BOXED IN

My longtime friend Tom, he of Light Breezes, sent me some pictures of his family yesterday.

Now I want you to understand; these are not photos of his wife, or of his children, or of his grandchildren.

But they are members of his family.

Dear members of his family.

Like all good cats, when confronted with the spectre of a NEW BOX, they know what to do.

Get into it and sleep, protected from the wiles of a devious world.

As one meme says: If it fits, I sits!

Even if it sometimes doesn't quite fit.

A WEEKEND SPECTACULAR

 

Judy's Dutch Apple Pie

(too die for)

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Well, hi.

Simply hi.

How has your week been?

        👿

Oh.

I'll not ask any more.

Let me try to help as we ease into the Humor Bank.

Music, maestro, please.

You know when you see the Trekkies that we're nearing the end of this episode of the pre-Saturday Snickers.

So let me give you the standard command: let's all try to have a terrific weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . ah, yes  . . . )

FOODIE ALERT

 Some recent meals from the Taylor Family Kitchen.

Lemon-Pepper Chicken Breast, Israeli Couscous, Sauteed Green Beans.

Simple salads: chopped lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes.

Italian Night: Grated Parmesan atop Judy's Pasta Meat Sauce over Rotini and Cavatappi, Garlic Toast.

Bruce's Bread Machine Whole Wheat Bread with Dried Cranberries.

Bon appetit!

MORE ARTISTRY

One of the commenters on yesterday's blog, Diaday from Dayton, Ohio, noted what a great idea Gayle had to repurpose old CD's as art.

I took another look and then emailed the artist to ask if that's what the centers of those designs were.

She replied that they weren't but said she had a few pieces using old DVD's.

And she sent photos of them.

When I showed them to her mother, all I could say was "What will that girl come up with next?"

ART FROM THE HEART

The BAD (Beautiful Artistic Daughter) and I have never discussed where she gets her ideas, what motivates her impulses, what she sees in her mind before she embarks on another project.

But they continue to flow from her hands, amazing her mother and I and her friends and acquaintances.

For someone like myself, with little to no artistic ability, they are stupendous accomplishments of what I would describe as genius.

So, with no more of my adulation, I show you her photograph of her latest creation.

BAKING IN ARIZONA IN JULY

As my buddy, Steve . . . no, no, not Baseball Steve . . . this Steve.

The Steve, who lives in London, England, and is the author of the Shadows and Light blog.

Anyway as he reminded me recently when I was whining about the heat and not wanting to turn on the oven, that's what air conditioning is for.

And he was right because yesterday I turned the oven on and made a batch of blueberry muffins with the extra blueberries that didn't go into my clafoutis awhile back.

It was a new recipe for me and they turned out great, even though SWMBO growled a bit about the uneven distribution of berries.

(She got one muffin with only one berry in it while others were loaded.)

And speaking of SWMBO, once the muffins were done she reminded me that she'd been out of her favorite English Muffin Bread for about three days.

So back I went and baked up a couple of loaves of that for her.

Amazingly for me, who is notoriously slow in my baking and cooking abilities, all of this was done by noon and I could turn off the oven until late afternoon, when it was time for me to prepare my weekly Friday Pizza.

Who cares about the heat?

Certainly not THIS cool cat!