half...

Half-ironed shirts, half-finished colds, half-finished projects all over the place, half-read magazines piling up, half-clean house, halfway decent nights' sleep...Trying to learn how to be content with all the half-finished things of late!  I'm not quite there yet but I remind myself that everything always gets done eventually, somehow!

late August...

 August is just zipping by, as it usually does...my garden is waning, many flowers are now turning to interesting seed pods, and I'm still a little mesmerized by these silly little violets, still going strong, that decided to grow not only in the rocks but also in the wood pile.  My mini fairy gardens did so-so...the moss mostly died but the hen & chicks thrived!  And ohh our pretty pipestone plums!!!  The plum tree that we planted a few years ago, mainly for its beautiful spring blossoms, grew plums for the first time this year.  We never really intended to ever get plums since we didn't have another tree to cross-pollinate it with (or whatever its called?)  but something did pollinate it this spring and we've just been starting to enjoy these sweet juicy plums!  A nice late summer surprise!

early August...

Early August so far...
A rare date night, eating lefse filled with egg, asparagus, & jarlsberg for the first time, running and laughing our way underneath the clothes on the line with the little one, bountiful basil, pretty tiny violets blooming in random places, little itty bitty shoes by the back door...love seeing this. So far so good.

berry season

Summer seems to be marked and measured, at least in part for me, by the passing of various berry seasons.  Strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blueberries, and finally blackberries.  Blackberries being picked the latest near the end of August along the dirt road by the cabin.  The each have their moment.  Their associated memories.  And new memories made each year.  Like the first time Hub and I went strawberry picking together.  Or when I discovered currants and gooseberries on our property.  Various trips hunting for wild blueberries (like the first time we took our brand new baby) and blueberry picking at a nearby farm in the country...this one we just did as a family on Saturday.  The morning was gorgeous, the light beautiful.  We picked the plentiful blueberries with ease and even little Bub got out of the stroller for awhile and began picking and eating too.

And just recently too, a favorite "berry memory" in the making has been afternoons spent picking wild raspberries around our yard with my little Bub.  I hold a tiny bowl, as there is only a handful ripe at a time each day.  My little boy follows closely behind me with baby steps that are getting surer every day.  I'm reminded then of a mama duck with her little ducklings following closely behind.  Every once in awhile he catches up and I grab onto one of his little hands and we walk together, my heart soaring, my mind memorizing this new milestone.  Being able to hold just one hand and walk together, side by side, now that he is more stable on his feet.  He babbles for the tiny red gems in my bowl as I pick them.  I give him one, still soft and warm from the sun.  He walks away from me just a step or two to enjoy it, and then just as quickly he toddles after me calling out "mmm, mummum, mmm, mammma, mmmum!"  Is he calling for more, for mama?  Probably for both as I hand him another and he rewards me with his sweet baby grin.  Pure delight to both of us.  Oh sweet summery, berry days...stay awhile!

little moments

A few little weekend things:  

It seems right now, when time to myself is rarer than ever, I try to find enjoyment in the little moments, the little things...the time I had before and took for granted now is precious and appreciated more than ever...like having a moment to clip some flowers from the garden.  I picked these tiny Violets that had seeded themselves from last summer...the only "vase" little enough I could find to put them in was a tiny glass salt shaker...and a favorite flower that is now blooming, the beautiful blue Delphinium. 

We also took a little (unsuccessful) blueberry-searching, hot hike high above the lake on Saturday which little Bub seemed to love.  And on Sunday we had some guests over for brunch.  I served egg bake...my new favorite thing.  Pre-baby I used to make quiche a lot.  Now its egg bakes.  But I love egg bakes and could eat them every single day...with a just few drops of Sriracha on top.  Perfect!

what summer tastes like...

...fresh basil pesto...Saturday smoothies...and later in the summer, if all goes (grows) well...plums!

I made the first batch of pesto this weekend with basil from the garden and it was wonderful smeared across warm, crusty ciabatta slices.  And I thought, this is what summer tastes like to me.  What does summer taste like to you?  Then, I often make smoothies but they taste even better now with a little bit of my fresh strawberry jam for some sweetness.  Little Bub loooves smoothies too so its a great way to get him to eat yogurt and bananas and whatever else I put in them.  And finally, Hub discovered plums growing on our plum tree that we planted a few years ago.  We're so excited!  :)

weekend happenings...

 Friday evening:  a walk to the nearby creek to survey some of the flood damage that occurred here earlier in the week.  It was a lovely summer evening!

 Rainy Saturday afternoon:  lunch at one of our favorite places (we realized that we hadn't been there since New Year's Day!)...walking through the wet garden out front after a delicious lunch.

 Sunday morning:  baking Almond Poppyseed muffins...I love to load the tops with slivered almonds and generously sprinkle with sugar.

Sunday evening:  picking Arugula from my garden to make some mini salads to have with pizza.  Yum!

twinflowers

 It was a truly wonderful summer weekend...complete with little Bub's 1st birthday bash, some fun Father's day badminton, late Sunday evening strawberry jam-making, and snapping a few photos of the sweet and dainty Twinflowers (Linnaea) now blooming in my garden.

lazy deer...

I sort of wish I could be a little bit lazy like this deer that was lounging leisurely under the birdhouse this morning.  It's such a rainy, stormy day here and curling up with a book and some tea sounds really nice.  But we have a little baby who is turning one (ONE already, I can't believe it!) and there is SO very much to do.  We're having a big party for him this weekend and I've been having fun planning and making things for it...it's just that actual execution of it all that makes me fret a little bit!  Hopefully the weather will be sunny & lovely and I'll be back with a few photos from the party to share next week!

last day of may...

 It's kind of funny for me to reflect back on what my life was like around this same time one year ago.  I was anxiously expecting my new baby to arrive any day (although he showed up 12 days late with much prompting!).  We were on pins and needles with excitement to meet this little baby and to find out just how our lives would change...something it seemed we could only know for certain once it really happened.  It took me a long, long time to adjust to having a baby suddenly be a part of our family, my life, my world.  While I loved him wholeheartedly the very second I saw him, and still feel as though my heart may burst with so much love pretty much every time I look at him, it was a really immense and difficult change for me.  And almost a year later, I think I'm still adjusting! I've been thinking back now on how one prepares for a baby.  At least the way I prepared...and wow, being on the other side now some things seem so silly to me!  Here's what I did:  Get the nursery ready by spending copious amounts of time reading reviews and ordering/registering baby gear online, knit cute little socks & a sweater, make a mobile, sew a quilt, buy Dreft and wash up tiny adorable baby things, take childbirth & nursing classes, nest and organize the house from top to bottom, attend fun baby showers, dream about how snuggly cozy each day will be with a little one tucked in my arms, think about how he will nap all the time, anywhere I want to bring him, how I'll just toss the baby in a sling and continue on with my life, etc, etc.  But the reality for me was so different.  And I kept asking myself those first few weeks, and even asking some people...why didn't anyone tell me how HARD it is to have a baby, to be a mom?  At the time I felt like it was some big secret that everyone seemed to keep from me.  Maybe they didn't want to burst my bubble.  And I probably wouldn't have believed them anyways.  I mean, I knew there would be some sleepless nights and dirty diapers and crying jags...but that and all the other million little things in between, added up to a reality that took a whole lot of adjusting to.  The whole world looked different to me once this baby came into my world.  And I had no family close by to rely on...I didn't realize how much I would need that support or miss them.  I couldn't have my mom run over for an hour to hold my baby when I so desperately needed that.  And now I can still count on one hand, almost a year later, the times that he's slept through the night.  And he's never been much of a good napper.  Or really all that snuggly.  Plus, that tiny newborn infant period passes so quickly and in a bit of a blur of utter exhaustion, yet that seemed to be the period that I spent the most time before the baby preparing for, dreaming about, and thinking would go on and on forever!  Now looking back, I should have been preparing for all those days beyond infancy...the days of feeding him solids, helping him to sleep better (if possible?), baby-proofing our entire house better, learning how to potty train, how to deal with little tantrums effectively, discipline (still too young for much of that thankfully!), teaching him well...everything!..and so much more.  So now in many ways, my life is so completely new and different...and in other ways, its the same as ever.  I wouldn't change a thing.  I don't want to sound as though I have it hard.  Because I feel so blessed every single day.  And I can't imagine my life without this little boy now.  But it was just and still is something that has taken a lot of time to figure out...for me...probably not for everyone. And just when I think I've got it figured out, something changes and I have to figure things out all over again!  So, I'm not sure why I went on about that...but one thing that has gotten back to the same as ever is my affection for my little garden in the woods.  Last summer, my garden had a bit of a break from being tended to very much as I had no free time with a newborn. It was neglected, overrun with weeds and slugs. And at the time I didn't really care what happened to it.  I was overwhelmed and could barely manage to get just the basic things done.  But this spring, my plants all came back up again, giving me another chance at it.  And now that I once again have a little more time for frivolous things like "gardening"  (sorry, mum, I know that's not frivolous to you!), I can get back to taking care of it a little more properly.  Its been fun to see how many of the plants have become more established after being in the ground there for a few years now.  I finally finally have a 2 lovely little clusters of Lily-of-the-Valley plants (my favorite flower) that I can count on to come up each spring.  And the sweet Linnea plant (last photo) which I found near the cabin about 3 years ago and transplanted a little bit of in my garden is now finally going to enjoy its first bloom this summer!  All this reminds me that good things, most wonderful things in life, take time to establish, to adjust.

sunshine and the supermoon

 

A week ago today we arrived home from a nice long vacation (part work for Hub) in sunny Florida.  Every single day was brilliantly sunny and in the 90s.  (I guess you just need to go in May to get hot weather...as opposed to the complaining I did about the weather the last time we were there.)  And I didn't mind it one bit.  When I go someplace like this I want it to be hot, the pool to feel refreshing, no jeans or sweaters necessary.  

In addition to hot weather, another thing we enjoy about vacationing is the food...and for some reason everything just tasted better, fresher there.  We ate so much fresh fruit every day...including the best ever Florida tree-ripened peaches!  Normally we like to eat out a lot too, but since having little baby Bub, eating out just isn't what it used to be.  Its often more relaxing to just stay in so he can be messy and roam around and not be strapped into a chair while we try to eat a nice dinner. So while we did eat out a few times (highlights being the Tilefish, 2nd to last photo, classico flatbread, and tempura haricot vert with a truffle aioli from bluezoo...Gruyere biscuits and truffled fries with a pickled ramp aioli from The Ravenous Pig), we had fun splurging a bit on some groceries from Whole Foods that we wouldn't perhaps typically buy back home...including the bakery treats of Parisian vanilla macarons (my first ones ever...so so good!) and fruit tarts (photos above)...and we made some really delicious dinners as well...like the Gruyere, fried egg, and asparagus on toasted baguette sandwiches (4th photo).  

It feels so good to be back home now, getting back into our old routines, yet trying to stick to a couple of new things I adopted while on vacation:

1-Taking at least one walk a day with little Bub...now that its warmer here we can actually do this one.  In Florida we went on multiple stroller walks a day and little Bub loooved them so much.  He loves being outside and he's even napping a little better too.

2-Going to bed earlier...In Florida I didn't have as much to do in the evenings as I can find to do around my house...things are always needing to be done here...so I often gave myself permission to hop in bed earlier because I was on vacation...and it felt so wonderful!  So I'm trying to maintain that as well and doing a so-so job!

P.S.  Oh, and that photo of the moon...yeah, that's my not-so-great, truly awful picture I took of the supermoon that occurred on May 5th...it was phenomenal to see in person and we had a great view of it coming up from our place in Florida...did you happen to see that?  wow!