A beautiful day

By Elizabeth Prata

It's a beautiful day here in north Georgia. We have been enjoying cooler days with even cooler mornings. That trend is on the upswing now, but today at least, it's nice out. Nice in June means no air conditioning.

I enjoy a little something special in my coffee one a week. I had an unfortunate reaction to whipped cream, so I abandoned that. Cool Whip grosses me out. So I've been taking my morning coffee with cream and nothing on top for a while. Sadly. Then I read about Affogato. Affogato is an Italian word that means drowned. To make this Italian dessert, you put a scoop of ice cream into a glass, preferably a short glass. You can add chocolate shavings or caramel. I added caramel. Then pour hot espresso over the top, 'drowning' the coffee.

Now, my changes to this easy recipe were: less ice cream than the recipes call for. It's actually a dessert, and I didn't want to have that much ice cream in the morning, so I only added a tablespoon of my vanilla lactose-free. The recipes call for espresso, and I had just coffee, and I don't make it that strong. And I had only a taller glass. But it's still delightful! In the actual recipe, the ice cream as it melts makes a nice foam and drips creamily down as it does. I'll only do this once in a while because of the calories. It's meant to be a treat, not a daily consumption. Here's mine-

Here's the recipe and how it's actually supposed to look-

In taking a little stroll around the yard this morning, I caught these scenes. I live in a nice area. Nice means clean, no litter blowing around the sides of the road. Rural. That means green rolling pastures filled with animals. Bucolic. That means lots of varieties of birds soaring through the air and nesting in the many trees. Little traffic. Perfect silence at night. I wake up at 2 am and I hear nothing except breeze. Sometimes, adding to the atmosphere, there might be a little dog barking far into the distance, or a cow lowing. Occasional bird calling to itself. Maybe he is announcing "It's 2am and all's well, birdie friends!" In June there's fireflies and stars and a clear moon, hanging low over the pastures. My description sounds like a scene-setting in a movie script. But it's really like this here.

Enjoy the photos from my stroll this morning-

Today's cloud

Five o'clock flower bush. The blooms unfurl in the late afternoon.

I love that there is a pasture next door, separating me and the next closest neighbor behind me. I love that there are a couple of hay bales nestled against the tree line. I love that there are various colors of green and gold to look at. The pasture is dynamic. Not as dynamic as if there was a lake or the ocean to look at, but the sun changes the aspect of the pasture hour by hour. In the morning it's best, when it's golden.

Lights strung over the lawn, the pergola is growing its annual leafy coverage. At night the lights make a nice glow.

Mockingbird across the street with puffed out chest. Grooming himself, or just proud? lol

All in all, things are good where I am.