Sunday Happy

Feels like we are nearing the end of summer, no? I am all on board, feeling that feeling one gets when the season starts to change over. It’s that deep down in my bones feeling, the feeling my body gets because it knows whats coming and is getting ready. The shift is coming on fast. Grasp those last summer days as much as you can.

Another intense week. After a super duper good camp at Ricker State Park, it was full steam ahead. The mr has been super crazed, all out, sanding and assembling bowling alleys into gigantic countertops for a local restaurant. Most days he is gone as I get home, home when I am in bed. But not quite as bad as last week. We have managed a few meals together and an adventure or two, like when we went to a church in the islands,, had ourselves a picnic and picked their apples. The apples were not good yet. But the church was lovely.

Other then being busy busy, there was other stuff. Barb and her man child came over for dinner and brought along Coco. We ate, he cried. I gave him a cookie, he laughed and ran around like a lunatic. (Coco, not barbs boyfriend) The older littles have been away at summer camp all week so we saw none of them.(We miss them!) We had dinner at my moms with the boys and Barb and I was lucky enough to see the world greatest tan lines ever. I also worked the last day of art camp (YAY!), picked blackberries, gave the mr a haircut, and scrubbed the shit out of the bathtub. All the fun stuff. Not fun stuff was when the car battery died when I Was trying to leave the house, the underglaze I was bringing home to use dumped all over me and the inside of the car (I was so pissed!) or when I was at the grocery store, lost my credit card, freaked out and ran around the store, then drove home, and back to the store looking for it, only to find it underneath one of my canvas bags in the shopping cart. The whole freaking time. At least I found it though cause I was about to cancel it. Look at me seeing the bright side.

Then I picked up farm share and all the tomatoes. Coming off of last weeks tomato hall, and all the tomatoes that are starting to come in in my garden, I am up to my ears in so many tomatoes. I have been cooking down pots and pots, freezing and jarring and of course eating. Eating so many tomatoes that my belly is on fire. And of course I have no help from the mr. He says he is officially tomatoed out. I wonder how is that possible? I think he is just being a butt is all. But whatever, no more tomatoes for him. (that he will know of. HAHA) And I’l just have to keep on keeping on and eat them. The season only lasts so long.

Yesterday the mr and I took a few hours to get away. We packed lunch and went in search of land. Picked a few properties to look at (but only made it to one) and hiked around the property. It was really nice, had a lot of what we are after but probably not THE property. But close so we are getting there and hopefully we will get there sooner then later. Ready to build our cabin life. And then we went home, I started cleaning and the mr went back to work and didn’t get home until like 3 am this morning.

Not gonna lie, I am bumming. We are not going camping today because well, the mr is still working like a madman and installing those bowling alleys today and tomorrow and we just can’t make it happen. So today, well I am going to make good use of it. Probably going to weed out some dead shit from the garden, maybe do a little replanting. Grocery shopping, clean the car, do a few loads of laundry, return books to the library, process food like a boss. (More tomatoes, hot sauce, freeze chard and pickles!) That and probably do some porch reading. And coffee all day. All. Day. It’s no camping but it will do. Next weekend we are back at it.

Internet read by me, shared with you.

-Are you a camper? If you are, here is some things to consider to optimize a good time. 10 rules for picking the perfect campsite

-Eat all the plants. Gorgeous Portraits of America’s Wild (and Surprisingly Delicious) Edible Plants

-You Should Pour Vinegar into Your Washing Machine—Here’s Why. What can’t vinegar do?

-Always a good idea when you pack lunches or any food. HOW TO MAKE REUSABLE SANDWICH BAGS AND SNACK BAGS

-I don’t consider myself a cat person or a person who wants a book of cats, but this book looks, well, it freaking awesome. A New Book Compiling Hundreds of Timeless Feline Photos by Walter Chandoha is the Cat’s Meow

-Oatly and the quest for the perfect alt-milk. Have you had Oatly? I haven’t but I do really like me some oat milk.

-Is crying truly cathartic? I think it can be. Can also be annoying and exhausting.

-Why does anyone ever listen to anything that guys says, ever? Greenland is not for sale. Seriously, why?

-Don’t Burn Trees to Fight Climate Change—Let Them Grow. I just thought that was common sense but what do I know.

-I don’t know about you, but I start baking a lot more around this time of year. So this is good to know. The Best Substitute for Cake Flour and Self-Rising Flour in Baking

Pictures from the week

Sunday Happy

August. Then gem of the summer. Warm days, cool nights. The knowledge that yes, it is still summery now, but soon it will be crisp, and cool, and all fall with sweaters and apples and… I am getting ahead of myself. Still summer here, and I should just enjoy it will it lasts. So that is what I will do.

This past week was busy and a little on the stressful side at times. It started with camping on Sunday which was good, maybe not the best, but no camping is bad camping, unless it is bad. It just that is was terribibly hot and there was a lot of people around and poison ivy everywhere which made me anxious because I was also getting attacked by mosquitoes so I kept thinking I was starting to get it. (I am very allergic to poison ivy). Also I woke up in the middle if the night to the mr yelling because someone was looking into our tent. I didn’t see said person because I was asleep until I wasn’t and I did questioned whether or not he might have dreamed it, but needless to say, I didn't not sleep much after that. So yeah, other then that, not bad. And then we got out of the tent early, made the coffee and went on our way home. To life. We had (and still have) a lot of stuff going on, all at once because that is how it goes. But we got stuff done, and then some. And we even managed to get in a couple kayak sessions! First of the year because we are butts and also we just finally got around to getting racks for the car.(No more truck to throw them into. Sad). We also made time to look at a big chunk of land that I was sooooo expecting to love but nope, wasn’t for us. We test drove a newer van that was awesome, but again,wasn;t for us. We picked up farm share together and ate ten thousand tomatoes, and are now officially 100% filed and finished our taxes. Checks were wrote, I might have cried a little, but done they are.

So yeah, the week went, we did, I am tired, the mr is really tired, and we are ready to get out of here for the night. Our camping stuff is packed and ready to go. Now where are we going is the question…..Somewhere without night creepers would be nice.

Links from the internet for you to take or leave.

-Plastics Or People? At Least 1 Of Them Has To Change To Clean Up Our Mess. A beach of flip flops. How depressing. People, let’s all just stop buying plastic!

-I don’t know what the heck is wrong with people but curly parsley is the shit! It’s delicious and I can eat handfuls of it. For real. How Did Curly Parsley Get So Uncool?

-Reading this made me sad and angry. Greenland Is Melting Away Before Our Eyes

-This Must Be What It’s Like to Live Inside a Rainbow. I can appreciate it and I would love to say there but I don’t think I could actually live with that much color. Sensory overload!

-Now these rooms. I could live in. Cool Pics Show Hotel Rooms of the U.S in the 1950s and '60s

-This reminded me so much of my sister Erin. She would do something like this (or already has) Three Cats in Japan Have a Closet Full of Custom-Made Hats Felted From Their Shedded Fur

-This Remote Corner Of Nevada Is One Of The Darkest Places In The World. I want to go. I will go. And I bet everyone else wants to to, so lets all not be assholes and trash the place like happens when cool places are discovered.

-I am a slut for bedding. Just pictures of pretty textiles make me happy. BOHO BEDDING.

-At Burger King, Your Meat-Free Burger Might Come With a Coating of Real Meat Juice. This is another reason why I don’t ever go out to eat. And this 1 In 4 Food Delivery Drivers Admit To Eating Your Food. I trust no one!

-Japanese Way of Making Iced Coffee. Do you drink Iced coffee? I love it but rarely drink it because I have no will power when it comes to coffee and will basically chug it and then it is gone and I am sad. Hot coffee slows me down, if only a little bit.

And pictures from the week.

Sunday Happy

Summer at it’s fullest and greatest. And not so great, at it’s hottest. At least this past week was freaking amazing, especially compared to last weekend. That humid heat damn near killed me!

The week started off with a soggy hike and a heat soaked day of camping and fun times. Groton State forest, at the Stillwater campground. The mr and I were both a little drained and tired from being so so hot but we managed alright, went and did some hiking, the mr did a little fishing, I sat around and read. The normal, just a little slower then usually. But it all changed that night. We woke up and walked down to the water to watch the sunrise and take in the fresh, glorious, air. It was not hot and humid and we was alive again. HA

Then after camp, home we went, back to the week. Stuff happened, like stuff that needed to happen, like those taxes that I have not wanted to talk about… They are pretty much done. HOORAY!!! All the ups and downs. The few tears, the rage, the anxiety. Over. And now I can stop worring about them for a least a few more months, until next year that is. Because every year. Blah. Stupid taxes.

Besides taxes, there was a dentist appointment that I sat around and waited for but never got to be seen. (SO PISSED) Paul came over for resume help and food. The mr, Barb, Coco, and I spent an afternoon at the park. I weeded for hours in the garden. And lets talk about the garden. Whoa it is going and going. Right now it’s all about the squash, chard, and greens and the tomatoes will be booming soon!!!!!!!!!! That on top of farm share, well I am just one happy, full to the brim, lady.

The rest of the week was and went.

Friday I worked the studio all day then the mr and the littles picked me up. We ran to the store to get supplies, then went home for our first backyard campout. The rule was, besides me, no one was allowed inside at all until just before bed time to use the bathroom and brush our teeth. (Or to go number two. They needed to use the toilet for that. Ha). And so I got dinner stuff ready (In the house but I needed to use the fridge and because I could), we ate dinner at the picnic table, set up the tents, made a fire, did so-mores, played with fire, and the kids ran around hopped up on sugar. We went to the park, walked around the neighborhood, and when it got dark, lit up some sparklers. It was the best! The kids were so happy, the mr and I were happy to be camping again, even if it was just the backyard, and really, it just was so great. Even when we were in our tent trying to fall asleep and all I could hear was Miley and Judah whispering and giggling and playing cards in their tent. Because that is what you do when you camp and it had me falling asleep smiling.

When we woke up (I woke up 3 hours earlier then everyone, made a pot of coffee and read on the porch) the breakfast stuff was ready outside. Eggs and toast on the camp stove. Hot chocolate, and freshly picked raspberries from the bushes in the yard. Then back to the park, and home they went. Probably some of the best camping yet. And now that we know they are awesome in a tent, we are taking them to a state park in the next few weeks. That’s gonna be fun.

Today we are heading south to camp. Lake St. Katherine or maybe Half Moon. Not sure yet. The plan is to get close and see which one feels right. We were going to bring the kayaks but It might rain and thunderstorm during the afternoon and tonight so I figured we can just go hiking instead. I would rather be in the woods and not in the middle of the lake during a lightning storm. That would kind of suck. But watch, it probably won’t rain, and even if it does, I am ok with that. We won’t melt.

Endeavors into the world wide web.

-IKEA Upcycles Furniture Into Homes For Birds, Bees, ​and Bats. Some sweet ass, fun-tastic looking homes for those birds, bees, and bats.

-I am not a beach person, partially because of this. Sun, Sand And Sewage: Report Shows Many U.S. Beaches Unsafe For Swimming. Happens here in Burlington too.

-What are algae blooms and why are they bad?. Another reason I avoid the beach.

-Questions We All Ask Ourselves: Why Does the Beanbag Chair Even Exist? Because who doesn’t love to sink into big ol’ bean bag?

-I can’t wait until the fennel starts flowing at the farm. It is the BEST! Fennel: The Best Ways to Pick It, Cook It, and Eat It

-Why Science Can Be So Indecisive About Nutrition. There is always something about something. Heck, even kale was bad for you at one point.

-This common plastic packaging is a recycling nightmare. When is the plastic craziness going to stop? And when are people going learn that just because it says it is recyclable, doesn’t mean that it is actually going to be recycled. We should just stop worring about recycling and focus more on reducing freaking plastic all together.

-Not sure what I think about this. Petition to change date of Halloween gets more than 80,000 signatures

-Soemthing about these photgraphs that I really like. Murky waters: Karine Laval’s dreamy photography takes you from the deep end to a surreal space

-A Needle Pulling Thread. Sashiko is the perfect simple, low-cost hobby to get you off your phone. Or just have another hobby. I have been meaning to Sashiko all the big holes in my couch cushions.. Maybe it will be my winter project?

Pictures from the week.

-C

Sunday Happy

Holy shit. I am so hot. Like heated to the very depths of my soul and can’t even think straight, hot. And It sucks, but what can we do about it? (Apparently I can bitch about it. Ha!)

We started the week off in the woods doing the camp thing. The park, Allis State Park, was just gorgeous. Nice and quite, lush and green, with a really cool fire tower with views for days. (I climbed it, the mr stayed on solid ground) The weather was amazing and it really was just what we needed. We went for a good hike, made lentils and zucchini for dinner, then just hung around and chilled by the fire. The perfect start to camping season even though I forgot my camp clothes. We were coming from a visit that required me to look decent and I forgot to pack a change of clothes and only grabbed my thin thermal underwear that I sleep in. But lucky me, the mr let me wear his extra shirt so I managed alright. That mr. Always looking out for me.

Back in town we did life as usual although with the heat and all we, especially me, have functioned at a much slower pace. We did manage to go for a bike ride lunch, another couple small hikes, and pick lots of flowers on top of feeding Megans cat everyday. And my garden is growing at a rapid pace and is now on the verge of being overcome by the onslaught of weeds. I just haven’t wanted to spend to much time weeding this week because again, heat and all. Other then that, same old, same old.

Friday I was really excited to spend the afternoon working at the studio. But when I got there, all the kilns were on and reaching maximum temperature so the studio was a bit toasted warm and not the pleasant cool I was looking forward to. After work, the mr and littles picked me up, (they just went to the movies and were complaining how cold it was… brat faces) we went home and I made them pasta because I couldn’t do much more. They played in the sprinkler then we tried to walk around the block but they just couldn’t make it around because of the heat, then Miley felt sick and had to go home. So the mr and Judah brought her home and went to get supplies. Ice cream and chips. We ended up watching Kindergarten Cop which I haven’t seen in like 20 years (it was terrible and Judah loved it) then made Judah a bed in our room so we could all crank the ac for the night and not melt.

Woke up, did the pancakes, went on a few errands, and dropped the boy off to his air conditioned family. Then the heat really just plowed me over. My brain tuned to mush, I cleaned a bit, picked blackberries from the yard, and basically just laid around on the floor and sweated. It was nasty and I was miserable. Meanwhile the mr was outside mowing the lawn because he is a glutton for punishment. And crazy. And that was the day. I was showered and locked away in the bedroom with the ac on by 7. And it was nice.

Currently sitting in the living room, with no ac, at 4am and the tempature is 87. It’s just not right.

Going onwards with the day we are headed back into the woods again and I am optimistic. Camping by a lake in a forest so we should be semi cool?? Or less hot then right now I hope. At the very least we can jump into water. But I am pretty sure the heat, or at least the humidity is going to break today. It has to or else I am a goner.

Hope you al are holding up better then I am. HAHA!

Linkage from the net.

-I am in the Spice Girl Generation. And yes, I loved them and still do. The Rise of the Spice Girls Generation

-The mr and I have been going back and forth between new sleeping pads or an inflatable mattress or just using yoga mats for camping…. Maybe the hammock is the way to go. Camping hammocks free you from tent tyranny

-How changes in barometric pressure affect the human body. I am so so so sensitive to it. I get head pressure and joint aches when it fluctuates. It’s annoying.

-Why Do We Yawn? Reading about yawning makes people yawn. You are probably yawning right now. I totally yawned.

-It is so hot so you should know exactly what your options are. What’s the Difference Between Ice Cream, Gelato, Sorbet, and Sherbet?

-There's An Explanation For Why You Always Get Sick During Time Off. I don’t get “sick” per say, but I definitely crash after a long stint of work.

-What the holy fuck. Arby’s mocks the fake meat trend with vegetables made out of meat (or “megetables”) But pretty dang funny.

-I love a good tile floor. Who doesn't? CHECKERED PAST.

-Hiiiiii! THIS is how texting has changed grammar & the way we communicate. I think by now we all know that a period at the end of a text is hostile. HA

-This could be my calling, or just a good way to get out of the country for a few years because, well you know. New vacancy for sheep dyke warden

Pictures from the week.

Sunday Happy

Another Sunday, another week gone by.

So last Sunday I took some of the family (cousins, Dad, a few siblings and a couple littles) on a hike, a hike that I did not think would be a problem for anymore. Just a 5 or 6 mile, in and out, up a mountain hike. You know, easy. Turns out that some people are not as mountain climbing able as I thought and I might have almost killed a person or two. Oops. It was good though, actually is was freaking fantastic, and most of us made it to the top, to see the spender of the world, and we all made it back down alive so all ended well. And once were were down, everyone took off, and the mr and I headed for the campground. It was raining a little, cold as shit, but still glorious. We got there, set up, then tromped through the woods some more until we were just too cold. Headed back to camp where I chopped up a pumpkin for dinner and a little asshole chipmunk stole and ate half an apple. We then spent the rest of the evening trying to stay warm sitting by the fire. When it was finally an acceptable time to sleep, (8ish) I wore all my clothes, hat and mittens, and socks to bed. I fell asleep, woke up a few hours later to some load bros being dicks and shouting, but tyou know, that shit happens, but managed to be lulled back into sleep by the mr’s snoring. Woke up in the pitch dark, made coffee, packed the site, and off to the river for the mr to do his morning fishing thing. And then back to the world of others and not just the trees. How do I not live in the trees? Some day, some day soon.

The rest of the week was whatever. Work stuff here and there. I ripped out most of the garden which was a little sad but freeing feeling. Barb came over for dinner and I plugged in my new lamp that I found on the side of the road and found a shade for it. I made a cake, cleaned the fridge, put away summer clothes. Boring stuff. There were two days back there when it got really warm again, and super humid and I almost lost my shit. And I got caught in the rain during farm share and got soaked, but other then that, nothing to eventful.

Friday I worked at the studio all day, cleaned a shit load, loaded kilns, did the happy human interaction thing. While I Was working the mr picked Judah up from school and after a trip for hot choclate, they came back home to meet me for dinner and a hair cut. That little finally let me take a few inches of hair off his head so he can now see again. I made pizza for them, we walked, Judah punched and karate chopped everything ( mostly the mr), Shannon randomly stopped by which was nice because I don’t see here enough, and then everyone left. I assed out like a champ.

Yesterday was one of those day. I am not sick, but very tired and needed a kind of down day to just not, although it was very productive anyway. Trimmed some pots, ran chores, cleaned the shit out of the house. The mr did some fly tying and we went for a long walk. Slow and nice.

And it’s Sunday which means CAMPING! We said it last week, and the week before, but I think this might actually be the last weekend camping for a little while (I am determined to get the mr to do a little winter camping) I don’t know what I am going to do now because all week long I look forward to the taking of, going hiking, having a big fire, no house to clean up, and sleeping in the tent. I guess it’s not like we still can’t do all that, and still, it’s just maybe we don’t sleep in a tent outside anymore. Huh, maybe I might be preemptively saying we are not camping anymore.. Maybe we can just sleep in the car , do car camping from now on. Good idea me, keep it keeping on. Anyway, to the Queeche Gorge State Park today. The mr hopefully has his fishing waders, I have 2 books (one to finish, one to start), a pumpkin and lentils for dinner, and my winter mittens, extra socks, and lots and lots of fire wood.

We are ready.

Stuff you might find worth looking at on the internet this week.

-Why we need small farms. Giant farms scare me. I feel like I can trust a smaller, local farm over any big as mega farm any day.

-The Best Ways to Make a Carved Halloween Pumpkin Last Longer. I might try the soaking in water, I hear it really dose work well.

-I see it happening all the time was it scares that shit out of me. The babies know how to use a freaking computer, sometime even better then me. Craziness. Raised by YouTube

-I have got mine down. How and Why to Cultivate an Evil Laugh

-The Outrageous Master Sommelier Scandal, Explained. Oh man, would I be so so pissed if I was one of the honest test takers. That shit is HARD!

-This made me smile. Same-Sex Penguin Couple Fosters An Egg In Sydney

-Did you know Ikea had veggie dogs? In two months, Ikea sold 1 million of its new veggie hot dogs

-Definitely one of my life goals. The whole trail, one fell swoop. I might even have to drag the mr along too. What's It Like To Hike The Long Trail?

-Yes, There's a Right Way to Measure Brown Sugar. I always back as much as I can…

-Ginger Lime mule is the BEST! Polar Seltzer Limited Edition / Winter 2018 Released.

And Pictures from the wee

Enjoy the day!

-C