Happy Birthday Susanna!

I hope it's not as hot in Montana (where she is) as it is here - hoooooeeeeey, it's smokin' out there! Not a cloud in the shimmering blue sky. My car thermometer read a withering 101 degrees and that's exactly what it felt like, for two hours of Nathan's baseball game. Ouch! And they lost, from pure wilted tiredness, right at the end of the game. Awww... Too hot for all of us out there, kids and grownups alike. I had a nice, quick - and fabulously cool - trip in to Byerly's to grab some beef tenderloin and wheat beer. Must-have, post-swim sustenance for the evening, this girl has her head screwed on straight! For now, I'm outta here, and into the pool, pronto!

Aaaaah, the pool felt better than good, even without doing the Nestea Iced Tea Plunge (I was obsessed with doing that when I was a kid, uh, think I was little influenced by advertising? I didn't even like iced tea back then...) John and I basically floated in the pool, without getting out, for a couple of hours. Just the two of us. Nice.

Then I came in for one of those summer evening showers that just cannot be topped, they're the best. I am definitely a shower-in-the-eve girl during the summer. Making dinner with my wet hair pulled back, a cold beer or glass of white or a vodka tonic, fuckin' forget about it! Kill, kill, KILL. Tonight we had beef tenderloin on the grill - John's request. You know, I'm not complaining, I mean, it's tenderloin. But, I'm not a tenderloin lover. Too soft and not beefy enough. Give me a strip or ribeye anytime, charred and crispy on the outside, pink and insanely juicy on the in, with a little chew, a little body to it. Now that is beefy, meaty decadence. Prrrrrr... To me. But, hey, tenderloin tonight. And it was delicious, it was. I smothered it in garlic and fresh herbs so that it had a little somethin' going for it. Worked nicely. With a tomato, onion, and herb salad (recipe posted in comments, below), and some rice, it was John's almost-dream dinner (chicken-n-rice still rules his heart). He and Nate are now out running errands, which is one of their favorite things to do together, while I tidy up and perhaps sneak in a bit of reading. I'm thisclose to completing Anna Karenina - I'll be sad when it's done. I will. That's a good book, the one you're blue to finish, the characters that hang with you. Have a good evening yourself...