Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Grapes, Tomatoes and Cute Zucchini


So, it's been raining a little bit. What? Yes, just a little...every day for the last month.  And by little I mean morning, noon and night. But, as one who has had trouble keeping the hanging basket flowers alive in the past, I am not one to complain. The garden has taken off, and I am pleased to report that I ate two delicious cherry tomatoes today. Addison is continually amazed at the size of zucchinis that we are pulling from the garden.  When we pulled our first, she lovingly rocked it like a baby and whispered, "Isn't it so cute?"




Well, cute might not be the word.  And even if zucchini could be classified as cute, they lose their charm when they start taking over every inch of space on your kitchen counters as they curiously multiply every hour.  We never seem to learn our lesson with this plant.  

I've been really happy with our grapevine this year.  It's full and lush and underneath it has tons of grapes, that for the record, are super sour and NOT ready to be picked and eaten yet. 



All of this rain has been keeping us inside a lot, so Addison and I decided to get crafty today.  She was the base-coat painter for all of the projects, and managed to give herself quite a base coat before we were all done. 

These Fourth of July firecrackers aren't quite done.  Still need Mike to drill a hole in the top so I can put some twisted metal to finish off. 

I was pretty happy with how my wood sign came out, although I couldn't find a font that I loved.

The last project that we worked on was fixing up our kitchen table centerpiece box.  The mason jars stay put all year long, but the decorations around them change.  I made these crackled painted stars for my sister in law for Christmas, and had been wanting to make some more for myself.  





Hoping the rain lets up at some point, so that we can hit the beach soon!







Monday, June 24, 2013

Sumer is Icumen In



If I was the singing type, I would sit on my porch all evening long singing Sumer is Icumen In.  But, I'm not, so I'll just tell you that this is the most wonderful time of the year.  For the raspberries and the blackberries, the zucchini blossoms that are begging to be stuffed and fried, the little yellow flowers on my tomato plants, and all of the million other tiny reasons, the start of summer makes me feel like getting up earlier and staying up later.






We just took a five day camping trip (post to follow), and before we left, everything in the garden was teeming with life.  As you can see the blossoms were turning to fruit, and my basil and parsely was ready to be harvested.  I took advantage of the kids playing outside and made my first batch of pesto. Happy to report that there are already ten small bags ready to go in the freezer.




I knew that when we left the berries were just getting ready to turn, and when we got back today, Emily headed straight for the patches and was very proud of the overflowing bowl she brought in the house.
Now, I'm just going to spend my days staring at my grape tomato plants, willing them to pop out and turn red.

IN OTHER NEWS:
Noah just finished an exciting season of teeball (maybe exciting isn't the word).  He was ecstatic when he was put on the All-Star team to play on closing day.  Next year we are looking forward to the minors!



Happy Summer, everyone!

Sumer is icumen in,
Loude sing cuckou!
Groweth seed and bloweth meed,
And springth the wode now.
Sing cuckou!

Ewe bleteth after lamb,
Loweth after calve cow,
Bulloc sterteth, bucke verteth,
Merye sing cuckou!
Cuckou, cuckou,
Wel singest thou cuckou:
Ne swik thou never now!