nothing like your friend swooping you away with her girls to head out to the beach for a day of just bein’ bums. nothing like sunshine on your shoulders and arms as you pick sunflower seeds out of a giant head of a flower that drooped seven feet high at it’s best. nothing like those days when you feel the end of summer and, no matter how much you complained of the heat, bask in the warmth and wish for a few more moments of bliss.
my weekend…as weekends should be…
(yes, i’m getting better at balance)
a slow start to canning, but the jams and relishes and cherries are done and the tomato sauces are fully underway. got some salsa & ketchup recipes to think about makin’ now 
i love how the bees get all high off the sunflower nectar, how the sun hits the flowers in the morning, and what they do to make people smile
already starting in on my 2nd sockeye salmon fillet from the share I bought a couple weeks ago – marinade it in ginger and soy and olive oil, then grill, then pop on a bed of spinach, grape tomatoes from the garden, and a homemade mustard vinaigrette? mwah! perfect!
headin’ to gearhart for a day of lazy beach time with two good girls and one badass grrl
love what leads us up to the beach…and that patch o blue that teased us randomly that afternoon…
i always get centered at the ocean…clean salty air, barefeet on wet sand, dreamy ‘scapes like this…
what i can stare at for hours…
some awesome finds on my walk
looking up at the dunes as the sun hit them in a rare moment… love those sea grasses…
(bliss)
well let’s just say that some of us are cold blooded, some of us are warm blooded, hahaha
a lovely saturday, a lovely quiet beach, i left happy and mellow and ready for a nice long nap
came home to find one of the feral kitties chillin’ in my back yard… oy vey…
and the sky lookin’ like somethin’ awesome
so i sat out on my front porch while the light fell on me nicely and enjoyed the meditative state of de-seeding this giant sunflower head. amazes me constantly how many seeds ONE makes! i give most of the heads to my neighbor for their chickens to gorge on, but saved this one for me - next year’s seeds & maybe some crunchies to enjoy as well!
while seeding the sunflower, i heard music and cheering, and this went by…a wedding procession / parade….sweet, community, happy
as the tomatoes continue to ripen, two samples of what I focused on – yellow tomato basil jam, and salsa that also includes my onions and hot peppers, mmm!
