A confused (clouds-sunshine-rain...decide already!) and muggy day turned into a lovely evening, which I spent on our screened porch under the twinkling white lights and paper lanterns I strung up today. I am on quite the house project bender these days, sort of late-spring cleaning, I guess. Happens to me every year, as soon as I start planting flowers and pots of herbs. The satisfaction in the beautifying of my external space apparently inspires me to polish off all sorts of projects.

We're lucky to have a screened porch, but with bits and pieces of hand-me-down furniture it's never been as comfortable and inviting as it should be. I finally invested in a comfy sofa, and some new cushions, and strung up the lights, and it's all coming together nicely. It's a lovely spot for a warm night's cozy, romantic (bug-free!) dinner, perhaps a creamy-zesty cold soup, such as Potage Aurore, from my new-old (c. 1979) Perla Meyers' cookbook, From Market to Kitchen (recipe posted in comments, below), with crusty bread, cold white wine to sip, and ripe peaches or berries for dessert.

No soup, but a nice salad tonight - I chopped up the leftover grilled shrimp, stirred in lemon juice, pickle relish, a bit of mayo, and salt and pepper and piled it on top of greens and chopped red bell pepper tossed with lots of fresh dill (yum, I'm having a dill thing right now, can't get enough of it) and a drizzle of mustard vinaigrette. Light yet satisfying on a warm night.

And now, at 9:15 p.m., it is time for a shower. I am literally filthy from planting flowers today, sweaty from hanging those lights, and slightly sunburned from not taking the sun peaking through the cloud-rain-cloud-sun combo seriously enough. Time for a rinse with Agraria lavender bath gel, clean jammies, and a good night's sleep. G'night!