Summer's last hurrah!

Tales from a great weekend!

A Boots n' Shorts gig: A lot of my family came-Mom, Dad, Brothers Bob and Matt, and long-lost Uncle who was in town for a bit before settling in Ohio!

Always wanted our name in lights!


"My two sons:" Dad, Bob, Matt

Matt and Mom

Dad and Bob (yes, that is the shocker *rolls eyes*)

Dancing fools! (Matt and Uncle Andy)

"Is there a snake in your boots?"

Fun with hula hoops!

"The Monkey and the Engineer!"

Brother Bob and I

Andy and I
(apparently there's the shocker again....*Sigh*)

Andy and Bob
(never mind my brother flipping the bird)

Matt

Family Photo!!
Mom, Me, Andy, Bob, Matt, Dad (and the drunk cigarette bummer in the background!)
(For all you college friends who thought my Dad didn't exist, here's a photo!)

Got a good-ish harvest from the garden this weekend:That's two tomatoes, two cucumbers, and a small handful of wild strawberries!

Then, I was a domestic goddess:
Oven drying roma tomatoes for the winter and freezing blueberries for the same:

Hickory Fest 2009

This past weekend we went to an amazing bluegrass festival in Wellsboro, PA called Hickory Fest. It's our third year attending, and we intend on making an annual pilgrimage to the Stony Fork Creek Campground. The setting is beautiful, the music inspiring, and the people that attend create such a feeling of warmth that each time we go, we vow to attend always!

I wanted to share some photos of our weekend with you:Neat-O cloud

fog

Banjo Mike

Nighttime jams

Spider web in the grass with dew

Lawn cutouts of famous musicians-see the Jerrys on the end?

Happy people

I can Hula!

Look at me go!

Happy Chicas! Janet, Dawn, Me

Hula Mama!

Special thanks to my Hula Mama!!! I never would have tried it if it weren't for her hula hoops!!!

bountiful harvest

This is the first tomato from my garden this year!


It was made all the more exciting for two reasons: 1. Last year, I did not get a single tomato from my garden. 2. Something took a bite while it was still green but I left it on the vine to see what happened. The unbitten half was as tasty as tasty could be!

Then, Sunday evening, we got home from an amazing 4-day bluegrass festival trip to find two more ripe tomatoes in my garden!We had stopped for lunch on the way home from the festival, and we got some pesto to bring home for supper. I made up a quick pesto/tri-color rotini/tomato/chick pea salad for supper:

Would you believe that those tomatoes were the best tomatoes I have ever tasted? Can't wait for the others that are ripening on the vine as we speak!

Unfortunately, I think my mom's garden got the tomato blight :( But her zucchini plants are ENORMOUS!!! After being away for 2 days, she got 5 of these guys (and 2 normal sized ones!):


We grilled one up for supper last night at mom's house, and with the leftovers, I made this tasty Zucchini/Balsamic dip-I don't remember what went in it, but I know there was some garlic, balsamic vinegar, Parmesan cheese, cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, and to thicken it up some, some pita bread soaked in balsamic vinegar. Whizzed up in the food processor, it was delicious!!
We were also blessed with 2 of our very own zucchini/canoes to take home with us. I shredded one, it yielded about 8ish cups of shredded zucchini-and I still have another one to contend with! I'm considering hollowing it out to make a canoe-could I shellac it and take it to the Adirondacks do you think?

Camping

We love camping. This weekend we got the opportunity to camp with my sister and her roommate. We went for a hike around the gorge where we camped, and I took some beautiful photos! Just wanted to share them with you:







Hopefully I'll have a more substantial post later tonight or tomorrow....soo busy!

Line Drying

I love laundry dried on the line
Clean, fresh smelling sheets...less wrinkles, clothes dry in a snap. Sure, we dry our clothes on drying racks, but there's something about clothes dried outdoors that I just love:



Only problem is, I don't have a clothesline. I tried the drying racks in the driveway, but they just blow over. Then, in March, I bought a new car. Now I have a clothes line. All I need are a nail into the garage:






And my roof racks. Trusty Subaru! And, I can move my line around the driveway to follow the sun!

Unreasonable

I have an unreasonable fear of spiders.

Not generally speaking, but specifically, spiders that reside in my raspberry patch. I have this unreasonable fear that I'll be out there picking away (with nobody else home, of course), and I'll get bitten by some poisonous spider (probably a black widow) and I'll die, out there, on the north side of the house. Or else, I'll get myself to the hospital only to discover that since I didn't see the spider that got me, they can't give me the proper antidote.

I tried reading up on backyard spiders to steel myself, and reassure myself, but the writer only started talking about poisonous spiders, and it didn't help.

Right now, my plan of attack is:
1. Always have my cell phone on me, in case of spider attack.
2. Always look before I pick up anything I can't see
3. Never, ever let your guard down.


After raspberry season, my fear of spiders will return to it's average "cautious distance."

Time to go pick some raspberries.

Dilemma

So a co-worker/office-mate/friend's last day at work was today, she's taken a better job closer to home, and I'm ecstatic for her, I think she'll be a wonderful director. Since her desk is bigger than mine, after offering it to other office-mates, I'm moving into it, since my desk's busting at the seams.
She leaves at 4:30 every day, and I leave at 5...and today I had 10 minutes before I could leave, and not the focus to do anything. So I moved some files from my small desk to hers (my new one). Is this too soon? I kind of felt like it was, but also, it was a spare 10 minutes, which don't come often at my job. What do you think? Thoughts, advice?