Weekend of Friends

Last night we celebrated the end of the summer with a bonfire and barbeque at a friends place. It was FREEZING! We were all glad for hoodies, jackets and blankets to wrap up in by the heat of the fire. This beautiful Willow tree supplied the fire wood (it blew down over the summer) The ominous sky, dying tree and corn stalks struck me as a beautiful combination.

Tonight I got to celebrate the 15th birthday of my "adopted" family member, Josh. We had a great family dinner and a really nice visit. I spent a lot of time with the Millers in the summer and have missed them since school started. A great weekend to reconnect!

Banished the BBQ Crud

So a strange thing kept happening when I would BBQ. There would be billowing smoke and flames rising from places they shouldn't have been. So, puzzled as I was by this, a male friend of mine suggested that I clean the BBQ. Clean a BBQ? I thought the whole point was that you didn't have to clean them! So I put on my rubber gloves (ew! I wasn't touching that nasty thing!) and started disassembling the beast. I scrubbed and shoveled so much crud out of the bottom that I nearly filled a two liter ice cream tub! I then realized that I'd made a horrible mess all over the porch, so I started sweeping off the porch and then took the hose to it. It's not perfect, by any means, but I am not longer embarrassed to have company hangout on the porch while I cook now! I also had to refill the propane tank today, which was another new adventure for me. 

I'm very proud!