Tour with Tori

Tori took me on a tour of her summer campus job recently. One of our stops was a visit with Mr. Tortoise.

Sand pot

Abel had a blast going camping earlier this month.

A couple different times, Aunt Libby brought him his very own sand pot, which was lots of fun.

Storm

Tawas Point, Michigan

music and lyrics by Fernando Ortega

hymn sing

I joined about a hundred others last Sunday afternoon for a hymn sing at the historic Ringgold Meeting House in Maryland. The meeting house was built in the 1800s and is now maintained as a historical site. The hymn sing is an annual event at the meeting house, but this was my first time to attend.

Just like a Farmer (not really)

my tiny apartment garden overgrown with zucchini and cucumbers!

This year I decided to try growing a few seeds by the backdoor of our apartment.

Pessimism, fear of crop failure, plus the work involved in the lengthy process all deter me from gardening, but the truth is that there's nothing quite like the beauty and wonder of growing a successful garden-- even if it's an ever-so-small garden.

Way back in March I started gathering supplies for my garden.

I planted four zucchini plants hoping for at least one. When all four seeds sprouted and appeared to be healthy, I could only bring myself to thin out two, even though I knew two zucchini plants was more than enough for our tiny plot of soil. 

The cucumber seeds I planted sprouted equally as successfully.

I figured something would happen and the plants would die before bearing fruit. After all, the list of things that can go wrong when gardening is pretty vast. 

I told myself I was going to not worry about whether or not the plants actually produced, but just at least enjoy the joy of watching the seeds sprout, even if they never bore fruit.

Considering the neighborhood population of rabbits and other small creatures (as well as our lack of a fence), I figured the plants would quickly be grazed off.

However, the plants just kept growing and looking healthy.

Eventually they started blossoming!

And then...

they started bearing fruit!

I.am.giddy.about.this.garden.

I feel so happy and blessed that the plants grew and are producing amazing fresh veggies.

I may or may not have baked two loaves of zucchini bread and one zucchini cake this week (and, yes, I ate zucchini not in the form of dessert as well!).

I also enjoyed two fresh cucumbers for lunch two days this week.

#gardenjoy

blueberry bars

Of course after picking about 50 pounds of blueberries last week in Michigan, I wanted to bake a little blue treat to share at the office this week.

I settled on these amazing blueberry oatmeal crumble bars from Averie Cooks. 

Such a good choice.

Measurements I used for a 9x13 pan:

Crust/Crumble

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups oats

scant 1 cup white sugar [I would probably decrease this next time]

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup melted butter (salted)

Berry Layer

4 cups fresh Michigan blueberries

juice of one lemon (1/4 cup)

scant 1/2 cup brown sugar

4 teaspoons cornstarch

Pat just over half of the crust/crumble dough into the bottom of a (parchment-paper-covered) 9x13 pan.

Spread berry layer evenly over the dough.

Sprinkle remaining crust/crumble in clumps over the berries.

I also sprinkled a few oats over the top.

Bake at 350F until bubbly and golden. (45 to 50 minutes?)

Cool completely before cutting into bars.

You'll want a group of friends to share these bars with... because they're so good that if you don't have the assistance of friends, I'm pretty sure you'll be tempted to eat the entire pan by yourself! The butter crust is ever so easy to make, and ever so delicious to eat.

ice cream!

We had lots of fun cranking ice cream together on the 4th of July.

This year's flavors were classic vanilla, and a rich chocolate.

oolala.

Wish you were there, do you?!

Blueberry Boy

this baby boy is a fruit fanatic!

Mom and I took the little guy blueberry picking last week. He fell in LOVE with the experience. I mean, what's not to like about off-roading in your stroller and then relaxing in the shade of massive bushes while periodically stuffing your mouth with freshly plucked blueberries.

Nothin'.

Nothin's not to love about that!

It's Pure Michigan bliss.

Mom, Abel and I went picking twice last Friday. Betsy and Libby joined us the second time.

All together, we picked just shy of 50 pounds.

I drove most of the berries to Pennsylvania to share with friends who have yet to experience the full bounty and amazing deliciousness of Michigan blueberries. I have a new understanding regarding the customers we used to get who were vacationing in Michigan and would buy multiple 10 pound boxes of berries to load into their already full vehicles and take back home with them to far away states.

V'cation

testing a new set of TriBond cards for Uncle Keith one evening

I spent last week vacationing at home in Michigan. We had lots of good times.

Highlights included:

three trips to farmers' market

an 18 mile bike hike with Betsy and Naomi (one tandem + one road bike)

sharing a tent with Naomi

Michigan ICE CREAM (Ashby's Razberry Rendezvous is unsurprisingly amazing!)

time for naps

picking 48 pounds of blueberries (with Mom, Betsy, and Libby)

making some new recipes for the fam

read-aloud book of the year: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Abel (he calls me Dewie)

waking up to bird songs every morning

{almost} no office work

Dad's breakfasts (pancakes and smokies over the fire)

visiting Lake Huron twice in one week

#familyisbest

PS- we all missed Logan and the Pennsylvania Cookers who were unable to join us this year :(.

My Lighthouse

Couldn't help but think about this song when we visited Tawas Point lighthouse last week.