Hot, Humid, and Happy

I mentioned that I was hoping for a good WI today, well, I had a good WI.  Despite being on prednisone (#1 side effect = weight gain) for five days this week, I managed to lose 1.8 pounds.  Yay me!  It was every bit as hot and humid as predicted, but I ducked out early and walked along my river path before the heat had a chance to do its worst.  Still needed a (cool) shower when I got home, but I got my exercise in and felt good.

Tomorrow's weather forecast is a copy of today's.  I'll have the grandkids and plan to take them to Huntley Meadows, a lovely large county park just a few miles from our house.  It has marsh lands with a raised boardwalk and lots of wooded trails.  Given the weather, though, my plan is to take them to the air-conditioned visitor's center which has lots of interesting, touchable displays.  We'll hit the boardwalk on some other (cooler) day.

I made a great dinner tonight.  Rigatoni with sausage, spinach and goat cheese.  It also calls for a pint of cherry tomatoes (very colorful) and I added a cup of sliced baby bella mushrooms (added just after the sausage).  I also made mine with whole wheat rigatoni.   Quick, beautiful, and nutritious.  This got rave reviews from my fellas.  I saw someone demonstrate making this on the Today Show and you can see the recipe and a video here. (It's the second recipe at that link.)

On the garden front, I got a surprise today.  I was taking my daily tour of my "babies" and noticed something really white in one of the beds.  I went over and found that the gardenia that I planted about four weeks ago had a big, lovely, fragrant white flower.  I'd just about given up.

Hope you've had a great day, too.