Summer Break: Week Eight

The Farmboy took this entire week off from work, and we managed a landscaping blitz like we haven't done in years. Y'all should have seen us at the end of each day, moving around like a couple of 80 year olds. Aching muscles and joints from digging holes and pulling weeds and spreading bark. It was pretty hilarious, actually. But at the end of the week, our place looked better than it had since the kids were born. Our motivation was the pending Twistapalooza III at the end of the week, in which we expected to entertain 80-100 adults in our front yard. It's pretty remarkable what a couple of stubborn over-the-hills can accomplish when they've set their minds to it.

This was also the week that we spent trying to cope in 100+ degree temperatures and air thick with wildfire smoke. Quilts on all of the West-facing windows, fans on full-blast at night, eating sandwiches meal after meal, and swollen ankles (my body hates hot weather!). We managed to survive yet again without air conditioning. Someday maybe we'll stop being so frugal and just install the silly thing already.

My herb garden was one of the very first features that we ever installed when this place was just a house in the middle of a cow pasture. For years it has been the bane of my gardening existence, with weeds blowing in from the field, infesting the brick walkways and every quadrant of my lovely compass design. The kids didn't even remember that there were four brick paths. Oy. If I had a dollar for every hour I've spent lifting those bricks and carefully pulling all of the grass and weed roots and re-setting the bricks... well, I'd have enough money to hire someone else to tend it for me. Our approach this time was to weed-whack everything down to ground level, lay down landscaping fabric, spread mulch, then selectively plant a few herbs in each section. The paths will still be a problem, but I'm hoping that we can stay ahead of the weeds moving forward. I'm pretty happy with how it all looks now. I'll have to post an "after" picture in a future post though, because it is currently still home to a couple of blue canopies and two BBQ grills, left in position after our yard party.

Several years ago, maybe even a decade, the Farmboy took some seed pods from a friend's Golden Raintree. He loved that tree and was determined to start one from seed. I completely forgot about his experiment, but under his tender care, the seed turned into a sapling that looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, then suddenly, this year, grew in such leaps and bounds it was astounding. And then, imagine his delight when he realized that it was going to blossom this year. This guy... there's really no end to the things he can do.

Summer Break: Week Six

I know that the pictures I post here often look downright slow and relaxed. But trust me when I say that up in my head, it has been way, way, way too busy this Summer. I wanted a lot more down time, but I've been jumping from one big project to the next, and sometimes working on multiple projects simultaneously. I have succeeded in getting more play dates in for the kids during this school break (which isn't actually saying much, considering last year there was a grand total of ONE, due to my painful back problems). But there have been zero read-alouds on the picnic blanket in the front yard, zero trips to the city for smoothies, and so many other things I try to do with the kids during the "slow" months. Oh well... I do my best, and keep reminding them that the grand result of all of my busy working hours, we will be able to take a trip to Disneyland in the Fall. Worth it? Yes, I hope so.

My poor camera has had very little action; most of these came from my phone camera, which is always in my back pocket when the presence of mind to snap a picture comes around.

Summer Break: Week Four

The week started with a celebration/retirement dinner for our Senior Pastor, who has led the same congregation for 29 years. We've only been a part of the church for 2, but we thoroughly enjoyed hearing the stories and meeting the people that go back much further in life history with this man and his family. I volunteered as a photographer, so I got to roam the room, snapping photos to my heart's content. Which is probably partially to blame for the fact that I have very few pictures representing the rest of week 4 of Summer Break.

The next day, we hosted a gathering of all of my siblings (except the one that lives over-seas), together with their spouses and kids, plus my parents and an Uncle. We try to gather as often as we all can, which usually amounts to twice a year, when my Montana sister comes to visit. With 11 adults and 11 kids, I was very glad it was a sunny day so we didn't have to crown into my little house. The cousins had great fun running around, while the grown-ups sat in the shade and swapped stories. And I did more relaxing and hosting that photo snapping.

Two days later, our yard was full again, this time with friends, talking, laughing, eating, then going to see the local fireworks. We think we've finally found the best spot to view the display, after a few years of trial and error. 

The rest of the week included band practice, lots of pool time for the kids, printing and assembling a new design for y'all, harvesting the first of our raspberries, lots of work on renovating the back deck, and a trip to the city to visit my local needlework shop and pick up models from their trunk show. 

Methinks busy = less photographic evidence.