This fine morning...

 ...after a nice swim, and some exercises in the pool, and a really good coffee, we went out for a drive in the desert.  There were cacti and rocks, sand and scrubby bushes, and roadrunners.  We went to a coffee shop and the iced Americanos were...just so-so.  Then to Aldi, for some taco toppings.  Evelyn got a bottle of wine for $3.50, and it wasn't half bad!  

Another little drive through the desert, and we were home.  The dogs act like we were gone forever, there's the symphony of welcome barking and wagging.  We had a little snack (I had pepperoni, raspberries, a strawberry, and some street taco chips, which are my current weakness, and they are sold in Aldi).  Then, out to the pool for a bit...ahh, can't complain! 

They get tired out from so much chasing the ball...Lily, Pretzel, and Banjo.

We had enough sun, so we had a little break, then went back out to sit in the shade and enjoy the 98 degree day, nice and breezy.  We saw some roadrunners in the desert behind the house, and lots of birds, but no donkeys today.

Somehow yesterday passed, and I find myself here writing again this morning, same post.  Our dinner was nice, a simple taco meal.  I browned up some corn tortillas, sprinkled with salt and lime juice.  Evelyn made some rice, and a big pan of red and orange peppers and onions.  She made guac, and we had chopped fresh cilantro.  So simple, and so good.  We finished The Sound of Freedom, which is about child trafficking.  It is not for the faint hearted.  What a world we live in, such awful things.  

The pups have been fun.  Pretzel is the nicest, she's shy and sweet, was rescued from the pound years ago, they went in just to look, and they had compassion on this little dear, she was in rough shape.  She is a border collie, so she keeps after Lily...when Lily, the black Lab, chases the ball, Pretzel is chasing Lily.  Banjo is, I'll venture to say, the cutest.  She is also the biggest brat.  She's bossy and high strung, and she likes to bark.  She never runs out of energy, as far as chasing that ball.  But she does get tired and settles down nicely in the house.

I do miss our Labradors back home, and the kids and the grandkids, absence making the heart grow fonder and all.  I told Aaron, that as Sam always says, "Two things can be true at once."  I love home, but I love here too.  In the children's book Owl at Home, Owl loves his upstairs and his downstairs, and wants to be in both places at once...

Anyway.  Paul and Evelyn are working today, and Aaron and Riley are coming home from their vacation.  The skies are hazy from wildfires in the Tonto National Forest.  I am not tired of the pool yet, nor of the sunshine.  :)

Have a really good day!