Summer begins

Today is Memorial Day, and the official start of the summer , at least according to our American Mindset Calender of events. Pools and beaches open, campgrounds move to in season mode and more. For us this year the icing on the cake is the fact that school is out for the summer- or at least for a few weeks till I can get my act together with our course for the coming year, lesson plans, supplies and so forth. And while school is out, weight loss work will continue. Yesterday morning I created an official workout schedule to print out and post. With my son, if it is printed, it must be followed. In my mind if it is printed and posted in a very prominent place, I will not forget to get it done ! Having this kind of structure through the summer will be a good way to keep mindful of all the other things we have done this school year.

After our lunch at the buffet ( where my son did amazingly well in avoiding bread-y sorts of things and got his meat fix in with one rib and a 2 inch piece of sausage), we decided to wander around one of the other megasized"My Gosh this place should supply tram service to get from one end to the other" stores in our area to do some easy walking and window shopping. I was so glad I did , because I found two things I was needing , and one that just made me smile. First will come the smile item
Edible flowers !!!! There are several species of flowers that you can eat, if the plant has not been sprayed with chemicals. Dog Violets are one ( not the houseplant African violet variety), roses are another. How do they taste ? Each variety is slightly different, but most are a very mild lettuce kind of taste. Colorwise , it is a whole different story. We had flower salad with grilled portabello mushrooms on Arnold's Thins for dinner, and it was just plain happy to look at.

The needful things involved the making of coffee. I seem to have a problem with coffee made in a home drip coffee maker. I have noticed that I can drink resturant coffee with no problem as well as instant, but with stuff I make at home I start to get heartburn, then start feeling really sick and finally my bladder goes completely crazy. It is not coffee, but perhaps something with mold that forms in the silicone hose that connects the water resivoir to the heating part. I have tried drying it out after each use, running vinegar through it weekly to clean it out, and nothing helps. So I wanted to get a stainless steel percolator ( can totally take apart and clean) or something of that nature. I also realized that my teakettle was aluminum ( my good one bit the dust about 2 years ago) and the fact that I was now using it for making my daily tea or instant coffee scared me, so I tossed it and used my good pans to boil water. So I was THRILLED to find these:
A French Press glass coffee maker and a steel and copper tea kettle. The good stuff ! To make coffee in one of these you put in the grounds, fill with boiling water, let it steep for a minute and then depress the plunger on top. Th grounds are strained to the bottom , and coffee to drink remains in the carafe. It tastes more robust than that which you get from a drip maker, and everything comes apart for complete cleaning. Best of all, it is about as low tek as you can come. I am in love with my new finds !

On tap today- walking, work with the stability ball and hand weights while hubby is off to sing at the services, school planning and something for fun. Perhaps I will manage to get down to the family graves this day.