And BLAM! Its Summer

 Or how we went from the high of 79 to 91 F. overnight. Apparently, we have had 11 Saturdays of rain. Needless to say, everything is growing like mad. I was able to harvest my lettuce starters after about 3 days!

Today was better than yesterday when I had a guy come to clean out my dryer hose and vent. He "inspected" it and said, "That will be $249." It had been represented to me as $179, which I was prepared to pay. He said I needed the "deep brush" cleaning. I asked him to leave. I'm going to use Butch, the handyman that Ann is sharing with me.

Today I started off with an oil change and they said I don't need a brake job. Honda of the Desert had sent me an email saying it was time to check the brakes. I'm trying to avoid the Honda dealerships on either coast since their goal always seems to be to sell me more services. Naturally, I want to keep the car in as best shape as possible, but I don't want to do something before it's remotely needed.

From there I went a bit further into Hadley to the Esselon restaurant to have a lovely brunch on their patio. Meanwhile, it was warming up but not too hot outside. I had a fabulous breakfast egg and sausage sandwich on ciabata bread, with a mashed potato patty, and fresh green salad with lots of carrot shavings. Unfortunately, the darn mosquitoes decided to make me their brunch. As far as I know, I only got one bite.

Then it was reverse direction (toward home) and on to Whole Foods. Yep, their artistic food displays won me over and I got some watermelon hunks, green olives with lemon slices, and other stuff. My fave was "sushi" which was veggies wrapped in lettuce and a thin rice wrap. Oh, yes, I splurged on a pre-

made single serving of mac and cheese. (grin)

After that, more toward home to Aldi who has really inexpensive spices. Unfortunately, they did not have cardamon nor allspice. I have looked up the recipe for Swedish meatballs (which are really from Turkey but a Swedish king lived in Turkey for a while and liked them). I plan to use ground turkey instead of beef to cut the fat content a bit. I did pick up cheap cauliflower and fresh salmon.

At this point, it was getting so hot (89 F.) that I made the Post Office my last stop before heading home. So all of these stops are on a giant oval. I started my 'use the quickest trip route' years ago when the girls were young. I counted up my trips in one day and I had traversed the center of town about 7 times. (I didn't go near the center of town today.)

See those cute purple flowers? Those are the chives which are very happy in my 'natural' (AKA weeds) patch. 

And here are the cuttings of wild roses. The canes were mixed in with the day lilies. I have picked them up, but haven't taken an after picture. (There are a couple more piles on the other side.)

View from the church parking lot on one of our many many overcast days.

My favorite spring flowers -- pansies -- by the door of the church. I know they absolutely wilt in the heat so I enjoyed their cute faces there and didn't buy my own.

Cathy V. and I took a walk at the Applewood Arboretum (1/4 mile) about 3 weeks ago. It was in its spring glory.

Isn't it amazing how this one bloom is so much darker than the rest? It was the only one.

And here, in my opinion, is the dumbest thing the Town of Amherst has done lately. This is the north end of the Town Common. It used to be parking spaces. Now it's terraced grass (which needs watering and mowing). I guess there are plans for some sort of band stand -- but where are people to park for a concert? The south side is still parking and it always seems to be full.

And here I will leave you with a Palm Springs, CA sunrise. 

Cheers!