finding normal

We've tried really, really hard to keep this summer as normal as possible for the older boys. That's not always easy with a newborn in tow. Some days were definitely more successful than others!

I think we've done a fair job though, we've been to the beach, we've been for little hikes, we've been to the park and out to eat.

And last week we spent the week in the Adirondacks - something we've done for the last 2 summers now and probably will for many more to come.



We were able to take Andrew on his first (small) mountain hike and even to Enchanted Forest.

Of course since then, I've spent several days doing nothing but nursing (and a little bit of pulling my hair out!) So you take what you can, when you can (and hope that maybe you can even get some canning in!)

And the days that we did nothing at all? I think the kids are ok with it.

yes, i know his straps are loose!

It's been interesting finding our new normal this summer, and I'm looking forward to seeing what winter brings!

Summer Snapshots: Series II

Spent some time hiking at one of our favorite local places. It's the first time this summer I've been able to head out there and I'm so glad we made the time.

Squeezing in small batch nightly canning sessions.

And our first grilled pizza of the summer. I can not believe how quickly this summer is flying by.

Hope you're enjoying your days. See you soon!

Summer Snapshots: Series I

Photo taken by my MIL The Husbands band at Westcott Theater

Evan at Upstate Boogie Photo via Barefoot Goddess  - he loved watching this!

 Photo via Barefoot Goddess

 Photo via Barefoot Goddess

 Photo via Barefoot Goddess

 End of the season! As much as I love watching the boys play, 3 nights a week of double games was a bit much! Photo taken by my MIL

 

 

 

 At Dickie Betts and the Great Southern- free show!

 Lets not talk about how stuck we were and how we had to get our neighbor to come tow us off the hill.

As you can tell by all the photo credits, I've been pretty neglectful with taking my camera or making sure there were fresh batteries. Trying the best I can to savor summer. I'll be posting more regularly again soon, thanks for bearing with me while I take some time away. 

Seasonal Eating: Sour Cherries

For a very long time, as far back as I can remember, I thought I didn't like cherries. My aunt and uncle lived and worked on an orchard. And every year they would send us home with bags and bags full of cherries. My mom loved them. Not me.

Last year, in my quest to eat locally and in season - I gave cherries another try. Sweet cherries are in season first, and well, sweet cherries just sound good don't they? I really wanted to like them. They're so pretty and the idea of them is so lovely. But I always felt they were just bleh. Then, you may remember, late last season I discovered sour cherries. Oh my. Now those are good. I guess a lot of people don't like them for eating plain, I love them that way. The tartness is divine.

The closest place I found by me that has u-pick sour cherries was about 40 minutes away. My camera died, so you get no pictures. Boooo.  I wish the sweet and sour cherries overlapped, but sweet picking ended last week and sour started this week. I would have liked to supplement with some sweet cherries in the recipes. Also, there are not nearly as many sour cherry recipes as sweet.

I made another batch of Sour Cherry Vodka
 
I froze about 2 cookie sheet fulls of cherries and made some Cherry Raspberry Jam using Pomonas

I discovered Pomonas at the beginning of the season, and I love it. I've had nothing but excellent results with it and it allows me to use minimal sugar.



I also made some Sour Cherry Jam using the Pomona Pectin. There really is no recipe to follow. The basic idea is 4 cups of fruit, 2tsp calcium water, 2tsp pectin powder and lemon or lime juice if needed. You can use white sugar, sugar substitute or honey. I've only done white sugar so far, between 1-2 cups depending on the fruit (and I get 4-6 jars per recipe) I'm reluctant to try honey after the overpowering honey flavor in the strawberry jam last year.

I wanted to can some cherry pie filling too, but all the recipes I found called for Clear Jel, which I didn't have and was too lazy to go get. Maybe I can do it with the frozen berries later.

Do you love cherries? Hate them? Sweet or sour? Share your recipes!

image source

Guess what I didn't have? Yeah, a cherry pitter. Pitted by hand baby.

Summer Days . . .

Are anything but lazy!

 

 

 

Colin finished up his first season of baseball, and we rolled right into lacrosse.

Turns out they both have games on Tuesday nights at 7 - in different locations. That should be interesting. Evan had opening day last Saturday and of course I forgot my camera. I remembered for his game this week, but they canceled it due to lightening. 

Both boys are number 15 for lacrosse, which is pretty neat - but what's even cooler is that was The Husbands jersey number for years and years when he played soccer. Well, I think it's cool anyway.

It's getting to be so they always have a lacrosse stick in their hands. Which is not a bad thing - especially since where we live is so big on lacrosse.

And Evan 'graduated' from 6th grade. Oh, boy. More to come on that later. Seems every time I blink another year has gone by.

 

When we moved in, I knew there were some wild black raspberry bushes out back, turns out they pretty much border our woods most of the way around (and in). I wish I had enough to make jam, I'm wondering if I can transplant some of the bushes to other areas to encourage more growth - I've heard they spread pretty easily, and we have plenty of space for them to spread to, especially if it means wild, free fruit. Recipes to follow in a few days.

 

The garden is coming along nicely - I'm surprised everything hasn't died yet! Those flowers in the hanging basket did. I can never get those darn things to stay alive. Turns out I do pretty well with in ground stuff though, for my first real year in ground gardening - everything is still alive! I need more tomato supports and I kinda just hooked together some branches for the peas - I need to get more supports for those too . . .

 

 I recently learned there's an indoor skate park not far from us - might be good for rainy days. We've got plenty of land - but no good space to skate, not like when we were in the neighborhood. 

So that's a bit of what we've been up to. I'm loving my summer work schedule - it's nice to be home at dinner every night, but man it wipes me out. I usually need a 20 minute nap when I get home. Before, I got home at 9:30pm and I relaxed for just a bit before going to bed. Now, getting home at 4 it's like I still have a full day ahead of me - running around for sports, cooking dinner, cleaning etc . . . it's exhausting. I need to win the lottery so I can stay home. I guess I'd need to play the lottery for that to happen though. 

I can't believe it's the end of June already - it feels like summer's half over - though it's only just begun. I need to be very careful to not get sucked into the busy-ness of everything and to make sure I'm spending as much time as possible napping in the yard, drinking homemade rhuabarb soda (with vodka for the grown-ups!), having picnics, reading books, and maybe even braving a swimming suit this year and getting in the water!

"What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade."

-  Gertrude Jekyll

Weekend Scenes . . .

Just a little late.

It's been so.crazy. here!

We're moving in one day now (!) - but we still took a little vacation last week. Kicked it off Wednesday, which happened to be the 8th anniversary of my 21st birthday. We left to go to camping and to the Phish show on Thursday. We had to wait for some friends to get out of work so we left maybe 5ish.

The whole way there I'm nagging Kevin about watching his speed. I'm a fun person to drive with, really. I don't clutch the door or brace my arm on the ceiling or nag excessively about the way we're driving. Really. I mean, who does that? Not me. :ahem: moving on . . .

So - we pull into this bizarre parking lot at 7ish or so. I'm pretty confused cause I'm not seeing campgrounds anywhere. It's at the back of a neighborhood but past all these horse stalls. I thought it was a pretty strange place for a state park, I'm thinking that we check in here and go somewhere else. So I'm looking around all dazed and confused like - and every time I ask what this is, what's going on, every one (3 friends and my sister in law and Kev) laughs and telsl me we're going to dinner. Now, not that we happen to be an overly sarcastic bunch or anything - giving me any reason to doubt them - but I was pretty sure they were making fun of me. I could not figure out what was so funny and what in the world was going right over my head.

Oh. We actually are going out to dinner. What? Why?

Oooooh, cause it's my birthday and my husband was super sweet and completely surprised me with dinner reservations!

Ooooooooooohhhhhh that's why he was a little heavy on the peddle - to get there in time and all.

Oh!

And that wasn't it! Two more of our friends, who were meeting us the next day - felt bad about not being there for my birthday dinner - so called ahead and paid for my meal! (I got the scallops - nom!)

And theeeeeennnnnn - my sneaky husband disappears and comes back with a cake. That him and his sister baked. And frosted. And drove with two hours with, without me knowing. And put candles on it. And brought it into the restaurant. And sang happy birthday to me. (I turned purple).




What a sweet birthday - and what a sweet husband and friends I have.


Then camping and the next day - off to Phish! It was hot. Really hot. Like melting hot. But also a ton of fun! Phish has grown on me. I saw my first show when I was 18 and VERY pregnant with Evan. That show happened to be on my birthday too.

My next show was 6 years later - Coventry, VT - their "last show". That was an experience (and also across my birthday!) 2 days on the highway. In the rain. Then we were all told to turn around and go home - there was no way to get everyone in because of all the mud. So thousands and thousands of people parked their cars on the highway and hiked in. We were 15 miles back - but some people were as far back as 40 miles. 2 seconds after crossing the gate into the festival, I snapped my ankle and spent the next three days wearing duct tape, gauze, and hiking boots.




Then it was another 5 years - Hampton VA for their first show back, and my first indoor show.



Now - this past week. Yet another birthday show. More than the music( that I've grown to love) I love the crowd. The community. I love watching the lot fill up and become this little temporary town. It's indescribable, really, and completely amazing. It's worth it, every time. The cost, the drive, the traffic - all of it.


From there - we drove across NY to the Catskills for my dad's family camp out/reunion. My dad has 11 siblings and for the past 15 years or so we all (his siblings and spouses and their kids and spouses and their kids) all get together somewhere different and camp for a few days together. It's a wonderful tradition.




We came back home Monday - and are now spending these last days in 95 degree heat with through the roof humidity, packing the last of our stuff - getting things lined up and ready to go - and in 2 more days - we'll be off to the dream house!

Sweet, Sweet Summertime

"Just living is not enough" said the butterfly,
"one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."
- Hans Christian Andersen

We took a long weekend and did some camping at Watkins Glen. I haven't been there in about 15 years, and had forgotten how incredible it is.

We managed to avoid threatening rain and ended up with a mostly sunny, beautifully breezy weekend. We spent the hours on the playground (where Colin fell and left a pretty nasty gash between his eyes), cooking on the fire (where Evans glasses fell off - into the fire - and melted!) and of course walking the Glen (where I think all of us at one point slipped on the slick, damp limestone). It really was a wonderful, relaxing weekend.

Evan declared at one point on our hike that he "has a whole new appreciation for nature". That kid. :/


















We came home to the garden beginning to bloom!





As for the vegetables - the lettuce is growing wonderfully! Everything else is coming along, slow but steady.


And a random summertime sweetness



PS - those pictures of the Glen look so much better if you click them for the large view :D