six pics

the unexpectedly stormy sky...

Mom's yard, during a sudden downpour. i'm womanifesting future ownership of the house and yard i grew up in...

 E and i staked all (11? 12?) of our rapidly-growing tomato plants yesterday. some of them have blossoms already!

one large baguette, halved then split lengthwise, spread with garlicky mayonnaise (mayo with garlic and onion powders mixed in), piled with thinly sliced ham and cheddar, and baked at 350 for, oh, 10-15 minutes - just enough to melt the cheese and get maximum toasty crunch from the bread. i've made this twice in two days. it's that good!!!!

ahh yes, it's Christmas planning time. two toddler girls are getting bad-ass dolls this year...

and finally, my growing pile of Michfest essentials: instant breakfasts to add to my coffee on those mornings i forgo food for sleep, new socks, t shirts, and underoos, baby wipes for clean feet at night, biodegradable (and delightfully minty) bar of soap, kleenex for obvious reasons, a notebook for keeping my schedule straight/writing letters/jotting down memorable moments, and Emergen-C because plain water gets boring after a week...plus it helps keep the Workerville version of "kennel cough" at bay. don't ask me how it's possible to catch bronchitis in the middle of the woods (all that fresh air!), but every year, it happens. i was the unlucky one six years ago, and have taken precautions ever since!

time to get moving, if my calf muscles will let me. i did 350 jumping jacks last night (in intervals), and today i'm hobbling like a woodland gnome. LOL! i have to pack for the weekend at E's, move a card table and chairs to the basement, and hula-hoop for ten minutes before work. here i go...

(p.s. - new moon tonight, make sure you write down your dreams and goals!)

we made an Eastern Market run yesterday morning - breakfast at The Farmer's Restaurant (i ate two pancakes the size of my face!!!), vanilla beans from The Spice Miser, strawberries and rhubarb from a local farm, a cat carrier from an antique store for $20. the rest of the weekend has been full of pottering, cleaning, napping, and enjoying (with a dash of freak-out when we had to make an emergency trip to Auto Zone for oil - something told E to check her fluids, and her dipstick was bone dry).

we harvested, and ate, our first peas:

 we weeded the corn and beans:

 

(and the tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and onions. oh, and i pruned basil for the first time! it took a lot of courage to snip the little plants, but it's supposed to make them grow bigger and bushier. fingers crossed!)

we compared and contrasted strawberry rhubarb pie recipes before turning our bounty into dessert (the spiced filling from this one, and the crumb topping - with added pecans - from this one):

Houdini explored her new travel container:

 (i'm very, very excited about this crate. she's only had a cardboard one til now, and she regularly escapes from it in the car, but i'd like to see her get out of this one. this crate is kitty Alcatraz!)

two fifths (well...one and one-half fifths) of vodka (gifted at Christmas and my birthday by my bosses) are on their way to becoming vanilla and peppermint extract:

 (i don't think we'd drink even one fifth in a whole year, even if we had a couple of parties, so this is a great way to use it. when life gives you vodka, make extracts!)

and here's a bonus pic from the last night of Little V's visit - four vintage Little People Sesame Street figures, enjoying their evening at Pizza House! Big Bird, Ernie, The Count, and Mr. Hooper:

(Ernie has a shiner. it's his own fault, he shouldn't have tried to steal my fried ravioli.)

this kid.

tonight is Little V's last night with us - she and her parents are flying to Minnesota tomorrow.

having her here has been ridiculous amounts of fun - we've colored and played and danced and chased to her little heart's content. we've sat in the grass and watched the trees blow in the wind, read umpteen stories, eaten pizza and been pajama buddies. and she has taught me so, so much about staying present - her first morning here, she fell asleep while reading stories - on me - and i spent two hours doing absolutely nothing other than cuddling this precious, snoring kid and listening to the birds sing outside. no phone, no TV, no computer. it was wonderful!

here are a few of my favorite moments:

 

giving the duck a bath...

"Little V, do you want to draw with Aunt Luckdragon? What? Oh...you want to draw ON Aunt Luckdragon!"

she went to her first baseball game, and thoroughly enjoyed clapping and yelling, "Go Tigers!"

and last night, she fell asleep in my arms while we were watching Cookie Monster, clutching her bunny and the dvd case. sweetest little muffin!!!! i will be sad to see her leave, for sure.

in other news, we ate the first ripe alpine strawberries today:

tiny, but delicious!

highlights

 

another weekend has come and gone, another week begins.

this morning, when i got up to feed the cat, i found that E's mom had snuck in and left a large plate of chocolate chip cookies on the kitchen counter. thank God i cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the living room last night!!

the cat, incidentally, enjoys serenading us with the song of her people multiple times during the night. usually this earns her a pillow thrown at the bedroom door, but at least once every night she gets a cuddle session on the couch. i have the strange feeling that this is preparing me for parenthood.

friday was National Doughnut Day!! :

 

 the peonies are in full bloom:

E found her old Nintendo system:

 (and i spent so many hours playing Super Mario 3 that i developed a raw spot on my left thumb and had to cut myself off.)

i'm not lacking for intellectual stimulation, however - here's my current books-in-progress pile:

the beets succumbed to the rampant bunny population (they've also sheared off two tomato plants, the furry little bastards, and chomped a watermelon leaf), but we have corn and beans in progress:

 and on saturday, we sprayed bunny repellent around all three garden plots. let me tell you about this repellent, lol...the very first ingredient on the label is, i kid you not, "putrescent whole egg solids", and when E attempted to connect the spray nozzle to the container, the container exploded like a shaken bottle of Coke...in the garage. this stuff, OMG. this stuff is so rank and foul that not even the flies would go near it! needless to say, we could not get into the shower fast enough! (and then we had a lovely naked post-shower nap, so hey, the whole thing ended well.) unfortunately, it rained allllll yesterday morning, so we're going to have to re-apply the putrescent whole egg solids. sigh. i sure do love our farm life, though - even when it stinks!

first of june

dippy eggs, toast, and coffee for breakfast. blue jade corn, yellow squash, zucchini, green beans, soup beans, peppers, parsley, cucumbers, and moon-and-stars watermelon are now in the ground, along with what we devoutly hope was a new england pie pumpkin seed, and also a Mystery Squash (note to self: if you can't identify squash varieties by their seeds, then don't buy the Winter Squash Mix). medicinal herbs have been potted, dishes have been washed, pork short ribs are soaking in their maple-mustard marinade, and i'm the only one here who's not napping.

  only one of the three blueberry bushes survived (i'm calling it The Stick Who Lived). disappointing, but not surprising given the condition they were in. we can get it a friend next spring!

 

two Tom Thumb lettuces, ready to be picked, rinsed, and plopped onto plates. we grew it because the idea of single-serving-size heads of salad was too intriguing to pass up!

teeny little pea pods are forming...

and one raised bed is furry with onions, shallots, and carrots:

inside, there are upcycled mittens in progress:

(i may have over-pinned.)

favorite corners to enjoy:

 

(Finneas the goldfish is camera-shy)

and after a 12-year hiatus, i'm re-learning the violin:

summer's looking pretty promising from here. Happy June!