There's always a story unfolding from my kitchen window.  Some mornings the story is as calm and peaceful as a doe out strolling with her twin fawns or a gaggle of turkeys parading across the road.

A chocolate zucchini bread had just been removed from the oven to cool on a rack.  The bread needed to cool for an hour in the pan before removing it and longer before slicing.  My curiosity got the best of me and I sliced a piece while it was still cooling in the pan.  Of course it crumbled as the heat rose from the slice and it took a spoon to dig out so I could satisfy my curiosity about the new recipe.   When testing cakes and quick breads for done-ness, the tester should come out clean.  Leaving the bread in the oven for a few minutes longer because the center was still moist ended up making it drier than I like.  Anyway, that was my reason for diving into the chocolate bread in the first place.  That's my excuse. But before cleaning up the mess, I walked to the laundry area to get something I needed but in that short walk, forgot what I went there for, stood still, scratched my head trying to remember, then walked back to the kitchen.  I never did recall what I needed.  So while cleaning up the mess I made in the kitchen,  I watched a mourning dove make a controlled crash-landing between the two trees in the front garden.  To begin with, mourning doves are far from stealth.  They're large and noisy.  This one slid onto the dusty ground with such force that leaves and debris flew everywhere.  It shook its befuddled head, dusted off its wings, and looked around.  The look on the poor dove's face reminded me of my "what did I just come here for?" incident that I had  experienced just minutes ago.

Our seven a.m. temperature was fifty-seven!  Unheard of for July.  The morning was so beautiful that we took a ride to Bryson City through the Nantahala Gorge and had lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant, Pasqualino's. Pasquale has gluten-free ravioli on his menu. We ordered salads and the gluten-free ravioli with marinara sauce and a side order of their homemade crispy potato chips.  No desserts or ice-cream stops today.  I had a slow-cooker spicy chicken on the kitchen counter and the zucchini chocolate bread that I wanted to try.

This morning I planted fall beets and did a little weeding.  The fall mustard greens and kale are up.  Cliff has been routinely gassing the vole holes so we'll see what fall brings.