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Tag Archives: summer
blueberry bonanza
Happy August, lovelies! We started the morning out with an early blueberry bonanza to beat the heat. Apparently, I just can’t eat enough fresh blueberries because we picked some last week too, but my supply was already getting a bit low. They’re just soooo good right now. I’ve been eating them by the happy handful every day. And no, I haven’t turned into a Smurf yet. Yet!
Truth be told, the little birdie isn’t a great blueberry picker at this age – maybe next summer. She loses interest in picking after about, oh, 60 seconds. But she loves to run up and down the rows, check in with her friends (err, boss them around), and occasionally, pop a big, plum-sized one in her mouth. Pure northern Michigan summer!
She also had a great time with her good friend, Cora. And they didn’t even fight over anything today! Girls are so funny: one minute they’re pulling each other’s hair out over a toy and the next, they’re hugging and laughing. Or holding hands…
How are you celebrating the arrival of August and beating the heat in the midst of these dog days? Any great blueberry recipes I just HAVE to try? Send ’em my way. Until then, we just eat them straight out of the bowl! mmmmm.
Cyberspace friends, thank you so much for your thoughtful, thought-provoking, understanding and encouraging thoughts regarding my anxiety over the arrival of little birdie #2. Your support and advice means a lot. Thank YOU.
summer knees
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…
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!
cha cha cha changes
You know the story, lovelies. When you’re completely immersed in life with a little person every day, most changes just creep up on you without too much notice. I often feel like a helpless frog in that proverbial pot of boiling water… One day, whamm-o! You wake up and they’re two going on fourteen. Where-oh-where did my little baby go?
Last year the little birdie wasn’t even walking yet at the Cherry Festival and this year? We walked up to her first ride and I told her that I could go with her. “No, Mama, I do it SELF!” I cried: happy | sad | proud | full of awe.
Just like that (frog talking here), the little birdie flew away. For a little while anyway. It’s like a dance we play at this age – pull away, come running back, pull away. Testing what independence feels like. Scary and fun, just like escaping into the unknown of a giant blow-up rainforest.
