Water Out....

...water in! That's kind of how yesterday's pool re-do went. They got all of the water out of the pool, the intruding roots were removed and then some new kind of finish was added to the straight walls. All of that just in time for our afternoon rains to begin. Usually, the showers are fast but, for whatever reason, yesterday's storm raged on and on and, by the time it had stopped, there was more than a foot of water back in the bottom of the pool. So that means, of course, today they had to start with some draining again. I'm not sure how this project will get done during one of our wettest, Florida summers ever! Guess that's why they're the professionals!

In any case, I am once again trying to occupy my time inside. So wishing daughter #3 and her family weren't over in Crystal River scalloping. This would be a perfect game day!

Really not much left to show you as "summer" decor ranks about right up there for me with summer itself-just not my favorite but then, I bet I didn't have to tell you that again!

Let's head into the family room.

I got a little panicky when I realized that in years past, I have put my 2 large PB, LED, orange candles in the wall sconces on either side of the mantle and that has always been fine. But, now that I decided to just leave the off-white candles there, the orange were free to go somewhere else...until I realized that I now have the two PB lanterns on the ends of the mantle as another of my "permanent" vignettes. I could put the orange candles in there but now that I have gotten used to candles "lighting" automatically all over the room, I would not have any others to disperse. And then it hit me, if I used this large, striped candle, I could justify leaving the red candles where they are and putting the orange in other spots in the room. Did you follow that? Can you see that if you move your eye from the red stripe in the candle in either direction you come to the red candles...and it all makes sense. Why do these things matter to me?

And yes, you may have already been thinking what I am thinking...how will you do this in September when only orange will be in use because the striped candle will no longer be here. Believe me, I have already been on all sorts of sites checking to see if "orange" may have returned. It hasn't yet but I'm banking that it may when the Halloween goodies arrive. I'm always a bit premature but a girls' gotta think ahead-right?
 

I should challenge my readers to a "can you see the difference?" game. If you look VERY closely (although it truly is hardly visible-hence the reason for the tweak) at the first picture on this post looking into the family room, you will not see this wood tray. I had originally had a white tray here. But, as I was posting, I realized that this area needed some texture. I realized that I don't have any woven trays (a trip to HL may be in my future) but that I did have this wood tray made for me many years ago by the family of a student. It is larger and darker and, in my opinion, just what is needed here now-except for possibly a woven tray but that will be for another post. Lol

I'm really happy that I still love the family room reno as much as I do. The autumn decorating lends itself so much more to the wood tones in my mind but somehow, I'm liking the crispness of the  "classic" gray very much-even if it does look white to me.

As I was outside looking at the pool before anyone had arrived this morning, I realized that as well as neglecting the weed control, I have been neglecting my herb garden. Not much I can do about those weeds in this wet, hot weather-or at least not much I WANT to do-but I figured a bit of a basil harvest was in order. I love basil and use it on and in all sorts of recipes but, since I have not been cooking a lot lately, I have kind of let the plants go to flower. I went ahead and cut a large bunch and I think I will occupy myself in a bit by making some more pesto.

I love pesto. I could eat it on anything-heck, I could eat it on NOTHING! When the mood strikes, I make up a big batch and then freeze any left overs into mini-muffin tins. After they're frozen, I pop them out and into a bag and they are ready for whatever I might want to do with them. I wish I had taken pictures but last week I made a cauliflower rice with pesto and it was delicious! I also found an almost full bag of peas in the freezer and made quinoa with peas and Parmesan...but, I digress.

In any case, this beautiful vignette almost makes me feel like I am cooking in a kitchen in Tuscany. Almost too pretty to use! You might notice that I will be using pecans instead of pine nuts. I love the traditional pine nuts. I always had them in my house and I tossed them in everything from salads to sautes. Unfortunately, they seem to have priced themselves right out of my pocket book. If my palate was a bit more refined, perhaps I could really tell the difference...but, it's not and I don't! Lol I do toast the pecans-or whatever nut I am using-to bring out the flavor.

And just that fast, I am ready for dinner tonight. I almost always grab some of the fresh pasta whenever it is BOGO so this guy was just waiting for me in my freezer. I love to use fresh pasta because it cooks so quickly and the filled pastas make more than a filling meal. Add a small salad and I'm good to go!

Holy BIG, EMPTY hole Batman. I'm not the pro but this doesn't look like it will be finished by tonight! Just saying. Stay tuned.