Cooper & Spicy's Kingdom : Another hot Summer day

Happy Sunday everyone! A beauty of a day, hot but not as humid as I thought it was going to be. Wow, what a Summer it has been weather wise. I read somewhere that we will continue to have this kind of weather well into Fall. I'll take it as long as the humidity level is not too high. On the topic of Fall, guess what I saw at our Metro last Thursday? Fall Mums! Way too early in my humble opinion.

This past week was a good one. Russell went to the gym on Friday, good for him. He even did 32 pushups on his toes. I didn't go but I promised myself I would resume my workouts this coming Tuesday. Having said this, I didn't rest on my laurels all week. After taking a close look at our biggest flower bed in the back yard, and seeing how everything had grown, we realized that it was lopsided. We had tall Goldsturm Rudbeckias on one end, and compact Echinacea Pow Wow Wild Berry on the other end. So, I decided to transplant the Echinacea to other beds and bought dozens of Rudbeckias as a replacement. I also added many Crocosmia Lucifer plants in the back of the bed. It makes for a nice backdrop. So, all this to say that this was my workout for the past two days and I enjoyed it.... by next Summer, the flower bed will not be lopsided, at least that's the plan.

I must admit that I quite enjoyed not "having" to go to the gym. I felt like I was on vacation all week. Crazy isn't it? I cooked quite a bit, wanting to resume our good eating habits after indulging in the many good foods of Italy. I also took time to reflect back on our trip and was remembering a few tidbits worth sharing.

The first one was seeing a Maserati hearse near our hotel...never seen one of those before. I guess someone bought a ticket to a luxurious last ride. FISH AND LEMON: if the fish is truly fresh, the restaurant will not attempt to squeeze lemon on it but rather leave it up to the customer to do so if inclined. LIMONCELLO: we learned that basically every restaurant makes its own Limoncello. It is easy to make and cheap. So, being offered a "free" Limoncello after the meal may seem like we're treated to something really nice but it's something that every restaurant does for some of its customers. Having said that, it's the thought that counts but we thought it was an interesting tidbit of information given to us by a local. Truth is, I don't care much for Limoncello. GELATO: it's good but we're not big fans of it. In the two weeks we were gone, Russel had 2 and I had 3....yes, I kept count! PASTA: it's totally delicious, especially the fresh pasta served with a fresh tomato and basil sauce. We didn't eat nearly as much pasta as I thought we would. I guess the grilled Branzino was a better option sometimes. SORRENTO: in hindsight, we are glad that we made Sorrento our "base camp". It truly is a beautiful city, we think better than Posinato and less crowded, also much bigger. We would go back in a heartbeat.

That sums up my Italy "throw back" moments for now. I leave you with a few photos from the trip, as well as a couple of our pooches. Both had a great week and were delighted to resume their normal routine. Just like humans, good to get away, good to get back home. On Tuesday, Spicy and I will have our first of three monitored visits for the dog therapy program. It's taken a while to get to this stage, the program being handled by volunteers and time constraints on my part. Once our three visits are done, then we will do our own thing. Looking forward to it. On Friday and Saturday, we have Sparky over for a visit. It will be fun to seem him again! More on that in next week's blog.

Have a great week everyone and enjoy those dog days of Summer!