snOMG!

Another snowstorm is coming for us tomorrow. The weatherpeople are calling for 12-18 inches more. We already have plenty, thank you. The girls are outside now enjoying the 3 feet of white stuff in our front yard while Daddy snowblows (yes, we got about 4 inches today). Mira wanted me to come to her ice museum, but I had to take a raincheck since I was in my slippers.

In other news, Abby turned four last week!

On her birthday on Thursday, we had a little ice cream cake as a warm up for the bigger extended family birthday party on Saturday.

The birthday cake this year was what is known as the Elvis Cake around the internet. Banana cake layers spread with chocolate ganache and filled and iced with fluffy peanut butter frosting. The flavor combination was really different in a good way. The peanut butter frosting was a standout. (You can make it  by creaming together 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup cream cheese, 1 cup peanut butter and about 3 cups powdered sugar. Then you beat in about 1/4 cup of heavy cream and whip until you get a fluffy spreadable consistency.) It would be really good on a chocolate cake.

i believe you have my stapler

Mira put this sign on my office door a few weeks ago. In case you can't read 1st grade English, it says, "Do not come in. I am frustrated. But you can talk to me." She put it there when she retreated to my office for some alone time after something upset her.

I've decided to leave it up because the message pretty much applies to me on a regular basis while I'm working: I'm frustrated, but you can still talk to me. In fact, I'm sure you can relate to this message too and you should probably post a similar sign on your office door to serve as fair warning to unwitting coworkers. I like the way the note conveys one's current state of mind in a straightforward way, but also says "I'm dealing with it. I'll take your calls anyway and we'll have a civil discourse." I like it a lot.

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.