The Mountain Thymes

Some pictures from Thursday morning after Jim and Lauria headed for a Memorial Service in Florida.  This was how our morning started. Get dressed.  Walk Kirby.  Scramble eggs for Ben, crispy rice with milk for one, crispy rice dry for another, olives for Olivia, granola for Sofia, and whatever else looked and sounded appealing.  When breakfast was over and their little bellies were satisfied, we all piled in the Kia and Papa drove us to the library for books and four DVDs.  They checked out some Hardy Boys, some ballerina and princess stories, 101 Cool Magic Tricks , and How to Make the Best Airplanes Ever.   After the library, we met Pat and Larry at Downtown Pizza for lunch.  The three "bigs" went to the pizza bar and served themselves and did their drinks while Papa and I helped the two "littles" with their choices.  When we finished our salads and pizza, we headed to the game room, bought some tokens and played games.  The bigges...

It's 5:23 am.  I've been awake since 4:38 when Ben called from the dormitory "Pau Pau, I want you to sleep with me!" I tiptoed to the children's room to lay on the bed like Jim does when Olivia or Ben need him to comfort them but couldn't even find an inch of bed to lie on.  Ben was back in a sleep in that short time anyway so I headed back to my bed only to be kept awake by a snoring sound from our bed.  I couldn't resort to the couch because Hayden and Kirby chose that as their sleepy quarters.  It was close to my waking time anyway, so I put on my coffee, opened the porch door, and decided to appreciate the sounds of a pug snoring, moisture dripping from the leaves, and a lone cricket chirping in the woods.  This is a good time to blog and collect my thoughts before the actions figures come to life. Yesterday after miniature golf and lunch at the Happy Garden Buffet in Murphy, Sofia made chocolate chip cookies.  Papa had retired to the bedroom for a l...

Lauria, Jim, five children, and a pug arrived again Wednesday night.  Jim and Lauria were heading to a Memorial Service in Florida and we kept the children while they spent time with family on the west coast.  This morning after a scrambled eggs and donut breakfast, the children treated us to  miniature golf  at the Wagon Master Adventure Ranch. My happy dance for a hole-in-two!

Just read an email from my sister in MA and I realized I forgot to post my farmers market day, which didn't happen this morning, by my choice.  Last week was so boring and slow that considering the high chance of thunderstorms today and the poor attendance right now,  I told Cliff there was no sense in setting up only to watch the sky, listen for thunder, and continuously check the radar on our iPhones.  We did mosey on down to buy some fresh carrots, yellow beans, beets, and fresh eggs.  We ate all the carrots and beets from our garden.  Many of the other vendors didn't show either.  The new fall beets, bok choy, Swiss chard, and spinach are still thriving.  I put in two tomato plants yesterday but couldn't get the other three in as it started to thunder in the distance.  Lightning and I don't get along well.  Bake two tomato, summer squash, potato casseroles this afternoon for the freezer when we're craving summer vegetables this winter....

It's been one week since I got off the Rx to help get my inflammation under control and so far I like who I am and what I am able to do.  My left wrist probably has inflammation damage because it is tender but if I behave myself my hand shouldn't fall off.  The right shoulder is also tender but I haven't lifted any pianos or moved any mountains so life is good.  I always feel wonderful after my Monday, Wednesday, Friday Pilates and yoga classes when the endorphins are high. Last Friday I planted fall spinach, bok choy, beets, and a row of leaf lettuce.  Everything is starting to pop through the clay soil.  The fall garden is much smaller than the spring garden.  Picked a nice batch of fresh kale this afternoon for our New Bedford Portuguese Kale Soup for tonight supper. Also, dug up the first pound of potatoes. Digging potatoes thrills me.  The plants keep you in suspense.  You just don't know how many potatoes you may find under each plan...

I've had my eye on a marble vanity top in Lowe's for about a year now.  Our little bathroom has no window and I've been trying to figure out how to give it some pizazz on a retired budget.  When I received a Lowe's $25 off promotion card in the mail, it was time to make the purchase.   Cliff pulled the old sink and old mirror out of the bathroom.  We had to call my brother-in-law in MA because he's done many renovations and was able to give us tips on removing the mirror to avoid seven years of bad luck.I bought a new bronze faucet and towel racks. It took Cliff a couple of days before he could stand up straight again after all that time crammed in the little vanity. Mirror was attached with doubled-sided tape and adhesive stuff.  Cliff duct-taped it and pried it off the wall. You can't tell by the photo, but this is a soft clean white.  Bath is small so I stuck with a white.  I found a mirror at Logan's Run Thrift Store for $20 instea...

Fifty-four crisp degrees on the mountain this morning at 5:10 when I popped on my coffee maker and sat back with an old issue of Mother Earth magazine.  On the kitchen island I have some seeds that I'll try in my fall garden which can be done anytime now and all through August.  With limited sun now starting to go behind the trees, my fall area will be smaller and concentrated more in the middle of the garden.  Yesterday I wanted to make a quiche with some of the Swiss chard and needed thinly sliced potatoes for the crust.  I only had one small potato left in the kitchen, went our our potato patch,  lifted the soil on one of the almost brown plants, and found two spuds the size of half-dollars.  It'll be another couple of weeks before ours are big enough to be dug.  I worked at slicing those potatoes tissue paper-thin to cover the bottom of the 9-inch pie pan. Just enough to make the small quiche.  Sauted the garlic, onions, quiche, carrots, zu...