Aug 28th

Today was spent cooking for tomorrows New Orleans Feast. Scott comented that he misses Red Beans and Rice so we thought it would be nice if we made New Orleans favorites and let them have their friends over to enjoy it with us. So today I made the Red Beans and Rice, which took 4 hours to cook today and tomorrow it will need an additional hour! Next was the Shrimp Etouffee. Just the Roux alone took 45 minutes to get it to that 'walnut' color stage. Then it needed an additional 1 1/2 hours to complete. Alyssa will be making Gumbo tonight as well. These three items are best if made the day before. Talk about a labor of love! Scott and PJ both said the house smelled great which was nice to hear!

Tomorrow will be the Corn and Crab Chowder, Jambalaya, Rice and Corn Bread.

Aug 27th
PJ was off today because he's working on Saturday. He went out to lunch with Stan because it was Stan's birthday.
I had Judy and Margaret over to do a little scrapping! It's always fun getting together with the girls! We had a very nice time together and got 'something' accomplished in the way of scrapping!
We got pizza for dinner... a plain pie and a vegetable pie. PJ asked them to put some garlic on it also. OMG! We ended up taking just about all of the garlic off of the pie! They put slivers and huge chunks of RAW garlic on it. My first bite that had some garlic made my mouth feel like it was on fire! PJ had a great idea... save the garlic and use it in tomorrows cooking!

Aug 26th
I went to visit Dad before his procedure but they already took him in. In the end, they found that he has a bleeding ulcer.
I hung out with Judy in the afternoon. I haven't seen her in a while. Good times!

Aug 25th

Dad was supposed to be sent to another re-hab facility today but started bleeding internally again. He will have another procedure tomorrow to hopefully determine the cause.
I got the dutch oven that I asked my step mother to borrow. It was my mother's and has many great memories. My mother used to make lots of Julia Child recipes in that pot! I remember it being a pretty blue and thought it was a decent size. I was surprised at how small it is. It's only 9" in diameter! My first thought when I saw it was "what the heck can I make in such a small pot"? I'm sure I'll find plenty of things to make in it! It is also scratched a lot on the inside and has a lot of chips along the top. I guess it wasn't well cared for. I'm just glad to have it!
Aug 24th
I went to the beach today for a little while. Perfect day!!

Aug 23rd

What a difference a day makes...
It was a beautiful day so PJ and I drove the MGB back down to the beach to see what it looked like today as Hurricane Bill already passed us. It was in much better shape than I thought. Most of the pooling water re-seeded back into the ocean.
This is where the water was draining the pooled areas to go back into the ocean.

There were a lot of people in the water, knee deep. The water was clear and warm. It was great! We expected to see a lot of shells but there were hardly any. It was mostly small rocks that washed up!

The wood sections that belong to the ramp were now scattered around.

We only saw one life guard stand but saw a lot of life guards on foot. Even the big one in the middle wasn't around. That one is usually standing where the water was draining to the ocean. Maybe it washed out to sea!
The beach looks great but will need some cleaning up and fixing of the ramp.

Aug 22nd

PJ and I went to Field 6 at Jones Beach this morning to spend a few hours reading and checking out the waves. Boy were we surprised when we got there! The water had pooled up all the way to the pavillion! In this pooled area, the edges were this thick, brown, foamy YUCK stuff!

The water was up on both sides of the ramp that goes down towards the water

The waves were incredible also.

There was NO SWIMMING today but just in case, the lifeguards had their canoes and surf boards. They also used the canoe to get across the pooled area. Look at how deep the water was near those garbage cans!

The weather channel was broadcasting about 15 feet away from us! I think the guys name is Mike Sidel but I'm not sure. He was signing autographs for people in between shots!

This guy was a riot. He called his wife to tell her where he was and to turn the Weather Channel on so she can see him on tv. He must have stood there for 1/2 hour chatting with her all about seeing him on tv!

PJ catching some rays and finally getting the chance to read!

Tomorrow morning should also be photo worthy so we're going back in the morning!

Aug 21st

I planted and watered all of the sunflowers. I hope that when they flower, I'll be able to count some bees so I can do a little bit of what I was supposed to do (see the post below).

I picked 3 tomatoes today... our FIRST tomatoes of the season! I will NOT be growing tomatoes next year!
Lots of clouds are approaching, some scary looking. Tomorrow we should be getting bad weather from Hurricane Bill passing by.Tonight is the volleyball BBQ at Robert Moses. The team can play more games and there's free food and music. It should be fun but I'm thinking it may rain and be canceled.

Aug 20th

Happy Birthday Scott!!!!

Scott is 22 today. Where did the time go!

It was once again so hot/humid today. PJ and Scott have been complaining about the HUGE plants that were growing near the grape vine. Kris had given me a few of these last year and they reseeded all over the area. I forgot what they're called but they have yellow daisey type of flowers. They are just starting to flower now. It does look like a mess there. So I took the liberties of removing them today so they don't reseed even more. Tomorrow I will plant the sunflower plants that PJ brought home. I had given him seeds that were sent to me from the GREAT SUNFLOWER PROJECT.

http://www.greatsunflower.org/en/why-join

This is a project that is through the San Francisco Biology Dept. They needed volunteers to plant sunflower seeds and track bee activity.

This blog explains it better... http://reneesgardenseeds.blogspot.com/2009/01/great-sunflower-project.html

PJ forgot to sow the seeds until a few weeks later so hopefully it won't bee to mate in the season for them to fully flower. They now stand approx 4 feet high and all are budding.

Aug 19th

PJ called in the late afternoon to say that he just ate a ton of food and he won't really eat much when he gets home from work. It turned out that Jennifer Aniston is filming a few scenes to a new movie that she's working on and the track is in one of the scenes. He was invited into the food tent to stuff his face as he puts it. He went on and on about the delicious food. He even got the caterers name... Henry's. Supposedly they cater for a lot of films and will travel anywhere they are needed!He can't wait for tomorrow to eat their food again!

PJ said that the other day, 135 from Sunrise to Merrick Rd was closed because they were filming there!

So I ended up just heating up some Chili that I made a few days ago for the rest of us. As soon as Alyssa sat on the couch, Huck jumped up and wanted to get his face in that bowl! I guess my chili smells like cat food!!

Aug 18th

Happy Birthday Brooke!!!

It turned out to be a not so happy day for Brooke. On her way home from Petco, she got a flat. Not only did SHE get a flat but 2 other cars in front of her pulled over as well, also with flats! Her and Micki couldn't get the bolts off so some guys in the car in front of her changed the tire for her. They put the spare (doughnut or as Brooke calls it, Dummy tire) on for her. She drove for about a mile when the doughnut blew up! They were in the middle of nowhere so she decided to drive the rest of the way to her apartment, about 5 miles away ON THE RIM!

Volleyball was fun to watch tonight. The first game was an easy win but the next 2 were a little tougher. They ended up winning all 3! We're now tied for 4th place!

Practicing...

Playing...

Chris serving...

In between games... Garrett and Maggie

PJ getting tangled in the net with a player from the other team. Somehow, the ball went over the net without PJ ever touching it and we got the point! It was a Kodak Moment!

PJ and Mike...

SOME happy faces after the 3 wins!

Caught you Chris!

Mom... ENOUGH with the camera!!!