I woke up this morning ... Don'tcha just love Saturdays? As I was looking at my phone I noticed a new picture loading up on my favorite blog. A new picture means a new post. Sweet! The picture was taken between layers and showed shadows behind a few cumulus tops that had randomly popped through a gold infused stratus layer. In the background you could see the sun - mellow - stretching into that fabulous turquoise blue that Remington, or was it Russell, used to paint the Western sky. Man, just thinking about it makes me homesick for Ft. Worth. I used to spend every spare minute absorbing in those hometown museums. Anyway. The blog photo; at first glance I thought of all that shimmering golden light ... Wowawesome. Nobody can paint that. Few eyes get to see it, even second hand. Seriously, it's so expansive that just looking at it was a gift. The cloud tops and their shadows hinted at some other world village, but as I relaxed in to the picture I realized it really looked like a herd running, kicking up dust. Are they trying to evade the ancient ghost riders? I can't quite remember the folklore about joining the great spirit for a buffalo hunt. And this is the first moment of R&R I've had today, so no time to google it, but there's something tickling my memory ... Probably from an episode if The Rifleman - ha! How fortunate am I to live in a time when humanity can breeze by these magnificent images ... what might my Great grandmother (or her Cherokee mother) have made of this?

This summer we have enjoyed delicate crab cakes several times while visiting the coast I spent a good part of this morning picking crab out of ice cold clusters. Thanks guys doing the worlds most dangerous jobs - these cost a small fortune and worth every penny! I looked up Paula Dean's five star crab cakes recipe and bought some fresh peanut oil. Every Southern kitchen loves them some Paula. Tonight my favorite skillet will have it's fill of oil. I can rock the salmon croquettes. Yeah seriously. It may sound like bragging, but it's just a simple humbly stated fact. Tonight I'm aiming for what Five refers to as "smooth jazz" quality crab cakes. She's in the kitchen chopping a yellow pepper right now.

So, I started today luxuriating in a wonder little remembrance paired with a beautiful picture. Now I'm going to go cook with my girl. The kitchen cabinets are shipshape and I have a fresh bar of Rosemary/ mint Zum soap beside the sink. It's been a pretty good day.

later: the crab cakes were lovely, delicate, tasty (messy and time consuming!). Good first attempt. The flavor was excellent. I'm thinking to press the crab in a paper towel to absorb some of the moisture next time. I rate these not worth the effort - my guys like to tuck in to a large platter of crag legs ...the pads of my fingers may wake up numb tomorrow! If I prepare these again, the wine will need to be opened sooner in the process!

I'm excited about the meal tomorrow. L selected some magnificent steaks to grill. I will roast three varieties of beets. Yeah beets - we'll see. Asparagus will fill out the plate. We bought a couple of different cheeses for before. I think all five will be home after church and I'm looking forward to sharing some time with everyone.