My Summer began pleasantly, with a trip to South West Florida, where I ate delectable food, swam in the ocean, and spotted dolphins swimming whimsically in the glimmering sunlight.
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| Me, after eating Jackie Chan vegan pizza at Wildwood in Punta Gorda |
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| Mango Bistro eatery in Englewood, FL with lots of vegan food options |
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| Mango Tree |
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| Juncture at the ocean where Peace River and Gasparilla Sound - Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserve meet |
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| South Jetty Beach at the corner of the Gulf Coast |
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| Boca Grande Beach at the Gulf Coast |
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| Vegetable Vegan Sushi Roll at Hurricane Charley's |
For the remainder of the summer, I've been working- and in my free time, in the garden. My garden has been on the back burner for various reasons. But, I'm patiently waiting for cucumbers, tomatoes, pumpkins; and particularly corn! I have a newfound obsession with street corn aftering eating some at this great restaurant, The Social Vegan. I made my own one day, too. The picture doesn't show the finished product- only after the corn came out of the broiler. For these, I broiled with vegan butter, then after cooking- covered in vegan mayo, lime juice, different pepper spices and cashew powder to act as the "parmesan."
Furthermore, I need to investigate the garden for cucumbers. I have lots of cucumber plants growing and flowering, but I've only harvested 1 fruit thus far; so, I'm not keeping my hopes us. In addition to that, I need to dig and harvest up potatoes from the mounds. This was my first batch- seen in the picture.
In the next day or so, I'll be sowing leafy green seeds to transplant for a fall garden.
Besides gardening- Ashley and I both recently purchased bicycles. We are trying to stay active physically; but also to try to enjoy our summer with nice bike rides, little camp fires by the creek, hikes in the woods...and alcoholic slushies, ha!
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Drinks at The Social Vegan
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| Frozen Peach, strawberry, pineapple, & vegan almond creamer "Ice Cream" topped with coconut & almonds |
As mentioned, I have enjoyed leisure hikes in the woods with scenes of mossy oak, vivacious ferns, and delectable-looking mushrooms; so, I wanted to share some of those photos from my recent hikes.
As you may or may not know, Kentucky has been regularly hit hard in the last year from flooding and natural disasters in general. The particular region I am located in Kentucky was hit with light flooding, but nothing as disastrous as the other regions recently. With that said, my hikes through the woods have consisted of mushroom spotting. With much rain and heat, comes a variety of mushrooms!
Chicken of the Woods mushrooms growing on an OLD fallen oak tree
Sometimes you find treasures in a fairy garden of the woods!
Before a bike ride in the woods the other day, there was a light rain; so, I put my bigger houseplants out in the rain on our stair steps to get watered.
Sometimes I'm told I have too many snake plants...
Jewels in my container pots...with freshly added garden soil and coconut coir to revitalize my houseplants...
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| Propagated Monstera transplanted |
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| Fossilized fish head from the creek with marbles to accentuate the cacti plant |
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| Her name is Buela |
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| Monstera |
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| Monstera rocks |
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| Mossy tree along the creek |
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| Tree roots like the veins of the Earth's floor |
Snake-like tree overhanging the creek...
Back in June, some colleagues of mine went to Comedy Off Broadway, and had dinner at Palmer's- and we spotted a goose giving birth...
Another evening in June, we had a fire next to a creek, roasting veggie hot dogs. Our cats always follow us to the creek- one of them likes to laze on my backpack.
This past weekend- the end of July- Ashley and I visited Indiana for some family time. Here was one view- of a soybean field. To me, much of Indiana was miles of disorienting roads with walls of corn and soybean fields. Indiana is a different landscape than my stomping grounds- it's flat, swamp like terrain whereas Kentucky is rolling foothills that can look like towering mountain sides.
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| Looks like an alien spaceship is going to abduct a cow in this field |
That's the jist of my summer so far. I will say, I had a Covid stint that required me to quarantine for 10 days and mask for 5 days. I was fortunate to not have severe symptoms- but it felt very close to pneumonia- it did not feel like the flu. I have also been fully vaccinated and had my booster; so, maybe that helped. I became very weak; and it took another weak to regain my strength back. I am also fortunate enough to have a job that can accommodate working from home, which I did.
The summer is going by fast, and I hope to continue to harvest some veg as well as start a fall garden. Stay tuned!
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