I played hooky last night. John and I spent the evening last night at one of these:
For his birthday, I had bought John tickets to the Philadelphia Orchestra, which spends a few weeks in residence up here at SPAC.
It was an all Russian program. Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 (one of my favorites) and Prokofiev Symphony #5 (one of John’s favorites). Very, very good! Then we went out for coffee afterwards. An official date night 😉
After a wonderfully cool night of sleep (we dipped into the 50s), I was up for brekkie. This is the first time all week I missed grains because I wanted pumpkin oats today since it was so cool. Oh well, soon enough. Instead, I did a 1-minute muffle with blueberry sauce and coconut butter.
Such a nice day out today. We do have really wonderful days here in the later summer. I am sorry for all of you feeling the heat and drought 🙁
It did call for a porch lunch today.
I mixed up tuna (yes, 1 can made a reappearance) with mayo and lemon pepper. Plus a whole cucumber, which was a bit on the bitter side. Boooo.
Here is some of this week’s garden:
Black-eyed Susans:
Unwelcome ‘friends’:
Aphids! Ewwwww!!!! I got some organic insecticide to put on these tonight.
Browalia:
Galliarda
The marigolds – I know everyone loves these poms.
Four o’clocks. I grew these from seed. They are really fragrant. The blooms open up early in the morning and close during the day. Then they open again in the evening.
Allysum:
Another butterfly:
Such a gorgeous day today! John made me up a latte while I was working.
My new headphones for work. 
I love them! They are USB and the sound is much better.
It was such a nice night we wanted to bike for dinner. This usually means pizza, but I am no grains. We went to East End Eatery because they do have other things on the menu:
Grilled chicken! I did bend my local meat rule here, but having too many rules is not always a good thing. Note John’s pizza in the background. Surprisingly, I was not craving pizza – even seeing it. It looked good, but I was fine with my meal. The fries were excellent, too!
We had a nice 10 mile round trip for dinner. Tomorrow should be a nice long ride day. No cupcakes, but there will be some yogurt or ice cream in the mix. Yum.
I am so glad it is the weekend! Now if you will all excuse me, I have a couple plums to eat
Wow, another minimal sugar day!
That’s the thing about food group eliminations–there is always something good to step in and fill the void (french fries!)
At first I thought those aphids were a pretty little flower. Our aphids out here are green. The four o’clock’s are interesting. I am kind of fascinated by flowers that only bloom at certain times of the day.
I know – french fries = no grains. Score!! 😀
We have green aphids, too. These ones are just icky and really only go for the butterfly weed.
How nice for a John & you date night! Seems like you have date days all the time! 😉
Trying to figure out your 1 minute muffin.. is it made into a waffle?
As always, love your porch enjoying pic & those blooming pics! Beautiful with the butterfly too!
PS: I tried the cookies with your suggestion of PB flour – did half that & half the whole wheat white flour & they tasted great – THX!
Yep – I pour the 1 minute muffin batter into a waffle iron. Works really well.
By having the muffle, it looks like a grain, which can fool your brain…ooh, such poetry! Or rhyming. 😉
Nice to have a real date night with the concert!
Yahoo for date night!!!
Lovely blooms. Those pale yellow marigolds are a favourite of mine. I saw some the other night at the botanical gardens and immediately thought of you.
It is so nice that potatoes aren’t a grain!
What a lovely night out you had with John. I’ve never been to an orchestra, think I should go once as one of the things one should do in his life.
I’ve got black Susans in my garden right now too, in fact it’s the only flower blooming. We definitely need more summer flowers, most of our flowers are Spring flowers.
Hope you are enjoying your bike ride today.
OOOOH….I bet that concert was FANTASTIC!!! And your garden, as always and despite the aphids are BEAUTIFUL!!! Have a great weekend! Enjoy your rides!
Yeay, a date night! That concert sounds fantastic. Glad you guys had a nice time!
And your garden is looking beautiful! My snaps are about done. I was surprised, the variety I got had a sweet fragrance. I love your black-eyed susans and your marigold. And your butterfly bush sure gets a lot of customers! We don’t seem to get many butterflies here on the coast. Hummingbirds, though, are another story. 🙂 I just wish they would share the feeder more nicely.
So glad you had such a lovely date night. Poor Mr. Helen would like me to do the orchestra, etc. but unfortunately, they start so darn late that music puts me to sleep lol!