Came back from #2DDs and traffic was not an issue, but then back roads of MN to SD rarely are. hahahahah

Travel to exotic destinations was made by television, and food was made by me. I made an overlong writeup of the spicy pickle bread (my new favorite) but as of right now it's still waiting for review. I also made lamb, rhubarb and spring (spring onions and green garlic) stew, with celery and yellow bell pepper, wine and orange juice. Maybe that sounds weird, but it's really good. I served it over a few mushroom ravioli, which were fine, but would have been better toasted. Topped with ricotta and pepper jack for richness and a pause from flavor. The stew is much more vegetable than lamb, pungent, and it needed the contrasts. Croutons might have been a better choice than the ravioli, but I wasn't sacrificing the pickle bread for such an ignominious purpose. A sad rendition of Johnnie Has Gone for a Soldier and Where Have All the Flowers Gone, and funny old movies to lift the mood.

I wanted to buy 2 apple trees. The lines weaving through Home Depot were incredible! Across the street was a Walmart. We ended up buying trees THERE/Honey Crisp Apples. The prices were a third of what HD wanted....and they had plenty of parking....plenty of cashiers. The highways were parking lots. I cooked at home. We layed out in the sun a lot, while small rain showers passed through the area. It was very peaceful and enjoyable.

We went down to the lake cabin Friday morning when the traffic was light and came back early Monday morning also with very light traffic. The only crowds we had to deal with was the boat traffic on the lake and the crowded grocery store down there.

We took snacks and sandwiches out on the boat for lunches and grilled out for dinners.

I had a very quiet day at home. I napped off and on, did some reading, played solitaire and played on the computer. I did get my suitcase unpacked and also did some cleaning . I just had a sandwich for lunch then in the evening went to the clubhouse to meet friends and play hand and foot. Not real exciting and I miss the days of parades, cookouts and fireworks.

I live on the lake and the lake was COVERED with boats. We could hear them racing up and down the lake. The marina had no empty parking spaces. They were even parking on the grass. We only went out for a cup of coffee, and that was a typical line. No more (or less) traffic than usual.

We'd bought steaks and hot dogs to grill. My ANBC made a happy accident. They left the steak over an open flame, and ended up caramelizing theirs. Now they want to cook all steaks this way! Which is fine by me.

@rob333 (zone 7b) - Ok, I'll bite! ANBC seems to show up just in this thread. You gonna tell us or do we guess? I've got a guess!

My traffic report includes water, too. On Sunday we took ferries from the east end of Long Island to CT, and sailed back in my sister's new boat. Not much traffic on the open water, relatively quiet in the harbors as well. Wind helped our trek and seemed to keep most other boaters ashore.

Monday driving home we got a later start than planned and figured we'd get into awful holiday weekend Hamptons traffic, but aside from a few heavy spots it wasn't bad at all.

We spent the holiday weekend with our two adult ”kids” in Durango, Colorado. We drove. The hotel we stayed at was very nice, and filled to capacity.. The weather was perfect, sunny with afternoon temps in the mid-70’s. The town itself was very crowded with tourists. The restaurants, as well. The traffic and parking in town was very difficult. We’ve been to Duango many times over the years. It’s a beautiful, historic and wonderful place to go, but never again over a Summer holiday! On our way home yesterday, we’d planned a stop in Pagosa Springs for lunch. Another wonderful, historic town. Same thing there. all in all, it was a fun trip, but trying.

I guarantee you're right food.

Our weekend was quiet, it was a little cool with wind here on the coast. We're still playing catchup on our acre of yard that got neglected last year. I couldn't do it without DH help, I don't have the heft on a shovel and pair of long pruners that I should - neglected myself too but we're getting back to normal. He surprised me Friday afternoon and said let's run up to the cemetery and see how well it's decorated, skip the weekend crowd and service. It was pretty, many flags and with the wind all waving proudly. My parents site and their immediate 'neighbors' finally seem free of dandelions, we'd been working on those since last summer. I'm not entirely pleased with the grounds crew up there, they can be a little lax but its so close to home we've taken care of it ourselves.

We had wonderful oysters Saturday night, just lightly dusted with rice flour and fried in coconut oil. I quickly roasted some carrot stick and halved fingerling potatoes to go with. Ground brisket burgers on Sunday - one of DH's favorites. He has a new grill he's enjoying, I won't tell him I don't find his new Weber especially different than the KitchenAid it replaced ;)

I have an appt in Seattle this morning and I'm looking forward to stopping at a fav nursery there afterwards, also an Italian Deli I especially like, am taking a cooler. I just hope traffic after the three day weekend isn't impossible. If it is, DH will be in a rush to get back on the freeway and away from there, he can be especially annoyed with heavy slow traffic any more....

Lars, we lived in the Monterey/Carmel area for almost 35 years, and we almost never went out to eat on the weekend or on a holiday weekend. Well, we did go to the very local pizza place or Mexican taqueria, We avoided major roads when we did have to go somewhere, using back roads only. Living in a tourist destination requires adjustments!

Sometimes we would go visit family near Fresno, and marvel at all the traffic leaving Monterey when we were coming home at the end of the weekend.

It's just one of those things about tourist areas and holidays. Revise your expectations!

Holiday weekends are pretty much just another day in my calendar! My sister was getting read to go out of town for a month (taking her to ferry this am) and other family is scattered hither, thither and yon :-) I did make the mistake of needing to go to the grocery on Saturday and stopping by my PO box. I should know better. This is a very touristy location and it was a zoo!!

Otherwise, I worked in the garden, hung out on the computer, streamed some stuff and cooked at home......nothing special.

Stayed home. Puttered in the yard, got a second round of mulch mowing done. Fired up the smoker grill and had some pyro fun. Tourist season kicked off so we try to stay out of the way of the chaos. But lots of traffic on the street, golf carts and daredevil cyclists are on the roads. Folks screaming at each other and their pets. Surprisingly no daytime cannon fire, but a couple big night mortars and just a few fireworks.

I'm visiting my parents in a small town that doesn't have much traffic ever unless there is an accident or construction.

Happy Birthday, @dedtired !! I went to a friend’s ”I’m not dead yet” birthday party that day, too. She’s a 35 year breast cancer survivor!

food, share your idea! I might have part, but can’t put it all together. Oh Oh, whoops, got it.

I'm good on the NBC for sure, but see a couple options for A.

Happy Birthday, dedtired!

@dedtired....Happy Birthday !

Ah, that works! Neither of my guesses.

@rob333 (zone 7b) I'm guessing too...and ? Does the N stand for not?

I'm clueless too, but I assume it means the offspring. :)

I give! We're officially sidetracked! When I called my offspring my kiddo last time people got all up in arms, saying it was too confusing. They often talk about how I'm not clear enough. It stands for my adult non-binary child. Is it unconfusing and full disclosure? 😘

such complete and engulfing warmth and "understanding"

Happy belated Ded!

We went to a BBQ ten minutes away. Local roads, no traffic.

I think offspring or kiddo works fine rob. Not sure why folks would be odd about not getting a gender reference along with the offspring reference, it's not like one uses their gender to flip steaks. But by happy accident, you can now tell your kiddo that they are in charge of the grilling from now on :)

It wasn't full disclosure because I didn't say adult child? I'm happy to say kiddo I'm place of their name all day long. As long as everyone understands. Not that everyone likes it, but understands it. I'll leave it at that.

Why the hide and seek game? I think you've shared your situation more than enough times here and have received a warm and understanding reception about it. It's hopefully not anything anyone obsesses over nor needs to be reminded of so often, especially not in the course of a topic like this.

Happy Birthday, Ded!

We went nowhere, so I can't report. Gardened a lot. Happy days. It rained on Monday, which was good because the ground here (Virginia clay) was like concrete and I have already begun watering which I usually do not have to do until August. Sigh.

On Saturday, we went to Ace Hardware in Palm Springs and Kevin bought a Grampa's Weeder to pull up weeds that somehow manage to grow in the front yard and around the house. He also did some pruning in the patio, including cutting back the lemon tree that grows over our pool equipment, making it somewhat difficult to access. It is the neighbor's tree, but it was planted right next to our wall, and so we do get lemons from it from the branches that grow over the wall.

Last winter was wetter than usual, which is why we ended up with more weeds than normal. The weeder works pretty well, except on some of the smaller weeds. Fortunately it was not to hot to work in the yards, but it was extremely sunny - no clouds whatsoever, but driving back yesterday, we ran into clouds once we got west of the San Gorgonio Pass. We got sprinkles of rain in L.A.

Satine, what on earth is "hand and foot?" And Plllog's "Pickle Bread" is also new to me.

My Memorial Day wasn't traditional but I wouldn't mind making it a tradition. First my husband and I went for a couple's massage. Then we met up with his young cousin and her boyfriend who are in town on work, and had an excellent Thai dinner. They are both professional models. Let me say, you get really good service and the best table when you show up with two gorgeous models.

DGD's 11th birthday fell on Memorial Day this year. She had a friends party on Saturday and small family party of grandparents, uncles and aunts and cousins yesterday. Traffic was light going and coming home. Took my dog sitter out for a burger in the evening and traffic was still light. I did get to see some fireworks on my way home. We don't go away on holidays. If it weren't DGD's BD, I would have gone on a long trail ride.

We left home last Tuesday and spent a quiet week in the mountains and returned today thereby avoiding all the holiday traffic. We went out to eat a couple times but timed it carefully and the restaurants weren't too crowded. It was nice to visit with friends and watch the wildlife roaming the property - turkeys, deer, a black snake, a few bears and our first sighting of a bobcat.

Happy Birthday ded. You're right about the gorgeous weather, it couldn't have been better. Did you embellish your strawberries, a little Bassett's vanilla bean ice cream perhaps?

The video you posted was awful and it doesn't seem like the police are willing or able to contain the riders. DD mentioned that she's seen groups of bikers in her neighborhood but has managed to miss them.

Happy birthday, Dedtired!

Jupidupi, the pickle bread is new to me too. The post is still missing. I've recently fallen in love with Pick-A-Peck spicy hot carrot and green bean pickles. They're like fancy homemade with whole peppers, dill seeds, garlic cloves, etc., in a lovely spicy brine. I can't bear to throw the goodness out, though I do send a lot of usable trimmings to the compost because I know I'll never get to actually dealing with them. I decided to make pickle bread with the green-bean-less jar inc. (chopped) one double garlic clove, one jalapeño, one habanero, one serrano, one small birdseye, +/- one Tbsp dill seeds and half a jar of brine. It took a lot of thinking, sums and intuition. Determined to remove jars from the fridge, I also used a couple partly full jars of sourdough discard, and half a jar of Juanita pickles that had started to ferment, which I used to make a compound butter. The bread turned out great! Delicious! Perfect crust, with chew and flavor, and fantastic, springy open crumb. Lightly spicy, zings of flavor from the bits of peppers and garlic. The picture was staged. The butter was too cold to spread. It goes well with the bread, as does the ripe truffle cheese.

We did nothing celebratory - only went to the National Cemetery to lay flowers on my parents' and a friend's husband's graves. I was very happy that my jasmine and cracker roses are in bloom, so that made a lovely fragrant bouquet. We went late in the day, so we missed all the traffic and crowds at the annual Memorial Day event there.

Today was the first day of summer camp, so I went bed early last night, but I did go for a walk in the neighborhood and the weather was really nice - not too hot, which is rare for May.

The most excitement yesterday was our across-the-street neighbor's new Great Dane puppy was out loose and I managed to chase her back inside their fence, actually just a few minutes before her owner drove up. If I hadn't gone out for a walk, I might never have seen her.

Their gate was unlatched, and there was only a small hook to latch it. I was wondering if the dog figured out how to unlatch it, or if it was accidental. They're going to need a better latch and fence. The gate looks low enough that she could jump it. Do Great Danes jump?

Oh, yes, great danes can jump, if something inspires them to do so. They aren't as high energy as one might think for big strong dogs, but able if the will is there ;) I'm glad you caught the pup, a few minutes time is about all one needs to become really, really lost. Or stolen.

My weekend ended up with more and more family showing up. it started with one GD and her spouse visiting; everyone wanted to see them and had all but one family sleeping over.

We only went to one restaurant for a lunch and the rest was all cooking at home. The meal on Memorial Day was build-your-own Tritip sandwiches and Cole Slaw. I did make the Oatmeal Rhubarb Crumble for dessert and it was really good.

Several arrived on Sunday and I had build-your-own Rainbow Sandwiches. It was different for me in that the filling was crumbled tofu made like curried egg salad and then heaped with a rainbow of veggies on a grainy bread. It was also very good. If anyone wants that recipe I’d be glad to post it.

The weather was wonderful and most unusual with it actrually being cool… for Fresno. The traffic on 99 and I-5 were as expected. The restaurants were do-able too.

All-in-all, it was a most enjoyable weekend.

Hey, thanks for the birthday wishes. I hope you all have a happy birthday when it ’s your turn. Wildchild, I am homored to share a birthday with your DGD. It was JFK’s birthday oo.

Happy belated Dedtired.

We baked our brains out working in the garden, and then collapsed.

Hand and foot is a card game, like canasta. You have melds each round, and use the cards in your hand and then you proceed to your extra pile, 'the foot.' Jokers and deuces are wild; black threes freeze the pile and red threes are worth extra when laid on the table. You collect books of cards ... seven of a kind. If it is all natural, it is worth more when counting ... when someone collects enough 'books' of seven to go out. Books of seven cards like kings ... etc can use wild cards, but don't count as much as a naural book of seven ... A game is four dealings of the cards .. with an increasing meld each round ... 50-90-120 and 150. Everyone gets a 'foot' dealt face down, and you may not look at it until you have met the qualifications with your 'hand' which you look at right away.

Dave are you sure that's not Fizzbin?

I tried the same garnish on the leftover stew, and toasting the ravioli in the air fryer was the right call. ;)

Hand and foot is a pediatric disease!

Hand, foot, and mouth is a disease that can anybody can get, it's just more common amongst kids.