovely water:

We read all of the signs that told the story of the original inhabitants. Fascinating Stuff!  admired a grasshopper that patiently waited for me to get the shot. And some truly lovely tropical flora.

So glad we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and spent the day outside on Sunday. Especially happy now because the weather has returned to the normal hot and humid and, at the moment, cloudy, dreary and grey. Rain is on the way!

By the way, in case anyone wonders: Tim and I did not feel any tremors from the earthquake in the gulf yesterday even though, if you look on the impact map, Venice was one of the spots that supposedly felt it.  Not sure why we didn't but, neither of us knew a thing about it until we read it in the news!    Oblivious!

Wishes to everyone for a great week!

 First of all, Happy National Donut Day!  As you can see from the above photo, Tim ran out early this morning to surprise me! Sooooo Goooood (and at the same time - deliciously bad for us). With absolutely Zero regard for fat and calories, we celebrated properly :)

Secondly, and the bulk of this post, who is ready for another Photo Safari Report?  It's been a couple of weeks, true.  I know that usually my Photo Safari Report usually arrive once a week as if they were  mandated but lately,  Joy and I are just not finding a lot of terrific photos while we are out. I have no idea where all of the wildlife have gone, but they are Not hanging around their usual stomping grounds.  Don't get me wrong, it's still a beautiful walk and we always have a good time, but we genuinely missing having Loads of opportunities to capture wildlife.  Therefore, between that and the occasional rainy Thursday which is not good for photography OR hiking, I fear there will be fewer of these reports this season. unless things change, which, who knows? It could happen!

But for the meanwhile, as I said, wildlife was sparse. We didn't even hear much. In fact, this time around I got three birds and three butterflies (two of the same type) and that's it for wildlife.  It's all very sad.  It could be due to the continuing drought which is slowly - VERY slowly - correcting itself.  We are hopeful that through this traditionally rainy season, hopefully, we will get back to our normal amount of wet stuff and therefore the normal amount of wildlife. I suppose if it's too dry here,  the critters of all sorts have wisely moved somewhere with more rain which means more food. That's what they do.  Still, while I understand and support that I'm still calling this one the "Where has all the Wildlife Gone" hike!

I'll start with the 3 and 3 :

However! There has been just enough rain here and there to promote flowering wildflowers! Yahoo!  I'll take a pretty botanical shot as a consolation prize with no issues.  Now I have no idea what most of these flowers are other than, pretty!  And I'm far too lazy to bother looking them up. And honestly, even if I did take the time to look them up, I would probably forget their names in short order.  After all, I am the person in this house who, very recently somehow lost the dry kitty food scoop. How is that even possible???

​Anywhere, here they are:

A few other random things that I just liked the look of:

Thanks for joining me on the Where has all the Wildlife Gone Photo Safari Hike!  I wish you a wonderful weekend!
​

 Welcome to June!  Can you believe it?  May zipped by so quickly that I got a bit of wind burn as it passed me.  Bye Bye May and Howdy do to June.

June is a very busy month, especially for a non-real holiday month.   There are days of note of course (which is different from an actual holiday)  Let's see, Flag day on the 14th, Father's Day on the 21st which is also the first day of summer, and of course, Juneteenth on the 19th.  That one was only made official in 2021 by Federal Law though it's been unofficially celebrated since 1866.  Traditionally, June is also the month of weddings and graduations!  Woohoo, an entire month of celebration! Never a bad thing.

Then of course here in the sunshine state, June 1st is the beginning of both our Rainy Season and Hurricane Season, which makes perfect sense. Additionally, locally, this is month two of the six months of Sea Turtle Nesting Season. Yup, that's a real thing.

Personally, June is the month of my late mother's birthday.   She's been gone now for 14 years but still, sometimes, like around her birthday, I acknowledge that there is a still a little empty spot in my heart which is just her size.

The origin of the name June is a little muddled.  There are several theories. It could be (and most scholars believe this to be the most likely) that June was taken from  Juno, the Goddess of Marriage and childbirth.  And I just this minute connected why June is a traditional wedding month!  Interesting.  But it's possible that the name June came from" iuniores"  which means "younger ones" going back to the childbirth connection I suppose.  And it's also possible that the name was selected to honour the founder of the ancient Roman Republic, Lucius Junius Brutus. 

As I said earlier, June  21st is the first official day of summer which is also the longest day of the year.  On that same day anyone in the Arctic Circle may be experiencing the Midnight Sun with continuous daylight!   The full moon of June is also called the Strawberry moon. Awww that's sweet.  It was named so by Algonquin Native Americans as this was the time of their strawberrry harvest. Makes perfect sense.

I did not know this part until I looked it up but the month of June actually has 3 different birthstones!  Interesting, I honestly believe every month got one gemstone assigned to it but nope, June has 3: Pearl, Moonstone and Alexandrite.   June is not my birthmonth but I've also had a great fondness for moonstones.  Once upon a time I had an antique pendant necklace with a massive moonstone in it which sadly, I lost in a robbery.  I hope whoever has it now loves it as much as I did.

While June has 3 birthstones it only has two official flowers (again I foolishly thought it was a one and done situation - wrong again!).  Those flowers are roses and honeysuckle and I do love both of those. Pretty much any fragrant flower is my flower of choice.

If you follow Astrology  you already are aware that the front part of June are Gemini's and the last part (from the 21st forward) are Cancer's.  Twins and crabs.  Or perhaps crabby twins? Twin crabs?  I don't follow astrology but I do occasionally read my daily horoscope in the newspaper since it's on the same page as the comics.  It seems to always be completely wrong or wildly generic soI only give it an occasional passing glance.

There are of course, other days of note. I think there is at least one special designation for every single day of the year. Some of the ones I particularly like in June are:  Donut Day which is June 5th; Rocky Road Day which is today!  Is it too late to run out for ice cream? and International Children's Day which already happened on  June 1st.

It will come as no surprise to learn that there were some famous folks born in June, amoung them :  Anne Frank, Marilyn Monroe, George Orwell and  George H.W. Bush.  And  my mother too which I already mentioned. She was famous in our lives :)

When I think of June, my first thought is always nostalgic, the beginning of Summer Vacation.  Somewhere in the month of June each and every year of my childhood, every single kid in the neighborhood was set free. We ran amuck all day long, getting dirty, yelling, running, laughing, playing, running up and down the streets riding bikes, climbing trees, roller skating, playing tag, drinking from whichever garden hose was nearest and only going home when the porch lights came on.  After dinner perhaps a wee bit more subdued, we went back outside to catch lightning bugs, play afterdark tag which wasn't all that dark since all the porch lights were on and sometimes eat jello parfaits under the streetlight  on the corner.  

When I was a little older getting out of school for the summer meant, summer jobs, time to earn some money!~ A little older and summer meant getting to hang out with my own kids all day every day which was the Best Time Ever! 

​ Nowadays June means keeping in mind Hurricane prep to have certain things on hand, just in case and the Air Conditioning bill climbing, the windows being firmly closed and taking an umbrella with me, or at least a small zippy bag for my phone and hearing aids, whenever I leave the house.

Wishing each and every one of you a Very Happy June!

Hugs all 'round