lake days

Last week we spent six days at Kerr Lake, in North Carolina, where we vacation every year with hubby's family. There are no words needed, as the photos tell the story:

a hot night at the carnival

The fireman's carnival. A summer tradition. Being hot is part of the tradition, too, and this year we did it in spades: it was 104 degrees at 7 pm when we arrived. By the time we left at 9:30pm, it was down to a balmy 94. The great thing was the carnival wasn't crowded! The kids, wearing their "ride all you want" wristbands, had a blast running from the exit of rides and funhouses and slides, to the entrance, over and over. Until we had most certainly gotten our money's worth. It is always a fun evening, and there is something entrancing and just inherently happy about walking around under the millions of neon lights, relaxing and enjoying the carnival together.

create:: kindle fire cover

A few months ago I joined the modern age with a Kindle Fire. The first weekend I had it, I whipped up a little felt envelope to keep it protected in my purse; not pretty, just functional. But the more I had it, the more I wanted something...more. And so I perused the web, I scanned ideas on Pinterest, I pondered and dug through my fabric stash. And I found a pattern that would work for me at Clover and Violet, with just a few modifications. I pulled out some linen scraps, and some fat quarters that were waiting for just the perfect thing, and a few hours later, I had this!

 I am a list maker and a stuff-keeper, so adding  lots of pockets were essential!

 See? Perfect for index cards, lists, etc. I can even put my earbuds in the big pocket for when I'm travelling.

 I love the snap closure, and the colors make me smile every time I pull it out. Which is a lot. I may be addicted to my little Kindle Fire. Maybe.

a small town fourth

Our Independence day celebrations mirrored perhaps millions of Americans in small towns across our country, and that is just how I like it. A small town parade, complete with decorated bicycles, fire engines from the local company, a few politicians just to make you glad to get to the classic cars, high school marching band, and the local 4-H walking their sheep down the parade route! Add in the Raven's and Oriole's mascots, a chinese lion, a martial arts demo, and some square dancers, and there you have it.

Follow parade by backyard cookout, complete with burgers and dogs and deviled eggs. A bit of sprinkler play and some back yard golf for the kids, while the grown-ups all visit and sweat on the screened porch, fans blowing.

Head for home, just in time for "A Capitol Fourth" on PBS. The kids aren't really old enough to make it through fireworks at any of our local venues, as they surely would have meltdown long before the traffic jam at the end let up. So even though I feel like fireworks on television are a little (ok, a lot) lame, thats what we did. Still, the evening ended on a wonderful note, with the kids running around with sparklers in the cul-de-sac. That just about wrapped it up for me: pure joy.

summer bucket list

We've been working on a list for a while, but finally got the poster made. Here it is!

What's on your list? What should we add?

photo fun

I've been playing with my camera a lot this week. I usually use the 18-55mm lens that came with my Canon RebelXS, but we got a 50mm/f1.8 lens a year or so ago, and I haven't used it as much as I thought I would. So I put it on this week, and have promised myself not to take it off for a while. Here are a few pictures from today and last Sunday, just to show you my favorites, and to show what fun we are having! Summer is just plain fun.

At the park this morning...

And in the pool on Sunday...my crazy boy...

 my girlie who has learned to dive this summer...

 my crazy man...

 

I love this crazy picture even though I'm not exactly sure what is happening here!

I also took some photos of one of our sunflowers. The first one was overexposed using ISO 1600 when I shouldn't have. But compared to the "properly exposed" one, I think I like the over-exposed effect better. What do you think?

garden journal 7.3.12

 We had quite a storm last Friday, coming through late at night with crazy winds and knocking out power to half our county (with many still waiting for theirs, 4 1/2 days later). We were blessed to have very little damage, losing only one sunflower, a few Roma tomatoes (which I am trying to ripen on the window sill), and a very dead black snake next to the garden.  Our power was out for 2 days though, and so we became nomads, spending time with friends who fed us, and sleeping in the AC at the inlaws, for it was HOT.  Regardless, I'm back now and hopefully will have several posts up on the blog this week. First, is the jungle that is our garden!

 Here you see the fabulous cucumber trellis that hubby built me. It shades the lettuce so that even in 100 degree days, so far very little of the lettuce has "bolted", and I am delighted. The cukes are starting to grow, too. I counted three 1" cucumbers when I was out today. Our hope is to have enough for pickles. Here's one of the baby cucumbers:

 And the zucchini (which got a late start as the first seeding never germinated and I had to replant) is starting to blossom:

 Did I tell you we got blueberry bushes? Four bushes, two of the "normal" blue variety, and two "pink lemonade" variety, which I must say live up to their reputation for sweet and delicious. I'm wondering if we put them in too shady a spot but only time will tell.

 And the cherry tomatoes are loving the heat. Loving the bounty of them and how the kids love to sneak one warm right off the vine. We have red and orange varieties this year, and so far orange is winning for volume of production and for sweetness. I've also been harvesting green beans, lettuce as needed for salads, scallions for those salads.  Dill is in, basil is coming along but slowly (perhaps too shaded in the tomatoes). The cilantro bolted early, and I'm hoping will re-seed for a fall harvest.

 

Love the joy of a summer garden.