a rainy holiday

 The garden... vegetable, herb, and flower... overall has been planted, though the garlic will be harvested soon and we plan to put in more tomato plants and sow more green bean seeds after tilling that soil. I cut the scapes of the garlic plants on Saturday. Here is a delicious and easy way to use your garlic scapes.  

 Into a skillet of olive oil add unpeeled russet potatoes chunks about the size of a nickel alongside the garlic scapes chopped into 1/4" pieces. Cook until the potatoes are crispy brown and tender.

We could comprehend that we are having a "mini holiday" today since the majority of the garden is planted for now and the days of preserving have not yet begun. Since the day is rainy and cool, we took a "holiday" opportunity and opted to go to the cottage and tackle the much needed job of painting the sun porch. This turned into a most enjoyable day with my husband doing something typically "different" from the usual holiday activity. May I state how pleased I am with my choice of using the same color paint as what is on the kitchen walls? It is by Glidden and called Silk Star; I am always fascinated with the names given to paint colors, but I also like to rename them. "Sliver of Butter" is what I named this paint color 

Notably, I forgot to take an after paint photo 🙄.

Take my word for it, it looked great, just what I was hoping to accomplish by extending the color outside the back kitchen door. We hope to return tomorrow evening and add another coat. ( I will get a photo then).

 My husband used a roller to add the color...I was priming white around the new windows that were put in earlier in the year.

The sun porch is a long narrow room that was added on at some point in time, it includes the stairway that leads to the basement. The wood boards on the stairs were added recently and now need some paint too. Gray? Or perhaps another color for the steps? We are pulling up the old tiles on the floor and will be adding a floor similar in color to that "oaky" color on the subfloor

After we finished painting the first coat around half-past four, we sat down at the dining table in the cottage and savored afternoon tea.

I love the hymns.  I grew up singing them and they never cease to bless me. I keep a hymn book by me in the early morning hours and many mornings I will sing all the stanzas of a hymn in worship and praise to my LORD.

Here are the words of the third stanza from the hymn, My Jesus I love Thee.

O Jesus, My Savior

With Thee I am blest,

My life and salvation,

My joy and my rest:

Thy name be my theme,

And Thy love be my song;

Thy grace shall inspire

both my heart and my tongue.

Blessings!