Idyllic Living

This is the week to make meals of the meat we have in the freezer as opposed to buying fresh meat. I need to be creative!
I found a pack of pan fish fillets in the fridge freezer. The last of our catches from last summer.We had fish for supper. On the patio. And iced tea.
It was really yummy. And pretty. And all gourmet-ish and picnic-y. Impressive pictures, too.
 I like nice living! A lot! Nice living is mostly having the right attitude and "shopping" my own home for resources to bring ideas into reality.
    So for those who tell me that I live an idyllic life, know this: under the pretty cloth is a little table made of pallet boards that usually lives as an end table. It is a bit wobbly, but it works. 
   There are plenty of not-so-idyllic things about the patio, too.

In my dreams, there is a small round glass topped table surrounded by three or four matching chairs complete with a pretty umbrella. There are trellises covered in vines or a pergola with climbing roses for shade and the impression of nice outdoor living. Such perfection, though, would negate the fun of working toward it or making do with simpler things and enjoying the process.
    For a smaller, contained, marshmallow-roasting fire, we found a cut off "twenty pounder". It's perfect. Once Elv has a marching row of bears cut out around the top and some black paint, it will be even better. I cut a pattern for him to use with the Cricut. Now where's that jig saw?

On another idyllic evening when I was home alone, because everyone else was at a meeting or VBS, I took the dog on a bike ride. :) Actually he ran alongside my bike, his leash in my hand. Any dashes he tried to make for something more interesting were short lived because me and my bike and our momentum are bigger than his small brained ideas to the contrary. I almost ran over him only once when he failed to anticipate our turning into a side street. I pulled him aside with his leash and all's well that ends well. Now we know that it can be done.