Last Week of August

This is a great place to walk and I need to get out and walk more, so we go out almost every day. Many of the houses in town have been landscaped with hedges, trees, bushes, and fountains. This picture shows one house on our route with a pond and a bridge and a bench to sit and enjoy the scene.

This year we have been plagued by bees. They may be dying elsewhere, but not here. There have been times when we can hardly drink out coffee without having them flying around our heads.

Even when there is no sugar, they're around. This is a bottle of water. The couple with two children sitting beside us were eating poffertjes (Dutch mini donuts) and were forced to more inside the restaurant. While David was visiting us, every time we sat outside and drank coffee or tried to eat anything the bees attacked him. He spent a great deal of time swatting.

This day we ate lunch at the Proef, one of our favorites, and then walked down the main street and turned onto the main road and had a coffee at The Grand Cafe. We sat outside, this time with no bees, and admired the pretty pond, trees, and bridge across the way.

There seems to be an elder care facility across the way. There was a parade of walkers and wheelchairs as we enjoyed our coffee.

On our way back, we passed probably one of the most popular places in Soest - an ice cream store. On a nice day, there is always a crowd outside this place. As we passed it and walked up the hill to the house there was a constant stream of parents bringing their children down for some ice cream.

This is just a driveway but it reminded us both of old fashioned driveways in the Pittsburgh area with plants growing in the middle.

One of my jobs is to mow the grass. Rain was forecast for later in the day and the grass was starting to get a little high, so I got to it. From the time I get the lawnmower out of the back shed to the time I put it back is about 15 minutes. Not a really big deal. Once every second or third time I trim with the battery powered clippers. That adds 5 minutes.

When I'm finished, I get to sit out back in the garden and read.

Linda is back in the kitchen, baking and cooking. Here we have a homemade breadstick and meatballs for dinner.

And here we have some paleo dinner rolls she whipped up for a lunch sandwich - surprisingly light and tasty.