These past couple of weeks have been really rough... what with having some family drama, me being sick, BAJ being sick, and trying to catch up on all kinds of things. One of the things that really got put on the back burner this past year has been the yard. The plants all died in the front yard; partially from a blight that hit us... and partly from a broken drip system. The back yard has always been sort of a sand dune with a bunch of trees... but one of the things I have always wanted back there was a fire pit. And so... the past few days we had a couple friends come over who graciously helped us out with the irrigation system ( which now works )... with the yard (which is now free of everything dead )
... and with my dream of a fire pit ( which I now have ).
Life is good.
And tonight I made a beef roast (marinated in a rose chardonnay overnight... and accented with fresh sage whilst cooking), boiled golden potatoes and sweet potatoes, mushroom gravy, and a kabocha squash ( stuffed with Woodstock bread from Great Harvest Bread Co. -- made into toast, toasted macadamia nuts, slices of summer squash, purple onions, celery, and topped with fresh Romano cheese), and finished with organic "Night Sky" coffee from Satellite cafe ...
and a toasty fire in the fireplace.
*photos by Elaine A. Russell( The last photo here is my photo for the day. It is of the first fire in the fireplace for this season.
It is basically straight out of the camera-- just a little color saturation---
... with a layer placed on top for a little added umph )