Well, it is summer time you know

I know that I haven't updated this in over a month now. As it happened, summer started just after the 4th of July and we decided to take full advantage of it.

First, our Good Friend Scattone came for the annual visit. In addition to the ritual of at least one zombie/horror movie per night (that is a gentleman's only event), we also went blueberry picking with a couple of Delaware transplants and their very cute daughter.

And she speaks 3 languages so far.

I learned that these people, by that I mean everyone in the picture below, are obsessive, no - addicted, berry pickers. This next picture was taken after we all agreed that our baskets were overflowing and that they should leave some berries for other people. Yes, they have a problem but they don't want to admit it.

"Ooh, look at that one." "How did we miss this bush?" "This is the last one, I swear."

In addition to getting back to our roots on the farm, I was given a challenge by Ms. H-G. On the 4th of July, she brought over the starter for Amish Friendship Bread. Basically, you unload this on people you know as a test of your friendship. Even though the only thing that I can claim any skill in baking is chicken, I took it as a challenge. On the 10th day, wa-la!

"Mmmmm. Tasty." said the Good Mr. Dr.

Something tells me that this isn't really an Amish recipe. I think it was the need for instant vanilla pudding that tipped me off. Given the amount of sugar and cinnamon in this bread, it is not something to be shared with diabetics or anyone with a serious heart problem. But, for the rest of us, it was actually pretty good. I have since unloaded a starter onto 3 people, but I have yet to hear the results. I know at least two of them remain my friend. I don't know about the third.

We've also been spending quite a bit of time in the garden, making long term plans on what to do with it. We went back to the Garden in the Woods and a couple of local garden centers to get some pots and a few plants to start experimenting. This time we brought the bug spray. We were very comfortable on the tour of the Garden in the Woods, especially compared to the California family who did not use any bug spray. The little girl was just about eaten alive by mosquitos. As much as I believe we must avoid unnecessary exposure to chemicals, I still live by the principle that there is better living through DEET (40% if possible).

We've also been using the grill at every opportunity - which hasn't been as often as we'd like. Someone stole our summer. The weather guy reported the other night that Massachusetts got 11 inches of rain in July, the most since the 1930s. The normal (based on records between 1960-1990) is 2.8 inches. One Thursday we got 3 inches that came straight down in big huge raindrops. Those raindrops apparently went right down the stink pipe and through the big gaping hole that no one knew existed until the Good Mr. Dr. found a waterfall in my yoga/sewing room. It will not be expensive to fix, but our roofer/ contractor totalled his truck and he's been very difficult to get a hold of. Sigh. So, we hope for little rain and not just because we're sick of it.

But, it has not been all bad. Today, we decided to spruce up our street tree. We went and bought some mulch and some limestones to make a border. Here's what it looked like before:

Yep. That's a mess.

Mr. Dr. digging a trench for the stones:

No, that is not our car. No, we did not make that mess.

And here's what it looks like now:



There's one place where the stones don't meet because the sidewalk needs to be repaired. But, for now, this is an improvement as far as we're concerned.

Well, that's the month's news. Right now, we're preparing for classes that start up in a month. But today, we're going to cross our fingers that it stays cloudy and that there will be no more rain so that we can make steak tips.