{Dinner with Friends in Lakeland, Florida}

While being in Orlando, it was only an hour drive from the Hyatt Place, to our friend's home.

Without traffic that is...

But we made it in 1.5 hour to be at their home for a delicious dinner!

Happy together after two years.

Lots of things have happened since than, I lost my Mom and Roman's Mom has been in the hospital for 5 months and lost her leg...

Still we have many things to be grateful for!

Roman was the Chef for baking this delicious salmon in the oven...

Served with Mashed Cauliflower and Asparagus artfully added on top.

It was so yummy!

Maritza's Salad is also a very special treat!

We were feeling pampered...

Such a perfect relaxing evening together!

Wish we would live closer but the more we cherish these moments of Friendship!

Such a lovely setting for summer.

Poor cat-boy Ash was not allowed to be near the table.

Hope they soon find time to dine at our home.

IF Ash will let them travel away...

Our Felines and those of our dearest friends are being LOVED!

Do you also travel for catching up with dear friends?

Thanks for your visit!

{Our 2016 Jasmine Sambac - Jasmine Grand Duke of Tuscany}

Every year it is such a great pleasure to see the first bloom on our Jasmine Sambac - Jasmine Grand Duke of Tuscany.

On July 15, we had this very big one!

So full and creamy with a greenish center still.

Now turning this beauty around, on the teak lounger on the balcony for the best light...

Loved its full green leaves.

We are turning full circle and each sight has a different 'face'...

Love this too, more open.

Sure enough this greenish center is my favorite view.

Hope you enjoyed our special Jasmine Sambac - Jasmine Grand Duke of Tuscany as much as we did!

Thanks for your visit.

Related links:
{Jasminum Sambac - Jasmine Grand Duke of Tuscany} | previous post by me
{Late Summer Jasmine} - previous post by me

{King Crab Legs from Costco}

When we had to go back and forth to Costco several times for husband Pieter's hearing aid test and adjustments, I had spotted their great King Crab Legs and we brought some home...

A previous supper for friends, I completely forgot to take pictures...
So here we are for an Al Fresco Supper on our Balcony!
Complete with Crab
This was the evening before we left for Florida...
June 26

Those legs were really huge

Haha, having to bring everything to the balcony and avoiding that one of our felines would slip out... was quite a task!
We even had an Oriental Lily 'Belgrado' in a small Baccarat vase.

Something is missing...

Something missing was not the utensils for cracking those crab legs... like our Rösle Nut & Seafood Cracker and the Lobster Picks from Italy.

Snapping away with my iPhone 6 Plus I still did not notice...

Oh my goodness I forgot the Diablo Sauce! Click link for recipe.
Here it is straight from the fridge and not looking good for the photo.


BUT it was a delicious and simple meal.

Do you also love crab meat?

Thanks for your visit!

{BIKING}

Since I've finished scanning all our photo albums, I've joined Pieter for a spin on our Schwinn Bikes.

In the summer without a helmet... Oh, we hate that thing on our head when the weather is above 30°C (86°F).

I'm very happy that Pieter managed to attach my late Dachshund Mauzie's basket on this bike. Great for keeping a rain coat or whatever.

We love to take some quiet roads and less hilly but that is nearly impossible in our area!

We pauze for a drink of water... much needed!

No matter what you wear, it is hot!

In May we still did wear our helmet.

We will have to wait a couple of weeks before we have again somewhat cooler weather.

The problem with wearing a helmet, you can not put your hair in a bun, it will not fit inside the helmet!

But we both love to bike; that's a good thing.

Are you biking?

{Sweet Potato Spaghetti}

Once more I did use one of blogger friend Daphne's practical and delicious recipes.

On the blog, Ivy, Phyllis and Me! you find: SWEET POTATO SPAGHETTI ←click it.

Haha, I had almost eaten my salmon before I thought of making a photo...
A simple supper with cole slaw, sweet potato spaghetti and salmon.

Here husband Pieter is doing the hard work...

And yes, on Amazon I did find me the exact same Spiral Slicer that Daphne showed in her blog! LOVE it.

It is called: Paderno WorldCuisine A4982799 Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer.

Just click the above hyperlink..

It looks really funny when you make this for the very first time!

Just drizzle with some olive oil and put it into the oven for 10 minutes on 180°C (356 °F) 
than toss a bit and put back in the oven for 5 more minutes.
I've left it in just for 15 minutes straight...

Hope you enjoyed this unusual dish and will give it a try as well!

{Toadstools Recycling Dead Trees}

If you have a huge garden like we have, than there are dead trees, fallen limbs and what not.

Mother Nature does take care of all of it by recycling those dead trees!

Yes, toadstools can break down the lignine from trees!

Walking through our wood garden, we find lots of toadstools or mushrooms.

Husband Pieter made all these photos while making such a walk.

It is quite amazing to see how the toadstools are the last in Mother Nature's cycle for doing its work. No creature can actually 'eat' trees.

Those toadstools do decompose tree trunks and you can often observe different varieties of mushroom attacking it simultaneously.

These look even beautiful!

Thanks for your visit!

Related link:
{Pleurotus Ostreatus in Wood Garden Provided Meal} | previous post by me

{Centipede Grass Sods}

In October when husband Pieter did remove the HUGE Indian Hawthorn and also got rid of all the rattlesnake weeds, he did sow a mix of grass.

From Home Depot, Pieter did haul back home several sods, on a piece of ply wood on the bike rack behind our Toyota RAV4...

Supervisor Spooky boy is watching that it is getting laid straight!

This photo is from October 31, 2015 where some of the grass seed did actually come up but it died already in the spring.

The Centipede that was supposed to be mixed in, did never come up.

This was the reason that we had to dig up all our Azaleas since it got infested by this pesky Rattlesnakeweed or Hieracium venosum L. 

Several loads and often they did run out of sods at Home Depot...

Keeping the ones that already got laid alive was also a struggle in mid June.

Sods that have been on pallets for days, seem to turn yellowish...

Light and water helps to change that quickly.

Row by row...

While we were in Florida, our cat sitter did turn on the sprinklers a lot so it is growing now and it has been mowed already.

Hoping to get this added section of lawn in good shape over time.

In the shade of our huge Magnolia tree, grass will not likely grow, so that has been left bare but grass will spread out.

Centipede is a grass variety that stands the heat and in winter it turns completely brown. That's a time that I hate.. looking so dreary!

Thanks for your visit!

{My White Escada Jeans Score}

In May I did find a beautiful White Escada Jeans on eBay that I did Score!
They are in a cotton stretch.

Here I am wearing both my Outlet Score of Last Call Sandals and my precious white Escada Jeans with very special stitching.

Photo is taken during our 3 day stay at the Hyatt House Miami Airport, our favorite home away from home and this time it was FREE for points!

Photo courtesy from eBay, showing the label and the size 34 or US 4...

Inseam length was sufficient for my long legs, so I was happy!

Worn 1 x and only for US $ 30 and FREE shipping...

Wow, that truly was a SCORE!

BUT... they were not quite truthful. When I did wear it one time, I felt like a caterpillar as it was VERY tight in the waist!

My, did I feel FAT...

But when I was feeling in the back while wearing it, there was a bump in the seam.

Frankly, I'd been wearing a form fitting Wolford panty underneath and since it was high waisted, I kept tugging my top down for covering it and not showing...

So once I got home, I pulled my jeans down and investigated.

Sure enough, it had been ALTERED!

In the center it had been stitched off, making it a size 32 or US size 2 in the waist!

No wonder I was feeling FAT.

BUT I did solve it in a simple way.

Letting out the back seam and adding white bias tape on the inside, so I could proceed again with the top stitching.

Than I took off the waist band till the sides and did take a part out from the inside, replacing the inside part with a wide bias tape and sewing it back together, adding more width over the entire back.

I did gain about 5 cm or 2 inches as shown with my fingers.

Sorry, my left index looks flaky, had worked blisters on it from weeding, even with wearing a cotton glove and plastic glove over it!

This is the result!

Quite happy with it and it is still a Score.

Paid US $ 30 + $ 1.67 for the bias tape (the wide one, the other I still had).

Love wearing cropped cotton tops like this old one from Neiman Marcus...

Love my sandals too!

Thank you for your visit.

{Our Hibiscus 'Kona'}

Our Hibiscus 'Kona' is such a DREAM...

Such perfect shape, frilly and double.

We got ours from +Logee's Greenhouses and they still have this one, just click the link below this post for finding more info in a previous post.

One can only admire such beauty!

Depending on the light, it looks even more sheer...

Hope you enjoyed this gem!

Thanks for your visit.

Related links:
{Hibiscus 'Kona' - Hibiscus rosa-sinensis hybrid} | previous post by me