Our garden last year had mildew everywhere, tomato blight, and about 20 feet of giant pumpkin vines with no giant pumpkin. This year our garden is looking good. We are getting almost a dozen cucumbers a day now. They are called “Diva” cucumbers and they are amazing. We collect about 10 orange cherry tomatoes a [...]

Peter’s family owns a farm a few hours from us. Since Oma and Opa were in town we thought we would visit. That’s the farm up there, in the right corner surrounded by trees. I spent the first 30 years of my life in Southern California. My idea of a farm usually involves a little [...]

I got this lovely wrap that is no longer in use as a wrap. However, sometimes we break it out and swing the kids in it. One parent on each side, swinging, singing… It’s got to feel awesome.

It was a very silly time. It was an ice storm outside, but inside we brewed beer: That’s some kind of cooling system. Joe and Pete enjoyed watching the temp drop. I did not enjoy watching them lift a rather huge pot of boiling stuff to the sink. We visited with a lot of family [...]

Thank goodness it’s visit time. Grammy just came out, and tonight Aunt Nora comes out. It helps with the freezing temperatures to have my family here. We’ve been very busy with it all. I just finished the present for Grandpa Rich. A needlepoint James Webb Telescope. He’s a manager on that project. I find embroidering [...]

The Grove is a large piece of land that was donated to a local park district here. It’s Interpretive Center is a two room house filled with taxidermy, fish too big for their tanks, snakes, spiders, a huge catfish that likes to sleep under a stick, and any other things you might find in an old [...]

What a treat. Literally! Natalie and her girls brought over a fun cookie craft for halloween. Natalie first did a demonstration: And then the girls made theirs: In honor of messed up little kid-art witch mouths and their beauty, here’s an artist that incorporates kid-art into amazing and inspiring collages: Bertrand Sallé

Her name is Cargo. We didn’t name her, we got her from one of Pete’s friends who had to move without a cat. She is an extremely sweet lap cat. She’s also a bit large, with a tiny head.

Our wonderful neighbor John gave us a ton of his hostas. Pete and Lou grabbed their wheelbarrows and trotted on over. Then Lou got feisty. Then Ero wanted to participate. Then everyone wanted to push the big wheelbarrow. But slowly we made it back to the house. Dividing and planting the hostas took a long time. Lou [...]

Grammy is in town this week! Exciting times. Lou was a little anxious anticipating her arrival. She would say things like “I don’t want Grammy to come” or “I don’t like Grammy.” I am not put off by this. I am familiar with these phrases and usually respond “What don’t you like about So and [...]