Weird weather

The other day the weather was very strange. The air smelled like hot pavement after it rains.

The sunset at the end was amazing.

It sure was gorgeous! I just kept staring up. It was such a nice change from our overcast 60 degree weather we had been having the past few days.

Buttermilk Cake

Buttermilk Cake

1 C all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened

2/3 C plus 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar, divided

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 Large egg

1/2 C well-shaken buttermilk

1 C fresh berries (I use what ever looks good, even nectarines!)

*Preheat oven to 400 with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-in round cake pan.

*Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt.

*Beat butter and 2/3 C sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well.

*At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Mixing until just combined.

*Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter berries (or what ever fruit you want) over the top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar.

*Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 - 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

*THEN ENJOY!

This is the easiest cake to make. Sometimes I combine 2 different fruits like blueberries and strawberries. Or in the case of Sonja's cake I made her, it was blueberries and nectarines cut into small pieces.

Last of the fun

We had just a little bit more fun before we all

said good bye! It was really fun visiting with

my whole family! We just don't get to enjoy

each other often enough.

David helping mom! Typical! :)

Just riding my bike!

So I just love these pictures! It reminds me of carefree days of riding the old tricycle around the neighborhood. It was truly funny to watch this kid ride right thru and keep on going. No adult around, just what must have been his older brother who of course road thru about 5 minutes before and never came back to make sure his little brother was still okay.

Quote for the day

Well actually it's a quote for a lifetime! I love this quote from Aristole

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

So how often do we really do this? It certainly is a very hard thing to do. Sometimes it's hard to hear other peoples ideas about things that are so different from my own, however, as the old adage goes- this world would be mighty boring if we all thought the same!

Jill's Buzz Cuts

Today after the beach Jill set the chair out in the yard and started buzzing heads. Who ever wanted could wait their turn and away she went.

Good Eats

I'm truly thankful that my husband likes good food. He's not always thankful that I like good food. You know it's the whole $ thing for him. He likes to keep us reined in. That's not so bad I guess. But today we went to one of our favorite spots. The day was gorgeous and we got to spend time with my brother and his wife. The food was amazing as always. Where did we go? The Slanted Door. The only real bummer (which I haven't gotten over yet) is that I lost Owlie! I'm still crying over it.