Right Now

Right now, I'm loving a hot, sunny, splashy, shady, sticky, laughy, happy weekend. We found the chance to sneak down and crash Grammy and Gramps' peaceful pool time, and the kids didn't stop smiling the whole time.

Come to think of it, they may still be smiling about it.

Happy Monday!

This Moment

Playing along with Amanda today... in her words: 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

One Year Ago, Today.

One year ago today we closed on this house of ours. Closing was the climax of an incredibly stressful summer for me... maybe even the most stressful summer yet. Like... imagine riding a roller coaster, but not being entirely securely strapped in, while trying to juggle, all in a hurricane. Yep, that's a pretty good simile for last summer.

I remember pulling away from the title company- keys to our new house in my cup holder- feeling so relieved and so overwhelmed that I had to putt-putt-putt through the parking lot to collect myself before actually leaving. Then I realized that from the title company, I didn't know how to get to my new house. 

What a summer.

Closing was the climax, indeed, but we still haven't quite gotten off that roller coaster ride. Sure, I'm no longer juggling, the weather is much calmer, and we're on the downhill run, but we're still on that ride. It's been a bit of a bumpy one, too.

This morning I find myself looking back at the distance we've covered since we first started on this ride (getting tired of the roller coaster metaphor yet?), and despite the fact that the end may still be out of sight I'm so glad we're here. No regrets.

I'm so glad we found this place.

I love every step we've taken to make this house our Home.

I love the feeling of growing our family roots in this land, and pushing them deeper and deeper into the sandy soil as each day goes by.

This house felt like an impossible idea such a short time ago, and the celebration in my heart today is in appreciation of finally finding it... of finding Our Home.

Look back at the tribute to our old place last year here.

Eggs?

Out of curiosity I looked up when we first got our little peeps, and assuming they were about a week old when we brought them home, I figured out they're around 17-18 weeks old now.

Holy cow (or should I say holy hen?), they could be laying eggs any day now.

How did I miscalculate so badly in the beginning? I was thinking it wouldn't be until the fall that we'd get our first sweet little pullet eggs... but no, thanks to the early laying habits of red sexlinks we might get some before the end of the month!

I've been told by chicken-keeping friends that the first few pullet eggs end up just kinda falling out of the chicken wherever she may be, because in the beginning they're not aware of the process. We decided to help the Red Ladies out a bit by making them some 'practice eggs' with the hopes that they'll catch on and put their eggs where the wooden ones are... when the time comes.

Who knows if the colors matter, but they mattered to us! Anyho, there's one in each nesting box now, so we're ready. I hope they are...

Right Now

Right now, I'm loving a weekend that saw...

...an early morning parade, lunch out, and a potluck-style dinner with family and friends.
...backyard fire crackers, faulty sparklers, and in the end- no injuries.
...a caravan to the local stadium, a real bad pre-show band, and almost 30 minutes of fireworks.
...over-tired, slap-happy, bedazzled kiddos who got to stay up way late to see "real" fireworks for the first time (and who couldn't stop their little bodies from jumping and running and wiggling the whole show).
...pancakes for breakfast, lots of coffee for the grown-ups, and an afternoon birthday party for a sweet doll of a one-year-old.
...our leaky shower fixed... finally!
...a slow end to it all for recovery, a little clean up, and a few more meals of party leftovers!

Right now we're still feeling a little sluggish from our super-late Friday night, but we're also still talking about the show where "the fire turned in to sparkles!" We had a great weekend.

Wishing all the same.

Side note- I really need to clean the lens on my camera... what's up with all that streaky light? Sheesh! Sorry!

Happy Monday!

Summer Berries

When the sun sinks low, the wind quiets, and the heat isn't quite as intense, we slip outside. We do chores, we harvest veggies, and the kiddos get in a little more playtime before hitting the tub.

Sometimes there is a magical moment where the boys find something that occupies them... elsewhere... and us girls get to spend that cooler, peaceful dusk-time out, just the two of us.

One of the things that we find ourselves drawn to when we get outside are the heady, heavy, jewel-toned summer blackberries growing wild all around us. They're irresistible, really. Wild candy.

My girl says, "This is my best favorite snack. It's even better than candy, and I'll only eat the ones I want, and then bring some to Henny, too."

And she did.

While Sister picked berries for herself and her Bubba, Mama managed to stash away a few for Chicken Joe and the Red Ladies... and at the end of the night, everyone was purple-stained and smiling...

...even the chickens.

(see our pickin' last year)

(The Death Of) Our Giant Pumpkin

Anyone notice the shot of our giant pumpkin in my Solstice post? Isn't it a beauty, all round and light orange and huge? The last of it's kind, and such a show-stopper out in our garden!

Ah, but c'est la vie, it wasn't even a week after I took that photo that I started to notice it wasn't so round anymore, and it's color not as uniform and light... a quick check on the underside revealed that it had fallen to a colony of termites. Termites!

Pumpkins. My Achilles Heel. I swear! One of these days I'll pull it off and have home-grown pumpkins in the fall. This year is not the year though, apparently.

After watching all the other baby giants wither off the vines and find their way into the chicken coop or compost pile, and after loosing it's basketball-sized neighbor to the same pests, I was feeling cheated and defiant- not this one! I will have this one, one way or another.

I Googled and scoured cookbooks and called my mom. There had to be some resource out there with directions for using an under-ripe pumpkin. All that really came up, though, was how to ripen a green pumpkin. That's about it. So I decided to improvise.

This sucker was one ounce shy of 29 pounds when I cut it off the vine and brought it in. I can't help but wonder how big it would have gotten had it made it all the way through the summer. *sigh*

Not really knowing what to do with this beast, I just carved it up into slices that would fit into my oven, roasted it at 375F for a little over an hour, then processed it the same way I would have for a ripe pie pumpkin- scoop, puree, drain.

In the end I filled a one-gallon freezer bag to bursting with the puree, with enough left over to have stewed pumpkin with dinner that night. The verdict? I should have stewed it longer. It had a flavor and texture a bit like slightly al dente spaghetti squash (kinda watery too, even though I drained it). I think the next round will need extra cooking time to soften it up a bit more and sweeten it, but overall I'm glad I didn't toss it to the chickies, because it's a totally workable product. Maybe not for pies, but for much more than animal food!