Quiet Day

Tuesday was a quiet day and I needed one after a busy week-end and Monday. I spent the morning just catching up on a few items. I got a package in the mail from Julie...always a treat. There were some new portraits of the children, and the discs to make copies of other views. There was a wonderful letter from Will- age 8, and pictures from Sam, Will and Ben for Mothers Day (just a little late). Here are those pics: This is Samuel's drawing. He really likes to draw, and this is his first 'western' picture I have seen. He is getting much better at the dimensions and distances...Sam is that the Cascade Mountains? Wonderful job Sam, and I really like your elk!

This is Williams original drawing of a Red Crossbill. He is getting very good at drawing birds. I also like how he used the whole paper and put the bird in the middle.

Very good artwork William, I am amazed! This is Ben's coloring page of a Pileated Woodpecker. Excellent coloring Ben! You are getting so much better, and more careful. Good job!

A little after lunch we had another thunderstorm, this time with a serious hailstorm with it. It left my blooms, shrubs and trees tattered and shorn, and put down 6 inches of hail some places in Bend. We have an underpass in town that always floods, and the front page photo this morning in the newspaper shows someones car all but submerged...really over the windows. We are going to have similar weather for the next few days, so not much going on in yard work!

When it came time to cook dinner I tried out a new recipe from Julie for grilled pork chops. I always sear mine on the grill and then finish in the oven for tenderness. But she told me about a recipe that comes out tender and juicy on the grill, and it did! I thought this would be great in the hot summer months when I don't want to use the oven much. The secret was to soak the chops in a salt-water brine first, then use a spice rub and sear as usual. But then I put down the lid on our gas grill and let them roast for about 9 minutes and they were great. I added some chopped green, yellow and red peppers, 1 zucchini in rounds and some mushrooms in a wire basket with olive oil and Italian seasoning and dinner was really delicious. It was still wet and raining, with the accumulated hail trying to melt off, so we ate inside by the stove. Bedtime came early tonight.