I came home recently to find an unexpected package on the front porch. I did not recognize the return address, but was absolutely delighted upon opening it to find this:
The follow up to my dear childhood friend Nathan Kotecki’s first novel “The Suburban Strange“, “Pull down the Night“. Continue reading
Hello there. It’s hot & muggy as all get out this week and thanks to those french doors that lead from the dining room to the sunroom still in need of serious love and therefore, not installed, I can’t close the house up and turn on the AC. That task is on the to-do list for week after next. In between now & then, I have a few canning classes & demonstrations lined up, a few articles due to editors here & there, a kid to pack up and drop off at camp, some girls nights and date nights to attend to. I’m also organizing a swap next Saturday, July 27. Continue reading
I know in some corners of the world, strawberries are still in season, but here in Virginia, local strawberries are pretty much a pleasant memory. Which is why I thought it was high time to grab the jars I tried pickling and pull them out for a tasting session this past week. Continue reading
I seemed to have finished the great dining room project just in time for our favorite summer veggies to hit the farmer’s market. Which means, it’s time I start getting serious about putting up some food.
After fourteen years of being put off and a month of living in a mess, the dining room is DONE.
Alright, so there are still some little details to be addressed, like painting the radiator, swapping out the outlets (as recommended by the inspection when we bought the house), replacing the outlet covers and finishing the the french doors. But these are things that can happen with the room back in use. Continue reading
I recently won this delightful cookbook, “Cooking with Flowers” (through a giveaway on Phickle). A recipe for roasted daylily buds caught my eye – not just because we have a yard full of the flower, but because it was said that the roasted buds resemble roasted asparagus in taste. I always feel that the end of asparagus season sneaks up on me – sure, I know it’s coming, but every year I find myself just a little bit saddened by it. I always want more one taste to carry me through until next year. Continue reading
It’s not all fun & games, lazy pool days & popsicles for breakfast while slowly overhauling the dining room here. This morning, I got up, put a second coat on the walls (ain’t nothing left to do but the trim!!), packed some lunches, made a decent breakfast (and got it into her!) before dropping Edie off at her ‘mother’s helper’ gig at The Boar’s Head and then headed out to pick blueberries.
I’m taking a wee break from watching paint dry (as I type this, the dining room ceiling is DONE and the first coat of Parakeet Green on the lower half of the walls is drying) to say hello out there. We have thoroughly immersed ourselves in summer here, with sleeping in, long days at the pool and late dinners at the picnic table. The garden has suddenly gone gangbusters, which has not gone unnoticed by the squirrels, who are knocking on the back door looking for handouts again. Bugs helped themselves to an entire row of kale, much to my horror and Edie’s delight. (Apparently I’ve been serving a few too many greens lately). Saturday I swapped some of my strawberry jam for things like Stephanie’s Green Bean Relish and Hunter’s Lemon, Onion & Oregano Jam. Those treats will be served up for dinner one night soon along with bread & cheese. I love summer dinner. I love summer. Those lazy days where sometimes the best thing you can do is just hit the pool with a good book in hand and a bag full of treats to nibble on all day long……
We are definitely soaking it up.
Progress on the dining room was interrupted this weekend for a stop on the annual ‘summer by the water’ tour. This one was particularly glorious as it was a girls’ weekend with some of my college gals at Andrea’s St. Michael’s house. This is what Friday night looked like:
Wine & cheese and a sunset on the dock, just me & Andrea.
Breakfast was coffee & a big bowl of cherries while I sat outside reading.
It was one of those picture perfect June mornings – clear, just warm enough but not hot, with a gentle breeze to keep the bugs away. I had no cell reception, there’s no internet, no land line, no TV. Nothing to do but sit and read a book.
That was the sky. Divine, isn’t it?
After Andrea woke up, we puttered in the yard some – as she & her family are moving to San Francisco, this house is going on the market. After she met with the realtor and we filled in a hole left by the digging of the new well, Clara & Sheilah showed up. Which meant it was beer time.
On the dock again of course.
Because when you have access to something like that, I believe you take full advantage of it. Then again, we all know how obsessed I am with spending my summer by the water.
Eventually, it was decided we’d get cleaned up and head into town for something to eat. And that’s when the fun really began.
After wandering around the streets of St. Michael’s, we eventually made our way to the waterfront and found a place to eat. We had to wait at the bar for a table, which was fine with us. Us being us, we engaged everyone around us in conversation, including most of the staff. We were sitting by the door they use to go in & out of, as well as near the hostess station.
I have noted here before that as a group, we are loud and foul mouthed – Andrea & I especially. We call each other names – terms of endearment to each other, but we’ve realized others can be slightly offended at how we speak to each other.
Some might say we are badly behaved, but really, Andrea & I just don’t care. It’s the defining quality we share along with the ability to make the saltiest sailor blush with our language. If you knew us in college when we were practically inseparable, then the way we behave when we get together as forty-something soccer moms doesn’t phase you. It actually makes perfect sense, unless of course you thought certainly we’d have grown out of that by now.
We haven’t. In fact, it may have gotten worse.
When our table was ready, our bar tab was handed to us. We couldn’t help but notice the name the staff had put our tab under:
Which thrilled us to no end. Clearly, they got us. And appreciated us, as we had half the staff stopping to chat with us. A woman at the bar holding her crying toddler in one hand and a beverage in the other looked at us and sighed, “I’m having my girls weekend next weekend”.
I snapped this shot and posted it on facebook, tagging the girls at their request. We were all taken aback by the comments of friends who thought the staff should be fired – not at all. We were completely in on it. As someone who still works as a server, it’s always nice when you have a group or table that’s fun & easy, as I know we were. Well, other than the loudness factor. And the name calling. And the language. When we sat down at our table, there was a family with two small girls behind us that we tried out best to behave around, but well, they were at least quite understanding…
We discovered this little guy and he proceeded to hang out around us all night long. We took that as a good sign. We might be loud and obnoxious, but hey, we have good karma.
As we sat at dinner on the patio of the restuarant on the waterfront, Clara saw some boats for hire coming back into dock. “I want to get on a boat”. Bless Andrea’s heart, she whipped out her phone and made a few calls, trying to get Clara on a boat. Everything was booked, but we assured her, she’d get on a boat before she left.
And so, after dinner, we wandered around the marina. We came across a lively group sitting on their boat that we engaged in conversation. Next thing you know, they invited us to come aboard for a drink. Seeing this as how we were going to get Clara on a boat, I hopped aboard. When everyone else realized I wasn’t coming ashore until I finished my Coors Light, they all came aboard too.
The text I sent to my husband at about this point of the evening was “Made new friends. We’re on a boat. Not sure who’s boat, but we’re on a boat”.
His reply? “Woo-hoo! Glad you’re having fun!”
Love that man.
Meanwhile, Sheilah here was our sober driver and herder. She did it with much grace & style, as she has always done. Yes, that’s a bird on her shoulder, because when you storm a boat, isn’t there supposed to be a bird on someone’s shoulder?
We eventually made our way back to the house where the fun & games continued with late night swimming in the river, improvised ladders and glow in the dark jelly fish. As we drove home on Sunday, Andrea noted that every time we get together, we have some sort of adventure. Perhaps that is what binds us together after all these years. That and the name calling, the foul language and the fact that we just don’t give a shit what you think of us.
So it turns out that the dining room is a major component of our every day life, in that it serves as an extension of my kitchen as well as a giant closet of sorts – it’s the place where we throw the mail, keep the vacumm cleaner, pool bag, canning jars, WINE, cloth shopping bags, garden & market baskets, any pots over 3 quarts (so my stock pot, at least one canning pot) – you know, things essential to everyday life. The table is the where I set things to cool, as to not further clutter the 2 square feet of counter space I have that seems to host various fermenting projects, empty jars, cookbooks in use, toaster oven, coffee pot, the usual kitchen stuff. So, having this hub packed up just pointed out exactly how much of a hub it is. Just the fact that we all walk through by habit and therefore have dragged the entire mess through the house says it all I think.
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 