as cozy as spring

Smoothie Pops

I saw smoothie pops in the grocery store over the weekend.  It may have never occurred to me to make these.  Or maybe I have done it and forgotten.  No matter.  It's a great concept especially since there are days I'm (sadly) too lazy to even haul out the blender to make my son's favorite smoothie.  

Our recipe is very imprecise:

• Handful of frozen strawberries
• Handful of frozen blueberries.  I think I use about a cup.  
• about a half a cup of orange juice
• 6 ounces of yogurt, any flavor

I may mix it up from time to time, but my son is partial to this concoction.

I made a bigger batch and poured it into our popsicle molds.  My son inserted the popsicle sticks.  I think they took about 2-3 hours to freeze completely.  And as you can see...

...they are a big hit.  He is requesting a third as I write.

Summer Scones

I think all my post titles are going to be 'Summer' something or other.  I used to really loathe summer.  I'm no fan of oppressive heat.  But the funniest thing has happened.  To stave off despair, I've put a lot more effort into making summer fun and pleasant - trying to do one quintessentially summer activity every day - and lo and behold I'm actually enjoying myself.  I was almost looking forward to summer this year.

Yesterday's summer fun included making strawberry scones.  A little bit of googling led me to this recipe.  Strawberries and buttermilk - perfect.  Is it just me or is buttermilk quite summery itself?  I always associate it with my grandfather who drank straight buttermilk as long as I can remember.  

Not pictured: My daughter zipping through the kitchen on roller skates and my son inexplicably and continually climbing into the washing machine.  I hid in my bedroom as soon as the scones went into the oven.  Kids are so weird.

They are delicately flavored and, being egg free, lighter than other scones.  I would say perfect for a summer afternoon.

FOs!

No one ever taught me how to take good photos of my own socks.  Sigh. 

I finally wrapped up my side project - plain socks knitting in Madelinetosh Tosh Sock 'Lichen'.  Oh, do I love this color!

I also recently wrapped up my daughter's hat in Spud and Chloe Lake.  The yarn is really quite nice.  I would knit all my children's projects in it if I could afford to do so.  It's thick enough to knit up quickly and the colors are gorgeous.

I mentioned my son's summer hooded cardigan a week or so ago.  I've made a lot of progress on it while waiting poolside and hope to wrap it up this week.  I highly recommend the pattern: Staccato.  It is a very polished pattern with nice details and a ton of sizes.  But I will never knit so many stripes again.  Weaving in ends on the sleeves alone took an entire Sunday afternoon.  I'm really enjoying working with the Quince and Co. (Lark) yarn.  It's holding up beautifully for being shoved in the swimming bag each morning.

OK, I have to go start the morning.  Happy Tuesday!

Sunday in the Kitchen

• 1 cup lemon juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 cups water
• 2 very, very happy children

It really is very good lemonade.  We're planning on making more for the fourth like Little Town on the Prairie.  I keep hoping the county will ban fireworks so I can just stay home.  I mean, yes, fireworks are lovely and all, but sitting for hours in the Texas heat?  Yuck.  

I also whipped up another Stone Fruit Tea Cake.  This go 'round I used peaches, strawberries and blueberries.  An excellent combination.  After some discussion, my husband and I agreed that we would try plums and cherries next.  It's so adaptable. I love that we can use whatever is in season.  I think my sisters would love this cake. :)

After all this, I was not in the mood to make a proper dinner (I never really am) so we just made simple chicken quesadillas.  We should do that more often.  

OK, I'm being summoned to read The Incorrigibles - no time to link, but we are still really enjoying it. 

Simplifying the Summer Garden

It's hot enough now that we've refined our garden goals to simply: keeping it all alive until fall.  I have ripped out most of the spring vegetables, cut back all the herbs.  It's all pretty ugly right now.  My plans for this week are to weed and mulch that which has yet to be weeded and mulched.  I thought I would share with you my favorite tool for weeding.

Occasionally, random garden tools will just show up at my door in the evening and this is one of my favorites.  You just stick the fork part near the root crown and pop it right up.  It's a great design. I spent this morning amongst the mosquitos and ants weeding my aster bed.  It only took a few minutes.  It takes very little hand strength so even a child can manage (unless that child is apt to smack himself in the face with the thing and perhaps gouge out his eyeballs in which case, I recommend goggles and bubble wrap 24/7).

My Endless Summer Lacecap Hydrangea is one of the few plants really thriving right now.  We transplanted it into a hidden spot in the ground and it is so happy there.  I love when we find just the right spot!  

Other notes for the sake of record keeping: The cucumbers are still producing enough for salads in the evening.  About half the blueberries have ripened.  We picked the very last blackberry last night.  The sunflowers and zinnias which we planted from seed are thriving.  It was, in the end, a horrible tomato year - our worst ever.  We have a few basketfuls, but nothing like years past.  I think the dry spring contributed, but in the end, it was as much my fault for not watering deeply enough to make up for the lack of rain.  Both peaches bore fruit, but the fruit on the Ranger mysteriously disappeared the day before I was to pick them - a hungry bird or a hungry neighbor - who knows?  I hope they were enjoyed, in either case.

These Small Hours

Summer morning rituals.  Picking the berries before the (expletive deleted because my dad reads) mockingbird gets to them. I took this same picture last year.  

Summer Color

Fresh cotton t-shirts dyed in happy summer colors~

Spread in the sunshine to dry~

Where a mockingbird promptly defecated on them.

I'll be spending the week poolside praying that the-child-who-refuses-to-swim will make a breakthrough this year.  These are good days.

Best Friend

To Daddy: I've received thousands of comments on this blog but my favorites will always be from you. Thanks for knowing (and being) everything.  I love you.

Saturday Morning Book Post

Hiya!  What a week it's been!  We are done with Summer Camps Phase I and back to back business trips which hit over the same two weeks.  It's boring to talk about and probably nothing exceptional to many of you, but I'm a baby and so darn tired of the busyness.  

Because I was stuck on the other side of town for many hours each day I splurged and bought a book for myself!  What a great idea.  I really chose at random something that appealed to me on one of those 100+ degree afternoons: Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.  I might just be the last person to read this book, but I will still recommend it.  It was a fascinating account of the 1996 Mount Everest climb which went so badly wrong.

I went to see the IMAX film about the same expedition when it came out several years back.  I remember being so angry at the climbers.  I couldn't understand their drive and willingness to sacrifice their own lives for something so trivial.  I felt especially sympathetic to Rob Hall's wife who was expecting their first child.  I hoped to understand their motivations after reading this book.  

I think I do understand more now.  Oddly enough, I have experienced the same mental snap that can occur, making one nearly obsessed with a single goal.  But the thing is, I consider it mental illness.  I look back at those times when it's happened to me (similar to an anxiety attack, I think)- it's frightening to think that the mind can take such turns.  These men and women pressed on, abandoning their game plan and it had horrible consequences.  The various personalities and turns on the way up that contributed to the outcome are what make this book so gripping.

My husband never understood why I was so angry at the very idea of climbing Everest.  To me, an outsider, it seems dismissive of one's mortality in a way that bothers me spiritually.  He insists that such focus and drive are the very things that move humanity forward.  

If you haven't yet read Into Thin Air, I highly, highly recommend it.  I know that it is not without controversy, but I think it's a good place to start. 

(Clearly, not my personal photo - link)

Placeholder

I keep trying to pop in here and say I'm too busy/tired to post and I'm too busy/tired to do so.  So here it is.  A placeholder until I can catch my breath. 

Here are some pretty flowers (flax).  Gotta run!