Cocktail Hour

We spent a lot of time working out in the back yard on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend trying to make some headway. You know how it is. In the spring, you have all the best intentions for the yard and some things get done, but once the heat of summer comes ablazing, all the intentions go by the wayside for the comfort of the air conditioning indoors. We know this cycle well and so we are trying to make good use of the reasonably comfortable (not that I take much comfort in the full sun at 90 degrees) weather to make some headway on the new beds we put in last year and to put in a little bit more this year, in the never ending quest to reduce the amount of grass that we have to mow.

By late afternoon, we were done for the day, mentally and physically, and after a shower, we decided to put up the big umbrella out back and reward ourselves for a good day's sweat and labor. In the shade with a nice southerly breeze, the heat and humidity was tolerable. A couple drinks helped.

Ann made herself another Ginger Grapefruit Cocktail while I had a beer. I don't drink much beer, but there is something magical and refreshing about a cold crisp lager when you are blazing hot after a long day of work. We snacked on a bit of a delightful young sheep's milk (brébis) cheese called P'tit Basque from Istara. A wickedly expensive cheese, it went well with our cocktails and white wine, but it is amazingly good with a big red wine.

After cocktails, we switched to a bottle of slightly effervescent, crisp, green apple Vinho Verde. I guess it is the natural rhythm of things to want white wine when it is hot. After a winter of drinking Syrah, Grenache, and  Bordeaux blends, our fridge is now stocked with Vinho Verde, Sauvignon Blanc, Orvieto, Chenin Blanc, and so forth. By August, we will be tired of whites, I guarantee, and craving that first chilly night by the fire pit with a glass of big red, of no-matter-what origin!

Here are some of the fruits of our labors.

Unusual Coloration for a Petunia

Shasta Daisy, Bigger Than our Wild Oxeyes

Achillea, a Far Cry from our Wild Yarrow

An Unusual Gaillardia

Because You Can Never Have Too Many Petunias!

An Unusual Coreopsis

Simplicity

We worked hard yesterday on our garden, flowerbeds, and the little oasis that is our back yard. After all that, working hard on dinner was out of the question, but we needed to eat. As a reward to ourselves for our labors, we made a simple pasta dressed with shallots, sage, and butter. And we ate it outside on the patio under the pergola with a fantastic bottle of Orvieto amabile.

This pasta was amazing for its simplicity, far outshining any restaurant meal, and far, far more satisfying for being shared, outdoors, with a great glass of wine, at the end of a long, hard day of labor.