I Like Thursday: Bobbing Along

The weather has been nice this week - spent a lot of time outside.

We met friends at the Goodnough Dike on the Quabbin Reservoir Friday morning.  A short walk and a chat.  Oh, how nice to see them after... four months?  Can it be that long?  That's nuts.

There was plenty of people there, given it was a week day morning.  But the dike road was wide, there was plenty of space to keep social distance.  We wore masks regardless, because we weren't the best at social distancing from our friends; we kept gravitating towards each other as we walked. 

It's hard to see who is who with sun hats and masks! 

I loved the little orange flowers that were everywhere.  Pretty!

I explored Cranberry Pond a couple of times this week.  It's smaller than the pond behind my sister's place, but there's no duckweed.  I don't have to hose off the kayak every time I go.  The view is beautiful.  There are tons (and tons) of lily pads.  The water was so still and some of the water weeds were so long and tall (the upper right photo), it felt like I was flying over skyscrapers. 

Each time I went I discovered all sorts of creatures.  I was surprised by the big snail on one of the pads.  How did he get there?  Most of the turtles hang out on logs, but the smaller ones hang out on the pads, too.  This one was so relaxed in the sunshine he didn't even blink when I got close enough to photograph him (the others always bailed).  I liked to watch the fish swim under the kayak.

Yeah, I'll be paddling there a lot this summer.

The farmer's market had purple kohlrabi.  The color was so pretty, I just had to buy them.  Roasted them up.  Yum!

Between the kohlrabi greens and the radish leaves, I had a lot of greens.  So I cooked them up into peanut and greens stew:  onion, yam, carrots, broth, peanut butter, bit of cayenne and whatever chopped greens you have on hand.  Top with a few peanuts, serve over rice.  Turns out I like it better using Skippy peanut butter rather than the good stuff.  Who knew?

Also made a lovely quiche with bits of bacon, leftover mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms.  I basically threw in whatever I found in the fridge.  Not bad!  Haven't made one of those in ages.

My mother showed off her new haircut at our weekly zoom chat.  A local hairdresser came to cut the neighbor's hair.  The hairdresser didn't want people in her shop, so she did outdoor cuts, right in your driveway (or back deck)!  Word got out, and from how my mother tells it, the whole neighborhood got haircuts.  Excellent!  That was a profitable stop for the hairdresser.  One of these days I'll get mine lopped off - my braid gets longer and longer. 

It was an up and down week - I stretched myself a little too thin.  However, the mini-buns, the gardening and these likes helped keep me afloat. 

I hope you're keeping afloat, too (or better).  There's more good stuff over at Not Afraid of Color's I Like Thursday to help lighten your day.