Weekend

Here's to bread baking in the oven and fresh veggies in the belly. It has been a week of weeks around here. The weather has been amazing as the summer is winding down. Eliot and Kevin start back to school this week and we are closing on a new house on Tuesday if all goes as planned! I can't wait to share pictures and get settled.

In the mean time we are packing up and closing down shop here in our apartment. I suspect blogging will be slow over the next week and until we get Internet hooked up at our new residence. Wish us luck!


The quality of light is changing rapidly around here. The leaves have begun to change over, too.
We have had such perfect summer weather this year I can't feel too badly about fall approaching. Feels like our lives are changing along with the season.

Slow Cloth

I have been slowly working on the rock rug this week. It is coming together smoothly but slowly, piece by piece. I usually carry it around in a basket to bring here and there to work on it but it is finally outgrown it. I am happy with how the blanket has turned into 'sand' - there are some minor color variations that have given the white sections more depth. As we feel fall slowly approaching around here (some trees have already turned!) I will keep slowly working on this.

The feather project is coming along too - I worked on it a lot last weekend. I will take some pictures soon to share.

And of course - Happy Birthday to my crazy Husband.

A Brief Catch-Up

A quick catch up from our week. We visited Grey Animal Farm and were surprised to find that a Pow Wow was happening. There were lots of talented singers, drummers and dancers.

Eliot is a budding gardener. Or at least he doesn't mind getting dirty.

My niece's baptism was in a beautiful church in MA.

And turtles from the animal farm, all lined up on a log.

I am having some issues with my pictures uploading very grainy to blogger the past month or so. These pictures are really very crisp and nice - very annoying. I haven't figured out how to solve the problem yet but if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear it.

*ahh much better...you have to tweak the html a bit to remove the resizing done by Picassa Web. If any wants more details or how to let me know.

Sumac Lemonade

Eliot and I collected a bunch of Sumac and made Sumac Lemonade out of it. It was really good!
It would make great Popsicles, too.




Basic recipe:

10-12 heads of Sumac berries, either Staghorn (we used) or Smooth variety with RED berries. The white are poisonous.
2-3 quarts of water.
Let soak for 20 minutes in cool water. Do not rinse first or you will loose all of the flavor. I had read somewhere of people soaking them for a lot longer, I might try that next time to taste the difference.
Strain through cheese cloth to remove any fibers or bugs.
Sweeten to taste.
Enjoy over ice.

Vacation II

More vacation pictures....

The sunsets were so beautiful they lit up even the simplest things and turned them into photographic subjects.

Crafting with the kids. It was so rewarding to pass on the rug making techniques I have been working on to an enthusiastic listener. I am putting together a little kit for her and her mom to work on.

Can't beat this location for making things.

The kids did so well over the week. This sums up the energy and excitement of it all.

Wrapping up the week with a fire on the beach and as many s'mores as you could eat.

Vacation

We are back from our vacation. It was a wonderful, relaxing electronic free week. I will be posting some pictures over the next few days.

We were in Harpswell, Maine on the tip of a point with a sandy beach on one side and working docks on the other. There were hermit crabs galore and it was dripping with sea glass.
We had a belated birthday celebration for my mother after our big lobster feast.

Everyone 'helping' the kids open (and eat) their lobsters.

Eliot has his first trip in a kayak. We had an old dog named Lacey who tagged along with us all week. She was very sweet and loved the kids. She ended up being a great babysitter.