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Maureen, most of us would think those fires are devastating, but for someone with ties to the area, it is tenfold worse. I'm so sorry for those who live there. Hugs to all. The spinach pie would make a nice side dish to your meal, Roy. I would love the Sour Cherry Soup. I used to make a great one, but have since lost the recipe. We grew up without AC as well. My parents used to leave all the doors and windows open at night to cool the house. The screen doors were shut, but the main doors were open to allow cooler air in. One time I got up and was petrified to find the front door open. I had just read Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and was sure someone was coming after us. My first two cars didn't have AC in them. I made a trip out west around the Colorado Plateau one summer in one of them. It wasn't too bad. I guess we were just used to it and a lot younger. @Cruising-along Happy to hear you are feeling better. @Cruzin Terri Hooray on the negative COVID test. @Mr. Boston I hope you didn't start something with that temporary crown. One of mine fell off last night. I managed to get it back on and it is still on now. I picked up some dental cement at the drug store and I'll put it back on until my dental appointment.

Thanks! They do look good.

Good morning, everyone! It is going to be another really hot one here with highs in the mid 90s. It is already 79F. Thanks to my new best friend from the HVAC company, we will be comfortable. If he hadn't been able to fix it our plan was to go to the mall and sit outside Barnes and Noble and drink coffee all day. We could get up every now and then and walk a lap or two. I suppose for variety's sake we could have sat in the food court for awhile. Great idea @0106 Tina about the movies. Nothing on the agenda today after the gym. Just staying cool. @SusieKIslandGirl Happy Birthday to your DH! @StLouisCruisers I hope you start to feel better soon. This is a lousy time to be sick! @Cruzin Terri I hope you are feeling better as well! Today's meal sounds really good. I've never had it, but I sure would be willing to try it! I think I'd like someone else to make it, though. Spanakopita This next recipe adds in sundried tomatoes to the spinach mixture. Sounds good to me, but probably not authentic. Greek Spinach Pie And here's one with slightly different seasonings. Spinach and Feta Pie Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Good afternoon! We have a bit of a break in the heat. It is only 88F right now with a feels like of 89F. Tomorrow is up over 90 again. I did turn the temperature up on the thermostat for the high charge time period. So far, we are doing well. I had some of the gazpacho I made yesterday for lunch today and it was so good. I could live off that in the summer. One summer when I was in Spain and living with a Spanish family, my Spanish host made me gazpacho every day. @kochleffel Paul, I feel for you with no cold foods or drink. @JazzyV Vanessa, I hear you about having to work back into shape. I've been there several times. The good news is that it doesn't take as long to get back to where you were if you had maintained good muscle strength and tone before. I am currently working my way up so that I can hike Jordan Pond in August. Yesterday I was able to walk a mile without stopping with no hiking poles or cane. I'm feeling more confident of being able to make that hike. It is about 3 miles and I will have my hiking poles with me. I do think the yoga is helping. It is old people's yoga, so it concentrates on problem areas typical of older adults. The instructor is also a physical therapist, so she makes recommendations for those of us she knows need to adjust what we're doing. We're having fish tonight on the grill. We've got left over corn on the cob to go along with it.

Good morning, everyone! AC is still running well, a good thing as mid-MIchigan is going to be toasty again today. Yesterday we got up to 95F. The projected high for today is only 90. So a bit of a reprieve. No cats showed up in my dreams last night, so it was a restful night. It was stressful the night before knowing the police were at my door and I could go to jail for harboring stolen cats. Nothing on the agenda today except yoga. I do have a sewing project for my DS, Mary Jo. It is replacing the velcro on her dog bed for the car. I was going to do it yesterday, but got caught up in AC issues. Combatting hate speech should be everyday. When you hear it, call them out! Today's meal sounds good to me. And easy. It is one that is cooked long and slow. I've done these pork shoulders on the grill over indirect heat and let them go for a couple of hours. Then you can pull them apart with a fork. Slow Roasted Pork Roasting potatoes along with the pork is a good idea. They would be quite flavorful, I think. Lemon Roast Pork and Potatoes Here's one for the Dutch Oven. I do think all these recipes are best saved for a time when you want the oven to heat up the house. This week wouldn't be a great time to cook these. Dutch Oven Pork Shoulder Wishing you all a wonderful day!

We have to win the lottery before the work starts. LOL Especially for the mini splits and the powder room. One can dream. I hope your stomach settles for you. We are having salmon on the grill tonight.

I have a new best friend! The AC tech got the main unit working. The outside unit wasn't getting an electrical signal. Problem was a switch was tripped in the attic. I now know where it is and I can fix it if it happens again. The window unit in the family room is also working. That just took switching the breakers off and back on again. I managed that one myself. Best news is that it did not cost an arm and a leg for the fix. No parts needed, just expertise. We are not worrying about peak hours today as we need to cool the place down. We can worry about them tomorrow. @Cruisercl Caron, congrats on booking the GANZ for 2026. We'd have to win the lottery to do that cruise. And right now that is down on the list right after new roof, mini splits for the family room and basement, and a powder room on the kitchen/dining/family room level. @Quartzsite Cruiser Lenda, your brisket sounds a lot like my method for ribs. I put a dry rub on them the night before and then cook them slowly over indirect heat on the grill. Long and slow and they are very tender.

Well, we won't be using a lot of electricity during peak hours as the AC is not working. I have a call in for service and they said they'd get here sometime this afternoon. The window unit in the TV room, which worked perfectly last summer, isn't working either. The service company asked me to turn off the AC and just run the fan, but the only way to get the fan to run is to turn on the AC. Grrrr. @aliaschief the gazpacho sounded so good that I stopped at the store to get the makings for it. I'm off now to make some as that will be a nice, cool lunch.

Good morning, everyone! I slept in later today for some reason. The last I looked at the clock it was 6 am and the next time it was 7:40 am. I know I was having a vivid dream of being caught with 4 stolen cats that had just shown up in my house. That probably got my attention and I wanted to know how it turned out. But I woke up as the police were coming to the door. It is going to be a hot one. I turned the air on last night and it cooled the house a little. I had it set at 78 and the house is at 78. I turned it down a bit this morning because I'll turn it back up at 2 pm so it doesn't run as much during prime time. Rates are higher from 2 pm to 7 pm. If I can reduce energy use during that time, I get discount from the energy company. It is all such a racket. Nothing on the agenda today except the gym. If need be, we'll go sit in the mall and drink coffee outside Barnes and Noble. We can get up and walk laps every so often. But, we can keep cool with their air and save our $$. @durangoscots Susan, @StLouisCruisers I'm glad you are feeling a bit better. Sorry you are missing the Greenland ports. Thankfully, you were there last summer. @Cruzin Terri I hope you start feeling better soon. @kazu I hope the foot and leg are healing and not giving you too much trouble. The savory galette sounds and looks good! It seems easy to do, but not tonight as it requires the use of the oven. Tonight's dinner is being done on the grill to keep the heat out of the house. I like the mushroom filling on this one, but there are tons of things you can fill the galette with. This sort of reminds me of the tomato pie from our first Daily summer. Mushroom Galette Here is one with zucchini, corn, and tomatoes. You can use your favorite vegetables in the galette, but I would precook carrots so that they were soft and not hard. Same with brussels sprouts. Zucchini Corn and Tomato Galette Now, if you want to go fancy, this is the galette for you. If you can't find the mizithra cheese, you can substitute with goat cheese or feta. Fig and Prosciutto Galette Wishing you all a wonderful day!

I am so thankful I am not the only one! This occurred on that same cruise. The very first morning I went to the dining room for breakfast and one of the women seated at the table began to complain about her cruise on the Rottendam. Now, what could have gone so terribly wrong in less than a day. Well, the beds were supposed to be separated and they weren't. The stewards did separate them before bedtime, but it wasn't done when they boarded and she had to look at that full sized bed. After all, her traveling companion wasn't a romantic interest, just a friend who lived in the same gated community she lived in. And, to top it off, she didn't feel special. I refrained from telling her just how special she was. I did have one guy who wanted to talk politics but I kept reminding him we had a no politics agreement. I told him I wanted to stay friends and it would be best if we skipped that topic. It was so hard for him, but I would occasionally have to say, "Now, Louis! No politics!"

Good afternoon! It hasn't been to awful hot here today and the house has stayed remarkably cool. We haven't turned on the AC and I don't think we will today. I don't think we'll get away with that tomorrow, though. It isn't getting as cool tonight as it did last night. Thanks to everyone who shared a picture of their dad. I enjoyed seeing them all. Here's my dad: He's on the right and his brother Bob is on the left. Me at age 2 with my Daddy. Having fun! OMG, that brought back a memory. I did Open Seating one cruise and we were seated with the complainers. The whole meal was a recitation of their complaints. They didn't get free drinks like they did on Celebrity, they had to eat too early to get to the show, they didn't have time for dessert, something was too hot, something else was too cold, and on and on. The next night they led me to my table and seated there was the same couple. I pulled my host away from them and told him any other table in the dining room, but not with them. He said no problem, many people had complained about them. Hugs, Karen. I hope you enjoyed the concert. Hugs to you, Terry.

Good morning, everyone! It is a nice sunny day out, but supposed to get rather toasty with a high of 87F. I shut the windows when I got up as the house is at 67F now. We'll see if it heats up enough for the AC today. I suspect we could get through today without it and turn it on tomorrow. @Cruzin Terri I am so sorry to read that you have Covid on top of everything else that went wrong. I hope you shake this soon. @aliaschief I think you were reading my mind with the gazpacho. I planned to make that for this week to eat from. I love gazpacho and it is so refreshing on a hot day. To all the dads out there: Today's meal sounds good, but one serving is really high in carbs - two meals worth, so I will pass. I'm not sure what we're having. I'll put something on the grill so we don't heat up the house. Chickpea Pasta with Eggplant This one is a pasta made from chickpeas with an eggplant sauce. A little twist on things, but it helps cut the carbs a bit for those of us who have to watch them. Chickpea Pasta with Eggplant Sauce Wishing you all a wonderful day and Happy Father's Day!

If you list your ports you may get more ideas here. There are sometimes slight variations in itinerary for those cruises. The Canada/New England cruises are great!

That would be better than 20s and 30s.

Good morning, everyone! It is a chilly start to the day at 56F. The house really cooled off last night. I am hoping to keep it cool until I have to turn on the AC. Fingers crossed it works well. We are heading into a two week period of hot, hot, hot. I skipped the gym yesterday to go to Story Hour with River. DN Kourtney joined us with her two littles, Samson and Griffin. After Story Hour the kids played in the garden for a while and then we went and had ice cream for lunch. A successful day, I'd say! @kazu Enjoy that lobster! We're jealous here! Today's meal sounds interesting. I don't know if I'd like the asparagus raw, but I'd give it a try. The shaving part is for presentation. You could just as easily cut it into short pieces. Blanch it if you'd like and then chill. It will still be crisp. Shaved Asparagus Salad This next one uses cabbage and radicchio along with sugar snap peas. The peas looks really nice in the presentation of the salad, but I know I would never get it to look like that. Shaved Asparagus Salad with Radicchio And here's one with hazelnuts and goat cheese. Shaved Asparagus Salad with Goat Cheese Wishing you all a wonderful day!

I think you need to define cold for us.

I think it was the celery that was in it. I didn't care for cooked celery. It needs to be chopped up finer for me than what my mom did. It was in big chunks. In defense of our moms, canned was probably the only option at the time. We didn't have the variety of produce back then. Living in a smaller town, we didn't have an Asian grocery. So, they did the best they could. I probably wouldn't like the weather full time. Winter might not be so bad. Sue and I were talking about winter get aways and we considered spending a January or February in Arizona. No decisions made. This coming January we will be in South America, so it would have to be 2026. Farkle was fun tonight and I even won a game!

We're on the same page, Terry! When we were kids we knew not to say we didn't like something. It was eat it or go hungry. Mom was not afraid to remind us that she was not a short order cook. I have been to the town in Ireland where my mom's grandparents came from several times. I also took my mom to the town where her father was born. When he was born it was Austria, but it is now the Czech Republic. Teenagers are here to make sure we are worthy of leadership. Constant testing. It is good that you and Craig are there for her. You wouldn't have to coax me to get in the pool.

I think we grew up in the same house. And I agree Chop Suey was a 50s thing. You rarely hear of it now and I haven't been forced to eat it since I was in my teens.

Good morning, everyone! It cooled down nicely last night and we are getting a short respite from the heat today and tomorrow. It returns on Sunday and sticks around for a week. We're expecting temps in the mid 90's next week. Until then we'll enjoy the 77 forecast for today. We're going back to the gardens today for story hour at 10. Our DN may join us with her two little ones. After story hour the kids will likely play in the children's garden for a bit. No plans for the afternoon. @Cruzin Terri I'm glad you made it to Jacksonville last night. Take your time getting home today and let there be no further mishaps. @Quartzsite Cruiser safe travels to you and Steve and I hope all goes well during his shunt adjustment. @rafinmd Thinking of you and your ordeal today. I hope it all goes smoothly. @Denise T Welcome home! I like tuna salad and @0106 Tina's suggestion of making it with avocado in place of mayo sounds like a good one. I'm going to have to try that. My open face is using a lettuce leaf in place of the bread. There are a lot of good suggestions for substitutions and things you can do in this recipe. Open Face Tuna Sandwich This recipe uses spiced oranges for a garnish and they sound really good. Tuna Salad with Spiced Oranges This one has a little heat to it with the jalapeños and red pepper flakes. It is interesting how they put mayo on the bread and then toast it in a frypan. Tunacado Sandwich Wishing you all a wonderful day!

We love Acadia and usually always go out to hike. Last summer was different. It was so crowded that it was not at all enjoyable. We kept having to move off the trail to let families carrying coolers to the beach pass by us. From now on, we only go after school starts or before it gets out. That may be a road trip.

Fingers crossed for @Cruzin Terri! I knew I forgot to mention something and it was about the Kitchen Klutzes. Yes, I am in that group. It is a subset of the Messy Painters Guild and the Messy Bakers Club. I also agree that being a klutz is not limited to the kitchen. I can be a klutz just about anywhere. @smitty34877 Terry, I believe you are the one who responded to my desire to hike Jordan Pond. I've wanted to do that for a long time. We set out to do it a few years back and missed the bus by a couple of minutes and had to wait an hour for the next one. Then, the bus we were on broke down and we had to wait for a replacement bus. By the time we got there, we had time to look at the lake and go back to town to catch our tender. I'm hoping we have better luck this time!

Good afternoon, everyone! I am beat. Between the heat and walking, I am ready to veg out on the couch and call it a day. River had a blast with her cousin Aspen. They especially liked the play area with the river in it. Both girls were soaked and River's shorts that were once pink were a nice shade of black and had a hole in them. They went in the trash. I told Sue I wasn't cooking tonight. I think we're ordering in salads. Or scrounging. Thanks for letting us know! I did make it yesterday and even River ate it with no argument. It was decided that it should go in the rotation. I did add in the bell peppers and some mushrooms. We had it over riced cauliflower.

Good morning, everyone. It is going to be a scorcher today. The windows are still open as it is cooler outside than in, but I'll close them before I leave for yoga. Expected high of 87F. We are supposed to meet Sue's former SILs and their families at Dow Gardens today. They sure picked a hot one! I think the spray park might have been better. Today's meal is one I tried and didn't care for, but perhaps I should try it again. I love raw radishes, so I should like the cooked ones. At any rate, radishes are a super healthy food. Radishes are root vegetables that come in several different colors and are a cousin to cabbage. This bright spring veg is a very good source of disease-fighting and immunity-boosting vitamin C Radishes contain natural antibacterial and antifungal properties. They contain a unique phytochemical called indoles, which promotes detoxification, helping your body rid itself of harmful substances. Radishes are full of powerful antioxidant flavonoids that fight havoc-causing free radicals and aid in healthy liver and kidney function. Garlic Roasted Radishes This next dish is very simple as it is just olive oil, salt, and pepper. There are some suggestions on how to use the cooked radishes in other dishes. Roasted Radishes This next recipe is more involved and I bet the flavors are amazing. It might be worth giving it a try! Egyptian Roasted Radishes That gives us something to think about! @Cruzin Terri safe travels home. Wishing you all a wonderful day!