Ordinary Time

There was a lot going on this weekend... Two birthdays, Father's Day, a big family party hosted by W. and MC, and a surprise gardening event. The birthdays were D.'s and J.'s.  D.'s birthday was yesterday which coincided with the party. Last year W. and MC decided to host an extended family party in June because the stretch between Easter and Thanksgiving, when we usually all gather, seemed like a long stretch. The P. Family were invited, too, because they are pretty much family at this point. Someone decided that D. needed to be sung to, at which point K. got this awesome picture. It's too bad we don't have any fun when we're together, huh? (l-r: a P. Family daughter, P. Family Dad, W. and D.) Also yesterday, TM and JH came but with a tree for me. JH works for a large plant growers and loves plants. The last time they were here, I was asking JH about recommendations for what to do with the front of the barn because I was tired of it looking... abandoned.  ...

The Internet is really a mixed bag as to its societal benefit, isn't it? I personally think that one of the really great things is people creating videos showing you how to repair things. Things such as your KitchenAid mixer that stopped working after 33 years of service.  I had mentioned that J. had taken it apart and figured out what parts needed to be replaced. To get everything he needed to make it work again, we were out less than $50. The parts arrived and J. worked on getting it all put back together this afternoon.  It's now good as new! While he had it all disassembled, he also scrubbed all the parts clean. It truly needed it, especially after 33 years and many children using it. It's positively shiny!  I'm very excited to have it back and working. This is mainly because it is what I use to make applesauce and I couldn't imagine even attempting such a feat without the food grinder that attaches to the mixer. I've made applesauce using a hand crank food ...

Remember a couple of years ago when Vienna was so sick because her metabolic system was haywire and it took a long time to stabilize it? That wasn't fun for any of us. She'd been doing so well... until she wasn't. Last Thursday she seemed a little off and Friday I knew something was wrong.  Because I am a little pathologically hypervigilant about her health we caught it nearly immediately. She is now back on her protocol from two years ago and we've had blood drawn to make sure we know what's going on. (According to the vet she is probably experiencing an insulin spike.) The good news is she doesn't seem to be getting worse. If she doesn't continue to make forward progress, there is also another type of medication we can try. There's no reason to believe she won't make a full recovery.  So my brain knows that, but my nervous system hasn't quite believed it yet. This looks like feeling unmotivated to do much, feeling as though I can't concentr...

A few of my favorite people have birthdays today. G. and L. turned 17 if you can believe it. There were donuts for breakfast and we had L.'s birthday dinner tonight. She decided to go with her long standing dinner choice from when she was younger: homemade macaroni and cheese, mini-pickles (sweet gherkins), and squishy bread (grocery store made French bread). Wednesday night will be G.'s chosen dinner of Pasta with onion, bacon, and goat cheese. For dessert we went out to our little town's seasonal ice cream place.  Happy Birthday to all three of you! I love you very much!!

Food is really one of the joys of summer, isn't it? In the past few days we have enjoyed salads completely from the garden, we picked the most cherries from our trees since we planted them, and the hens are going all out in terms of egg production.  (These were from several days; we'd let them pile up a bit.) Strawberries are ripe this week, but I don't know if we're going to get time to go picking this year. Of course, once you pick a bunch of fruit, you have to do something with it. I know I don't have time for that. Maybe I just buy some already picked to enjoy fresh. I also noticed that the black raspberries are starting to grow, but we probably have another week before they're ripe.  The perishable nature of summer fruit, though is also a problem. With pears and apples, they can sit around for a bit if I don't have time to do something with them immediately. Summer fruits? Not so much. And that is all I have for you tonight... my musings on future guilt...

A few weeks ago we asked everyone what they would like to be sure to do this summer. An item on G.'s list was to go see the new bison at the Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve . Earlier this year, bison were added to the prairie ecosystem. They are owned by the American Indian Center of Chicago and are the only herd in the area living on tall grass prairie. The bison currently have 38 acres to roam. There had been a baby born recently, so that was added incentive. It was a beautiful morning, so some of us made the half hour trek north. We were lucky that the bison were all grazing near the public viewing area this morning, and we did indeed get to see the baby bison.  After we had watched the bison for quite a while, we decided to hike one of the trails. This wasn't a forest preserve we had visited yet and it was beautiful.  The hike was just over two miles and looped around the prairie. We started out at those trees in the distance. If you're local, I recommend going, espe...