summer knees
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thorough
At first I was a bit annoyed that the little birdie emptied out all the raisin boxes, but she was just so proud of her work. And when I thought about it for a minute, I too was proud. She opened up all the boxes, emptied them out into her little pan and (eventually) put the boxes in the recycling bin. At least she’s thorough! She might even have eaten a few along the way. A few.
How’s your week going, lovelies?
the jungle
It doesn’t seem to matter what I do OR neglect to do. My garden seems to turn into a jungle, a tangled mess of green stuff. Last year, I overplanted two small beds. This year, we expanded the garden to take up half the back yard and I actually followed the directions on spacing the seeds and starts that I bought. I only bought four tiny tomato plants, but I’ve lost count of how many we actually have growing now in the garden because at least a couple dozen have sprouted from last year’s compost that we mixed into the soil.
And it’s not just a tomato jungle. See that pumpkin plant? I did not intentionally plant it either, but it’s taken over the south half of the garden. You have to be careful when standing near the garden that its curly tendrils don’t quickly wrap their sticky, prickly selves around your limbs. We have to keep retraining the pumpkin plant to stay in the garden or else it would probably spread across the lawn and happily find its way to the hammock twenty feet away. Crazy stuff! And the weeds? Sigh. They’re back. But you knew that would happen, right?
While the heat wave of 2011 has not mixed well with my psyche and growing belly (and butt), the garden seems to be absolutely thrilled. So at least one of us is happy with it.
How’s your garden growing this year, lovelies? What have you been able to harvest where you live?
{this moment} beating the heat
farmer’s market bounty
The little birdie and I had a blast at yesterday’s Traverse City farmer’s market, which is open on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Although it’s smaller, I prefer the Wednesday market because it’s not as crowded. As you can see, we loaded up on mid-summer’s bounty.
We were pleasantly surprised to find a quart of local strawberries because that’s all Wren could talk about on the walk downtown and I didn’t want to disappoint her by telling her there wouldn’t be any so I just kept saying, “what about cherries? I bet we can find some delicious cherries…” But we DID find some strawberries (actually Wren saw them first!) and they’re the best we’ve had all summer. Like little candied jewels.
I was happy to find some pickling cukes because we just ran out of the huge batch we made last fall and it doesn’t seem right to have an outdoor summer meal without that pickled crunch.
And the blueberries! I’m not a huge fan of blueberries hidden in pies, but a fresh, flowery blueberry? Yes, please and thank you.
To round out our color palette and crisper drawer, we grabbed some of the season’s first apricots, a quart of beans and, of course, cherries. You can’t live through summer in northern Michigan and not have a constant supply of fresh cherries, right?
Speaking (err, writing) or summer in northern Michigan… have you seen the article in Bon Appetit about Mario Batali and his love affair with the food, people and land/waterscape of northern Michigan? “Traverse City is the antidote to New York City.” Woah. Click here to read it.
dog days
keeping up with the boys
The little birdie’s older boy cousins are in the area for about a month and she has been working hard at keeping up with them. I love that she doesn’t realize that she’s smaller and younger AND a girl. She just wants to do what they’re doing: “Wren’s turn NOW!” I also love that being a boy or a girl means nothing yet and doesn’t determine what you should be doing or saying or wearing or role-playing. It’s just good ole kiddo summer fun: playing in the water, fishing, eating watermelon, lying in the hammock. Aah, to be a kid again…
matching
The little birdie is really into noticing when things are “the same” right now so she was thrilled when I suggested we wear “matching” dresses and flip-flops this past weekend. A photo of us together is rare (Moms take most pictures, no?) so I was glad Chris captured the moment for us. Almost 26 weeks along and the little birdie is almost 26 months, woah.
Click on
How did it already get to be the middle of July? Whew. We’ve been making sand castles, visiting with friends and family, tackling a mountain of work, playing in the back yard, going to festivals, listening to live music, eating lots of frozen confections, watching the garden grow and trying to work in some lazy moments too. And summer zooms on by!
Have anything fun planned for the weekend? More grilled pizzas are on the docket for us tonight, mmmm. Here’s wishing you a weekend full of lazy summer moments! And a few places for you to click on over to, in case you find yourself in front of the ole lapper-topper….
- I love me some trifle so when I saw this idea for mini to-go trifles, my heart just about skipped a beat. Too bad our fresh raspberries/cherries/blueberries just don’t stick around long enough for me to concoct a special dessert for them…
- I quick-pickled the last of our radishes using this easy-peasy recipe. I think it’s my new favorite way to munch on the spicy little guys. And it allowed me to check something off my summer list. Yessss.
- Did you see Charlotte’s rainbow party? Complete with milk shots and a colored sprinkle rim? Gasp!
- Love maps and old globes? Yeah, me too. This round-up of map decor in kids rooms via Ohdeedoh is fantastic.
- Dear Melissa is pushing me to pick up a new hobby: knitting! What do you think, lovelies? Can I do it?
Enjoy!
it just doesn’t get any fresher
I don’t really like peas. Sugar snap peas, yes. But shelling peas? Not so much, thank you. So I’m not sure what made me throw a shelling pea seed pack in my cart late this winter. I think it might have been because they’re such a beautiful plant and easy to plant for tiny hands? Regardless, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made this year! Picking, shelling (shucking?) and eating the peas right off the vine is one of the little birdie’s favorite things to do right now. “S’more peas, Mama?” or “pick SELF, Mama!” are common words out in the back yard this week.
I just love to hang back and observe the little birdie in her work. She’s so focused and serious about the process. So proud of what she can do! I watched her reach high for the peas she wanted, pull hard and yank them off the vine, sometimes making her tumble back into the dirt or on top of a broccoli plant: “uh oh!” Then over again and again, undeterred.
I was full of awe at her determination and in those moments, I thought again how I had no idea I could love someone so much. At the same time, wondering how I could find more love for the other little birdie on its way. Trying to remind myself that I’ll be surprised again by the capacity to love, to expand, to nurture.
