Oh July.

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DSCN2940It’s been a bit of a whirlwind around here lately – deadlines & cooking classes galore with last minute radio spots and packing up missthing for 3 weeks of camp all while playing single mom in the miserably muggy weather.  Last Thursday, when you could see the air and it smelled like mildew outside and I couldn’t take it anymore, I got our wonderful neighbor Brian to come help me reinstall the not-finished-french doors between the dining room and sunroom so that I could shut the house up and keep the humidity levels sane.  I can take the heat and even the humidity, but I can’t take the effect humidity has on the inside of my house.  Living in Alabama for almost a decade, I never had central AC – all through college I lived in wonderful old houses that had lots of big trees & ceiling fans, very similar to what I live with now – and I learned to just deal with it.  I also had a car that did not have air conditioning.  Ever drive along the Gulf Coast Fourth of July without AC in the middle of the day? To this day, AC in a car is a wonderful, wonderful luxury.

So I’m quite used to dealing with heat & humidity.  It seems that spending too much time inside in AC this time of year results in sinus infections for all of us – I woke up just this morning with that telltale pressure on the right side of my face.  Thankfully, the weather is supposed to become far more pleasant later in the week, so hopefully we can open the house back up again.

Pat spent last week running the Middle James Expedition– while Edie & I held down the home front.  Despite our house being the muggiest one around, her pals were in & out all week long.  A huge thanks to Teresa, who had Edie over for a sleepover while I drove over to Harrisonburg and back for a canning demonstration at Friendly City Co-op.  Thanks to everyone who came out to that – I had a great time and am looking forward to going back over for a pressure canning demo in a few weeks.   Saturday morning after a quick phone appearance on WINA talking about the upcoming swap, I assisted with Erica’s Cooking with A Whole Chicken Class for Market Central,while running last minute errands and doing laundry in order to get up and drop Edie at camp Sunday morning.

DSCN3108After which, we stopped at the nearest open brewery and toasted our child-free status for the next three weeks.

I’ll miss not finding feet pictures on my camera the next three weeks, but I have plenty of adventures lined up to keep me occupied, starting with tonight’s canning class at PVCC, a fridge full of produce I need to deal with ASAP and the mailing of a care package of the things she forgot to pack.  Like toothpaste.

Swapping.

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IMG_4459Hello 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 →

DONE.

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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 →

About those day lilies.

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photo(3)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 →

Well I’ll be.

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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.

DSCN2416 Continue reading →

Summering.

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DSCN2307I’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.

In which Clara got on a boat.

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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:

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Wine & cheese and a sunset on the dock, just me & Andrea.

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Breakfast was coffee & a big bowl of cherries while I sat outside reading.

DSCN2170It 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.

DSCN2171That 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.

DSCN2222On the dock again of course.

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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.

1015369_10151661131378695_1972160316_oAfter 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.

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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.

1025859_10151661131663695_1104214719_o966252_10151661131683695_37112120_oSome 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:

play 001Which 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…

1014566_10151661131668695_1645036720_oWe 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.

play 010As 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.

965893_10151661131698695_495970521_oThe 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.

463780_10151661131938695_675165600_oMeanwhile, 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.