rain, posole, and the sun that finally came out

Memphis has seen something like 16 days straight of rain until Sunday night. This river formed multiple times in our front yard and now all that remains is beautiful weather and mosquitoes to drive you out of said weather.

A dear friend of mine lost her daughter to illness during this rainfall. Monday at the memorial was a beautiful sunny fall day which I think warmed everyone's spirits. The rain had passed and Gwen was celebrated.

I made the kids' first ever beef stew last week which was a huge success. Ted and I had reserved some of the stew meat from the package to make Posole with New Mexican red chiles. If you've never had NM chiles, they are unlike any other chile in the world and are well worth seeking their smokey rich flavor. We got the red chile while we were in Santa Fe for Ted's sister's wedding and use local beef and homemade stock for the soup.


I also had the chance to take Julien to the first birthday party of a friend of mine. It was the first time he and I have gone together somewhere alone and he was so excited about it. We walked over to Renee's house through the muggy post rainfall together. It was a super sweet party despite the rain keeping us all from the park. Before we headed over, Julien and I had lunch and listened to "Whistle While You Work." Here's J's attempt at whistling.