Tender Mercies

I stood there looking at my grocery list and back in the produce shelf to decide what vegetable I was going to substitute for the not-on-sale-vegetable I had on my list.  As I made my decision and picked up some crisp cabbage, an employee passed by while pushing a cart full of peaches and asked, "Have you tried these peaches? They're delicious!" "Yes I have, in fact I canned some just last night," was my response. Without saying much besides a smile, she slipped into the back and I continued on with my shopping. A few moments later she reappeared and came directly towards me.  Reaching out for my hand she said, "How old are you?" "25." I replied. She continued to shake my hand. "Congratulations. There aren't many 25-year-olds who know how to can these days."  I can tell you that I was pretty blown away by her kindness and her effort to go out of her way and show me that I did something awesome. Later, when I ...

Summertime in Kansas equals one thing: HOT and Humid. Wait that was two. See, I can't even count when it is so hot!  I thought that spending four years in Missouri during college was good enough preparation for returning to the Midwest, but I was wrong. Maybe it was the two and a half years I spent in Alaska that did it for me. Either way, I don't seem as acclimatized to it as I used to be. Well, since I can't control the weather, I realized I can control what I make for lunch and I just so happens that I found a nearly perfect summertime meal for when it is insurmountably hot.   Enter gazpacho and sourdough focaccia. This cold, no-cook soup is chock full of fresh farmer's market produce and yummy flavors. I know it doesn't look like much, but it is a lovely meal for a hot day. Today we ate our bowls of soup on the balcony because well, it was cool today and only reached about 75 degrees F.  Gazpacho 4 large tomatoes, diced 1 shallot, diced 2 ...

Here's a fun twist on date night:                Pool "party" and movie in the middle of the day. Let me explain.  Changing schedules have never been my thing. One may think I would be good at it since I was a military wife, but it still takes a week or so for me to adjust and figure out my new routine. When my husband began his summer job this year, he would leave the house in the early afternoon and return home past midnight, long after I was asleep. When I was working in the mornings or if he was working his second job, we would only briefly see each other in the mornings and that was it. This was so hard for me in the beginning because I was used to him being home much of the time during the school year. * So as our first Saturday that we were home in a long while, I decided to have a little date before he headed off to work this afternoon.  The heat index was projected to be between 105 ° -110 °F today.  At 10 ...