The 366 Project: July

 

It seems like July started only yesterday, and here we are in August already! July just flew by with lots of knitting, time spent in the garden and unfortunately two heatwaves. You might think that we should be used to a lot of heat in California, but while this is certainly true for Southern California it is not the case here in Northern California, especially so close to the coast. Mornings and evenings can be downright chilly thanks to the marine layer aka fog. I love the fog and don't like the heat and I was really happy when the morning fog finally returned. Such a relief. I guess many of you in North America experienced the heat as well. It is a mystery to me how someone can still deny climate change.

This was July in my world:

Just a few days into July I had my old German class over for some German Erdbeerbowle. Over the years this has become a tradition that everyone seems to look forward to. I enjoyed setting the table under the big shade tree (it was one of those very hot days).

Everybody came and we had a wonderful time together despite the heat. I will miss these people so much. This photo is my ticket for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

We enjoyed our "new" bird feeder in July, but had become a bit weary of the squirrels. The Geek was thinking about how to discourage these little rascals from ransacking the feeding tubes almost constantly. The Geek being an engineer through and through, he sat down and did some calculating and figuring out.

He then constructed a baffle out of thin metal and empty beer cans (good German beer!), some metal glue and duct-tape.

So far it has worked very well. We also turned the feeder by 90º so it's further away from the fence. Now the birds feed undisturbed on the tubes, but are kind enough to throw some seed to the ground where the squirrels then eat them. Everyone's happy and I don't have to refill the tubes every day but only every other day or even less. Like everything else, bird seed has become quite expensive as well.

Since we had so many hot days in July, I cooked very basic simple meals. I usually eat whole grain toast for breakfast - here you can see my summer version. There's hummus below the tomatoes and smoked salmon spread below the cucumbers. So delicious!

Here's dinner - clockwise from top left: Ramen noodles with tofu, fennel, red bell pepper and zucchini; marinated sockeye salmon with roasted carrots and zucchini; Teriyaki chicken with broccoli, green onion and rice; Fusilli with market fresh tomatoes and zucchini

One more thing - when the Geek built the clothesline for me in 2015 I also found a beautiful hand sewn clothespin bag. Now after nine years hanging out at the clothesline what remains of this bag is mere rags, so I decided to look for a new one. There isn't that much out there what I had envisioned. But then I found this shop on Etsy in Germany and there were the cutest hand sewn clothespin bags. I ordered one and I received it in less than two weeks. I'm so happy!

I wish all of you a pleasant, not too hot August!