Weekend Coffee Share.....Come Sit with Me

It's another week of Weekend Coffee Share. I always love everyone's posts. Are you like me and try to visit everyone? It doesn't always happen but I try. I have loved getting to know different bloggers and I figure if they take the time to write a post, I'll find the time to visit, even if it's a week later. I truly enjoy what you all share and I often learn so much. 

Check out all the other posts on Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. I'm off to go visit some now. #weekendcoffeeshare.

If we were having coffee we'd probably talk about:

The weather: We had a much needed day of rain on Wednesday. It rained the entire day. We're heading back into hotter temps for the next week. 

Around the house: Still trying to figure things out with our garage build. We need to have a surveyor come out, finalize placement and a plan before we can get started. 

The other day I caught a deer up on my side planting area. I was so annoyed. She was just walking along helping herself. I scared her off. I bought a spray to put on the plants that will hopefully deter them. I've seen evidence of them nibbling, but this one just climbed, jumped, whatever she did, up onto the area and was walking in it. I was very close to telling my grandson he could use his bb gun to scare them off. I'll try the spray first. The tips of my tomato plants are bitten off. She was going for my lemon tree when I scared her.

Still getting so many blueberries. I love going out and picking them. I also discovered some blackberries that climbed up in our cedar trees. I should take a ladder and go out and pick them. maybe this weekend. 

For the love of food: I'm working on deciding the recipe I want to make for next weeks BKD Cookbook Club hosted by Jo Tracey. This month we're cooking from cookbooks published in our country....I decided to focus on cookbooks from the PNW. I have 5 I'm perusing.

The other day I made an artisan loaf of sourdough. So good! 

My MIL gave me some fresh green beans, eggs and a few tomatoes last week so I put together a really quick summer salad. Blanch the green beans, then toss everything with some italian salad dressing. Quick and easy.

Last Wednesday a friend and I went on a hunt for Little Free Libraries. We had so much fun..we decided we had as much fun looking at the houses and oohing and aahing over those and the neighborhoods as we did looking for books. Anyways. At one point we decided to get something to eat and spotted this place. The name was so cute we decided to give it a try. Bless Your Heart Burgers is part of the Sesame Collective which has a great story. 

From their website: 

Sesame Collective creates connection through curated hospitality.

 

Locally owned and operated in Portland, Oregon, our restaurant group offers Mediterranean-inspired fare with a distinctive Pacific Northwest twist. Each of our five locations has its own personality, providing a unique dining experience.

 

Oh, and we also have a burger concept that's sizzling its way through the Portland metro area—because sometimes, a great burger is all you need!

​

By bringing people together over a shared love of food, beverage, and service, we strive to foster unity and create meaningful connections. At Sesame Collective, we believe that through the simple act of sharing a meal, we can make the world a better place.

For the love of reading:  I finished the book Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander. It was really good. I also just finished Home Sweet Homicide (Hometown Mysteries Book 5) by Rosalie Spielman. It just came out last week, and I finished it in two days. I love this series. I'm almost halfway through Save the Fate which I mentioned last week. I am just starting Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg. One of the gals who is a part of the #WOYBS party and here (though I'm drawing a blank on who it is), shared this book awhile back and it was really on sale on Amazon so I grabbed it to read on my Kindle. Oh, and I'm getting ready to start our next book club book called Sociopath, A Memoir by Patric Gagne. Should be interesting. 

What we're watching or listening to: I'm just about done with the audiobook The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days by Kate Bowler. It is so good I'm considering buying the book. I'll soon be looking for the next audiobook. I have a few I need to look up to see if they're available. 

Favorite quote: 

"Our hearts weren't brought back to life because the dinner was swanky or exclusiv; our hearts were revived because the food waas intentional and curated with love. The meal nourished my soul in places I didn't realize I was starving". 

~Margaret Feinberg from the book Taste and See

Favorite photo(s):

This flag is HUGE. It's outside an RV dealership in town. 

Random or not so random things: It's county fair time and our local county fair ends tomorrow (the 10th). We went the second day it was open which was last Saturday. I love going to the fair, though I'm not a fan of the rides so much anymore, not to mention how EXPENSIVE it is. Yikes. We did buy our grandson a rides bracelet and our granddaughter some tickets since there weren't a lot of rides she could go on yet. The day was perfect, cloudy in the morning and then the sun came out but it wasn't too hot. We did some rides, saw the animals, walked around, ate fair food and after 6 hours, went home. 

My MIL entered her swiss cookies in the fair. Everyone LOVES these. Sometimes she dips them in chocolate though traditionally they are served plain.

We are apparently going to attempt to hike to the summit of Mt. St. Helens next month. Yikes...I better get busy. I'm not sure about that. We had planned to do it in 2020 (when I was in a LOT better shape), but Covid shut that down. So annoying. We had been doing practice hikes and everything. Anyways, I will not get on that soap box. We will see how it goes. The goal is to make it to the top but it's also to see how far we can go. There are 9 of us. There's a part of me that doesn't want to be the slow one, or the one that has to turn around because they just can't do it. 

I'm off to a wedding soon so will wrap this up.

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin