Summer Manifesto for 2012

As inspired by Ali Edwards (and others), here is my summer manifesto for 2012.

This summer:

I will cuddle and rock two new grandbabies.

I will play in the wading pool.

I will watch new parents and marvel.

I will celebrate my dad's 80th birthday.

I will watch my garden grow.

I will pick raspberries and saskatoons.

I will visit a u-pick for strawberries.

I will celebrate a wedding.

I will gather summer fruit from BC.

I will enjoy my rose bush.

I will have grandchildren over to stay.

I will read more books.

I will eat birthday cakes.

I will sew curtains and quilts.

I will make 3 potato salad.

I will have a family photo session with all of our children and their families.

I will raise chickens.

I will count more gifts.

I will entertain my girlfriends.

I will eat berries with brown sugar and cream.

I will ride in the boat while grandchildren waterski.

I will go to the splash park with them.

I will have an Alberta adventure somewhere in our province.

I will sleep in the camper.

I will visit the mountains.

I will put summer pillows on the couches.

I will pray.

I will savour every memory of summer's past.

I will make new memories.

I will use my camera more.

I will bask in the sunlight.

Five on Friday

1.  For the first time in my life, I am able to pick handfuls of fresh basil to use in the kitchen.  It's wonderful!  But then I remember the beautiful basil plants at the Farmer's Market in Fredericton - the leaves were humongous!

2.  When I was getting the picture of the basil, I found this picture also taken at the market.  This was Samuel's view while sitting in his stroller.  No wonder he wasn't happy in it!

3.  I judged culinary arts at a local fair today.  It's so nice to see people still entering their best products in the spirit of showmanship.  The best of show ribbon went to beautiful flaky and gooey butter tarts :)  And yes - I did have to taste them!

4.  Raspberries, raspberries, raspberries!  The story of my days right now.

5.  Have you seen this photography display called "Where Children Sleep"?  It's incredible!

Five on Friday

1.  On Monday, I picked 3 ripe tomatoes.
     On Thursday, I picked 1 ripe tomato.
     Today there are 7 ripe tomatoes.
     How did that happen so quickly?!!

2.  We've been picking raspberries and saskatoons like mad for the last two weeks.  Today I made a batch of my favourite "Super Lemon Blueberry Muffins" from the Best of the Best of Bridge cookbooks.  And I totally forgot to add the sugar!  I realized it as I licked my finger after filling the last muffin cup and it was too late to do anything about it.  So we are eating super healthy no-sugar muffins today.  I did remember everything else in the recipe without opening the cookbook!

3.  I love the idea of a basket for carrying vegetables in from the garden so tonight I found this one in my cupboard.  It was perfect for bringing in the first zucchini and a bunch of red leaf lettuce.  I'm on the lookout for a basket that's been made by a woman in a developing country.

4.  Helayna and Silas had fun taking pictures with my point-and-shoot camera this week while I watered the plants in the greenhouse.  I thought this was a pretty cool capture!

5.   Sidewalk chalk provided some fun too and here's the heart Helayna drew for us.  It makes me smile every time I walk out the door!  Having the grandchildren here provides us with so much enjoyment.

Wordless Wednesday

Grandkids learning to waterski

Wordless Wednesday

In Drumheller enjoying all things to do with dinosaurs -

and grandchildren

Wordless Wednesday

A lovely evening stroll across the wooden bridge, 

set aside for walkers and cyclists -

just 2 blocks from home :)

Creating

Mel had a list of things that she wanted to do when I came to visit and we are getting checkmarks up beside many of them!

One was going to the u-pick farm (we've actually gone twice) and then freezing berries and making jam.  We've got 5 containers of strawberries and 2 big bags of raspberries in the freezer and we've made 3 jars of strawberry jam plus 5 jars of raspberry jam.

Mel wanted to make the jam with honey 

so we found this new Pomona Pectin and mixed it with honey.

We had 8 cups of mashed berries and 1 cup of honey 

(which is much less sugar to fruit than most recipes use).

They got nice and thick and are ready for winter eating.

Another item was making their apartment more homey with a few decorative touches.  Today's project was taking this lamp that we bought at the thrift store for $20 and recovering the shade.  It was the first time either of us had done anything like this and it was very easy.  It looks great!

Before

After

That's Tyler's medical textbook in which he has to read a chapter for tomorrow's lecture.  

Tomorrow we are going on a hunt for pillowforms so we can make some throw cushions for the living room, using coordinating prints to the lampshade fabric.  It's going to look like a magazine home around here very soon with us two Martha Stewart wanna-bes!!

Berry Picking

After Tyler got home from the hospital this afternoon, we headed out to the Sunset Berry Farm to get some fresh berries.  It was only a 15 minute drive away and in an hour we picked 2 pails of strawberries and 5 quarts of raspberries.

Tyler and I had our pails full of berries in about 15 minutes - the plants were just hanging with huge berries!  There was heavy rain here at the beginning of the week and as a result, there are so many spoiled berries now.  I felt so bad for the farm as so much of the crop is not usable.   There were lots of people picking which was nice to see.  

 While we picked strawberries, beside us Melinda picked raspberries!  They are her favourite and she was quick to head over and fill these baskets right up.

Samuel loves these just as much as Mel does and he helped himself to lots!

I'm sure his little tummy was stretched to the max between the 2 berry patches!

Smart Mommy knew that little boy would need a diversion so a bottle of bubbles was tucked in with the pails.  The ever-present golf club made a great bubble bat!

But the best part of all was the field tractor sitting beside the fruit stand!  Sitting up on the seat and moving that steering wheel "really fast", made one little boy very, very happy.  In his words, "I driving like Grampa Bob.  Go fast!"

Apples, Apples, Apples!

My weekend in 4 easy steps!  So far I have made 25 jars of applesauce and the tree is only half empty.   Let me know if you'd like a pail or two of the little guys!

August in Pictures

Heather invited me to participate in her photo challenge for this month so I've been focussed on the daily word prompts to capture August.

Hope - that it doesn't rain again

Collection - of raspberry jam

Hat - little boy who decided to wear a napkin hat

Imagination - they got it in their heads to crawl inside the cupboard!

Tied - my shoes, ready to use the brakes in the tractor

Warm - chai latte' in my favourite Polish mug

Thankful - to celebrate my parents' birthdays

Space - filled with clouds at sunset

Four - first tomatoes picked today

Creamy - Alfredo sauce

Once again, a big challenge for me to stretch my thinking each day!  Thanks, H!

The Parade

During the summer, many communities in our area hold special weekend events.  And almost all of them include some kind of parade.  So yesterday Meadow and her cousins rode in the local parade - quite surprisingly,  the only kids on bikes!!!   They were absolutely adorable pedaling along on their little bikes, all decorated up, waving to the onlookers.

Auntie A walked the whole way and kept them company.  

Yeah for local summertime events!

Welcome, August

Welcome, Last Month of Summer 

How can it be that we have already enjoyed two-thirds of this season?

Still to come -

- garden goodness like peas, beans and zucchini

- more pails of raspberries

- the saskatoon harvest

- my Mom and Dad's birthdays

- a day at the strawberry u-pick

- a family barbecue

- some weekend fun with D & K

- a trip to BC for tree fruits

- Smartboard PD day

- lots of silage to chop

- (hopefully) ripe tomatoes

- more time with grandchildren

- thirty-one days of God's love and goodness

Please don't go by in a blur!

A Day's Work

My nails are berry blackened and chipped,

  knees are dirt crusted,

  arms and neck swell with mosquito bite welts, 

but 

the pail is full 

the eight jars of raspberry jam 

on the counter stand as proof -

summer's work and goodness.

Capturing Summer

- in a jar!!

Actually - 15 of them!  

Rhubarb chutney, a year's supply, ready for the pantry shelf.

Next up - raspberries in the freezer (first 2 containers went in yesterday) and raspberry jam!

How is summer going in your little corner of the world?  Are you enjoying the season's bounty?  I sure  hope so!

Busy -

We are very busy enjoying summer!

A new silage cutter and forage wagon with a tractor just like Grampa's for Silas - he was totally engrossed!

Watering the community garden plot - which is full of beautiful chard, lettuce and spinach.

A trip to the playground where the troll was trying to catch kids who went over her bridge.

"Whooosh" fun at the spray park.

Where someone is very brave on her own already.

Ice cream for dessert!

Just a little glimpse into our very good day :))

Farmer's Market

Last night was the first time I've gone to the Farmer's Market this summer - and it made me happy once again!

Here are 3 of the items I bought at the fruit stand.

I admired the Rainier cherries but didn't get any.

The girls at this stand thought I was a little weird to want to take pictures of the fruit!

And I bought peach, strawberry - rhubarb and saskatoon pies from the Hutterite ladies.  

Here's to delicious, local (Canadian) food!!