Wonderful Wildflowers

It was a gorgeous day for a walk in the countryside yesterday. Sue and I met for a breakfast of oatmeal. Sue was treating me for my birthday. The oatmeal was especially good with the availability of fresh berries now. After that, we headed out on our long walk at the bottom of our hill. As we walked along, we saw the usual tangle of wildflowers.

Also, acres and acres of wheat heading up. 

We were trudging up a long hill when we came upon the most amazing patch of wildflowers I've seen in a while. These were no doubt planted from one of those mixed wildflower seed packets. They were so beautiful and profuse that I started taking pictures of every blooming thing. There were Bachelor's Buttons in several colors,

Gaillardia (when I looked up the spelling of "gaillardia" I discovered this particular variety is called Arizona Sun Blanket),

Dianthus in several colors,

Pretty poppies (California, this one is for you!),

And lots of others I didn't know.

These might be coreopsis.

Walking on, we saw this little garden shed. It looks like a miniature barn. Some day I'll work up the nerve to enter these people's property and get a proper picture of it. It always charms the socks off of me.

There are several wineries in this area.

And a marijuana grow operation.

With the sale of recreational marijuana now completely legal and available in Oregon now, it's a good time to be a grower.

What a world, huh? As a child of the 60's, I didn't think I'd ever live to see this day. Legal marijuana: coming to a state near you.

Here's a picture of my favorite barn...different angle. 

When we were nearing the place we started on this loop around, we saw these wild columbine.

The cow population has doubled (at least) since the last time I passed by here. There were lots of calves yesterday.

When I got home, Mr. Smitty was none too happy about being locked inside.

And the squirrels were running roughshod, nearly driving him crazy.

We took him outside for about an hour while we sat out under a tree yesterday evening. He seems to understand there's a reason for this abrupt halt to his freedom to roam. He was a perfect gentleman while we were out, staying right beside us. At one point, he began to wander, and we called him back. He came without a moment's hesitation, and he didn't try to run when we picked him up to go back inside. 

Aside from the one seam I sewed on the Live, Love, Teach quilt yesterday, I did no more sewing for the day. I was tired from our walk and took a short nap. Then I got to work in the kitchen preparing two days worth of dinners. That means no cooking for me tonight, and it's forecast to be a hot day. For tonight's dinner, I made this "slaw" from the rainbow chard in our CSA share. It's best made a day ahead, according to the recipe. I've made several changes to this, including adding some more dressing this morning. It needed a little "pepping up". We'll see how we like it. I'm working from this recipe, but I used hazelnut oil in place of the macadamia nut oil...that's what I had. Also, I used mayonnaise instead of Vegenaise (If it ain't mayonnaise, don't try to disguise the name of it to make it look like mayonnaise. Sheesh.) Also, I used honey in place of the "xylitol or stevia". (That ain't real food.) And I used chopped walnuts in place of the hemp seeds. When I inquired on the CSA Facebook group where one could acquire hemp seeds, one of the group members piped up that they're available in most grocery stores. Who knew? It looks pretty enough. 

This morning I tasted it again after letting it sit over night. The allspice in the dressing is a little too strong for my taste. I jazzed it up with more mayonnaise, vinegar, and honey, and now I'm continuing to monitor its flavor. I've linked to the recipe, but the jury is still out.

For last night's dinner I made the stew I was planning to make when the power went out on Thursday. It has kale, sausage, white beans, and turnips. Any dish that can knock out the kale and the turnips in one fell swoop is good in my book. This actually was very tasty. It was a little warm for stew for dinner, and so I froze the leftovers. That will make a good meal for this coming fall or winter.

This morning Mike and I are going to go out for breakfast and then head to some lumber stores to pick up the supplies for the new catio. Mike is still trying to track down some of the lumber, and so we're really hoping he'll get a start on it today.