Loving the state I'm in

Today wasn't entirely a rest day, as I did a morning shift at work (prep for a big event we're having tomorrow). It still felt wonderfully luxurious, though. I got up earlyish, as I've been doing automatically for a little while now, which gave me plenty of time to chill with coffee, paper and a real breakfast.Coffee, delicious cherries (almost gone!) and a couple of wasabreads spread with tuna and topped with tomato. I love pairing good ripe tomatoes, with that rich almost-sweetness they get, with something savory, and this is one of my favorite combinations.

Lunch was late, as I didn't get back to the house till afternoon, but worth the wait.Amam's leftover soup from Chinese night - probably not much more than water, MSG and a few veggies. Still, it's tasty and (sans MSG, fingers crossed) a good way to up my fluid intake. I added more water and a little salt and pepper to feel less guilty. Milk in my new-found mug (it was tucked away in the garage and I commandeered it), and an old favorite from WAY back when: tomatoes and cheese broiled on toast. When I was younger I used to completely smother this thing with cheese, so I used considerably less of that, thicker tomato slices and this aMAZing rye bread that's about half a centimeter thick but dense as hell and absolutely delicious.

Not shown: more cherries nom nom!

After lunch I took my book and drove down to the Eno to enjoy this perfect NC summer day. I really, really love this state. There are certain times, just long enough after the government-sent roadway landskeepers come by with their mowers and edgers and herbicide, that all nature seems to be just barely constrained - that if you turned your back for too long or even blinked, the brambles and vines would surge beyond their man-mandated boundaries and turn the whole place into wilderness again, every view filled with dappled gold-green sunlight on the leaves that explode out of the earth with every summer rainstorm. I've been to a fair amount of places that are said to be very beautiful, and to be sure there have been some strong contenders, but quite honestly nothing can compare with a lazy Carolina day, lying under a tree and looking up at a sky of blue-and-green stained glass, shimmering golden with every breeze.

With all this poetic wandering, I forgot to take pictures. Next time, I promise...

-N