Last weekend was frigid. As in 40-degree temperatures. We brought our winter coats back out of the closet. This past weekend was 90 degrees-plus both days (and today). Wow. Somewhere in the middle seems like a good compromise?
Anyway, the heat really made this feel like the first full weekend of summer. A few highlights:
Strawberry picking! I took my middle three children on this excursion, which was probably more for me than them. I enjoy plucking those bright red berries out of their hidden spots beneath the leaves. Let’s just say I am glad I am not relying on my children to provide actual productive farm labor. On the other hand, with four people, you do manage to harvest a lot. I processed all 11.6 lbs of strawberries (washing, slicing) and we have been eating them in large handfuls.
Eating BBQ. I ordered a sampler from a semi-famous Texas restaurant for my husband’s birthday. We had brisket on Saturday and ribs on Sunday.
A slightly quieter Saturday afternoon. My husband took the older three kids and the toddler to the Mid Atlantic Air Museum’s annual air show. That meant I had the 6-year-old and the puppy. You know your life is a bit busy when that feels relaxed but it sort of did, or at least what passes for relaxation around here. I worked for 2.5 hours (with check-ins every 20-30 minutes with the 6-year-old) and then took him in the pool. Since there was no one to splash, and he knows how to swim, he was a reasonable pool companion.
Running with the 14-year-old. We did 1.8 miles on the Schuylkill River Trail last night. It was still 90 degrees at 7:00 p.m., but he was a trooper, and the summer night was quite pretty. My goal is to get us to doing a 5k together twice a week.
Closing in on the end of another puzzle. This current one is a Buffalo games old map one. I have to look at the poster to place each piece, but it is coming along. I think I will finish in the next 2-3 days.
Being almost done with the Natasha/Anatol saga in War and Peace. Come on Tolstoy…enough already. Fortunately, the plot has been thwarted and the end of this section is in sight. On to Book III and the Napoleonic campaigns again!
Your strawberry picking comments reminds me of how awful of a raspberry picker I was when I was young. Once a week we would go to my grandparents to pick berries from their raspberry patch and I was so whiny about it and ended up eating a good chunk of what I picked! Now I wish I had access to all those raspberries and would gladly pick them! Raspberries are one of my favorite fruits but they are so dang expensive at the grocery store! There may be berry picking patches around here but I’m not in a season of life when it works well to do things like that but maybe when our kids are older we will!
We’re having a heat wave in Atlantic Canada, too. I went out and bought a new sprinkler today and it has been a magnet for neighbourhood kids all afternoon! I finally put away our winter gear last week and it felt wonderful.
I’m jealous of your strawberries; our season typically starts the end of June. A friend brought me some rhubarb yesterday and I’m chomping at the bit to make a strawberry-rhubarb crisp. Yum. I’ll need to fit in more runs to burn off “summer!”