Our houseguest

 

A lost opportunity

You were right, CPS, I should have learned F-i; but, how was I to know?  Ugh.  And it's too late now: my memory is weak and the time is short.  

Meals in the raw

 

Each Sunday, our food for the week is delivered by our trusty farm, LotFotL.  I then separate the veg into meals and make the list (to assuage Girum's voracious appetite for plans), before putting it away.  

A labor of love

 What in the world?  Ain't nobody got time fo' dat!  Who takes on...?

Well, I've been talking about it long enough.  The fabric has been in my closet since April.  And G has had to leave off using his baby blanket altogether, for fear of complete disintegration.  At least I have a bit of help.  Stay tuned!

You know that song...

 ... London Bridge is falling down?  

Well,

Yeh.  

Trigger day

 It's incredible what a few words will do.  Triggered.  And out.

Thankfully, God allowed it to snow overnight, which gives a happy reason to cut school for the day.  Interestingly, it also happens to coincide with what the twins and I read in Madam How and Lady Why (one of my most favorite books) yesterday.  

    "And the more you laugh and shout, the more pure air will pass into your blood, and make it red and healthy; and the more you romp and play... the quicker will that blood flow through all your limbs, to make bone and muscle, and help you grow..."

And so the children are out romping and shouting in the snow.  Thank God.

The South

Thanks to generous friends and family, we've just had our second annual Family Thanksgiving in South Carolina.  Last year, Rob was a champ and drove straight down; this year, we stopped for the night on this side of the mountains and slept in a Tree-pi.  It was so dope.  Before I had gotten halfway up the steps with our overnight bag, I heard the scratchy tunes of Christmas songs.  Ty had gotten up and found and figured out the record player.  I felt so Hemmingway.

Then we continued on to our destination on the beach.  Let's see... lo destacante?  There was the crazy wind storm, including pancakes cooked over a fire amidst the gale.  Ty swam in the ocean, even though the air temperature was just shy of 50 degrees F.  My favorite photo from that time, though, is:

And then we moved into a comfy house with all of the kitchen items an Amy needed to make Thanksgiving dinner and a washing machine to keep Rob happy.  There, upon Ty's picking up a lizard to remove it from the house (and like last year, I was strangely calm), the creature released its tail... which kept wiggling on the floor, detached.  -ugh-  During that latter half of the week, the boys got their first barbershop cut, including a shaved-in design for Ty.

We all had a great time.  G caught a fish.  Sophie got to go to the Serpentarium.  Ty was able to swim, swim, swim.  Rob futzed with campfires.  And Vacation Mamá came back for the week.  Mochas for everyone!

Around here

My dearest Lizeth with family and friends supported Cancer Research on my behalf the other day, which ended in a grateful sob-fest.

Sleepy cat, o sleepy cat

Just for fun microscope work: Did you know that a petal of echinacea, under the scope, looks like the most beautiful silvery-pink sequins?  I was astounded.  "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."

Purple sweet potato and slimy unknown Chinese root, filled with red bean paste, mooncakes.  Yummy!

And, two of my babies: Flower girl and Trombocino boy

What had happened was

As G and I were having our morning coffee, his eyes pleading with me already, I give a silent assent.  My reward was his rendition of A Time to Talk by Robert Frost.

When the sun calls to me from outside,

I don't sit down and stare at all of the books I haven't read.

No, not as there is a time to play.

I set down my glasses,

And go out to the sun.

P.S.  The fact that G was chatting about the Commutative Property with our retired math teacher-friend last night over an impromptu campfire dinner did help.  Ha!

Pretty foil pack

LotFotL Family Fun

We went out to our farm the other day for some fresh air, friends and fun.  (I don't know why I'm alliterating.  I can't help myself!)  We picked beans for about 30 minutes in the 100 degree weather, trimmed some garlic in the shade, walked through the herbs with Farmer April and...

I wonder who will end up eating those particular birds.  Ha!

And, well...

Just call me Cat Lady, I guess.  -a sigh-

I... HAD... a bad week.  There were hovels, horror and hammers hammering, hammering, hammering.  For a Highly Sensitive Person, well, it was just hellish.  

And so, although Daphne, Harry and Ron were cute, Iris-кiшка-Ceniza-Ash came home with us.  There is something to furry love.  Hm.

Learning to cook

You know, the kitchen is one of my happy places and I like to work solo in my little area.  BUT, Sophie wants to find her happy places too, so...

... on Saturdays, my daughter gets to pick a recipe and make it.  I will only advise if asked and if necessary.  Last week, she made English muffins.  What!?!?  And today, as I was sleeping off last night (Ha!  If you only knew what that meant!), I heard whisking.  Voilà!  Lemon bars.

God's bounty!

 

Ooo, Sherry!

 -a big sigh-

It's a good thing... that we've been enjoying summer and not worrying about posting everything.  BUT, this is here to help the children remember those good times, so...

the Mattzelbergs

Cousins at the Brewers' game

G's first trip to Great America!

O'Dunhams rule!

The harvest!

So, last summer was lost to me.  Once, I sent Rob to the dacha to harvest the garlic.  What he brought home wasn't much; but whatever, I couldn't do anything about it.  I didn't know what had happened.  When I went to the dacha for the first time this year, I saw SO MUCH garlic sprouting in clumps.  What???  Ohhhh, Rob had missed an entire section, so each clove from each head was sprouting again.  Shoo.  I did separate a bunch of it, in an attempt to let the heads get bigger, but I only finished about half.  The rest I had to leave.  Which means that we have many more heads of garlic than normal, but of a smaller size.  I have about 200+ drying here in the porch.  Wahoo!  Sancho, you are quite welcome here.

And then there was Mission Zucchini... accomplished!

A crowded kitchen

When I cook, my babies immediately begin crowding my space.  In our old house, I had a nice rectangle with only one open side for myself which was therefore quite easy to protect.  Here, all I can mangage is a small equilateral triangle, with two open sides, which is very penetrable.  They are next to me.  They are behind me.  They somehow get in front of me.

In preparing tonight's dinner, the darlings are outdoors, inspired by the NBA Champs, playing basketball.  And yet, my kitchen is still crowded.  I'm making rice with garlicky greens, mostly cabbage.  As I was inspecting the rather bedraggled-looking beet and kohlrabi leaves, They came.  Belaynesh.  Addis.  Mimi. Senait.  Muluatua.  And Konjit.  And so I rolled up those totally edible, nutritious leaves, sliced them and threw them in the pot.  Thanks, my sisters.

Birthday twins!

 ¡Jolín!  "What a weekend!" as Templeton kind of said after his carny-fest.  So it was with the twins' birthday.  Again I say, "¡Jolín!"

Of course, the festivities began promptly at 7:00 the day of, with Ty's requested bacon-topped doughnuts (🤮).

And then, well, let's have a look.

G keeps us all supplied with knives.  (I got mine for Mothers' Day.)

Pumpkin made Ty-requested mooncakes and gave the boys cat shirts.  Ha!

Koshka even joined the fun.

Sophie visited a Black-owned plant store with Tita.

Her first pedicure!  What?!

And then Rob rented a Lime scooter for everyone to try.  Wheeee!!!

Thanks for the idea, D-hams!

So, I believe that everyone felt loved and fêted.  Now let's see if I can give a little update on each of the birthday kids:

Sophie:  The child is tall and thin!  And if her feet give any idea of the future, she's going to be taller and thinner yet.  We've again shaved off her hair, resulting in a cute little 'do: We'll see what the next year brings with that.  She is still a very hungry bookworm, although she is taking way too long to finish Across Five Aprils.  She is very cariñosa.  She is great at cartwheels and is working on her tour jeté.  She gets VERY annoyed by her brothers, resulting in a lot of time spent braiding her dolls' hair.  (She's so good at it!)

Tychik:  The boy LOVES to watch sports with Mr. Meyer.  He spends hours with his Legos, proudly showing me what he's constructed with his imagination.  (I'm quite against these sets that come with instructions.). Ty loves carbs. and swimming.  He does not love the sun and heat.  

My babies!

I remember when I...

 

Thanks to our very gracious neighbor!