bits and pieces

Just a little photo catch-up today - gardening and camping! 

 Hops on the trellis, tomatoes in and out of cages, and an orphan butternut squash plant. And some weeds. Ahem.

 Mostly squashes (yellow, zucchini, and butternut), with garlic on the edges and pickle bush cucumbers in the middle.

Our half-pallet herb garden: oregano, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme, basil, parsley, and shallots. And chocolate mint, in a pot, because that sh*t's invasive and we already have a huuuuuge mint patch by the house, lol! We also have horehound, which needs to be potted (mint family). If we can find another heat-treated half pallet, next year we'd like to have both culinary and medicinal herb gardens.

Somewhere in the middle of the Au Sable...

 Feet at Foote Pond!

 We have serious fire-making skills. And camp cooking skills. This ups our chances of survival in the Zombie Apocalypse.

 Is that a view, or what?

 You can't see it, but we were only about 10 feet above the pond, and the private beach. Oh, and there are giant snails in that pond!!

The fossils I picked up along the river. Two at the bottom are coral, we think, but no idea what the rest are, other than amazing. (<------- totally geeking out on prehistory and God's creativity over here.)

The last week or so has been a mix of frustration and awesome. Bought my first real (professional! they launch into the air! they're not on sticks!) fireworks on the Fourth of July, after signing an amusing/horrifying piece of paper stating that I am not a terrorist and will only use said fireworks for pretty displays. I worked a lot, while recovering from what my nurse friend thinks was a mild bout of salmonella. Whatever it was, it upset my guts and gave me a fever of 102.2 F that lasted about 24 hours. So, in between working, I was pretty much a limp noodle and didn't accomplish much, lol. We set off a few fireworks on Thursday, then went to a friend's annual party on Friday for the bigger show. Having fulfilled our patriotic obligations by eating cheddar bratwursts, drinking beer, and blowing things up ( 'Merica!), we spent the rest of the weekend being domestic - buying herbs and building the herb garden, cleaning the kitchen, making pancakes. ( ***De-rail*** I don't know why people bother buying the regular grade-A maple syrup. Sure, it tastes great, but if you can manage to get your paws on some darker, richer grade B, then DO IT. We have a jug of this magical substance, bought from a small sugaring operation that sells at Eastern Market, and I could drink it straight. If E ever comes home to find me dead on the floor with the empty jug next to me, she says at least she'll know I died happy. And for even bigger flavor, get the grade C if you can possibly find it. I spent $6 on 8 ounces of it, and it is now My Precious. I never knew maple syrup had such depth and character. We did mini-shots of it in the car, and now are researching recipes that will do this syrup justice. I am stocking up before winter. ***Re-rail***) I came back to Mom's last night, FINALLY got to work on the knitted earflap hat I'm making for a friend - we're bartering, knitted earflap hat for custom leather bracelet, and had my own mini fireworks show for Mom and a few neighbor kids. Mom was laughing in shock, we've never had fireworks like that in our backyard before, lololol!

Today, my morning client cancelled (poison ivy, poor guy), so I worked on the hat and watched 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama. Oh, if only the rest of the world leaders were as humble, kind, and wise. Later, I have 3 clients, possibly 4. We're having chicken and roasted tomatoes for dinner, and I'll spend more time on the hat. Tomorrow I'd like to weed the bunny-proofed garden here, and finally go for a training run. In the heat. Less than 3 weeks before running the Warrior Dash, lol. Well, this year I'll just focus on finishing, huh?  :o)

The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival is also coming up fast - some of the long crew will get there next week! My arrival date is the 31st, and my fest pile is only just begun. The goal is to be packed by the last Saturday in July, and so far, I know where all my gear is, so that's something, lol. Oh, and I bought a 3-pound bag of trail mix. And toothpaste.