June 9, 2023

Some Joys Of June

 

Hello! Happy Friday, my friends! This is the face of a girl who just completed Seventh Grade! We had a successful, fun, and productive year. Eighth Grade next?!?! In addition to the end of our homeschool year, a few other things signal the beginning of summer. 

First, local strawberries. My family waits all year for these few weeks when we can eat all things strawberry! 

And then there are the precious little fawns that arrive and follow their mommies around, learning the ropes. As nice as this photo appears, the reality is that here in Pennsylvania, we have had some very poor air quality from the wildfires in Canada. Wednesday was the worst, although not nearly as bad as some places. We stayed inside and kept busy, finishing school and making a few of our favorite meals.


Wednesday night, we had shrimp tacos. They are delicious and relatively easy...if you are lucky like me and have a sous chef named Madison doing all the chopping and arranging! I may have shared this recipe before, but if not, I will link it HERE.


Last night was cooler, so I tried a new recipe for Baked Chicken Parmigiana. It was amazing! If you want to try it, I will link it HERE.


I finished this book and give it a very positive review! It is very well-written and thoroughly researched. I appreciated the author writing an informative book that is not merely a compilation of tabloid gossip. This book isn't a Beach Read but a deeper look into the relationship between the Duke and Duchess and other royal family members. I recommend it, but Mocha found it a bit tiring. 


Have a nice weekend, my friends. 
Thanks for stopping in!

Billie Jo

18 comments:

  1. Here in Northwest NJ, the air quality has been pretty bad too. Though the photos from NYC were like some post-Apocalyptic movie! I can't believe Flynn is in 8th grade, she was just a toddler when I started reading your blog. Have a blessed weekend, and praying our air continues to get better and better. Praying for Canada!

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  2. The deer are all so sweet. We have all kinds of fruit here in Florida to enjoy. I shared a recipe today. Stay safe and enjoy your day!

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  3. Such a sweet picture Flynn and those deer. I was able to see two deer in our front lawn the other day.

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  4. Thanks for the review of the book. I checked it out of the library a while back, but couldn't finish it, because it is not, as you said, a quick beach read. I need to try and get it again when I have some time. I love the picture of the deer and the fawn. Congrats to Flynn on moving up to 8th grade! Another year of home schooling well done! I hope you have a good weekend and that your horrible air clears soon. We have experienced air like that here in the West due to wildfires in California. Not fun.

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  5. Congratulations to Flynn on finishing 7th grade. Loved the photos of spring around your home too. We used to have the smoke from fires in Spokane every summer. We're under an air quality alert here in Nebraska today. I recommend lots of eye drops after you've been outside for even a few minutes. I used to go through bottle of them.
    Your meals look so delicious, especially the shrimp tacos. Yum.
    Have a lovely weekend!
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  6. Congratulations to Flynn for getting through 7th grade. 5 more years then she's out of high school. Lovely deer. I hope the smoke goes away soon. I remember going through that 2020 when there was fires in our state that started labor day weekend. My brother in law living in New York so not sure how much smoke in his area. We love strawberries 🍓 too. Hope to get more soon. Have a good weekend! Becky

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  7. All of that is so joyful. Strawberries and shrimp tacos definitely make me think summer is here! (Even if it isn't technically for another two weeks.) Yay for Flynn finishing up the school year!

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  8. The first photo is pretty special!

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  9. Your first photo has two amazing cuties!! Your meals look SO good!!

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  10. The photos are great. Good food too. But I have to say the best picture is of your beautiful girl. Makes me long for my granddaughter Emma to be that age again. Hug her for all of us grandmothers. Blessings, xoxo, Susie

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  11. Congratulations on another school year finished! And the view is just beautiful! Our air quality hasn't been very good here in S.E. Texas either! We've had a few pretty days this week, but by late afternoon the skies seem very smoggy.
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  12. Oh my those strawberries look delicious.
    We've had hazy skies here too.
    What a treat to watch the doe and fawn!!

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  13. As Louca said, a joyful post :) Sweet photos, especially the first one, thank you Billie Jo!

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  14. Enjoyed catching up with this post. And I love the new blog background! We've had some poor air quality days but I'm sure the haze is nothing here compared to further north and east. Going to check out the baked chicken parmesan recipe, it looks really good. And the book sounds interesting. Hope you are enjoying a wonderful family filled weekend!

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  15. That's great that Flynn finished seventh grade is on her way to eighth grade! Your baked chicken parmigiana looks delicious. The berries are so ripe and wonderful at this time of year. Always love them in the Summertime. And those deer are such a gift that you see from time to time. I just saw one at the creek yesterday, but she was far away. I hope the air quality from the fires doesn't reach your area too badly. Fire season is such a scary time here in Calif, but so far so good.

    Have a blessed Sunday, Billie Jo.

    ~Sheri

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  16. My eldest is going to be wrapping up 7th grade as well. Those strawberries look great, we went picking just a few weeks ago.

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  17. Flynn is looking very grown up all of a sudden, although she'll always be your baby.
    Here's to a successful 8th grade! Xx

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Thanks so much for saying hello!

Billie Jo