Amos Ferdinand Adams...

Just call him Amos Ferdinand Adams.  

Yes, that is my puppy dog stopping to smell the flowers.  He does this over and over and over again even on the same trip outside to do his business.  You see, all those circuits about the yard, are not merely Amos girding his loins to venture out onto the GREEN glass, but rather my puppy dog looking for blooms to sniff.  Amos doesn't seem to mind if the blooms actually have a strong fragrance.  He just likes to check them out.  

I am not sure if it is Amos or I who is more disappointed the late summer mini-heat wave zapped the rest of the Rose of Sharon blooms.  In any case, even though the remaining buds are still tightly closed, Amos stops to see if any have opened on his circuits of all the beds.  It cracks me up to see how hard he works to reach higher blooms.  He is also very careful to avoid thorns whilst checking out the roses bushes.  He tries to get to the honeysuckle, standing on his back legs, but usually the blooms are still too high for  him.  As for the day lilies, well, he just wades right into the bed.  Along the garage wall, Amos has beaten down a path so that he can more easily reach the blooms in the back of the bed.  Sadly, he still checks on the day lilies, even though those blooms are long gone.  At least the pink bush by the back door is still pushing out blooms, as is the new butterfly bush.

Anyway, if you have not yet read Munro Leaf's The Story of Ferdinand, please go check out a copy from the library right now.  Better yet, buy a copy!

Marie's sister is coming in town this weekend, so the two of them are coming over for a cooking fest Friday lunch.  Since I have never met her, I do not feel the freedom to simply ask her to not look all that closely at the floors.  Marie?  Well, the eggplant peal still on the kitchen floor was put there by her, so I don't mind that it is still stuck to a tile near the trash can.  But a new visitor?  Well, I have started the Southern Hospitality Clean.

The entire first floor has been dusted, vacuumed, and swiffered.  The powder bath has been cleaned, as well as the bath in the basement living space.  I also dusted the living space down there, since it was still had a bit of the sawdust generated from my fixing the closet door that was sticking.  The artwork and mirrors have been cleaned and the steam mop is waiting in the kitchen.  [I figured I should do that late Thursday night.]  The main staircase has also been cleaned and all the floors upstairs vacuumed.  I still need to clean the bathroom and dust all of the rooms, in case Michelle heads up there, as well as tackle all the demi-tasse cups on the three-tired table in the dining room.  Also on my list is a freshly lavendered Amos.  I will probably take care of that tomorrow.

I waffled a bit, but decided the silver does not quite need polishing yet, but I did set about working on the family album from the early 1800s. I don't know why I never noticed how dirty it was.  I am ignoring the panes of the French doors.  I cleaned them in July, so they should not be all that bad.  The one task I wonder if I should tackle is cleaning all the shelves in the refrigerator since we will be cooking together.  It is a mystery to me how a refrigerator can get so dirty.

I am, of course, exhausted.
And excited.
I get to cook with Marie! 

Marie asked if we could have the Three Cheese and Balsamic Glaze Flatbread again, along with chicken baked with Thai peanut sauce and then served over basmati rice.  The question is:  Do I try to make the béchamel sauce all on my own or conveniently hand that task over to Marie again?  After all, someone has to grate the gruyere, slice up the Brie, and cut the basil paste into the feta.

Tomorrow, to gird my loins for more cleaning, I plan to make Red Lentil Dahl again, since I now have coriander. I am rather curious if I will notice a difference in the taste.  Or if Amos does, since he pre-cleans all the dishes for me.  Too bad he cannot clean the house ... say lick all the dirt off the floors that I cannot see so rarely notice their level of uncleanliness until just before someone is coming over for a visit.  That would surely earn his keep.

I did post to the Snippets from the Christian Book of Concord blog archive today.  Even though I feel as if the archive has a good cross section in it, I still want to add good bits here and there.  Today's made me think of Mary.  I could almost hear her voice as I read this bit of sweet, sweet Gospel:

When such majesty is denied to Christ according to His humanity, we regard it as a deadly error. For by this the very great consolation mentioned above is taken from Christians, which they have in the promise about the presence and dwelling with them of their Head, King, and High Priest. He has promised them that not only His mere divinity would be with them (which to us poor sinners is like a consuming fire on dry stubble). But Christ promised that He—He, the man who has spoken with them, who has experienced all tribulations in His received human nature, and who can therefore have sympathy with us, as with men and His brethren—He will be with us in all our troubles also according to the nature by which He is our brother and we are flesh of His flesh.
~BOC, FSD, VIII, 87


Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!