Seattle sunshine

We spent the day at a friend's "farm" in Redmond. She used to keep chickens and goats, but now there are *only* a horse, a pony, four dogs, seven cats and a bird. Pumpkin used to love going to the farm and romping with all the animals, but Bobka did not enjoy himself as much. He spent much of the time sitting on either Rik or I, occasionally sitting on the floor and once or twice exploring the house. (The exploration ended quickly when he poked his nose into a dog crate while it was occupied; said occupant growled and sent Bob skittering away.)

'Da bird

After a walk through the meadow, some time in the horse ring doing agility with the dogs and a lunch of crepes filled with ricotta cheese and jam plus chocolate egg creams made with Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup, we stopped at Sears to return some Lands End merchandise (no paying a return shipping charge!) and then got caught in rush hour traffic on the way home. We are enjoying some late afternoon sunshine now and I'm thinking about lighting the grill to cook dinner, maybe making a cocktail of vodka and sour cherry juice.

I also stopped at the local farmer's market and bought three kinds of cherries: Rainiers for Rik, a less-sweet varietal for me, and then some Montmorency pie cherries. I learned this farm could sell me a bucket of stemmed, pitted Montmorencies so we can make vishnik. I have sent an email to their office and we will see what they charge for a bucket. We would need 25 - 35 pounds of pie cherries to make vishnik. In the meantime, cherry pie is in our future!

Can you believe that I had chemo on Monday?


 Dad's Chocolate Egg Cream Recipe

Into a tall glass, spoon one inch of Fox's U-bet chocolate syrup (Dad permitted no substitutions!). Add one inch of milk. (Whole milk makes the best foam; low fat not so much.)

Tilt the glass and pour seltzer off a spoon to make a big chocolate head.

Stir. Drink. Enjoy!