96º In The Shade

The Joy Of A Screened In Porch

8:47 and 75º

 It's still pitch black here in Virginia, as I sit watching the news with my son in law.  He just left to take Halle to school at 6:40, as I mentioned yesterday an uncivilized time although she does finish the day at 2:20.  It's 75º at the moment but it's starting to cool off today, with a high only in the low 80's. Yesterday, however, it was a record-breaking 98º in the District Of Columbia, perhaps a result of a raging Trump.

Hydrangeas Frame The Yard

Yesterday was a good day to hunker down in an air-conditioned house, car or store and we did all three, spending as little time outside as possible. We had a long coffee hour watching the news and relaxing.  Drew stayed home and teleworked in his office and Jill prepped dinner before going off to work at 10:30.  Evie and I then decided that despite the heat, we would hit our favorite store in the area, Trader Joes, about a 20-minute drive unless you run into a traffic jam on #66 on the way home which we did, forcing us to take back roads home.  We took our time at Trader Joe's, in no hurry to get back in the car and managed to ring up quite a bill although, in our mind, we saved money. Because of the traffic problem we did not get home until 1:00.

Halle At Ready

For lunch, I had a salami sandwich with pickles, just enough on this warm day, And since I was up at 5:00, I took a nice hour nap, the kind, unfortunately, when you wake up groggy rather than refreshed.  Jill was home when I woke and had to pick up Halle and take her to a math tutor after her volleyball practice.  So what did we do?  We left for Target so Evie could get in her shopping fix and browse to her heart's content while I sat at the Starbucks in Target, reading and sipping an obnoxiously sweet strawberry lemonade. By the time we returned, it was wine time so we sat out on their screened-in porch, ceiling fan cooling and talked about, what else, grandchildren.  We were having spaghetti squash for dinner, baked then scooped out and mixed with cheese and cream, then put back in the squash shell and baked.  While Evie and Jill were doing this, I grilled a couple of pork tenderloins that had been marinating in a Greek marinade of lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, and thyme. We ate out on the porch as the late afternoon was beginning to cool off.  The tenderloins and squash were really good, recipes worth making again, especially the spaghetti squash, something Evie has never made.

We ended the evening watching one of Jill's favorite shows, a reality TV show called Below Deck.  We had never watched it before so we found it amusing, especially all the gossip that goes on 'below deck.'  It was another early night so we all headed to bed by 10:15 except for Halle and Drew who were working on homework, a good Dad.