Anniversary brunch and micro-brewery tour

We went to the Main Street Brewery restaurant in Belleville today for brunch to celebrate our 24th anniversary tomorrow. We ate on the patio and it was very good. Afterward we went down the road to the micro-brewery itself, tasted a few beers and drank some. We were given a tour of the brewing and canning area, even though it wasn't running today...it was really interesting! We started to stop at the Krispy Kreme shop, but decided to go on, we didn't need that sugar, however, by the time we got back to Salem, we had kept thinking about those fresh-made donuts and decided to stop for ice cream at the DQ.. :). It was a fun date day with my wonderful husband..I hope you have all had a great day too. 
Main Street Brewery and restaurant 

Omega Ice Cream Social

We had a great time at the ice cream social at Omega last night. Love our down home country life here. It is usually so hot when they have this each year, that we usually don't attend, but it was so cool, we had to wear jackets, yes, even sitting in the middle of a cornfield, eating ice cream, sandwiches and listening to music by many local musicians and singers..There are lots of talented people around here. We also danced a bit and, of course, we took my mother-in-law, Dona, she loves listening to the old time music like her dad used to play back in his day...(there was a nice crowd there, people sitting everywhere, but I just took this random photo of one side of the shelter..

Stormy weather

Wow, what a storm here last night! I'm sound asleep, Bill wakes me up,, "The tornado siren just went off, I think you had better get dressed, we might have to get out of here"..so I did, then flopped back down on the bed, lol..then something crashed onto the roof and I was up...we stood at the door and watched the storm and the radar,..sure enough the radar showed a bow echo right above our heads, pretty scary for a while....but all is well, at least at our house this morning, a bunch of big branches fell on the roof, but didn't do any damage...so...that was my 1:00 a.m. adventure...I hope you all have a great day.

Mmmm..veggie pizza

I made this cauliflower crust pizza for lunch today couldn't believe how good it was, seriously! I like a white pizza, so I didn't use pizza sauce, either way it's pretty great, without all of those calories from a flour crust. Think I will go get in my hammock and do a little reading this afternoon...hope everyone is having a good day!

Farmer's market Saturday.

Went to the farmer's market today and got lots of locally grown produce, yum..this is the first year in forever that we did not plant a garden, it was really nice to just go buy it and not do all of the work for a change......now a storm is coming in, hope it cools things off a bit...have a great day!

July Red Hat luncheon

I had lunch with my Red Hat sisters today at El Rancherito in Salem. Thank you for being our hostess, Debi Champion, and thank you to Janet Hanks for bringing gifts for all of us..really appreciate it ladies! Good to see and visit with everyone on this very hot July day. Have a great week end all.

Missing my mom... :(

Two years ago today, my sweet mama went to heaven. I miss her so much everyday. This photo was taken about 6 months before she left us....I hope you are having a grand time in heaven, mom, because we all sure do love and miss you here on earth..

A blast from the past...2009 Luau

 July 11, 2009..

My Red Hat ladies group had a luau Friday, hosted by me and my mom, it was such fun. We all had our picture taken with Capt. Sparrow (aka Johnny Depp), made ice cream sundays, learned the hula and destroyed the pinata...it was great fun and the ladies all joined in the festivities...

Tried a new casserole..

Southwestern egg bake, was for dinner tonight. This sounded so good, but it was way too bland for me. It needed more cumin, or chili powder. I just used hot sauce, but taco sauce would have helped a lot.so anyway, it looks pretty..lol.. :) We had it with a green salad, and had fruit salad for dessert, which was really good on this very hot day...yes, .the lovely heat is back..boo!

Out by the fire pit again tonight with marshmallows!

Out by the fire pit again, toasting some marshmallows. It's been another beautiful day, we've been out here most of the day enjoying it.I spent a couple of hours in my hammock, readying, which is the most relaxing thing ever.. I hope you have all had a great Saturday

It's finally cool enought to build a fire...

What a beautiful cool day today, low humidity and sunny. Here is where we are now...outside by the fire. Have a great weekend all!

Blackberries are ready too....

The blackberries are ready too, so I had this blackberry, blueberry, avocado smoothie for lunch...yummy. I hope you all have a good day!

Happy Hot 4th of July

 First of all, Happy 4th of July!  However, the heat is this hot! The actual temps. were in the mid-90's, but the heat index was 107.2...somebody send ice water. Oh, and I forgot, the humidity was 93%, so add that to the fun mix..and it wasn't raining, not a cloud in the sky...they always say, it's not the heat, it's the humidity, and that's the truth here in Illinois..

Summer Blueberries...

Fresh blueberries from our two little bushes. .I see a smoothie in my future.