Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

Richard and Annabelle were sleepy this evening as we made our way home from Treat's birthday party. It had been another fun day packed with tie-dying, a pirate cruise on the Potomac, dinner at a restaurant, and then cake and presents back at Bill and Emily's, and it was close to 9 as we pulled into the parking lot.

A few blinks of light up near the woods caught Richard's eye, and in a flash he was on the hunt. I fetched a mason jar and mesh top from the house and the three of us set off across the grassy hills of the complex in search of fireflies. It was a little too late to catch very many, but we stayed at it because no one was ready to come in. 

"Can we do this again tomorrow night?" Annabelle asked when we got home. 

"Yes," I nodded as we opened the lid and watched all of our tiny captives crawl to the lip of the jar and then, in a blur of wings and a wink of light, regain their freedom.

Makin' Lemonade

We dragged Richard off to the farmer's market this morning: believe it or not, an almost 10-year-old boy thought he would rather stay home and play video games. Once we were there, though, he certainly made the best of it-- we were down 2 cucumbers, a pint of cherry tomatoes, half a basket of blackberries, 2 apple cider donuts, and a cup of nutella ice cream before we even made it back to the car!

Alarmist

"Oh no!" I said when I read the email message.

"What?" Annabelle asked with alarm.

"Somebody found a lost cat near the pool," I told her. "Heidi, have you seen Penelope lately?"

"How do you know that?" Annabelle said.

I read her the message: "Found a female cat this afternoon near the pool. She is about 4 years old and super friendly. If anyone knows of someone missing their cat, please ask them to call me at ***-***-****.

"Penelope is not four years old," Heidi said.

"And she definitely isn't super-friendly," Richard and Annabelle said together.

All true, and sure enough, our stand-offish 14-year-old cat was hiding under the bed.

Fresh and Local

This summer, as years past, we have a CSA farm share. Once a week we pick up a dozen eggs and a box of vegetables produced at an organic farm just a couple of hours south of here. As in most small agricultural enterprises, what we get relies upon the weather and varies quite a bit from year to year.

Last year, for example we got so many cucumbers that I started making old-fashioned lacto-fermented pickles. The results were like those giant dills we used to fish out of huge barrels at the deli counter with tongs and place in wax paper bags at the grocery store when I was a kid. 

As yummy as they were, I still cringed this morning when at least a quarter of our share was cucumbers. That was until Richard reminded me how much he loves cucumbers. In fact, he ate a big bowl of sliced cukes for breakfast, and believe it or not, 12 hours later? We are fresh out! 

Now if only he would start on the zucchini and turnips...

Christmas in July

At last two exciting gifts from this past Christmas were able to be properly used together.

Annabelle's mermaid tale and Heidi's underwater camera were reunited in the pool this afternoon.

No End in Sight

We saw the latest installment of the Terminator movies yesterday, and despite lukewarm reviews, I was not disappointed.

When the previews for Genisys started showing up a few months ago, Heidi and I knew there was only one thing to do, especially since Josh had never seen a single film from the series: movie marathon!

Okay, it was more like a double feature, since, in my opinion the first two are the only ones worth considering, but it was still a fun weekend activity. And those two movies really have held up, even with the 1984 and 1995 special effects.

So, could you enjoy the latest installment without being familiar with the earlier chapters? I think so, but you would be missing a lot of fun references and part of the mind-bending conundrums that this particular time-travel story raises. Will there be a sequel? Well, it's not a spoiler at all to quote the final lines of the film: "The future is not set."

Rested and Ready

Neither week end nor holiday, today, 16 days after school ended, marked our first *real* day of summer vacation at home. Despite tidying up, making several phone calls, running a couple of errands, going to the movies, working out, and spending time at the pool, I was at loose ends.

"I can never retire," I told Heidi as the two of us were treading water this evening. "I'll be too bored!"