Wordle Fun With Bento

Berry Picking Woes

Saturday, Chris and I decided to go berry picking. Our last round of blueberries is going quickly and the blackberries were supposed to be ripe. As we got closer to the berry farm, it started to rain. It's been 85+ degrees lately so we were pretty happy we could pick with a little rain to keep it cool.

It was a nice, light rain shower as we moved through our first row of blackberry bushes. There were a ton of berries on them, but few of them were ripe. As we moved through the second row, the shower turned into a full-on thunderstorm. Soon after that we decided to find some shelter. Luckily, there was a large tent just before the blackberry patch. We stood in there while the storm worked its way through the area. Here's me so drenched that my brown shirt and green shorts look black.

Chris was soaked everywhere but his bottom. He had to show off one of the lovely blackberries he found. The situation was pretty darned funny and we were laughing that we were spending an early Saturday morning drenched in the berry fields.
Despite the storm, we pushed on. As soon as it lightened back up to a shower again, we trudged up the puddle filled gravel road to pick blueberries instead. We figured we'd give the blackberries another week or so to ripen.

The rain stayed with us as we picked and despite the late hour and mostly picked out bushes, we got about half a bucket. Then the wind picked up from the north and it was COLD! The temperature dropped to about 65 degrees and we were already soaked. That's when we decided to call it a day. Hopefully we'll be able to get back to the berry farm this weekend or next and fill the freezer up before fall.

The exciting total of our picking: 1 pound of blackberries, 3 pounds of blueberries.

Helpful Kids

Even on vacation we try to be frugal and earth conscious. We took as few disposables and as little trash as possible. I hope that we keep getting better at that. The down side is that it creates a little more work as there is food to be cooked and dishes to be washed. Throughout our trip, the kids did an excellent job of helping out with these tasks.

The first morning was a bacon and eggs morning. Camen fried up enough bacon for 9 people and I put together the egg scramble.
The other kids all worked together to wash, dry, and put away the breakfast dishes. It was fun to watch them work together. Uncle Mark helped too.
The kids took turns doing the fun cooking tasks and the less fun cleaning tasks all weekend with very little complaint.
Yummy!

Camen's Fish Story

Camen has caught many fish over the last few years. This year is special. He actually took the fish from lake to stomach by himself this year.



Saturday morning Grandpa Mike, Uncle Nick, Aunt Nkenge and I took Camen on an early morning fishing trip on Stockton Lake. Go figure, he's the only one who reeled in a fish large enough to keep. It was a nice little white bass.

We told Camen that we'd teach him to clean his own fish so he could cook it up and eat it. Nick and I were finally able to teach him late that evening. With a few pointers, Camen came up with a couple of mostly intact fish filets. He did a really good job for his first time.
After Camen was done filleting his fish, Nick and I took a look at what the fish had been eating. Unfortunately, the stomach and intestine contents gave us no clue of what to fish with the next morning to catch more fish. We took the rest of the fish with us to use as bait.

When we got back from our Sunday morning trip, Camen had forgotten to make his fish fillets for breakfast. While I was working on making up the bento boxes for the trip back, I walked Camen through dredging his fillets in cornmeal and frying them. He fried the first one in olive oil, then tried some of the bacon fat from breakfast. I think he liked them both as the fish was gone in no time flat. I actually got to try a nibble and he had seasoned them nicely with salt and pepper.

I suspect this isn't the last time Camen cleans and eats a fish.

Summer Dos

Last week the summer really started heating up and the kids asked for their summer haircuts. Zach wanted his normal buzz cut so he'd be nice and cool through July and August. Avery had long, curly hair and was thinking about continuing to grow it out for locks of love, but as he watched Zach slowly lose his shaggy mane, he decided that maybe he didn't want quite so much hair through the summer after all. We hardly recognized them once the hair was gone.

Kira wanted to keep the appearance of shoulder length hair, so she had me shave the bottom few inches of the underside of her hair. You can only tell if she pulls her hair up.

Guinevere made a huge change. She had been growing her hair out for a few years to give it to Locks of Love. She finally reached the minimum length and decided to go for it. We actually cut about 12 inches off. She ended up with a really neat cut where the front is longer than the back and the back fluffs up. She seemed to really like it.

I will be joining Guin in giving to Locks of Love soon. I just have to get in to have my hair cut. I probably have 12 to 15 inches I can give. I'll try to post pictures of everyone's "head shots" soon.

My Summer Love

I admit it. I have a not so secret passion. It's green and pink and red and gold and every beautiful color in the rainbow. My wonderful husband encourages me by digging holes and building fences and listening to me ramble about each plant like it's a brilliant child or pet.








Every year Chris and the kids get me a rose bush for Mother's Day. The red and pink roses frame the garden gate. There's a lovely white rose that forms a triangle with the other two roses.

























Last year we planted lilies along the garden fence. They are blooming beautifully. I love the personality of the tiger lilies. The gold and the deep burgundy are my favorites.











This year has been so wet that a lot of seeds came up unexpectedly. We have huge mustard plants that are in bloom now. The flowers are even spicier than the leaves. The greens are fantastic sauteed and served with noodles.














We also got some great garlic scapes. They're fantastic sauteed with the mustard greens too.
















Some of my favorite things are the fruits. Chris and I have planted a new fruit tree on each of our wedding anniversaries. So far we've planted a peach, a plum, and an apricot. We'll get our first peaches this year. Over the years we've also planted strawberries, grapes, and raspberries.



































This year my mother gave us a male and a female hardy kiwi vine. The hardy kiwi is actually a member of the gooseberry family. The kids thought it was neat that we could grow "kiwis." Today, Chris helped me plant the blueberry bushes that we bought at the blueberry farm. It was really sweet of him to help me, especially since gardening isn't really his thing.















Last year we realized that the black walnuts growing in our yard were going to make it nearly impossible for us to get good tomatoes or peppers. This year we're trying to grow them in buckets to see if we can get a harvest. So far, they look beautiful:











We don't seem to have any trouble growing cherry tomatoes though. I planted a few plants that seem to be doing really well. We also have an entire bed of "volunteer" cherry tomatoes. Hopefully we'll have a huge harvest this year.


















The crazy weather really slowed down planting this spring, but we're starting to make up for it. Here are some of the first leaves of our cucumber crop. Cucumbers never seem to last long here.


























As much as I love food crops, I do have some ornamental plants. Chris's favorite is the yucca. We were able to split our large yucca into 4 smaller plants this year. They all bloomed even though we disturbed them. Another of the kids' favorites is the bamboo grove. The rain this year has helped it really take off. I love the sound it makes when the wind blows through it, and the kids love hiding in it.












Kira loves making bouquets out of the wildflowers that are growing just outside of the garden fence. They threaten to take over the asparagus bed, but we keep cutting them back and transplanting flowers into the front beginnings of a cottage garden.
















I think we're well on the way to reducing lawn and increasing food and beauty. In the meantime, playing in my gardens makes me happy and greatly reduces my stress level. Every day in the garden is a good day.

Fun Fun Fun

More vacation notes. After the blueberry farm we took the kids to Worlds of Fun for the afternoon. Every year, the Yellow Employee club has a picnic there and we get some free tickets. There's also a buffet, which would have been delicious if I'd been able to eat any of it. I did get to have ice cream and pink lemonade though. I think the kids had a really good time. Just look at their faces:

We took a short trip to Camp Snoopy. The kids are getting a little old for it, but they've added this awesome ball attraction. We shot foam balls at each other and sucked more balls into air tubes. The kids gathered balls in canvas bags and carried them all over the enclosure looking for open guns to shoot them out of. It was really hard to leave, but we had other rides to conquer.

The kids rode an amazing number of rides that I wouldn't even consider riding. They hit every major roller coaster, and rode some of them twice!

One of the rides they loved was this crazy ride that started out spinning them in a circle horizontally, then lifted and spun them vertically. It went FAST!

They even rode the Boomerang and the Mamba!

Here's a little perspective for you! This is the Boomerang. The Mamba is much taller and has an almost vertical drop. Zach decided not to do that one a second time.

The kids loved the thrill of the Timber Wolf. It's shorter than the other coasters but more rickety. I think their favorite was the Patriot though. They rode that one barefoot.

Of course, Chris absolutely adored sharing all of the thrilling rides with the kids. They tried their best to get me on the rides, but the best I coud manage was the Sea Dragon. Note that I had my eyes closed the entire time. We all greatly enjoyed the Fury of the Nile, and not just because we got wet. :)

After dinner we rode some of my favorites. We hit the Bumper Cars, the Antique Taxi cars, and of course, the Carousel. I know it's hokey, but there's something about picking a horse and riding around and around with the ones you love.

What a wonderful day!

Violet, You're Turning Violet, Violet!

Chris and I spent last week on vacation with the kids. We went to the blueberry farm a couple of years ago, and the kids had been asking about going again. We went Saturday morning and picked almost 17 pounds of berries.

While we were picking, I found a tiny bird's nest with an egg tucked into one of the bushes. Guin was very excited and took a picture with her phone. After they had filled their buckets, the kids ran off to the play area and played in the giant bales of hay and on the tower fort. They didn't want to leave even though we were going to Worlds of Fun later.

Chris and I paid for the berries and also bought two bushes to add to our garden. Eventually, we hope to grow berries all season long. The kids ate so many berries that Chris and I will probably have to go back in a few weeks. We had blueberry waffles with homemade blueberry syrup. For dinner we had fruit salad with blueberries and blueberry pie for dessert. We're all bound to turn into blueberries.