LUCKY MAN

My wife, as regular readers know, is a master of cuisine.

French, Italian, Chinese . . whatever the flavors . . she can do it.

Without looking at a recipe, as I do slavishly.

It's all in her head.

So, without further ado, let me show you what she created in our kitchen today.

Shrimp in a garlic lemon sauce.

I asked her what gave it the orange appearance.

Smoked paprika, she said.

Just to give you a better look, before I devoured it . .

You must trust me.

The "bubble pasta" (Israeli couscous); the salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado in Italian dressing; the Sea Salt breadsticks, the Pinot Noir wine . . . are your mouths watering yet?

It was devastatingly delicious.

As I said above, I'm a lucky man.

FIRST HARVEST

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

So you think YOU'VE got problems?

Yesterday was National Tequila Day and I forgot 'ta margarita!

Ooooohhh, I'm sorry.

It was only a shot in the dark.

Okay, I'm double sorry.

Did someone say "doubles"?

That's it.

My stand-up comedy hopes have fallen flat.

So let's see what the Humor Elves have produced this week.

Hey, wait a minute!  You guys aren't the Trekkies!

Oh boy, maybe I should just have left well enough alone.

At any rate, that's all I've got this Friday.

So you poor suffering souls who read this stuff each week try to enjoy yourselves and have a remarkably fantastic weekend!

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . suspicions confirmed! . . . )

ARRIBA!

Just in case you've forgotten, (and you'll have forgotten tomorrow for sure), today is National Tequila Day!

Ole!

T'MATERS!

This year's iteration of our tomato barrel is producing fruit like crazy.

We have two plants in it; a yellow pear tomato and a larger red tomato whose name I can't remember.

These are some of the yellow pear tomatoes.

Yes, I know they're not yellow and that's because they're not ripe yet.

But we have pulled a couple of golden ones so far.

The other vine also has a lot of fruit including one nearly-ripe-enough-to-pick one, trying to hide in the foliage.

Don't tell me about the drooping leaves.

SWMBO already has instructed me on that and after these pictures were taken I got right on it and watered them.

I'll say it again (and again, probably):

"Ain't nothing quite as good as home-grown tomatoes!"

SKY PUFFS

Yesterday was a day for lying on one's back in a grassy field, staring at the sky.

Since I'm too far from a grassy field and couldn't get up if I did lie down in one, I had to content myself with these random photos I snapped.

Dream on, cloud watchers.

Oh and for the curious among you, yes the blue bag is still stuck up there.

Or at least shards of it.

Because of the limitations of my phone's camera, probably only the eagle-eyed among you can pick them out.

SPEAKING OF ART

The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree, as SWMBO demonstrated with a recent salad.

No apples, but sliced watermelon, cucumber and mango, all sprinkled with tajín seasoning.