Happy Birthday

Lots of sunshine and mild breezes fill the quiet streets and empty porches today. That's how I like it. The  town celebrates the 4th of July on the 3rd. The park oozes people, food on offer, and music.  A near sonic boom goes off every hour on the hour startling us with a jolt,  just in case folks don't know the fireworks are at dusk.  Cotehele loathes the boom,  the fireworks, and especially the people down the street who have been setting off fireworks every evening-all evening long- for a week.

My mini-holiday turned into a few days of siffles, stuffy head, sore throat, and aches in my ears and a walloping headache.  I have had enough tea to support the Sri Lankan economy single-handedly.   Today is better.

Time to bake has become a luxury since I started working in March.  Baking bread is a hurry-up and get it started so I can go to bed at a reasonable hour kind of baking.  It is working, but it's not fun.  We have had to buy bread for lunch only once.  Today baking was fun.  I made marshmallows for the first time.  Tomorrow is my birthday. I wanted chocolate covered marshmallows instead of cake.  Hope they turn out to be scrumptious.  French bread is stretched into long baguettes almost ready to bake. French bread pizza dough is rising.  I wonder if my taste buds will recognize homemade pizza after endless boxes of Kirkland frozen cheese pizza.  I can't wait to find out.

This is the only picture I managed to take over the holiday after a quick run to Lowe's.

All of this 

  I was not going to make a second trip into town for the last couple bags of mulch.

was crammed into this.

It is still there waiting to be spread over the area a redbud tree was removed last year.  

I am going, I'm going ......

Happy Birthday to me ieee!

Hope your holiday is everything you dreamed.