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

Full.

The past few weeks have been so full of - everything. I'm working to find the rhythm in the upcoming summer, in this new work schedule. It's coming, but slowly.


A taste of what we've been up to:

This next week is shaping up to be very busy as well. I hope to be back here more often, soon.

Weeks Review

I know, I've been neglecting this blog a bit lately. My real life is often mirrored here. Some days or weeks I have so much to say - so many ideas, inspirations every where and I'm busy making, doing, moving. And other weeks I withdraw a bit. I spend more time reading and moving in different ways - like washing and folding and cleaning and painting.

Writing this blog has made those rhythms in my life very clear (to me). Sure, sometimes I'm quiet here because I'm busy but those times are usually followed by a burst of thoughts and ideas and pictures and things.

This week or so I've been quiet because I've been cleaning out clothing and books. Catching up on laundry. Reading and reading more. Napping. Being sick (again?!). I'm trying something new with my diet. I've been planning and reflecting. Weeks like this are a strange sort of meditation for me. I've even scaled way back on baking and cooking in general. Sometimes I get frustrated when I have these natural slow downs, but I'm starting realize that they're needed. My body and my mind know what they need to do, and I need to just trust and flow with it. I don't have to be doing a zillion things at once.

We met our across the street neighbor this past weekend. I've been eying his house for a while. I knew already that he was an older Italian man who called every woman "pretty lady" and he had animals and grew a lot of food. He came over the other afternoon and we got talking for quite a while. He's 75, but looks much, much younger. He's lived here for over 40 years but still has a very thick accent and broken English. We got to see his land. Little gardens spread out everywhere. He picked some asparagus, I've never had it fresh picked and raw. It was delicious! He gave me some garlic greens fresh out of the ground to bring home. He has sheep and chickens and peacocks and turkeys and a giant pig and 2 beautiful steer. He called them, and they came right up to us! (on the other side of a small wire fence). It was absolutely amazing.

He offered us use of almost all his farm equipment, should we need it. We showed him our small garden and he said something along the lines of people need to learn to garden from other people - it needs to be passed down and shown. When he was showing us his turkeys (he has two) he told us he used to have 10, but he gave them away for Thanksgiving last year. He said (again I'm paraphrasing - he was difficult to understand) that when you have too much you should never waste anything, you should always give it to people who don't have enough. When showing us his animals (which are pasture raised and supplemented with grain) he kept telling us how they need to eat well, so he can eat well. That if you eat well, and keep moving you'll live a long, long time.

Then, he also made a couple of pretty racist comments. Being raised in a totally different time from him - where comments like that are shocking and wrong, I wasn't sure how to respond. So I just didn't. He didn't say it meanly, if that makes sense. Just as regular conversation. It was so strange. And the fact is, that's how he was raised. He was from a generation where that was normal. We were segregated. Talk like that was not shocking. It disappointed me a little. Here's this guy who was so friendly and did all these things I admire and then he's flat out racist. Strange, strange.

This is about 3 weeks ago, so they're much bigger now!

Most of my seeds are doing well. I think I over watered some and didn't move them to bigger pots soon enough 'cause I lost a couple - but overall they're looking good. We still have a few more weeks before the danger of frost is past (in the 30's last night and tonight) but I hope to have the garden ready to go in the next week or so. My garden looks especially little after visiting our neighbors! But of course, he built up his land over 40 years - not all at once. Small steps.

Snapshots: Series Four

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a very family intense holiday vacation. We've all been off of school and work for the past two weeks and have spent most of our days with each other, reconnecting. The Husbands brother and his family were in from Germany for 10 days as well as his sister from NYC so we also spent a lot of time with them.

We're entering our last weekend of our vacation and I'm trying to focus on these last few days instead of the dread of going back to work and our everyday life. I've really enjoyed this slower pace.

We rang in the New Years with just us last night, for the first time in 8 years. It was wonderful. We didn't get a chance to see the Blue Moon, but we did enjoy some wine, champagne and playing in the snow as it edged closer to midnight. Kevin and I wrote down a 2009 worry to toss into the fire (the kids said they didn't have any!) as the tree burned. I see this becoming a new tradition. Something else I hope to continue was our 2009/10 favorites and goals artwork.

In the spirit of the 365 goal, I'll be posting a picture a day, but otherwise will be spending some time away to enjoy these last few precious days at home.

I hope your holidays were wonderful as well!

Snapshots: Series Three

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snapshots: Series One