Praying Mantis

We have had a praying mantis hanging on the inside of our screen door for about two months. It finally molted its third molting. Did you know praying mantises molt? Neither did I! Apparently, they turn green and get their wings after the third molt. We have tried to "release" it and it just doesn't want to leave that narrow place between the glass sliding door and the screen door. I think it's all those delicious dead bugs stuck in the cracks. Maybe it will fly away now.

Here you can see the "skin" it left behind.

Fast and Fabulous

Ah ha! I've been inspired:

Heat a tablespoon of e.v.o.o. in a pan, heat a clove or two of minced garlic, add salmon fillet, season. Turn when first side is done, season. When done, remove from pan. Add to pan some sun dried tomatoes packed in o.o. Then add fresh spinach leaves. When wilted, place on top of salmon. Wow!! So I'm probably not the first to come up with this recipe, and I won't be the last, but my tummy is pretty happy right now!

Canning Peaches

When O'Henry peaches are ready, we start canning quarts to put away for those cold winter days when we need a jar of sunshine. We peel and slice and cook and jar all morning, and when those are done, we peel and slice and bag the rest for freezing. Then we can have sunshine smoothies in January when it is grey outside. My mom, my grandma and I can actually go pretty fast. Last year my grandpa even got in on the action. You would think one would get tired of eating fresh peaches for several days straight, but we don't. It's kind of the same way you don't really get tired of eating local strawberries in May day after day. Because you know you have to get your fill while they're ripe!

Crazy Cannonball

Gilroy
So Saturday was the annual shopping trip to Gilroy with my mom, Tim's mom and my SIL, Jen. Jen is 18 weeks pregnant and we were able to find some cute maternity clothes for her. She just found out Monday that they are having a boy! My poor mom will have to wait yet again for a granddaughter. But we had a grand time and talked a lot. We didn't score too big on sales, but it was fun anyway. My deal of the day was a pair of sandals for Daniel for $2.74 at Children's Place. Which leads me to a really funny story. The registers at Children's Place are located in the middle of the store. There are 4 registers forming a square. All four registers each had one person being helped with no line or queue rope anywhere. I just stood near a corner of the counter and about 3 people got in line behind me. An "associate" came over and told us that the line actually started over there (pointing to a small sign hanging from the ceiling, of all places, above a rack of clothing). Seeing that the 4 of us in line had very confused looks on our faces, she walked us personally to the spot where the ambiguous "line" started. I was so happy to be the first one in this newly formed line. Then, in true Saturday Night Live fashion, the "associate" walked back to her register (mind you the register is about 12 yards away) and looked over at us and said "I can help the next person in line." I looked around for Ben Stiller, thinking that something like this can only happen in one of his movies. But we had lots of fun and returned home tired.