Themes & Plans for July

Hot July brings cooling showers, apricots and gillyflowers ...

Well, I hope you are all enjoying your summer! Has it been hot where you live? Stormy or dry? We're having a good old-fashioned summer up here in New England: hot and humid, with afternoon storms nearly each day. These midsummer days are slowy creeping along, and the landscape is showing the effects of time, warmth and rain  ~ everything's popping to life! In the gardens, at the farmstands and all along the roadsides.

And, now that it's the very last day of the month, here at long last is the final installment in my seasonal series ... Themes & Plans for July.

**********************************************************************

Nature:

• daylilies burst into bloom by the 4th
• muggy mornings melt into hazy afternoons
• fireflies wink in the darkness
• bats swoop overhead at dusk
• dragonflies are on the hunt
• damselflies gleam in the sunshine
• toads lie in the cool grass
• spiders spin in shady corners
• baby birds beg at the feeders
• morning glories encircle the lamppost
• roses are withered by the heat
• weeds wage battle on the garden
• chipmunks are everywhere, chirping and scurrying along
• garter snakes sun themselves on the lawn
• thunderstorms rock the afternoons
• cicadas buzz in the woods
• crickets strike up the chorus by nightfall
• greenheads attack at the beach

Folklore:

• July's birthstone: ruby
• July's flower: larkspur
• "St. Swithin's Day if it do rain, for forty days it will remain; St. Swithin's Day if it be fair, for forty days 'twil rain no more."

Food:

• hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill
• icy cold watermelon
• corn on the cob
• fresh lemonade
• ice-cream sandwiches
• flag cake
• peaches
• plums
• nectarines
• apricots
• raspberries
• cherries
• basil
• beans
• picnic foods ~ devilled eggs, chicken salad and dilled cukes

Faith:

• July devotion: Precious Blood
• Liturgical Season: Ordinary Time
• Blessed Junipero Serra (1)
• Saint Thomas the Apostle (3)
• Saint Benedict (11)
• Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (14)
• Saint Swithin (15)
• Our Lady of Mount Carmel (16)
• Saint Mary Magdalene (22)
• Saint Bridget of Sweden (23)
• Saint James the Greater (25)
• Saints Joachim and Anne (26)
• Saint Martha (29)

Houseold & Garden:

• lawn mowing - careful not too cut too short!
• constant weeding of the garden
• tie and stake up growing plants
• keep van packed with beach/park supplies
• replenish sunscreen supply
• check AC units; clean filters/screens
• check/replace batteries
• clean out coolers; place ice packs in freezer
• curb water and energy usage
• write educational plans and end-of-year reports
• begin curriculum orders
• harvest and dry lavender
• purchase/replace canning supplies
• begin Christmas notebook
• deadhead flowers
• plan an autumn tea
• add all those vegetable and fruit peelings to the compost

Life:

• National Hot Dog Month
• National Baked Bean Month
• National Ice Cream Month
• Anti-Boredom Month
• Canada Day (1)
• First zeppelin flew (2)
• Dog Days of Summer begin (3)
• Wimbledon
• Independence Day (4)
• National Sugar Cookie Day (9)
• Bastille Day (14)
• Beatrix Potter's birthday (28)
• JK Rowling's birthday (31)
• Harry Potter's birthday (31)

Book Basket: For summer-inspired reading, please see my Summer Basket at left. :)

Field Trips & Outings:

• a day at the beach
• a picnic in the park, to fly kites
• attending the town parade
• watching a fireworks display
• fishing along a shady riverbank
• a weekly stop at the farmer's market

Crafts & Activities:

(First, let me direct you to the Fourth of July and Summer archives of The Crafty Crow, a fabulous place to get ideas for things to do with your children (at any time of the year).)

And, also ~

• decorate the bikes for the 4th
• make herbal honey
• net (and release) butterflies
• catch fireflies
• make a storm candle
• start a shell collection
• make sand castles
• have a Peter Rabbit luncheon on the 28th
• nap in a hammock
• make popsicles
• make a daisy chain
• go to a baseball game
• make a sundial or shadow clock
• press summer flowers
• make homemade ice cream
• make sun tea
• play croquet or bocce on the lawn
• stargaze on a warm dry night
• outdoor concert
• go raspberry picking
• make peach butter

My aplogies again, that this is so late - really, too late, I guess for this year. But I hope these themes and plans will get tucked away till next year, when we'll be blessed with all the hot, summery pleasures of July all over again. :) In the meantime, please check out my August Themes and Plans ... for that month begins tomorrow! (Can you even believe it??)

Have a great summer, everyone ~ or what's left of it ~ be safe and keep cool!

Summer in New England, con.

A few pictures from places we love, at home and up the coast ...

(Summer in New England, Part One can be found here.)

I hope you're enjoying this summery Sunday!

Summer Breakfast~

Warm and ripe on the vine. The ultimate breakfast to-go.

Stormy mornings ...

... do have their bright sides:

Rainbow Surprises

Majestic Skies

Cozy Moments

Have a cool and happy Thursday, everyone!

Thoughtful Friday ~

"What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance." ~ Jane Austen

Here are my makeshift curtains for the French doors in the family room. On most days of the year I absolutely love these doors - and all the light that fills our home thanks to them - but on days like this, not so much. These "curtains" (actually a flannel sheet from one of the twin beds) may not look very elegant, but they do keep the room shady and comfortable. :)

This has been a busier week than usual for us, and I'm looking forward to a quiet and restful weekend. There's not too much on the docket: a VBS meeting, some grocery shopping, a Sunday brunch (not hosted by me) and lots and lots of ed. planning ...

Happy Weekend, everyone!

Summer in New England ...

Then followed that beautiful season, Summer....
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Our Summer Nature Shelf

I've finally gotten around to spiffing up the nature shelf - sweeping away bits of dirt and crumbled dried petals and grass - and changing it up to reflect the new season ahead. Here's how it looked in the Spring, and below you can see how it's changed for the Summer, which, according to my handy-dandy countdown widget over there on the left is just TWO days away!

In New England, the summer season is closely tied with the ocean, so I went with a blue and green sea-theme - scattering about shells and starfish along with the rose petals of June.

Also present is my nature angel, our wooden water element as well as the boys' tiny aquatic figurines (some mythical, others not). As the boys find real bits of nature to add to the shelf this summer, I'll clear away some of these props.

In the lefthand corner is our book of nature poems, open to June's blessings. Behind the Flower Fairies of the Summer is our storm candle, ready to be lit at the first peal of thunder, a common summer sound in these parts.

Our nature shelf is always rounded out with lots of books.

Not shown above the shelf is a grapevine swag; I thought it would look pretty adorned with dried flowers and maybe little seashells, too. Right now I have lavender buds stuck here and there - they don't show up much, but they smell lovely.

I do have fun setting our nature corner up, but I hardly expect it to stay so tidy and "staged" for long. ;) For instance, today we are headed out on a nature hike with friends. I'm sure the boys will return with a new treasure or two, and I will come home with lots of pictures to share!

Well, I hope you all have a great Thursday ~ see you again sometime soon. :)

Grandma Millie's Piccalilli

Green tomatoes are a hallmark of early September, and in our family, Labor Day is the day to make my grandmother's delicious piccalili!

So, what's piccalilli you say? Ooh, just a great way to use up unripened tomatoes, combining them with red peppers, onions, vinegar and pickling spice. Piccalilli is absolutely wonderful served with a Sunday pot roast, a sweet touch of late summer alongside the most wintry of meals.

Not having the gumption (i.e. time and energy) to grow our own tomatoes this year, I relied on my local farm for the bounty you see above, and did they ever come through! I got the call at 4:00 on Sunday afternoon: my 20 lbs. of tomatoes were harvested, and I could come get them anytime. Well, with green tomatoes you don't waste time (as you don't want them to turn red!) so I ran over to pick them up - but first I dug up my grandmother's recipe to check on the rest of the ingredients.

The above recipe is a photocopy of the original card (which is tucked away for safe keeping); this copy is taped into my journal from August 2005.

Next, I called my mum, and asked her to come over straight away, because piccalilli must be started the night before.

First we washed and chopped up the tomatoes along with the red peppers and onions. With a glass of wine by my side it felt like an Ina moment. ;)

We poured salt over the vegetables and they were left to "sweat" overnight.

And on Labor Day morning, it was time to stew! We added some celery, a quart of vinegar and a pouch filled with pickling spice - and, finally, 7 teacups of sugar. Yes, teacups! I use the same Irish teacup my grandmother did to ladle in just the right amount of sugar. Bill asked me if I ever checked to see how much sugar was actually in a teacup, so as to get a more accurate measurement, but I actually like the not knowing. One family's recipe will undoubtedly be a bit sweeter (or less) but that's where the tweaking comes in. :)

The smell is incredible as it cooks.

Once, when my grandma was talking about her childhood memories, she spoke about piccalilli. I wrote about it in my journal:

"Oh sure, at that time of year the whole neighborhood smelled like piccalilli because everyone was using up the last of their tomatoes. At every stove there was a pot bubbling away ..."

What a nice memory ... one rich with tradition, rhythm and comfort. It's been years since housewives have had to grow and make do with their own, but I think it's a skill and a tradition worth (pardon the pun) preserving.

The smells and tastes of late summer might have changed since those days, but really, only if we let them. I love the thought that my boys will grow up remembering a bustling kitchen on Labor Day, the house filled with that distinctive, sweet-spicy smell. Next year I hope to add to that memory, a backyard tomato garden - because nothing beats the rustic smell of tangled vines and warm soil ...

Allright, enough reverie ~ back to the present we go. ;)

Once the piccalilli was cooked, we poured it into hot, sterilized jars:

Now, I've always wanted to do a little jar topper, and so this year I made a point to pick up some fabric for just this purpose. If I was a true seamstress (which, alas, I am not), I would have scraps on hand to choose from. Instead, I bought a few "quarter flats" from JoAnn's. I liked the reds, pinks and greens ...

I wasn't sure if the fabric should be laundered first but I did iron out the wrinkles. (Note the conspicuous lack of an ironing board, lol!):

It took a few attempts to figure out the right size circle to cut. I used pinking shears to give the edges a nice finish:

And by the end of the day, the jars were done - filled and lined up on the sill.

Now, it feels like September. :)

We're Back from the Beach ...

And I have 148 pictures to share!

No, no, just kidding. Although I did take that many photos during my family's excursion to the beach, I kept it under 30 for this post. :)

We traveled south of Boston yesterday to spend the day at the beach where my husband grew up. Literally - he spent almost every day of his childhood summers here! It was so nice for him to watch his three boys clamber over the same rocks, splash in the same water and dig in the same sand that he did once upon a time.

The weather was great - almost a bit cool - and the beach was hardly crowded at all. The boys had a ball playing with Grandma and Grandpa, but we got some serious nature study done here, too!

OK, on to the pictures ...

Upon arriving, hats and glasses were fully intact.

The tide was out (though coming back in at a good clip) and the soggy sand stretched out for quite a distance. Good conditions for clamming.

Bookworm, his heart set on a dinner of steamers, checked it out.

Grandma and Grandpa showed the boys just how to dig, and then the work began. It was quite a mucky hit-or-miss business.

Meanwhile, I busied myself taking random nature pictures. Here is a rock covered in what I suspect are tiny barnacles along with a few sea snails:

A shot looking down the beach to the right (southward) ...

... and to the left (northward):

Bookworm found this first of many (dead) horseshoe crabs.

Just in case you were wondering what a horseshoe crab looked like close up:

Did you know these have been around for millions of years, and that they've barely changed at all? They are truly living fossils!

Now, this next photo shows something swimming in the upper left hand corner of this pail of water. It's very hard to see, but I promise you, it's there!

Can you see it?

It was a tiny and almost invisible jellyfish! Bookworm scooped it up while playing with some kids on the beach who were looking for minnows. After we watched it for a bit, we let it back into the sea.

And here I was thinking this moth was a cool find, lol:

After an hour or so, it was time for a break, to stretch out and have a snack. As you can see the hats-and-glasses rule was unraveling somewhat:

After our snack, Bill took Earlybird for a bike ride around town.

Bookworm shows off a steamer clam he just happened to find floating in the water:

And next he found a fiddler crab:

While I snapped a monarch taking a rest.

The boys had fun amongst the sea grass and muddy inlets. This one had many crabs and types of seaweed to explore:

Fun, just so much fun ...

Earlybird is always at home with his crayons and paper.

Back at Grandma and Grandpa's the clam harvest was steamed and served up:

And believe, me, Bookworm dug right in: pick, swish, swirl, slurp!

Now we're home once again, and the learning corner is laid out with our field guides. Also shown is last month's issue of Your Big Backyard magazine which had a whole page devoted to horeshoe crabs.

Here are the "treasures" from our day at the beach, drying out on the front walk:

We brought them in overnight lest they attract any raccoons! Bookworm pointed out that the crabs, once green and now red, had "baked" in the sun. (FYI we only brought home dead things - anything living was left in its proper home.)

So now we're all fired up about marine nature study and here it's the very last weekend of summer! But that's ok. First of all, seaside visits are possible year-round when you live in New England, you just have to dress for the weather (i.e. windbreakers replace swimsuits).

For instance, just this morning the boys and I ran over to a local teacher supply store, which happens to be located across the street from a marina. We arrived a few minutes before the store opened, so we parked and walked out along the landing. We saw minnows, seaweed and even a couple of hermit crabs under there!

Secondly, the boys are signed up for a series of homeschool science classes hosted by the New England Aquarium. They will run September through June, and I am sure they will keep those maritime wheels turning!

And later this week, our first week back to "school," we will start new nature notebooks for the year. The first entry will be narrations and drawings from our September 1st day at the beach. The boys will bring their notebooks with them later this month when we attend our very first Nature Study Club meeting! (More on that new adventure later!)

For now though, let me leave you with the words from a poem we'll use as copywork with those first notebook entries.

From "Summer Goes," by Russell Hoban:

Summer goes, summer goes

Like the sand between my toes

When the waves go out.

That’s how summer pulls away,

Leaves me standing here today

Waiting for the school bus …

Or not. ;)

Sweet and Simple

We had our weekly sit-down-to-tea yesterday (Wednesday) since today (Thursday) will be a busy one for us. This might remain a permanent change as Wednesday afternoons look to be the quietest of the week this fall. I like to have our tea when we've got the whole afternoon at home. This way I have time to prepare, and they have time to digest. :)

I didn't have a craft planned, or a picture book picked out, but I printed out the weekly coloring page at Catholic Mom.com, and we read aloud Sunday's Gospel (Luke 14: 1, 7-14) from our Magnifikid. The boys colored as I read and we all nibbled on the fruity snack I laid out.

It was quite warm here yesterday, and I had planned to serve this, our last "summertime" tea on the deck - but the lure of the AC was too great! Not shown is the refreshing "Zingerade" punch, the recipe for which I found in Parents magazine, a lovely last hurrah for the summer:

Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Add 4 lemon-zinger herbal tea bags and brew for 10 minutes. Discard tea bags. In a large pitcher, combine 1 can (6 oz.) frozen lemonade concentrate, 1 liter plain seltzer and tea. Serve with orange, lemon and lime slices.

As you can see in the photo above I served watermelon "sticks" and apple slices along with strawberry yogurt for dipping. (It was just too hot to bake!) I explained that these fruits formed a bridge between the seasons - juicy melon from summer and crisp apples for fall. Beginning next week, our table will adopt a distinctly more autumn feel.

In fact, the windows have already begun the transformation:

I picked up these garlands at Michaels along with the clip-on silk "fall" butterfly. I only got enough to do one set of windows, so I'll wait for the next store coupon to buy more. ;) I'd like to have Bill weave a strand of tiny white lights in with the garland. I think fall's dark afternoons will be much enhanced by soft lights twinkling above our workspace.

Well, I hope you enjoy these last few (unofficial) summertime days! So far the morning here is bright and breezy, a welcome foretaste of fall ...

Before it gets too warm (as it's bound to do), I'm going to get some banana breads in the oven. And, later this morning I'll place some calls to local farms to inquire about the availability of green tomatoes.

Labor Day means picalilli, of course! :)

At Long Last: Window Panes!

Yes, this is indeed a post about window panes, lol ... but I'm just so excited about them! I had to take pictures and share, especially considering how often I post pictures of my windows!

You see, tonight we (meaning Bill) finally got in all the grilles - the long awaited, much delayed window grilles! Just after my dear husband got home from work, I ran over to my folks' house with the boys for a quick errand, and when we got back the transformation was already underway ...

They make such a difference in our rooms, especially the dining/learning room. It just so happened at this time of night the steamy summer sun was setting behind the windows, so I was even more eager to snap pictures ...

Here are the front windows facing south:

Do you remember how they looked beforehand? I wouldn't expect you to, of course, but here is a link where you can see how they did ...

And here are the windows facing west towards the sunset and, more importantly, all our birdfeeders. This is the before:

And the after:

And a close up from where I sit in "my work zone:"

Bookworm took one look at all the panes and said, "Wow, I could fill those up with lots of window stars!" :)

You know, I've realized I have a real thing for windows. For one, they let in the light that I am so fond of (and the views of the nature I adore) but the very fact that I am looking through them means I am home. The best of both worlds in my book. :)

OK, the next thing I want to mention is that I am going to take a little blog break, just for a few days or so. We have such a busy time ahead of us, starting with Crackerjack's birthday party tomorrow (this year's theme: Toontown), and next week, as I am sure you all are aware, is the last week of summmer ...

Wow, how did that happen?!

With Labor Day we'll begin our new homeschool year (7th grade, 3rd grade and K) and a new and more intensive therapy schedule for Eb. It will be such a big change from these lazy, hazy days of late summer, but we'll adjust I'm sure. It will just take some getting used to - not to mention good sleep, daily vitamins and probably lots and lots of coffee for me, lol.

Have a great weekend, everyone - we'll catch up again soon!

Candle Comforts

In a recent post I mentioned our "storm candle tradition," and Lorri asked me to explain what I meant by that. So here's the scoop. :)

It's really such a simple little thing, but it's fun. Doesn't cost much or take much time, just a little forethought.

It all started years ago when I discovered a Yankee Candle variety called "Storm Watch." At the time I was a bit of a YC fan; I could spend ages perusing all the different colors, smells and themes. Nowadays, with EB's sensitivity to fragrance, we stick to unscented candles, but I still get excited when a new flyer comes in the mail - as the fall one did just the other day.

I remember it was the summer my dear cousin Kara was helping me with my baby Bookworm (who is now 12 so it has been a while!). As summers tend to be in New England, it was hot, humid and often thundery. As the skies darkened, we loved dashing home all together from the park or the bookstore to the quiet dark house and I would light a candle for the duration of the storm. It lent a cozy, protective air to the time it took for the storm to pass, while we tucked into snacks, hot cups of tea and the books we brought home from the store.

Years later, I have three growing boys and my mother's helper has just graduated college! But we continue our storm candle tradition every summer. On a steamy afternoon, as the first rumble peals off in the distance, the candle is lit. The original has long since burned down so each year I make up something new, usually starting with something I find in the basement. This summer I am using a canning jar with a pretty gingham (open) lid - and inside I slipped a small white tealight (unscented of course).

Like I said, it's a very little thing. But lighting a storm candle just makes homey days even homier ...

And all those little things get woven into blankets of memories, ones I wrap around my children as they grow bigger every day. You can be sure those fibers are woven tight ~ because these blankets are made to last generations. :)

Tea and Crafts on the Assumption

Happy Assumption Day to you!

I realized just now that the first Tea-and-Crafts day I ever organized for my children was exactly a year ago today! I even titled the two posts precisely the same. :) Last year's craft was a bit more involved, while the snack was relatively simple. This year, just the reverse was true!

I knew we'd be a bit wiped after the long weekend away, so I wanted to make it easy. I began with the Magnifkid for today's Mass, and printed out some coloring pages from Women for Faith and Family.

In the top picture you can see how I have the prayer corner set up this week. Joining our statue of the Blessed Virgin is a collection of seashells, a prayer candle, a holy card and a vase of summer daisies.

Now, for the snack I decided to touch upon the traditional blessing of fruits and herbs on Assumption Day. For tea, I made up an herbal iced punch ...

I got the idea for this from an episode of the Barefoot Contessa. On that particular show, Ina made an iced tea with Lemon Zinger and Red Zinger herbal teas, only she sweetened it with apple juice rather than sugar or honey.

For today's berry theme, I made up a pot of Wild Berry Zinger tea and served it over ice with a generous splash of strawberry juice. Very yummy, festive and fun - especially when seved with a ripe red berry on the side!

These tiny fruit tarts were ridiculously easy to assemble - I simply filled mini graham cracker pie shells with vanilla pudding (you could use yogurt here too) and topped each one with diced berries and a generous dollop of whipped cream. So good and cool - just right for this August day. :)

As the boys drank their punch, they worked on their coloring sheets and I read aloud from a favorite Tomie de Paola book, Mary: The Mother of Jesus.

Earlybird surrounded his picture with the planets, of course. ;)

Soon the boys were off to play and I was cleaning up cups and crayons. I hung up their work in our new learning corner:

Yes, I will be posting more about the new learning room corner very soon! In the meantime, I hope you all had a lovely Assumption Day and I wish you all a very good night.

Late Summer in the Garden

My dear friend Ruth is hosting The Loveliness of Summer Gardens today, and though I fear my thumb is still a bit on the brown side, as usual, I wanted to add my two cents. :)

In these late summer days, backyard gardens - meadows and roadsides too - are simply bursting with color and life. But my favorite "flowers" will always be the bright little feathered ones. :) The garden beds, shade plants and other ornamentals I leave in my husband's capable hands; for me it's all about the fauna, rather than the flora. I've come to realize and accept that the type of gardening that interests me the most is the kind that is commonly referred to as "wildlife gardening."

It's not perfect roses and umblemished tomatoes I seek (though they would be lovely, to be sure) but instead, songbirds and small mammals like chipmunks and red squirrels, as well as the humble toad, the brilliant butterfly, the lowly worm and the busy bee. Even the garden snake is fine by me. The more we see, the more hospitable I know our garden is to all of God's creatures ...

• songbirds harvesting seed from sunflowers
• chipmunks filling their cheeks ahead of autumn's advance
• crickets chirping the temperature on hot muggy nights
• bats swooping through the yard at dusk
• an owl screeching off in the woods
• fluttering moths and industrious orb weavers by the night light
• bumblebees lazily criss-crossing the lawn
• monarchs passing through on their way down south
• dragonflies hunting mosquitos

Our garden may not be filled with the rarest of blooms, but it will always be busy with life ...

For example:

Yesterday afternoon we observed the long-awaited return of our tiny red-breasted nuthatch. Oh, how we've missed him!

I've waited all summer for this particular shot! Here is one of our beautiful goldfinches, wearing his brightest coat of the year, enjoying a tasty sunflower snack.

Isn't he handsome? The boys and I sat in the window for a good ten minutes watching this finch eat his fill ...

Another thing I love at this time of year is the late summer sky. Below you see a storm is approaching ...

Which, of course, meant it was time to light the storm candle, another late summer tradition in our home:

At the base of our favorite birdfeeding tree (virtually the hub of our backyard garden) we found this strange looking thing:

Do you know what it is? Or what it was? (This is its exoskeleton.) On hot hazy days you can hear its call off in the distance ...

On misty mornings our front lawn is dotted - no, encased - by dewey webs. I looked up this particular kind of web in the Handbook of Nature Study, and I believe they are made by "grass spiders." (Perhaps so called because that is where they live?)

If this type of natural, wildlife gardening interests you too, please let me recommend THE most wonderful book on the subject ~ A Blessing of Toads by Sharon Lovejoy. It is worth its weight in gold for information and inspiration. I'll bet you are familiar with some of her other books - Sunflower Houses, Hollyhock Days and Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots (each one a treasure trove of nature projects for families). A Blessing of Toads is a collection of essays, a "gardener's guide to living with nature." I am currently on my third read-through!!

Stop by Ruth's later today for the Loveliness of Summer Gardens, and please tell us ~ what is living in your garden these late August days?

Poetry Friday: Summer Sun

The August sun will climb high in the sky today, and the temperature will rise right along with  it - all the way to 95 degrees! New England might be known for its cold snowy winters, but our summers are no less dramatic!

Before I share our poem, I'd like to kick off a solar theme this week with a link to a video clip of my brother-in-law, a Nasa solar physicist, speaking with a Baltimore news program yesterday about the science of the sun. My boys enjoyed watching it, and thought their Uncle Alex did a great job! Earlybird kept asking for "the sun one" over and over again. :)

And now, in honor of the blazing heat I can feel building already, here for Poetry Friday is an old favorite by Robert Louis Stevenson:

Summer Sun

Great is the sun, and wide he goes

Through empty heaven without repose;

And in the blue and glowing days

More thick than rain he showers his rays.

*

Though close still the blinds we pull

To keep the shady parlour cool,

Yet he will find a chink or two

To slip his golden fingers through.

*

The dusty attic, spider-clad,

He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;

And through the broken edge of tiles

Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.

*

Meantime his golden face around

He bares to all the garden ground,

And sheds a warm and glittering look

Among the ivy’s inmost nook.

*

Above the hills, along the blue,

Round the bright air with footing true,

To please the child, to paint the rose,

The gardener of the World, he goes.

Miss Rumphius has the Round-up this week ...

Taken just now as the sun climbed the eastern sky ...

Themes and Plans for August

I've been poring over old journals and seasonal idea books, brainstorming some themes and plans for the upcoming months. I really love this time of year - it's still summer and yet there's that hint of a new season just around the corner ...

With the buzz and bustle of fall not too far off - the time is ripe for enjoying the most of what's left of summer! I am working on a list for the rest of the year, but for now, I'll share what I've jotted down for the month of August - which begins next week!

Nature:

• sunflowers (harvest and hang for the songbirds)
• the seashore (picnic on the beach, go tidepooling)
• crickets (count chirps to check temperature)
• fireflies (catch in a jar to admire, then release)
• cicadas (listen for that familiar "heat bug" whine)
• bats (watch for them just after sunset)
• shooting stars (Perseids peaking August 13th)
• thunderstorms (have a storm candle ready)
• orb weavers (beautiful webs sparkling with dew)
• crows (make a scarecrow)
• morning glories (their time to shine is now)
• dragonflies (great backyard hunters)
• The Full Green Corn Moon (8/28)

Food:

Visit the farmstand for ~

• blueberries (pancakes, slump, buckle, pie)
• watermelon (punch, sorbet, jello cake)
• corn (hot and buttered, corn pudding, corncakes)
• tomatoes (homemade sauce, tomato sandwiches)
• zucchini (zucchini bread, zucchini everything!)

Faith:

• Lammas (1)
• Our Lady of the Snows (5)
• The Transfiguration (6)
• The Assumption (15)
• Our Lady of Knock (21)
• The Queenship of Mary (22)

Home:

• Clean out the learning room; refresh supplies.
• Order winter outerwear.
• Take Christmas card picture (or begin trying).
• Begin Christmas planning notebook.

Famly Life:

• National Watermelon Day (3)
• NFL Preseason begins (5)
• VBS week!
• 4Real Conference (11)
• CJ's 8th birthday (13)

Stories: (Themes: blueberries, grain harvest, corn, crows, country fair, seashore)

• Peter in Blueberry Land
• Blueberries for Sal
• The Little Red Hen
• Raccoons and Ripe Corn
• Blacky the Crow
• Martha
• Corgiville Fair
• Pagoo

Field Trips:

• the farmer's market
• the seashore
• a cornfield
• blueberry picking

Crafts/activities:

• make a seashell frame
• work on a shell collection
• work in the garden; visit one
• go on a bug hunt
• watermelon seed-spitting contest
• make corn husk folk
• make felt shooting stars
• grind grain
• bake homeade bread
• polish the learning tables (with beeswax polish)
• hang sunflower heads for birds
• gaze at the stars
• make apple picking totes
• set up nature table for the new year

Now, it goes without saying I don't plan doing all of these things! :) But it's still fun to think about them anyway. August is just full of delightful things - tell me, what are some of your favorites?

Little Nature Stories: Birds, Bugs and Berries ...

And of course, a squirrel or two. :)

It's no secret I love taking pictures - particularly nature pictures. I snap pictures all the time because I'm hardly ever without my camera. If I go out to get the mail, fill the feeders or retrieve a lost toy from the backyard, I slip my camera in my pocket just in case. (Do they make holsters for cameras, lol? I could use one if they do.) And with each picture I take I think of a little nature story I want to share with my family and of course here with my friends in a post.

Because it's the little nature stories that I really love to share. Sure the big ones (like the ones about coyotes, vultures and huge honkin' spiders) are exciting, but those sightings are few and far between. I live in the suburbs, not the wilderness after all! I figure it's better to find joy (and even intrigue) in the little things around us than to sit around waiting for the next big thing to appear.

But then what happens is a week goes by, and I don't find the time to write up all those "little" posts (even just to update my nature notes sometimes!), and so I just let the pictures pile up ... and before long I find myself with 20 some-odd photos to share and well, you get them all in one great big lump. :)

So I hope you're in the mood for some nature pictures! I guess I'd better post these now, because I'll just have more to share this time next week. ;)

First up, odd bugs and two kinds of berries:

Here I thought I was taking a picture of the nightshade plant's berries, but when I opened up the file I realized I had two little stowaways in the frame! These berries are glossy and beautiful (they'll be red by autumn) but noxious. If you have a copy of The Flower Fairies of Autumn, check out The Song of the Nightshade Berry Fairy and consider yourself warned (obviously the bugs didnt get the memo).

Now these berries you may indulge in with no hesitation:

We have a lovely raspberry patch growing along the front fence (25 plants in all), and tucked in between the familiar red gems is a variety called Fall Gold. They are indeed golden in hue, sometimes tinged with a red blush - and so very sweet. I love how they look as they ripen - creamy and pale. Surprisingly the birds and other little creatures have not bothered the raspberries at all these past two years, and yet the hedgerow stands just a few feet from the feeder stations. Bill thinks it's because I keep the critters so happy at the feeders they have no need to bother our berries.

OK, well, there was this guy:

We have never seen the likes of him before and have NO idea what he might be. (Any guesses?) We found one in the house about a week ago and then later another on the raspberry plants. Sooo strange looking!

And speaking of strange looking ...

That weird stuff's back again!! It appears on random mornings in little plops around the front yard - by day's end it's flat, brownish and slowly sinking back into the ground. Last year we had some (posted about it here) and Theresa thought it looked fungal. Recently Marjorie had a fungal mystery on her hands ... I'll have to check out some of her links because I am ever so curious to know just what this um, stuff, is all about!

Update! Thanks to Crisanne who had some similarly weird stuff growing in her yard, I found out this is a slime mold called the "Dog Vomit Fungus." Really awful name, (accurate description though) and very interesting! Thanks, Crisanne!

Now here's a fungus I recognize:

These pop up beside the front staircase every year. They look like little fairy parasols, don't you think? I just found a similar looking mushroom online (via Google of course) and learned it is called leucocoprinus fragilissimus.

So do you know what these little red balls are?

We see these too every year on the trees behind the back fence. They are, I believe, insect galls. They are all over the leaves on this tree, and this would account for all the leaf damage. I don't know what kind of insect lays these clusters (I'm guessing a wasp of some kind). We never seem to catch them in any other state than this.

Now do you see one or two bugs in this picture?

I was actually taking a picture of the moth on the left (don't know what kind, but thought the markings were neat) when I realized there was a little green bug on the right! (Click on the picture so you can see him better.) Yet another bug we've never seen before.

(You know, it really is fun how many different kinds of life you can find in one average sized backyard! What's more, there's always something new to see!)

This is not the clearest picture, but I thought this wasp's blue wings were cool. As it turns out, he is a blue mud dauber wasp (or that's what I think after consulting the field guides) but it is decidely not cool that he apparently preys mainly on black widow spiders! And I mean "not" cool in the sense that if he's here in our yard, then it follows that so too are black widows. Yeesh.

And since we're on the subject of spiders ... you all remember that large brown spider making her nest beneath our deck table last week?

Yep, they hatched! (Click the picture open to see better - there's jillions of them!) Note the mama spider hanging out in the background, and note the deflated egg sac above.

You'll be happy to know (especially if you are my mother) that we moved the table way out to the far side of the yard. There it will stay until all little spiders have vacated the premises.

Clover dots our whole yard, and so too do the lovely little honeybees:

There's not much of a story attached, I just really liked that picture. :)

More pictures I like:

My first monarch picture ever! It landed right on the butter-and-eggs, but this is as close as I could get. Butterflies are so tricky!

Now this fella I spied as I went to get the mail. I actually didn't have my camera with me and so when I saw him resting on the lower wall I ran back to get it. Happily he was still there when I returned. He was strangely calm and let me get very close. He was slowly moving his wings up and down and seemingly at rest in a shady spot on the wall.

When he opened his wings wide, I got a better look at his markings:

I think he is a Red Admiral butterfly - the first I've ever seen, and the first to visit our yard.

More red to admire - a handsome finch sitting just outside our learning room windows:

I'm not sure if he is a male house finch or a purple finch - they're so hard to tell apart. He was sitting here listening for his mate's call and anwering her back so sweetly.

Now this next little story takes a bit of telling. Remember I told you all about the titmouse family we've been watching? Well, we have come to realize that one of their "babies" is actually a female cowbird!!

It has been very hard to capture this on film, I have only been able to photograph them close to each other, but we've watched this little bird cared for right alongside all the other titmice babies. First of all, here is a picture of the young cowbird so you get an idea of what she looks like:

Now I had remembered reading that cowbirds are notorious for depositing their eggs into the nests of other species. And it just so happened we had a cowbird couple here earlier in the spring, but I haven't seen them in some time ...

Here are a few pictures showing the titmouse and cowbird close together. Honestly, the titmouse was a wonderfully attentive parent, tending to the cowbird's every call (beak open, wings shaking) and feeding her constantly it seemed.

They were quite a pair to watch!

Now, I'm not going to apologize for this, I'm just going to post two (maybe three) pictures of the red squirrel who has returned to our feeders at long last:

Ooh, sorry one more ...

Hands-down, red squirrels are my favorite wild creatures. I am so so happy to have one back again at our feeders. But oh my, what a temper! He chases off the large gray squirrels handily.

And speaking of the gray squirrels, this one discovered our gutters to be a great source of maple seeds.

We call him the Gutter Gourmand.

Well, this was quite a long post, and if you've read all the way through, I thank you. :) Stay tuned for more little nature stories - and I hope you'll share some of yours, too!

Apples on St. Swithin's Day

Saint Swithin’s Day, if thou dost rain, 

For forty days it will remain:

Saint Swithin’s Day, if thou be fair,

For forty days t’will rain no mair.

That's an old English saying for this mid-summer day. We learned it as part of our middle ages study this year, and I forgot all about it until just now, actually, as I was paging through a favorite liturgical book. So, how about a neat little weather lesson in remembrance of St. Swithin's? Here's an idea from A Book of Feasts and Seasons by Joanna Bogle:

"St. Swithin is a sort of "home-made" saint: the offical Church calendar doesn't list his feast day. It might be fun to mark St. Swithin's Day by keeping a weather record. Mark if it rains or not ~ and then note the weather for the next forty days to see whether the old tradition holds good. Although rain at this time of year is not generally very popular, some farmers don't mind a light sprinkling: it is needed for the fruit trees. If it rains, they say that "St. Swithin is christening the little apples." Rain will certainly help to make the apples fresh and juicy by the time they ripen in September."

Well, it happens to be gloriously bright and breezy here today, but if it is raining where you are, perhaps these thoughts will help you put a pleasant spin on things. Baking up a dish of comforting apple crumble might also help. :) Despite the warm temperatures, I plan to make some later this afternoon, a perfect Sunday dessert.

*And if it were raining here, I might be tempted to place a colander-full of ripe, red apples outside on the steps to be "christened." :)

**********************************************************************

Apple Crumble

Serves six

*************

3-4 eating apples

6 tablespoons of water

ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon of sugar

For the topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup butter

2/3 cup light soft brown sugar

**************************

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the apples into quarters. Peel them, then cut out the cores. Cut the pieces into chunks. Put them in a casserole dish. Add the water. Sprinkle the apples with a large pinch of cinnamon and a tablespoon of sugar.

Stir both types of flour together in a mixing bowl. Then, cut the butter into small pieces and put it in the bowl with the flour. Mix the flour and butter with a blunt knife. Stir and cut the flour again and again until each piece of butter is coated with flour.

Wash your hands and dry them really well. Rub the butter into the flour. Lift the mixture and let it fall as you rub. When the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, mix in the brown sugar. Mix it in with your fingers, too.

Sprinkle the topping over the apple. Spread it out evenly with a fork and smooth the top. Put the dish onto a baking sheet.

Bake the crumble for 45 minutes, until the top is golden. Turn the crumble around halfway through so that it browns evenly. To check that it is cooked, push a knife into a piece of apple. If it’s not soft, cook the crumble for five more minutes.

Leave the crumble to cool for at least five minutes before you serve it. Serve it with whipped cream or ice cream.

**********************************************************

(From The Usborne Farmyard Tales Children's Cookbook)

Foul or fair, I hope your day is a good one!

Coffee, chocolate and quiet ...

Well this just never happens.

It's 9:00 p.m. and my entire household is quiet. Pin-drop quiet! Each and every family member is asleep (even the cats). But not me. No, here I am still awake - wide awake! - watching the programs I Tivo'd today.

It was an odd kind of day for me - a fast-forward kind of day. I'm such a slow-lane, homebody kind of gal, but today I hardly sat down, dashed in and out, got lots done and ended up at an evening meeting with our VBS (vacation bible school) group at which I chatted, danced, crafted and drank a very large coffee (splash of cream, one sugar) ... and that, my friends, in a nutshell (or styrofoam cup as it were), would explain why I am still awake and jazzed enough to blog and catch up with Regis and Kelly.

Anyhoo, the whole point to my post was not to startle you with my coffee jitters, but to show you this:

My incredibly excited, happy-go-lucky, VBS crew leader kid, who won a little contest tonight at our meeting, by remembering more Bible points than anyone else, and landed himself a ginormous bar of chocolate (real word; see here) for which he has big plans (involving graham crackers and a can of vanilla frosting).

Mainly I just wanted to remember this night - hazy, humid and smelling like summer - and the glee of my 12 year old boy, who still gets excited about winning contests, giant chocolate bars and making smores with his mum.

And now I'm off to bed, too. I could stay up and watch The Fantastic Four, but really, would I be better for it?

I won't be posting this till tomorrow after such time as I can read back over it all and see if it makes any sense - or if the caffeine got in the way of coherence, lol! In the meantime, have a great night day!

Fruit & Flour: Summer at its Best!

In honor of The Loveliness of Summer Food, hosted by Sarah at Plainsong today, I've been considering the delicious delights that only a season of long warm days can bring ... and to my mind there is no finer summer food than the bountiful harvest of farm fresh fruits and vegetables. Particularly those gems of the earth that can be used to prepare an endless array of scrumptious baked goods:

• strawberries
• cherries
• raspberries
• blackberries
• blueberries
• peaches
• plums
• nectarines
• melon
• corn
• squash
• apples (August varieties)

Now there are some who say that when produce is at its peak, you really need no embellishment - that the perfect way to enjoy a piece of sun-ripened fruit is when it's simple and fresh. Well, I like fresh fruit as much as the next gal, but add a little flour, sugar and butter and now you're talking summer! :)

So here are my three favorite ways to enjoy (or as the case may be, use up) the lovely fruits of the season ...

~ First would be a Fruit Crisp Topping, one you can keep handy in an air-tight container should you find yourself blessed with a glut of, say, soft peaches or early apples. A baked fruit crisp is perhaps my husband's favorite dessert of all - especially when paired with either vanilla yogurt or lemon sorbet (I myself would not say no to a dollop of freshly whipped cream).

~ Second on the list would be a delicious pie crust in which to bake all manner of summer sweets and savories. One fine August day, you might find yourself with a bumper crop of berries and wouldn't it be ideal if you had a few dough balls in the freezer for just such a happy occurence?

My Grandma's Basic Pie Crust

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 whole egg, lightly beaten
• 4-5 tablespoons cold water

Place flour and salt in mixing bowl; cut in butter (tablespoon size pieces) until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the eggs and water, stiring the mixture with a fork to make a dough. Add a little more water if it is too dry. Divide into two balls, wrap each in plastic wrap and chill 30 minutes. Makes 2 9-inch crusts.

~ And third, our good old standby:

Mix-and-Match Quick Bread

• 3 cups flour (whole wheat and white make a nice blend)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon (we play with this element ~ ginger, cloves etc.)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup oil
• 2 cups sugar (we cut this down and see very little difference)
• 2 cups Mix-N-Match (see list below)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla (use pure vanilla not imitation)
• 1 cup chopped nuts or seeds (we leave these out)

Sift together dry ingredients. In separate bowl, beat eggs; add oil and sugar; cream together. Stir in Mix-N-Match and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix well. Stir in nuts. Spoon into two well-greased loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 1 hour. When cool, wrap bread in foil; label and freeze. Makes 2 loaves.

Mix-N-Match (one of more of the following to equal 2 cups) *we've used this ingredient before

• Apples, grated or chopped*
• Applesauce*
• Apricots
• Bananas, mashed or chopped*
• Berries*
• Carrots, cooked and mashed or grated*
• Cherries
• Coconut
• Cranberries, dry or raw, chopped*
• Dates or figs, pitted and finely chopped*
• Lemon, 1/2 cup juice
• Marmalade (omit one cup sugar)*
• Mincemeat
• Oranges, chopped
• Orange juice, 1/2 cup juice
• Peaches, fresh or canned, chopped* (we've also used peach butter)
• Pears, fresh or canned, chopped* (we also like to use pearsauce)
• Pineapple
• Prunes, chopped
• Pumpkin, canned* (we like fresh, cooked and mashed too)
• Raisins*
• Rhubarb, finely chopped (add 1/2 cup more sugar)*
• Strawberries, well drained* (I dice them)
• Sweet potato or yams, cooked and mashed or grated*
• Zucchini, grated and well drained*

~ And lastly, I'd like to add a blurb in here from a post I did some time ago, imagining A Year in a Baker's Kitchen ...

Summer finds us spending more time outside than in, and that's as it should be ... but there's still plenty of opportunity for baking! Fresh produce is at its most plentiful, so stop by the farm stand and pick up a bunch, a bushel or peck!

Summer days bring simple but glorious delights, like ...

• The end of the year picnic ~ and these are so perfect and portable.
• Blueberries for sale along the road to and from Maine (otherwise known as Vacationland). With these tiny blue beauties, you might make a sauce, a buckle, a grunt ...
• Or perhaps a heavenly peach blueberry cobbler.
• The county fair ~ trying to win a blue ribbon and make fried dough at home.
• Sunflower muffins, nasturtium sandwiches and hummingbird cake.
• Fresh herbs from the garden mean buttermilk herb biscuits at supper.
• On Midsummer a summer pudding served in the garden.
• Putting up jams - saving a little for thumbprint cookies.
• BLT's made with heirloom tomatoes and thick slices of sourdough bread.
• Nothing sells better at a lemonade stand than rice krispy treats.
• Fruit-filled lattice pies, linzer cookies, and summer's star, strawberry shortcake.
• A plate of lime-glazed cookies served with a cooling punch.
• A simple honey-vanilla poundcake, perfect for any ripe summer fruit.
• The Fourth of July, and a grand flag cake or a platter of flag cookies.
• Take me out to the ballgame bars - at home, or at the park.
• Watermelon cake - cool or really cool!
• Homemade hamburger buns and hotdog rolls - nutritious and economical!
• Peach butter muffins taste great on the porch ...
• and corn muffins go great with summer barbecue.
• Zucchini bread tastes even better with a tall glass of iced tea.
• Summer suppers that make the most of the garden, like a ratoutille bake.
• Homemade ice cream sandwiches on the front steps.
• New England Lobster Pie after a day at the beach.

Now, don't forget to stop by Sarah's for the Loveliness of Summer Food! You might want to grab a few blank recipe cards while you're at it! ;)

Have a fabulous Sunday, my friends!