Joan on the Road

I used to hate Saturday because it always meant cleaning. Wasn't it the only day available for that chore when you worked 10 hour days? Now the joy of Saturday is that you might not even know what day it is :) So yesterday, after the long morning coffee hour, I sat outside with a good book and read until time for dinner. I'm into reading a huge John Jakes book, Homeland. It's about the Crown family of Chicago. I've read another in the series and really enjoy the character development and detail of Jake's stories. I picked this book up off the swap shelf here in the laundry. It's a paperback about 3 inches thick and it's very hard to hold open. I have to keep cracking the spine!

Last night's dinner was grilled veggies and teriyaki chicken. Lots of veggies...onion, peppers, mushrooms, zuchini, broccoli all marinated in an oil/balsalmic vinegar dressing then grilled outside for 15-20 minutes. Really very good. Dessert was a bowl of mixed fresh fruits. Jim found a new Safeway store here that is huge, clean and lovely. He did a big shopping there while I was relaxing :) Lucky me!

We had a new movie to watch that Jim got from a birthday gift certificate (thanks Renee and Tom). I can highly recommend this one--The Crossing starring Jeff Daniels. It's about General Washington and the Continental Army crossing the Delaware to fight the Battle of Trenton. It is very well done and strangely, very moving. I got teary eyed when the Hessians (British mercenaries) surrendered to Washington. It was a turning point! If they'd lost the battle we would have been Canadian ;)

Laura hasn't been feeling well all week so she called and asked if we'd shop at Good Foods for them on our way down to visit. We had birthday cards that I'd made for her and Stevo. I love making cards for the family. Laura loves iris so I used Photoshop to "cut" an iris from a picture of her garden and then paste it into a lovely background and soften it a little. It's kinda artsy fartsy! Of course, I added text and verse :)

For Steve I found a picture of him standing by the Kootenai Creek taken a few years ago. I gave it canvas painting effect and added some words of love. They enjoyed the cards and we hope to take them out for a birthday dinner later this week. I think Laura was feeling better when we left. Maybe she just needed a hug from her Mommy!

Tonight we were delighted to find that Masterpiece Theater on PBS is running the Inspector Lewis series. If you ever saw Inspector Morse you'll know that Lewis was his sergeant. The new series is pretty good, not quite as unique as Morse but maybe it will improve. Still, there's nothing like a good English mystery!

Today's Soothing Music: Sunday Morning Coffee, an old Chip Davis collection, "neo-classical", and just right for a lazy Sunday morning.