Feliz Cuatro de Mayo

Today is Mayo el cuatro. The fourth of May. It's Sunday, and we had some time today, more time than we've had in a long, long while. So we had cinco de Mayo today, since Monday, well, Mondays generally suck, to put it bluntly. No time for a relaxing dinner.
As I am far too lazy today to upload photos of any sort, there will be no images to accompany these words. I didn't have much to show, anyway-as it turns out, I am not much of a food photographer.
So this is what we had for dinner:

Mock strawberry margaritas: fresh strawberries, frozen limeade concentrate and sugar;
nachos and salsa: store-bought nachos; homemade tomato salsa, with tomatoes, cilantro, onions, radishes, habanero, a clove of garlic and a touch of salt;
fajitas: store bought tortillas; my husband's secret recipe grilled chicken breast, scallions, grilled onions, tomatoes, pepper jack, cheddar and mozzarella cheese. (Couldn't find any tomatillos, will have to wait until my own grow...)

dessert was meant to be grilled pineapple, but we were so full we postponed it. In fact, I had planned to make flan for tomorrow, but now I may be off the hook since the pineapple is left over. We'll see. Most of the family does not like flan, so it's hard to get too motivated.

And that's what we did today. Plus the shopping. Food shopping aside, it was fun-I bought a couple of blueberry bushes, one early season and one mid season, so we're not overrun with blueberries all at once, and two cranberry bushes. And I finally found some chicks and hens for the rocks in the yard. Tomorrow will be fruit planting day- I've got a peach tree to get into the ground, too. It's only about three or four feet tall, so I probably have to wait another year or two before I see my first peach, unless I plant it in the wrong place. Then it will be longer. The blueberry bushes have a bunch of the little bell shaped blossoms, though, so maybe...and the cranberry bushes have bright red cranberries on them, which confuses me as to the harvesting time for those guys. I'll have to look into it.

Shout out number two to brother in law in India--sorry there's so much talk of tomatoes today! Hope they're feeding you well. Now I'm off to watch Bobby Flay make blondies. Which makes me realize, I could use something a little sweet. Oh--I also made some Mexican Chocolate cupcakes yesterday. I used a basic butter/chocolate cake recipe and added a bit of cinnamon to the batter. For the frosting, I made a chocolate sour cream recipe, adding a bit more of cinnamon, and just a pinch of ancho powder. They're good. I had a couple today, but now I want something else. hmm. Must go search the pantry!

My City

I was talking to one of the kids, saying how much I love the city. After going on and on about how great it is, the reply was, "It's just a city, though, right?"

Oh well. We'll have to take more trips in town to acquaint these guys with the place.

On the subject of cities, my brother in law is on his way (still--what a long trip!) to a big Indian city today. Shout out to you, B.I.L.! Hope the travel's okay. Shout out to sis, too. Okay, and other sis, and Ma, so no one is left out.

This is the island where the Mallard family takes up residence in Make Way for Ducklings.

The Swan Boats, open for the summer, now.

Not sure what this is. Probably has some importance--

It is Boston, after all.

Rambling

Well, I finally got on the treadmill and ran; and now I suspect I will be able to blog a bit more, mainly because I CAN'T MOVE! Good Lord, I'm in pain.

That's enough. Just wanted to get the complaint out. I'm not even expecting sympathy or anything, I know it's my own fault. But I did have that pneumonia last August (Last AUGUST) and then it was back to school and then the holidays and then the kids birthdays. But now beach season is looming so I'm back on the treadmill. At least I was yesterday. We'll see about the rest of my life.

Frankly I haven't had much desire to write here lately, since instead,I've been reading. I don't usually let myself read unless I'm up on my work reading, but I gave myself a break. I'm reading nothing very challenging, just murder mysteries and the like. My sister has started a book club and we're going to read Jane Austen; I've been trying to decide which of her books, though; I don't know, I've never read her before; I was thinking about Mansfield Park but then I read that it is her least-liked book (by the general public, I suppose,) so if you've got any input I'd love to hear from you.
In the time I haven't written, we had school vacation, and took a few fun day trips. We hit the nearby zoo and had a blast. The kids loved that there was a peacock just wandering around the place, jumping into other animals enclosures and strutting down the walkways. I myself get a little jiggy when the wild things are close by...
I think this guy felt the same way!

I like this picture. It seems a little unreal, a giraffe poking his head out of the barn.

That's all. Just some rambling ideas today. Happy weekend!