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.