weekend wrap up

Yesterday was a busy, busy day. I enjoyed spending the morning by myself, running to the farmer's market, target, the grocery, and michael's, hither-and-yon, delivering some figs and lady peas to my friend Rayner (of the chemo socks, which I finished just in time for her last round.

It was also a HOT day. At my house (yours too?) hot=cranky. Before supper, I made a watermelon granita (so simple- smush it up, add lime if you aren't trying to stick-with-local, and stick it in a little ice cream machine) with the huge watermelon we'd picked up at the Wednesday market. We are a small family, and 1 of us won't eat watermelon. As the heat rose (and tempers with it), I took a portion of the granita, added lime and 1 oz each of triple sec and tequila and made the very best mar-granita.

After supper we partook of what is becoming my fail-safe antidote to family crankiness. We loaded up the wagon with little boy's bike, Birdy-dog, water for all, the camera, and bug spray and headed toward the river. Memphis is perched on the bluffs of the Mississippi River and we're fortunate that there's nothing but field and forest on the other side. The park that we go to, the Mud Island Greenbelt park, is 1.5 miles long, beautiful grassy park underneath an alee of towering cottonwood trees. There are families, joggers, couples on dates, a huge cross-section of the city enjoys this free, clean, beautiful area. Birdy swims (on the leash, because the current will carry her down to Mississippi in a blink), boy bikes, and parents chill. We stay past dusk, until well after dark, when we're tired and the bug spray starts to wear off. I love my city- I think this is my favorite spot in it.