Favorite Swimming Hole

What's your favorite place to swim? Beaches are beautiful to look at, but not my favorite place to swim. Lakes and ponds are out, too murky for my tastes.

My favorite swimming spot is fondly called The Froggy Pool, for reasons obvious in the photo below. A modest kids pool at a community club, that is often over crowded with splashing little ones. One the other hand that is part of the fun. It's perfect for our silly pool games. The atmosphere at the club is laid back, so there's no need to worry  how you look in your swim suit or feel self conscious when you are playing the part the giant crab or even the fleeing bunny. Bunnies don't like giant crabs. The pool also has retro looking metal umbrellas that I love. So The Froggy Pool takes my top spot for taking a dip.

Borrowed Sunflowers

Our sunflowers took a beating this year and our efforts to grow 100 sunflowers were undermined yet again by our four footed nemeses. Yes, deer I'm referring to you!

While the ongoing battle between weekend gardener and the Bambis still rages on, we took a quick detour after grocery shopping this weekend to admire someone else's garden. In fact many someones. The community garden at Duke Farm was full of sunflowers. The largest I have ever seen. While I'm disappointed our sunflowers didn't make it, we were happy to walk among the garden plots and enjoy some borrowed beauty.

An Imperfect Garden

Every summer our garden seems to go its own way. It never quiet confirms to the image of the perfect garden in our imagination.

Despite "falling short" and sustaining multiple deer attacks, it always manages to offer up patches of beauty. It's never the big beautiful manicured garden featured in magazines, but if you look closely, it is beautifully imperfect.

Just Peachy

We managed to get some peach picking in while the sun shined this weekend. Now we have to figure out what to do with a big ole basket of white and yellow peaches once they ripen.

Last night the little one suggested fruit salad. We used the one ripe peach and today I have a beautiful little hand made snack to look forward to.

I figure I have two or three days to come up with a recipe before the rest all ripen.

Face in Hole

Face in Hole photos are so much fun. We took full advantage of the offerings at the 4H Fair.

I think the little lamb is my favorite.

Photo Booth Fun

Why is mugging for the camera do much fun? I love old time photo booths but they are hard to find, require change one never seems to have or are sadly broken.

Hurrah for apps like Incredibooth that let us make fun funny faces and pose to our hearts content. Last night we were in a mellow mood. The lighting was too low and and my co-model was reluctant at first, but I got a few hugs and kisses out of the deal. All in all not a bad photo shoot.

Tiny Harvest

Our garden has suffered two major deer attacks this summer and I have basically given up on seeing anymore tomatoes this year. Sometimes I question the ratio between all the work we put in and what the garden actually produces.

Honestly with all the rain this year the garden has pretty much taken care of itself and I admire the resolve of the sunflowers which keep trying to flower after having their heads bitten off twice. Plants are tenacious.

And sometimes when everything goes right they are productive. Last night my little one harvested our first zucchini. We learned zucchini grow quickly. I was watching this one. The end of last week it was tiny, the size that might be served up on palate of baby vegetables in a restaurant. Last night when we picked it was big enough to serve two. We sliced it and sautéed it with some garlic and enjoyed our tiny harvest. Oh and we photographed it too! Proud gardener's that we were.

Summer Fun

I've been thinking about Summer and fun and how during this season it shows up in unexpected and often small ways. Appropriately enough, my daughter brought me home a bracelet that spelled out SUMMER FUN from camp yesterday. I was thrilled. I brought her home a Incredible Me cup caked. She was thrilled. That was summer fun in two small packages.

We don't have anything big planned this summer. A new job means no real vacation days, so I been feeling a lot of pressure to squeeze fun out of the little bit of free time we have.

Pressure and fun are never a good combination, so I'm trying to lighten up. I'm also thinking ahead to winter and an idea is brewing. I'm going to see if we can swing a winter vacation in a warm spot (aka Florida). I've amazingly never been and it is the home of a number of well known princesses. I don't want to jinx it by saying more but I'm hoping we get an extra week of summer this winter.

Favorite Summer Things: Black Eyed Susans

Our Black Eyed Susans rallied after a deer attack earlier this summer (not so our beautiful tomato plants). Now, they are blooming away and cheering us with their simple beauty. If all flowers have a certain character and mood to them, then Black Eyed Susans are straight forward and happy and a perfect reflection of a sunny summer day.

Zombie Fever

I finished World War Z over the holiday weekend. We were all recovering from very bad summer flus. Reading in bed during a beautiful summer day seems like a waste, but we were really wiped out.

At least feeling sickly added to the war torn feeling of the survivors tales I was reading in the book. I enjoyed the structure and feel of the book, although I wish there had been some explanation of what caused the the zombie pandemic. I would have liked at least some mention of attempts to solve the problem scientifically. In the end I was a bit zombied out. I was glad to turn the last page and leave the undead and rejoin the living. All in all zombies make for a good summer read.

Sculpture Studio

I'm amazed what my little one can do with a pack of Play Doh . I don't remember ever being so creative with Play Doh when I was a kid. I just made some stringy shapes and ropey twists with the contraption that came with the Doh.

Maybe I would have gotten to cool sculptures if my mom were not secretly throwing out my Play Doh as quickly as she could. I remember catching her. That's a whole story in itself. Me asking where my Play Doh was. Mom saying I must have misplaced it. Me finding it in the garbage.

I guess I can forgive her now considering that Play Doh can ruin a carpet faster than anything and seems to naturally find its way to the nearest susceptible floor covering.

We are solving for this with a kitchen only rule and dinner plates as a sculpting surface. I have to say I love the stuff my little artist comes up with. I still need to photograph the bowl of corn flakes she made.

Wedding Fun

My eldest niece just got married and it was such a happy wedding. The day was sunny and gorgeous. There was a lovely garden, a three piece string ensemble, water in the background and a breeze. Add a beautiful young couple in love, friends and family and it all came together into a perfect day.

Add a photo booth to the reception and it was a lot of fun too. I love all of these pictures we took together. They reflect the love and happiness of Katie and Zack's wedding day. I look at them and smile at the joy that was captured on film.

Summer is Imminent

Wow, the upcoming weekend means summer is on its way. Yesterday's heat wave was proof it is serious about arriving.

After what seemed liked an extremely cold spring, the heat was a shock. Sweaters are still everywhere in the house. Actually, it felt like spring never really arrived and despite the floral evidence, I feel like we just went through Autumn.

Well, time put that behind us and plan some summer fun. Here's a list of a few little things I want to squeeze in this summer:

Grow our own string beans (the little one's favorite vegetable)
Have a picnic at our local nature preserve
Finally buy a gas grill and cook lot's of healthy meals outside
Finish planting our herbs and use lots of them in healthy salads
Spruce up our rock garden that is feeling a bit neglected
Read a really great book
Swim a lot with the little one
Go bike and scooter riding
Adapt a summer attitude

Weekend Plans

For several weeks, I've wished for a weekend with nothing to do. This weekend could come close, except that our sunflowers need to be planted. They are already knocking the roof off their little greenhouse planter, so I'll be putting on the gardening gloves tomorrow. I need to do some much needed clean up before the flower bed can be planted.

I'll also need to put the fencing, that I took down for the hurricane, back in place. This promises to be a real chore. Oh well, in a month or two, I'll be happy I didn't slack off. I would be thrilled if we managed to grow a really gigantic sunflower like the one above this year. How do people do it?