"Summertime and the livin's easy..."

As my friend Jesse advised, "if you're still sleeping, that means your body needs it!"  As Charley said to me not too many nights ago, while leaving a dinner get-together, "I better get you home soon so you can work in your 12 hours of sleep."  Perception is reality.  I know that a mother's lament while on vacation is, "I consider it a success if I can sleep until 7am."  I thought of that, this morning, when I considered it a success that I rose and started coffee before 10am.  Hey, I hug the successes wherever they drop, even trivial ones.

I've got a number of mini projects to tackle so that I'll feel like some of my time off was used for more than merely sleeping and vacationing (though I wholly approve of using a vacation exactly in that fashion), and today I checked one off of the list.  Here you can see Charley and foster pup Matilda*** using the newly assembled hammock that his cousin generously sent us as a wedding gift:

Also in today's news, I tested out DIY almond butter, thanks to a friend of a friend's inspiration.  The final product (seen below) turned out well, though I'm not sure if I'll try it again.  Fair warning:  the butter magic appearance does take a lengthy amount of spinning, and I may need a different spinner than my trusty Ninja. Poor Ninja experienced a bit of melting due to the sheer volume of friction created in one area of the spinner.  I know, it's a food processor.  But spinner is one word, so I conserve.  This, too, was Charley approved:

I've nearly graduated from wedding thank you note PhD school, but do have some left to send out after receiving a few more surprises at a Dallas-area party that was hosted by our friends Anne and Rick.  Not a bad time was reported or observed by any, and our New Orleans inspired catering was a plate cleaner.  Anne's sister, a creative talent it seems, was commissioned by Anne to create the priceless dog portraits seen here (with their subjects), a 100% thrilling surprise for Charley and me:

***We're currently fostering little Matilda, who will be with us for a bit longer than our typically short-term fosters.  Matilda was dropped at a kill shelter when her owners did not want to be bothered with pet responsibilities while on vacation.  She was apparently not given the 15 dollar vaccination for parvo before she was dumped at the shelter, and was diagnosed with the hideous virus soon after being rescued by our group.  The group provided her emergency and hospital care (equating to over 2k) and she's turned the corner for success!  Here she is mimicking a doggy statuary:  

Feeling ever domestic, I wrapped up my hammock and almond butter day with homemade pizza - admittedly with some help from a thin Target brand crust, and I think I may give this can of hominy a whirl (punny) in the semi-melted Ninja as a variation on chickpea hummus.  Note to would-be hummus chefs:  a little bit of garlic goes a distance.  My "all or nothing" philosophy foiled me when I was on deck for my first hummus experimentation.