Family Meals

It's a beautiful cool crisp fall day.
We've had a crazy wonderful scary week.
Last weekend our daughter decided she needed a break from her masters degree classes in SF and so we got together some of our frequent flier miles and she flew home over night Tuesday from the West Coast.
We've been having family dinners, and shopping, and visiting friends, and relatives.
And taking in each moment with her because she doesn't get home often.

And taking care of a sick little Bailey in the middle of all of this.
He's on some liver medications, and being weaned off the pheno which may be causing the liver problems. On Monday eve he got into the barricaded room in which we are doing construction...and ate a full box of Decon, mouse poison. A call to emergency vet told us what to do. The next morning another trip to the vet for a Vit K shot, and then the next 48-72 hours would be touch and go.
He got really sick the second day, but has rebounded and is still with us.
He's just had a really hard two weeks.

Speaking of our renovation and construction. All the prep work has been done, and some repair to a brick wall and on the side of the house, caused by the demo part.
The new door to the basement is in, and deck/porch posts ready to be poured.
All you out there who have done this know that things always take twice as long and 3 times as many dollars as predicted. It's just been two weeks and I want the mess and anxiety over.. soon.

My husband's ready to get his fifth shot in the rabies shot series, and then heading back to India for hopefully the last part of this long four month project.

The red and yellow leaves are dropping off the trees, the nights are colder, and I smelled someones wood fire burning last night for the first time this season.
Fall is definitely in full swing.

Late summer

Technically it isn't late summer for a few more weeks, but the light is changing through the trees, and the sun is setting earlier.
The morning breezes are much cooler, and the light for the sunrises is changing too.
But we are still enjoying late summer tomatoes, from the farm stand a few miles away.
And enjoying the last few peaches ripening on the counter, sliced, with some yogurt and oh so very sweet and good.
We are now entering my favorite time of year, the fall, with the cooler weather, and shorter days.
Food that evokes nesting inside like soups or stews, or apple cobbler.
It's a great transitioning time of year, and I feel rejuvenated.
How about you?

Picnics, summertime, barbeques

Picnics, summertime, barbeques, fire in the fire pit for smores, and the tiki torches burning. All things of our summertime picnics in our backyard.
This morning the air feels cool, almost crisp, even though it was warm during the day yesteray and is supposed to be high 80's today.
But there are some dry leaves dropping off the trees, and a lot of the plants look like they've had their best growth.
So my patio has probably seen it's best use this summer.
And somehow when it gets cooler in the evening, and dark much much sooner, it feels like summertime is coming to a close.
It's not because I have children going back to school, because mine are grown and off involved in their own lives.
But the bus goes down the street and in the evening, the neighborhood kids aren't outside playing as late.
Fall is defintely trying to make it's appearance, and the cooler air is somehow more rejuvenating.
But for this one day their will be another picnic and another fire in the firepit and candles burning on the picnic table.
Summer is not quite over today.

Little Lamb Hydrangea

I bought this huge 'little lamb' hydrangea last year for my birthday.
It's a container pot and I kept it that way.It survived the winter without planting it in the ground.
It bloomed again this year and due to the dry weather we've been having, and the shorter days, the flower heads are beginning to dry.
I have many other varieties of hydrangeas that are planted directly in the ground but for some reason this one did really good in it's very huge pot.
I so enjoy it as it begins to take on the fall colors, turning from bright white, to duller white and eventually a fall sort of color.
I want to enjoy these waning days of summer, with cooler evenings and mornings.
It is hard to adjust, once again to shorter days, with it getting darker in the evenings.
But fall is coming and the seasons are changing.
Yesterday and today feel like fall, as it has been gloomy and grey due to the two consecutive days we've had with rain. Very unusual, as it has been very dry with little rain the past two months.

More peaches and more sweet corn

I talked last week about local produce and peaches and corn and tomatoes.
Now the farmer called me to see if I want another 5-6 dozen ears of corn to freeze.
So today it's more corn.
And I have more peaches ripe and these will also be frozen.
We will be turning into peaches soon if we don't stop eating them.
So they are being sliced and frozen individually and then packed in 1 qt freezer bags to use in the winter for smoothies, or with yoghurt or in pies.
It is fun, but I am ready to stop freezing produce.
So I am going to enjoy another day with more local goodies.
What do you have planned for today?

Crazy beautiful and early

For any of you walkers,or just plain early birds, if you can, make yourself get up 1/2 hour or so before sunrise.Check the sunrise times in your area and set the alarm clock on purpose for an early start.
By the time the sun comes up the light has filtered down the beautiful colors of the sky.
This morning the sky was this crazy beautiful color and it was just a feast for my eyes.
I will say 5:45 am feels very early, but once I am outside I can't stop snapping pictures, as well as walking my dog.
But the air is crisp and very cool, and the colors are much different even 15 minutes later.
Try it and see if it doesn't motivate you to walk even further.
So rejuvenating.

Buying local peaches, corn, tomatoes and more

This is my kitchen table and it is pretty much the way it has looked the last several days.
I keep going to the local orchard and buying a half bushel of peaches, coming home, and making peach crisp, peach jam, freezing sliced peaches, keeping sliced peaches in the fridge and primarily allowing them to ripen on the counter.
Oh the sweet sweet smell of fresh peaches, grown locally, and ripening naturally under my fingers.
It's really a pleasure and delight of August. But the problem is I keep going back and getting another bushel or half bushel. And $15 a bushel is what I've been paying. Compare that to the several lbs of peaches you buy in the grocery. It's simply amazing.
Right now on my back deck I have a bushel of sweet corn waiting to be husked, blanched and frozen. I went with my dad early this morning, right after sunrise, and I bought the corn from the farmer who had just pulled it off the stalk. Amazing.
Soon it will be in my freezer.
I have a large bag of apples sitting in my garage waiting to be made into applesauce to go in the freezer.
I also have been buying my tomatoes down the road at a roadside stand of another local farmer. It's wonderful and intoxicating. I am not wanting this gardening weather to end, because then I know the taste of tomatoes fresh off of the vine, will only be a memory of summer.
It's wonderful to live close to people who garden and have orchards. I love it.

Summer is flying by

Somehow summetime is flying by.
Where is it going. Whoa, slow down.
I love summertime and some days the heat wears me down. Then there has been the last 5 days of wonderful lower temps and low humidity and it feels like it will soon be fall.
This is what is so lovely about the seasons.
Anticipating the change, and enjoying what season we are in currently.
Both contrasts I love.
Somehow all the gardening plans of March and April are giving way to the drier temperatures and the slowing of the growth season.
My husband is home for a week from his first month away in India.
Soon he goes back for another long stint.
Labor day is around the corner, and we haven't had a summer vacation.
Somehow in the middle of all this craziness of his work travel, and house projects, we have to plan a get away for a week or two.
It's been almost a year since a vacation, and that is much too long to not take a break from the routine of life.
Just checking in with all of you to say hello, and sorry I've been missing but life has been busy and full.

Whatever happened to me

Yeah this is me.
And I am wondering whatever happened to me?
Well I mean the younger me.
I used to be quite project oriented.
Meaning gardening profusely,landscaping, mowing, refinishing furniture, quilting, needlework, decorating, painting, yardsaling,had a small antique and collectibles business,sewing and crafting things out of nothing.
This along with a 30yr. career in mental health, raising a family,entertaining, socializing, throwing any sort of party, having my husband's colleagues over for dinners,etc.,etc.
What got me thinking was my son's emailing me and asking me what I am in Myers-BriggsTI.
Well I emailed back that I used to be ENFJ but in the past years I've tested INFJ.Basically merging from an extrovert to an mild introvert.You can Google Myers- Briggs if you aren't familiar with it.

I was discussing this with another friend and we decided we like our cocooning and down time as we are aging some.
Not sure when it happened, or why, but I do know for sure I enjoy time alone to read, watch movies, nap or speculate on nothing in particular.
I am still interested in many of the above mentioned domestic skills. I do cook a lot. I do not entertain guests as much.
I am quite happy meeting someone for a cappuccino at a local coffee shop.
Or chatting by email or phone.
Don't know if any of you have experienced this, but for me I believe it happened somewhere along the time my kids left home for university and I realized that for 23years or more when I had kids in the house, my life was busy, full, exciting and crazy.
Now I can truly say I am enjoying time to just be.

Lazy hazy hot Wednesday

It's a lazy hazy very hot Wednesday and the plants and flowers and grass all seem to be withering.
The heat has been relentless for days, and little to no rain.
I feel withered and listless myself.
I put all my projects on hold as I feel no motivation.
It feels like afternoon naps, and lazy days with newspapers and books.
The weeds want to rule my flower beds and it is hard not to let them.
The sky started out cloudy, and a few drops of rain on the windows, but no, nothing more.
Then it became hazy, and calm, too calm.
Soon after the winds started, thankfully.
However the sun is now blazing hot, and no wind or rain.
So I know these hot August days will soon be over, so for now I will
enjoy the laziness and lack of motivation I feel.
How about you, how are you coping with the heat and the lazy days of summer?

Another One

Here is another one from yesterday.
My family will probably put on my tombstone 'she loved sunsets.'
But you know that isn't such an awful thing is it.
I get my love of the weather and the time of sunrise and sunsets from my dad.
He is going on 89 and still calls me and informs me of the weather and the time of sunrise and sunsets.
He doesn't use the Internet so this information he gleans from newspapers and watching the weather channel.
Although he and my mom now live in a small apartment in a retirement community, he has a little spot on the grounds behind the complex where he gardens.
He just yesterday shared tomatoes and zinnias from that space.
Growing up in the Midwest, in corn country where it was very flat, and we could see for miles, the topography was much different than here in the mountains.
But the interest in weather, and geography, and the seasons and love of the outdoors and gardening and plants, I learned it all from my dad.

See the sun peeking through

Yes you can see the sun peeking through my curtains in the family room.
Every morning when the sun starts hitting the windows of the house, I go through the house and lower the mini blinds and pull the curtains.
Yes it makes my house dark inside during the day, and it also means I don't have to set my ac so low.
I turn on the fans I have placed throughout the house.
It does feel like 'the olden days' growing up when we didn't have ac, or the 'olden days' in the 80's when my kids were babies and we lived in a farmhouse and we didn't have ac.
We've had ac the past 19 years, and up until recently I used it and all the time.
Then last month our town raised the rates from .12 per kilowatt hour to .23 per kilowatt hr.
That is crazy. My electric bill doubled although I used less kilowatts.
So I am trying my attempt at keeping the house cool, and the sun out.
And my dog likes to look out, so when I'm not here I keep several curtains pulled a bit to give him his people and dogs outside to watch.
What is everyone out there doing to keep cool and keep your costs down?
Happy hot summer day to all of you!

Hot Hot Hot

Well I wrote a post about it being so hot while we were camping.
And about watering my hydrangeas and about adjusting.
However this morning when I read the comments...
I somehow accidentally deleted the post and the comments and still trying to figure out what I did as I did not go into the edit posts page to delete it.
Who knows..
but for those of you who commented I wasn't deleting your comments on purpose.
life happens and so I will write another post later.

Stay cool everyone and take a nap if you have no energy from the heat.
That is what I did yesterday and it was wonderful.

I better get organized

This is my daughter's apartment entryway in San Francisco.
I just realized Patrick is going to be with her this weekend for the 4th of July weekend.
Last year we had just purchased the house we now live in but held a very impromtu 4th of July party here on our front yard.
I better get organized and start thinking about Friday's holiday if I am having a party this year.
Our house sits on a hill looking East toward the Massanutten range. The town we live in has fireworks and because of the location of our house, we can look from left to right and not only see the town fireworks but many other little fireworks that small companies or families put off after dark.
So our front yard is a perfect place to sit and enjoy the evening and the views.
Somehow with all that has happened this week I had put off planning anything or calling friends.
Looks like I better get started.

Sunrise

I am certainly enjoying the long June days: early sunrises, late sunsets.
This was my morning sunrise today. Summer solstice is soon upon us which means that slowly the daylight hours will be come shorter.
So I am going to savour this last week of early sunrises and late sunsets, by not only walking in the morning early, but in the evening too.
I realize how easy it is to become complacent so I want to make an effort starting this week to get outside early and enjoy the weather and the views and walk just a few more steps each day.
That is to counter all the picnics and socializing that have been going on in our part of the world.
Hope you are enjoying these hazy days of soon to be summer as I am.

Summer is certainly here

Well we haven't had the official first day of summer, but summer is certainly here, based on the heat wave we are having in Virginia.
Thursday was the first day of the ac on and it feels wonderful.
After going outside this morning to water plants, and wash cars, and wash the front porch I am happy to come inside and cool off.
I am going to read blogs and finish a book I started Thursday, fold laundry, and maybe cook something cool and light on this hot summer day.

Sunrise sunset

When I look through my pictures I realize how many I've taken of the sunrises and sunsets over the two different mountain ranges.
That is however the reason we picked the particular house we did when we moved back to the US in the summer of 2007.
For five years prior to that, due to my husband's job, we lived overseas in high rise apartments, which in and of themselves provide no view.
There was the aspect however of no yardwork, no snow removal, no weeding, no painting; all the things we as homeowners get used to.
Sometimes I've felt like a nomad, not knowing where we'd be living the next year,etc.
Now that we are once again homeowners that carries with it the mortgage, the taxes, the insurance, the repairs.
And then for me there is the decorating and painting, and wallpaper removing, or floor sanding, all the things I can seem to find to do when I own a home.
It's exciting, fun and of course costly.
But what does keep me grounded is the seasons; the daily rising and setting of the sun, the early morning cup of coffee before the sun is up.
And my friends, new and old, who allow me into their lives.
I love it. I love being 'home' where I speak the same language and I am understand.
But I miss the newness of moving to a new place, new food, new vistas.
So I am trying to enjoy being here for now.
Because who knows for how long and where next...

May

It's May already and it feels like spring is almost gone.
The flowering shrubs are finished blooming and the ornamental cherry trees and other flowering trees are finished as well.
Time to weed and mulch and think about planting pots full of flowers for summer.
Time to plant new herbs and catmint and salvias and hydrangeas. Lots and lots of hydrangeas.Time to drink unsweetened iced tea while sitting on the flagstone patio and watching the sunset.
For now I have to finish painting our storage shed, get out the teak furniture and oil it and get ready for summer as it's on the way.
Happy May to all you gardeners and anyone who wishes they were a gardener. Plant away!
Mim

spring

This is the first spring in many that I have been living in the good ole usa. Flowers are popping out everywhere and it is cold at night and warm in the day..lovely.
Love the cherry trees and the redbud and the magnolia trees.But most of all love the sunrises over the mountains and the amazing sunsets over the mountains.
Beautiful to witness for the first time in many spring.
Happy spring day.