Stocking up the larder.

At our farmshare pick up day a few days ago, I discovered in the grass a vintage Green Machine. When my brother and I were kids, we were head over heels in love with our Green Machine. I remember spending hours ripping up the road in Nebraska on ours. Not only that, but I remember being escorted home by Officer Friendly for being a bit too raucous on the suburban roads of Omaha. Aaaahhhh, the beginning of delinquency.

Yesterday, we picked cherry plums that Lise found when she was out adventuring with the kids. We picked 12 quarts in about 10 minutes. The tree was absolutely loaded and we made quick work of gathering them up. I was able to hang on one of the branches while Lise harvested from the tree and Lucy harvested what dropped on the ground. We're thinking we'll make jam.

This morning my project is canning beets. I've been accumulating them in the house for more than a week now. I love how easy canning beets is...you just boil them, slip the skins off, then stick them in a water bath. And they are the perfect winter food. All you have to do is open the jar.

The kids really like it when I can them with star anise, but I'm not a huge fan of the taste of licorice, so I'm going to skip it for this batch, but I'll likely do some with anise later in the summer. I've still got plenty of time for the beets.

I love how the yellow and red are so vastly different in color. Makes for such a pretty display of foodstuff.

On the trail on the way to the river.
Hanging on for dear life.
Getting braver....
Headed home.

Beach blanket bingo

Lucy has her sunglasses, her big floppy hat, her sunscreen and she's not afraid to use it! It makes for a good beach pic, but she didn't keep the sunglasses on. I would have thought she would, given how often she's seen us change from our regular glasses to our sunglasses, but no. She's too busy being on the move.
She seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit at Sand Beach yesterday. Although, she's decided that it's really not okay for one parent to sit on the beach and the other to take her down to the water. She would like us both to be with her down at the water, thankyouverymuch. It's really sweet, actually.
On our way down to the water, she found a treasure she simply had to stop and admire. I plunked down next to her and she shared it with me. It was a piece of seaweed that had dried to a crisp.





















After playing with the seaweed, she got into the stream behind the ocean. It's so very much warmer than the frigid ocean water at Sand Beach. She splash, splash, splashed. I love the way she picks her foot up and out of the water to take a step.
Down at the ocean side of the beach she got good and wet and sandy. She and Lise chased the waves in and out. Lucy ran backward with me away from the incoming waves.

My gratefuls: small shovels, warm sand, vivid green, deep blue, and fluffy white colors.

"Don't let the sun go down on me"

We are on our yearly vacation to Bar Harbor, ME. We always stay at a place called Bar Harbor Cottages and Suites. It's nice coming back to the same place year after year...it's easy, comfortable and there's so very much to do here. Yesterday, we went to a couple of places.
The first was a trip into downtown Bar Harbor, where we spent a little time at the rocky beach just off the pier. Lucy and I spent some time watching a lobster boat pull in and unload case after case of lobsters then load them into a pick up for delivery. We talked about the difference between a lobster boat and a sailboat, both of which were moored in the harbor.


Then Lucy and Mama took their beach treasure bags and went hunting. They came back laden with treasures. I watched from the ramp while I worked on knitting Lucy a sweater (my first try!) from a pattern Melissa gave me and commandeered the camera.


After a very filling lunch at 2 Cats (Lucy had her very first fresh strawberry, and loved it) we headed over to Seal Harbor where we played on the beach and in the water. Lucy discovered a seagull feather (she is lately enamored of seagulls) and played a game with a girl there where she would drop the feather into the river of fresh water that was draining into the harbor, and the girl (or Mama) would chase the feather before it made it to the 'ocean'. She squealed like she'd never done anything that fun in her life.

Feather in hand, and joy in heart.

I'm grateful for vacation, toddler laughs, found treasures, a small hand wrapped around my pointer finger, and screened-in beach cottage porches.

Lucy is a garden baby through and through. The idea of going outside sends her into paroxysms of joy. When she hears the door open or if we head in that direction she'll give us a hearty "YEAH!"

Going to Garden in the Woods for Eric's birthday was a fun time of exploring. It was ridiculously hot that day, but it didn't stop us from having a good time.


We found lots of early blooming plants. The ladyslipper happens to be one of my favorite. This traces back to when I was a girl scout, of course...

She had such a good time playing in the leaves.

The hilarious thing? When Lise changed her, 2 hours after her last change, she found an acorn. In her diaper. Surely, that can't be comfy?

I am grateful for our boys, and sun, and quick food, and peanuts, and sunny blooms accompanied by generous hiker-praise.

"[Lemon] tree, very pretty, and the [lemon] flower is sweet."

The other day, when I arrived home from work, LJ met me at the door with her boots on. She was determined to go outside. It didn't matter to her that it was sprinkling out. It didn't matter that she'd spent a good portion of the day outside already. Because she's discovered that she can run! Is there anything more exciting?

She spent the first half hour running up and down the driveway, veering off into the grass to play peek-a-boo behind a tree that's only marginally taller than she.


(Blargh. I typed about 4 more paragraphs here, but it didn't save correctly and I've missed out on my original thought. The computer is really such a wonderful blessing, but, at the same time a curse and a time suck).


At any rate...my point, ["not to put too fine a point on it/say I'm the only bee in your bonnet/"] is that she is delightful. Despite and in spite of the weather. I could learn a lesson or 500 from her. Skies are sunny? PLAY! Skies are grey? Then take stock and decide what's important. Being outside? That's important. And she'll show you just how. Peek-a-boo and "look at the bumper sticker" and "It's my friend Jasper!" [photo not included] and "Wow, no more clay pot at the base of the tree, so now I can stand there..." are important life lessons. It's taken me a while to learn this.

But learning? Yes, ma'am, I am.

The clink of fork against tooth

That little girl, at 14 months old, has a couple of teeth to show for herself. You can see that she put them to good use given that piece of bagel she had bitten off and is on the right side of her tongue. Normally, she would prefer if we didn't pull her lips back to see her teeth, but when I asked her this day if I could look at her teeth, she willingly came over and offered up her face.

I can't help but be in love with those 2 crooked bottom teeth. They make a little carat sign ^. How adorable is that? You can't see it from this photo, but she also has one of her front teeth, on the right side, and it's looking like she will have a match to that one any minute now.

(I love how she has her hand on top of mine as I pull her lip downand Lise snaps the picture. Her hands are a perfect replica of mine in miniature. It is that feeling, that connection of like/like that makes me feel like a mother.)

She's working hard on using these new teeth to take bites from bagels and other food she normally had to suck on until it was soft. Take note of her excitement at using these new teeth. She took Mommy's fork at breakfast the other day, and used it to spear bites of pancakes and shuttle them to her teeth.

She's definitely a bread girl, so pancakes are right up her alley. Thank goodness for coconut oil and rice milk, that she may experience the joy that is Sunday morning breakfast in our house.

She's gotten quite adept at wielding utensils. I like to think it's all the practice she's had unloading the dishwasher. Her "job" is to take the utensils out and hand them to me, one by one. This is not because I make her do it.

One of my morning jobs is unloading the dishwasher, and she is very clear that she would like to be doing everything that we do. So she enlisted herself as the utensil specialist. She's stellar at it, too. Her favorite utensil is the butter knife, of course. It's easy to wield and it makes a really excellent noise if you tap it on the inside of the dishwasher. Besides, you can carry fistfuls of them at a time, once you've mastered the ability to pick up more than one at a time. (I have a photo of this, but I just can't seem to find it.)

I am grateful for breakfast at the table, for a motivated child, for familial connectedness, for beautiful blue eyes, and for the joy of discovering new things every single day.

"When the red, red robin comes..."

With a few tips and pointers from my dear friend Melissa, I am in the processes of making the Stella Pixie Hat from Vintage Baby Knits. While I have mastered the basic knits, I'm rather amateur when it comes to yarn gauge. I am slowly learning, with patient tutoring, that you can't just pick a yarn that's thicker than the pattern calls for, and compensate by using thinner needles. Well. At least, I can't do that yet. I'm just not that crafty a knitter. Yet. I am terribly tickled, though, that I made an entire row worth of mistakes, but that I was able to correct those mistakes. This is new for me. Normally, I'd be on the phone saying, "I did it again! You have to help me!" Not so this time. I saw the mistake, figured out how to undo it stitch by stitch, and moved on. Earlier yesterday, I realized there was one mistake on a stitch about halfway through the row. I'm still not entirely clear what I did. There was a knit stitch that looked like maybe I'd picked up an extra stitch, or got distracted and twisted the stitch somehow. Nonetheless, I was able to figure out how to fix it without wanting to put it down or even curse. That's big progress for this impatient gal.

Another marvelous treat for me...I got a package in the mail a few days ago from
my dear friend Julie, chock full of cds that I haven't heard before. Once upon a time, I used to have music playing around me all the time, all the time. But as life has gotten away from me, I haven't been able to focus on it the way that I used to. I have been listening to "Poisiden and the Bitter Bug" non-stop for days now, and next on tap is Jason Mraz. I'm familiar with a few of his songs, but I'll be able to sit down at this veritable feast after years of famish. I am salivating at the mere thought of it. (I have the cds at work, and I put them on the computer and crank it while I'm working on paperwork. It makes the tedious that much more bearable.) Thank you, Julie.

Lucy and I started our HooteNanny music class with Nerissa and Katryna Nields on Thursday. It was interesting to see my very-outgoing daughter turn into a shy kid who clung pretty closely to me. She's so used to having so many people around, and she loves other kids. But it was a lesson to me to see that she requires a certain level of familiarity to be that outgoing kid. She was interested in all of the people that we met, for certain. But she sat on my lap for most of the class, and usually she is far to busy to be that close for that long. She warmed up toward the end of class and I'm sure she'll come out of her shell the more we go.

(image copyright of the Nields)
I, for one, very much enjoyed the class. It's nice to be able to have the flexibility to go to a 9 a.m. class in the middle of the work week, but even better than that...I quite enjoy the music. I seem to be comfortable enough in my own singing abilities to actually sing loud enough to be heard (unlike how, once upon a time in church, I would sing so low I may as well not have bothered mouthing the words), and even chill enough to be able to ham it up a little for Lucy. She only sang 3 words during that class. We sang "When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along." Lucy sang "bob, bob, bob." It was enough for me. I get that she's really young for a class...

Lucy is learning so much, so fast that I can hardly keep up with her. Her language skills are exploding tenfold each day, her walking and balance are coming easier and easier with time. Of significance this week: She's popped out 2 new teeth in 3 days. (It's been a little tough on her.) Absolutely everything makes it into her mouth, and no wonder. Additionally, she can turn the water in the bathroom on and off, and does so when she's brushing her teeth. All 3 of her new teeth. My baby is a toddler now. And I didn't realize how thrilled I would be to see that happen, and how sad it would make me to realize my baby is already growing up.

I am grateful for time and skills to knit, for friends who know just what music I need to feed my soul, for songs, for singing, and for the awe I feel watching Lucy grow.

Eggsplosion!

One of my favorite traditions is our annual Easter egg dying day with the boys. We always plan the day before Easter to spend hours and hours at the boys' house with Tim's sister and kid(s) and we attempt to replicate the beauty of our eggs from the previous year. We usually have the Easter edition of Martha for inspiration. Nancy brought it this year, along with electrical tape.


We usually order pizza after eating way too many eggs and realizing we need a meal. And so we did this year, too. Of course, this year, we had to get part of a pizza that was vegan. LJ was thrilled about the olives, however. She likes putting them on her fingertips, like little hand sombreros and eating them off her fingers. I love watching her do it. We ate on the brand new deck at the boys house, because the weather was so amazing: sunny and comfortable.


The electrical tape worked wonderfully well on the eggs. Lise had some stickers that she wanted to try too...they worked, but the gummy paper backing was tricky to get off after the eggs were dyed. The love egg was made with stickers and the starburst was made with electrical tape.


We are blessed enough to have dear friends with whom we spent Easter brunch/afternoon. LJ missed the egg hunt (she slept for 2 hours!! this morning, so we were late arriving). Joyce always has the best brunches...the food is delectable and today was no different. The boys brought homemade bagels from neighbors up the road, Emily made a salad, and there were baked beans, several casseroles, some grilled asparagus and other sundry yummies. She has a great backyard for social gatherings and the day turned out to be another beauty. (I rode my bike to and from the party, while Lise and LJ met me there. I love this time of year.)


It's been a friend-filled holiday weekend.

I am grateful for dear, dear friends, for traditions, for my family, for crafty time and for gorgeous weather in which to celebrate the first four things.

Good Morning, Starshine.

LJ has recently become fascinated with my knitting bag. Perhaps that's because I'm toting it around more often than I used to... this afternoon, after we returned from getting haircuts, she sat on the sunroom floor and systematically took each set of needles out of my bag, used them to drum or simulate knitting, and then exchanged them for the next set. It was truly endearing. I'm looking forward to teaching her how to knit, though Melissa assures me that she will be the first to teach her! I'm okay with that...Melissa has mad skills!


Lise informed me that LJ woke up this morning, sat straight up in bed, pointed to the bedside table and said "Book." When I slipped back into bed, both my girls were reading The Everything Book by Denise Fleming. I turned on my side, and when Lise was done reading, she turned on her side, and LJ sat there in the middle, reading aloud to herself. I don't know why this should surprise and thrill me as much as it does; after all, she's been watching us read in bed from the moment she was born. For that matter, I was using her in my belly as a prop for my books!

After we got out of bed, I made the coffee while LJ explored shoes, mosied around the kitchen and eventually ended up in the sunroom, headed straight for the book basket. One of her favorite things lately is going to the book basket, picking one, then bringing it to me or Lise and pointing to our laps. "Up," she'll say. Pick me up and read to me mommy.

I am grateful for sunny morning personalities, natural curiosity, kids imitating life, dear friends, and a spouse who recognizes and points out some of the coolest things about life.

My beginning 5.

There is a photo of me around this age, bending over a child on the playground and smiling; I, too, have pigtails on either side of my head. This is the first time LJ's hair has been long enough to put pigtails on either side of her head.

I am grateful for her beauty.

Her gorgeous blue sweater is a homemade creation from Melissa, who has some of the most amazing knitting talent I've ever seen.

I am grateful for dear friends.





Last weekend we were able to make it Salisbury Beach on one of the most gorgeous spring days we've had thus far. It was the perfect day for a beach visit, and the first LJ has taken at an age where she really enjoyed herself. She squealed and took off running in the sand.

I am grateful for unfettered joy.

She didn't want to leave the beach, and when we came down the ramp on our way back to the car, she wiggled to get out of Mama's arms, turned around and started walking back toward the beach. Fortunately, she was distracted by the post and turned it into a game of peek-a-boo.

I am grateful for peek-a-boo.

When I left for work the other morning, I asked LJ if I could have a hug. She turned to look at me, said "Yeah," and walked into my arms. To know that this child, who pushed away from snuggles since the day she was born, feels empowered because I asked for snuggles instead of imposed them and willingly came to me, makes my heart feel large.

I am grateful for choice.