One Crazy Summer

It is officially Autumn. School is in full swing, the weather has shifted and suddenly I'm in the mood to bake bread.

Apologies to those who have left comments and questions in the last few months and have not received reply, it's been one crazy summer!

It has also been an Instagram Summer

The garden ran wild this year, with big harvests and the putting by.

I spent a good many days in my Big Mac overalls, plundering the garden and processing my harvest. I think the dehydrator ran days and days at a time without let up; along with my paring knife.

This one, this kid: She started Summer out in pigtails headed off to Forest Fishing Camp, got a Summer hair cut, spent over a week in the Midwest channeling Esther Williams, grew a couple of inches, and can now wear my old vintage dresses and look amazing!

There were adventures...

watching many evenings come on in the back yard...

and flowers.

My sister and her dog Gypsy came to stay for a bit. We gathered many herbs, concocted potions/balms, sang many songs, laughed a lot, and reconnected in a lovely way.

Well, I guess that pretty much catches us up to date. 

So, what have you been up to?

A trip to Bountiful - via the garden

In my last post I mentioned a busy life, there is always something that needs doing and I think we have that in common. We all have our own busy and pressing matters, to-doing, running hither and yon, etc. Part of my busy this Summer was the garden, not bad as pressing matters go really. Ultimately satisfying and very delicious, still sometimes you just can't figure out how to get it all done. You see, when a garden comes on, it often comes on all at once!

This Summer we had record breaking heat, which resulted in our first bumper crop of tomatoes in years. So far we have harvested about 50 pounds of heirloom tomatoes from 3 plants. Amazing and so tasty, yet a bit overwhelming. Oh but look at those beauties! Nothing like a fresh tomato from the garden. Oh, and the chilies, good gravy we have roasted a lot of chilies this summer!

We also grew tomatillos, An experiment really - that ended up combining nicely with the chilies to make some tomatillo salsa. Oh Summer in the garden...

And now we have figs. So many figs! Our tree is drooping under the weight of their sweet soft goodness. I have been inviting passers-by to help themselves as I still have fig preserves in the larder from last year. Figs coming out of my ears I tell you!

Lastly, our new brood of backyard chickens have at last laid an egg! A teeny tiny egg sure, but no less exciting. I haven't sussed out which one is the layer of said egg yet. So looking forward to having fresh eggs again. Hooray!

So concludes this episode of "In The Garden." Are you growing anything?

In my next post you might actually get to see a spot of sewing, will wonders never cease?

Back from the land of tall trees

Welcome to the photo show of our Summer Vacation

After a long vacation during which magical things were around every corner, it's hard to get back into the daily routine. We had an amazing trip, with only one little hiccup in the way of a breakdown on the hottest day of the year. Still, on the whole, there's nothing like a good road trip to inspire and feel free!

The Redwoods were stunning. No matter how many times I have walked under those majestic old growth trees, I am awed every time!

We hiked and played and saw herds of Elk, the ocean and waterfalls and places that make you stare in wonder.

San Francisco was a blast. So fun to visit my old stomping grounds and see the sights of the city. Taking my family to see The Palace of Fine Arts was definitely a highlight. It is one of my favorite places.

The roads we traveled are so familiar to me, every curve and bend of the highway are part of my life, It was so special to share that experience with my sweet little family.

Time spent with my California family was precious too. If you ever find yourself in Monterey, CA; go to the aquarium, it is amazing. My favorite exhibit were the giant tanks of jellyfish.

Once we got back home, we took off again for some cabins in the woods next to a river with great friends and family. What a summer we've had so far!

How about you? What have you been up to?

Wordless Wednesday - Our Beautiful Summer Vacation

xo

These days

These days the bed rarely gets made. We throw our clothes all over the floor - having acquired a temporary amnesia as to the whereabouts of the laundry hamper. The table is sticky from Popcicles, littered with the souvenirs of our adventures, and a seat is always reserved for the newspaper crossword puzzle. There are ponies strewn all over the house and in the garden.

These days all of my photographs are of my girl, family, the garden, produce, or food. The best photo ops are never captured because we are too immersed in the moment to break away long enough to take a picture.

These days I am feeling better. I had a rough patch recently. I was feeling the crush of the sadness out in the far flung world and the weight of tragedy close to home. Getting outside and adventuring has helped so much; hiking down a mile of switchbacks to reach a secluded lake, hiking that mile back up again, swimming in the river, and swinging from the monkey bars at the park. Apple pie and fresh blackberry milkshakes have helped a lot too.

These days Pony Girl and I have been listening to pop music. Especially in the car. I'm learning to listen and sing along without cynicism, or cringing. There is a spectacular joy in sharing a loud sing-along in a car with your kid! Never make anyone feel bad about the music they love.

These days are rushing by. It was just the 4th of July and then I blinked, now it's nearly August. I'm only feeling like I've just now got the swing of Summer.

What have you been up to these days?

Summer Time

Our faces have the full flush of Summer, rosy cheeks, tanned shoulders and hours of play with good friends. These two in the photo have been buddies since they were babies. After hours in the kiddie pool, catching bugs, and playing hide and seek - they ended up in the cubby house for a break with the chickens. I love this photo. I had to sneak up to the window to get it. It speaks volumes about summer, childhood and good friends. It tells the story of a perfect day. 

All my crafty plans seem to have vanished with the sunshine. It's all about kids, family, fun and lots of towels in the laundry from all those kiddie pool/sprinkler adventures.

Summer has also been all about the produce! Our first full summer at the new house with all the garden has to offer, has been a busy one. I'm learning a lot about how I am not managing the maintenance as well as I could. But who has time to pull weeds when the food keeps dropping into our laps, literally! 

These gravenstein apples completely took me by surprised. They are falling from our tree about three weeks early. Maybe it's all the heat we have been having. This is about 25 pounds worth, and there's more. I'm grateful, believe me... but applesauce and dried apples and pie have made the top of the list over any stitchy shenanigans. 

What are you making?

Frankly, Lola...

I know that I have waxed on about how this blog is my happy, shiny place. More than once, I'm sure.
Most of the time I choose to skip the yucky stuff, you know... the it's a hard day 'cause everything went wrong, the house is a wreck and smells of kitten poo (how is it possible that such a small creature can create so much poop?).  The days that are way too busy, always trying to catch up and always falling short. Those days that I just want to hide under a pile of coats and there's no bloody chocolate in the house! We all have them.

For instance, I don't share my endless disappointment that I have not yet developed the super-power of stopping time... not even for 5 piddly minutes... good gravy! I don't talk about how my striving for balance in this life looks a lot like an elephant in roller skates riding a Tilt-A-Whirl. I don't over-share my past aspirations (I really wanted to be a Solid Gold Dancer! Sadly, I reached full height several inches short of the required leggy-ness. Also, I was not a particularly good dancer). So you see, I don't like to complain. Okay... so sometimes I do talk a bit too much about my tempestuous relationship with The Laundry.

I also try to keep the real personal stuff out of view. Sometimes the real hard times, are quiet family blues; we need to sing them away in private.

I also sometimes forget to share the really great day-to-day stuff. Stuff like reconnecting with an old friend one hasn't seen in ages and ages. Like having a long overdue date night with the Engineer, dinner with friends, and seeing a really great band. I forgot to tell you about a sleepover we had with old friends - our kids have been friends since they were babies and it was so much fun! Or I don't often mention how lovely it is to sit in the garden at the end of a long day.

Sometimes I even go as far as disappearing from this place for days and days.

Yet, when I do spend time here, I am always surprised and so very pleased that many of you stick with me, come back, read my posts, leave wonderful comments and make me smile!

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

Of Produce and Progress

Oh my good gravy! It has been one crazy Summer! I shant bore you with slippery details. I'll just get straight to the Produce Aisle of today's post.

Welcome to the front/back-yard farmer's market! 

Oh I do think I need to come up with a fitting name for the new garden. Any thoughts? Lola's Retreat? Alex's Acres? NirvanaNova? No... it will come to me I'm sure. Oops, sidetracked there for a moment. 

That big Tom there took both hands to hold it. It was so big in fact, that when Pony Girl tried to bring it into the kitchen, it was far too bulky to handle and it leapt from her small hands and crashed with a squooshy thud on the floor. There was a moment of silence as we believed it was indeed a very sad end to a truly impressive tomato. Upon closer inspection we saw that despite a bit of bashing and bruising and breaking in half, there was still plenty of good tomato left to slice and eat with bread, basil and a drizzle of olive oil!

The Delicata squash is nearly there.

The figs are coming on gangbusters! My first attempt at drying a few in the dehydrator was a bit of a bust. Tonight's fig and sweet onion jam should have better results.

And the jelly cupboard is getting fuller by the week! I have discovered the joys of ginger cardamom pear butter!

Now that I have distracted you with the bounty of my garden, I shall move on to the Progress portion of this post.

Since last we chatted, we have acquired a dining table and chairs for the dining room. Previously loved of course. It is the very first proper dining table I have personally owned in all my life. As I am going on a few freckles past 44, this strikes me as quite a feat! Our extended family dinners are sure to be much more comfortable and sociable now that we can all eat at the same table.

A few of my knickknacks have shed their boxes and wrapping paper to make temporary camp on the shelves of the Aqua laundry room/wet bar. There is a little cocktail cart discreetly out of frame. 

This isn't pretty, but progress has definitely been made on my studio. We've been bashing down walls and exposing the brick, which incidentally is the name of my next album. Painting and lighting come next.

Progress was also made today on perfecting my Chai spice blend recipe. I am soooo close!

In that mug up there is one of my favorite things; Chocolate Chai Tea!

Well, that concludes the Produce and Progress report for today. Have a gorgeous weekend all!