Wonderfully Full Sunday

 Early morning text:
Hey, when Aiden wakes up and has breakfast, we are so Up for a Birdie Hike!

A walk with Olive and her little boy was what I'd been looking forward to for a while. Aiden's reaction when he sees a large bird now is a riot. When he sees or hears a goose, he becomes so exuberant that it seems as if he just discovered a live dinosaur.

The morning was chilly and overcast, but we went anyway. Aiden rode in a backpack that mom wore. Aiden adores it, he is up where he can see everything we can see. Here is 30 seconds of fun with Aiden. We even got to hear Peepers!

The photos are nothing to write home about, I just took them to put together some bird photos for Aiden to be able to see.

Apparently he loves bird videos, so mom or dad plays them for him when he needs a distraction.

It was too nice in the late afternoon not to be outside, so I headed up to the little pasture above the Buckthorn woods and started to work on two large dead limbs that had fallen a couple of years ago. 

The wood was dead enough for me to use my machete to bust things up and pile it for burning on top of the weeds I'd pulled.

When I finish with this, the mules will stand under this tree again for shade on warm days. They can catch the north breezes and stay cool.

Piles of weeds and branches to burn.

View looking north on a section I still need to work on.

I think I have actually made some progress over the past 5 years that I've been working at this. It is a lot of hard hand work, but 6 or 7 years ago, you could not see through this section because of the overgrowth of Elderberry trees and Burdock.

Somewhere I have a photo of mules threading their way through the Elderberry forest that shaded the ground in the spot. You will just have to imagine it. This year, I plan on picking both elderberry flowers and berries. 
Apparently they make great tea for your immune system????

Olive was looking for some access to them last year. 

So I got way off track. 

Sunday's sunrise and sunset were stunning and I guess that is another reason I like these longer and somewhat more temperate days.

And that's a wrap.....

Looking west from the porch:

Looking north from the back door:

Books and Beans

I heard about this book on a radio broadcast and since the name of Luck is not a common one, I turned up the volume and listened.

The story takes place between Luck and Milltown Wisconsin during 1945. I read some excerpts on line and decided to give the book a go. I am half way through it and I can say I am pleased. 

I recall so many of the places described by the author. The Stokely's plant, the train stations and the trains which disappeared sometime in my childhood.

We spent the summers just southeast of Milltown.

I recall picking cucumbers and taking them to town with Grandpa. We watched as the cukes were dumped into a sorter and your batch was weighed. 

There was more money for the cukes that would make good pickles if I recall properly. 

I picked a lot of cucumbers with big adult rubber gloves on. Our reward was generally a trip to the lake to go swimming. Sometimes Grandpa would give us a dime to go spend at Ben Franklins in Milltown.

Grandpa would tell us over and over the story of him working on the concrete steps to the new Milltown Bank when the bank was robbed. I don't recall much else of the story and don't even know if it was real. But as a little kid, I was impressed.

I imagine the farm that Milo ends up at is one dairy farm I know. It isn't, but in my mind, it seems similar.

I didn't spend summers there until the 1960's. It is bringing back so many fond memories. Truth is, I never wanted summers to end and I never wanted to go back to the Chicago Suburbs. 

In short, I am enjoying it.

I found a wonderful source for my veggies at the Farmer's Market. My Grandmother would be horrified that I purchased my green beans instead of growing them myself. However, at the price I paid for picked and cleaned green beans? 
Priceless.

I purchase what I want and process the beans for freezing or dehydrating. It is so much easier! 

The Farmer's Market gives me time off the farm where I can visit with friends at the same time. Last week I took Charlie to the Market. He had a blast and was so well behaved. Of course, he was a conversation piece too.

The produce is fantastic and delicious.

This week I purchased 4 pounds of yellow and green beans along with Swiss Chard, lettuce, new potatoes, onions, and cucumbers ... all to the tune of $12. 
My Lego friends helped me cut up the green beans. I saved out a fresh meal for us and processed the rest. I'll have about 14 meals of green beans put away for winter.

 I couldn't pass up the strawberry pie that the Mennonite Bakery had for sale. Her pies are not sickly sweet like most pies. This year I am getting smarter. I am purchasing two pies each time I go and sticking one in the freezer for special occasions over the winter. What could be more refreshing in December than to have a Rhubarb Strawberry pie?

I'm including this photo of Charlie. It is shot through the little path in my east flower garden that is glowing with beautiful little zinnias and Blazing Stars. He was annoyed at the bugs that were dive bombing him.

The little path he was on.

Not such a great cell phone photo, but here is the patch of zinnias and 4 o'clocks.