apples, pumpkins, costumes

I've got a lot of ground to cover to make up for my blog-slacking, so here is a photo-narrative of the last several weeks' activity.

We went to Hick's Orchard in Granville, NY for some apples, cider, and of course the donuts. Did I mention the donuts??! This is really the main reason why we make the 45 minute trek and they are so phenomenal - totally worth the drive. We can take or leave the apples, but we cannot leave without a few dozen of these bad boys:

As you can see, the girls really enjoyed them.

Mira thought a good chomp into an apple could get that loose tooth to come out. But it hung on for a few more days.

(I was playing around with some photo effects using Picnik. Fun stuff, you should check it out.)

We had to do the tractor ride through the orchard. It's mandatory.

A few weeks later we went to pick out our Halloween pumpkins.

They always have plenty of wooden backdrops to stick your faces in.

Tim and Abby drank too much cider and had to use the facilities while we were there.

Then we went home and carved the pumpkins.

And this shady group of hooligans went out terrorizing our neighborhood in search of candy.



raspberries gone wild

The raspberries we planted a few years ago are out of control and have no boundaries. They've spread around the back of the garage, harassing the hostas that live there and threatening to take up residence in the strawberry bed. But the upshot to letting them do their thang is now we've got a boat load of raspberries. We picked over six pounds the other day in about 15 minutes. I froze three quarts for later and produced a raspberry & honeycrisp apple pie that was really tasty.

Speaking of harvests... Today I plucked the giant tomato in the picture off my "Mortgage Lifter" plant. Weighing in at 1 lb, 10.5 oz it is the largest tomato I've ever grown. While not a spectacular year for my tomatoes-- largely due to the early-season tomato snatcher (who stole and ate half of every tomato as soon as it started to ripen)-- we did not have the late blight this year so I have gotten a few good fruits. 

Side note: Physical evidence observed at the crime scene (teeth marks) gave me reason to believe the early-season tomato snatchers to be a band of rodents, probably squirrels or chipmunks. Even though I assigned the dog to guard the tomatoes, sprayed the fruits with Tabasco, and a put a "Repels-All" barrier around the garden composed of granulated wolf urine/garlic/putrefied eggs, the snatching continued. Subsequently, I dispatched my trusty feline to address the issue as part of her weight loss regimen. In spite of her morbidly obese status, she did manage to infiltrate the gang and brought me its leader, a chipmunk with crazy eyes who now sleeps with the fishes. I think the gang got the message because the tomato snatching ceased.

rediffricated

Rediffricated. Pronounced ree-dif-ri-kay-ted. This is Abby's own word meaning "not to Abby's liking". She applies the term liberally, sometimes to a too-flowery shirt of which she's not a fan: "This shirt is rediffricated. I want to wear the other one." Other times the word refers to another's (mostly Mira's) behavior: "Mira! You are being rediffricated!" It's fair to say that after a long day last week, Abby would have found this situation to be rediffricated as well:

Abby's long day was spent fishing and swimming and canoeing and roasting marshmallows. It was enough to wipe a girl out -- so much so that she fell asleep in the midst of her late-night snack (strawberry mini wheats).

We spent a few days relaxing on Lake Chautauqua with my family and rocked some canoes, kayaks, power boats, and s'mores.

The girls were enthralled with fishing from the dock. Well, except the time Abby fell backwards off the end and into the drink. But we fished her out soon enough and she got right back up on the horse, as they say.

The fish were usually biting and they pulled in plenty of perch and sunfish. Mira even managed to hook a bass, but unfortunately my camera wasn't nearby for that photo op.

The lucky ladies also had Daddy and Uncle D there to take care of the rediffricated aspects of fishing, like putting worms on hooks and releasing each catch (eew!).

ta ta for now, cape cod

Well we're back at the grindstone after a very refreshing week of vacation. But I have a feeling we'll take another drive out to the Cape before summer is over.

Here are a few pictures of the girls at the Cape Cod National Seashore (Nauset Beach, specifically). We didn't spend much time on the ocean side of the Cape because of the heavy surf and frigid water, but it was fun to watch the waves and walk along the vast beach. But just sticking a toe in that water is enough to send a perfectly healthy person into cardiac arrest. It's THAT chilly. We prefer the balmy bath-like temps on the bay for swimming (or toe dipping, for that matter).

Aww, isn't that cute? A rare moment of sisterly affection.

The Cape Cod National Seashore is quite breathtaking, but my photos don't do it justice. Here's one of Marconi Beach  (another one of our favorite spots) that I borrowed from somewhere in cyberspace.

And just for kicks, let's take a short stroll back in time to 2005 (our inaugural Cape trip). Look how young we all are! Abby wasn't even a flicker in our naive little heads yet.

low tide

The best part about being on Cape Cod are the tides. The beach is always changing along the bay and the tides seem to drive our schedule. At low tide, we'll walk out for what seems like miles.

There are all sorts of wildlife to be found when the tide is out. Today the kids managed to catch a few little crabs.

The sun was setting which made for some really great lighting for pictures, too.

the sidewinder blast

We got a new toy last weekend. It's a giant inflatable water slide called "The Sidewinder Blast". We saw it in our weekly Aldi flyer and knew we had to have it. It was one of those Aldi "special buys" where they get random items for a good price but have a limited number available for sale. Tim made me drive to our trusty neighborhood Aldi store a good 20 minutes before they opened so that I could beat out the throngs of shoppers waiting to spend a few hundred bucks on a giant water toy. Needless to say, there was no wrangling necessary at Aldi for this thing. My competition was more interested in the 99 cent Pringles and 29 cent per pound bananas than a 75+ pound box filled with a ginormous inflatable water slide.

So of course right after I returned home with the booty, we had to play with our new toy.  We invited the cousins over and spent a good four hours testing out this beastly addition to our backyard. Good times were had by all. Here's the highlight reel.

goodbye cosmo

Today we had to say goodbye to Cosmo. He has been a good friend and companion for almost 14 years. We will miss him.

balsamic strawberry-rhubarb jam

After our trip to the strawberry patch, we were left with way more berries than we could eat. On top of that, my rhubarb started to get out of control again. Solution to both problems? Strawberry-rhubarb jam with a splash of balsamic vinegar.

In case you would also like to whip up a batch, here's how: Since I don't like huge pices (small ones are ok) of fruit in my jam, I started by running the strawberries through my food processor to coarsely chop them. I then combined the strawberries with sugar (based on the ratios given on the Sure Jell box) and left them to do their thing for a while (about 5 hours). I did the same for the roughly chopped rhubarb and gave 'em a stir every hour or so.

Now it's time to cook: After their sugar soak, I strained out the fruit and put the resulting juices into a large pot and brought it to a boil. After about 5 minutes of boiling the juice to concentrate the flavors a bit, I added the rhubarb and cooked for 4-5 minutes (I wanted the rhubarb to almost completely break down). After the rhubarb reached my desired consistency, I stirred in the chopped strawberries, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and the pectin and boiled for 1 more minute before pouring the concoction into the jars. The color is a rich wine red and they look amazing. And the leftover jam that I managed to scrape from the pot was very tasty.

the magic forest

Last week Abby and I joined Mira's school class on their end-of-year field trip to the Magic Forest. It was a cute little amusement park perfectly suited for their age group. All the rides were vintage, but really well maintained. The only low points were when I had to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Scrambler with the gang due to Abby being too small to ride without an adult. For me, spinning rides are not so good.

Mira's friend Sarah was also with us and her dad (a professional photographer) took a few really great shots that he shared. Here they are:

happy birthday mira

Mira turned six last week. We had a party with family on her birthday and a luau themed party with kids on Saturday. Here are a few pictures from our action-packed week.

In making Mira's birthday cake for the family party, I've discovered the best-ever yellow cake recipe. The method is so easy and foolproof and the result is just the perfect texture- fluffy yet substantial. You can find the recipe here. The frosting is a light chocolate buttercream.

For the luau party, I made yellow cupcakes and frosted them with a vanilla-almond-coconut buttercream. They were so very tasty.

Here is the birthday girl and two of her friends hula dancing for the camera.

And here are Mira and Abby resting under a palm tree after the party.

mira's life story

Mira came home from school today with a booklet in which she wrote the story of her life. At first I thought it was cute and funny, then it made me a little sad. I think we need to spice things up a bit around here!

In case you can't read Kindergarten, let me translate:

First I get breakfast. Then I go to school. I learn and I come home. Same as the next day. The End.

She also brought home this paper today:

She has some serious practicing to do before she can produce a bubble of that size.

kindergarten concert

Mira's school put on a Kindergarten concert last week. You can see her above in the front row looking all proud after the last number. We took a couple videos too!

Opening:



Grand Ol' Flag:



Then when we came home Abby put on her own performance inspired by one of her favorite songs. Enjoy!

rain drops

We had rain showers all night long and my flowers were covered in a shimmery blanket of droplets this morning. I pulled out my new camera and tried to capture a few shots.