TWENTY-EIGHT

Family Dinner. Every year Matt throws together a fantastic rib feast for everyone. He made 5 different styles of rib rubs (the garlic, rosemary, sage were absolutely the best), grilled corn, cut up melon, and played some BB King in the background. I contributed biscuits and a cherry blueberry crumble. We lined up all our various tables and chairs to fit everyone. Our kitchen and our bellies were full to bursting with good food and company. The leftover ribs made fantastic baked beans the next day. That might actually be my favorite way to eat ribs.

2016 week twenty-eight

I took a photo of Theodore while we ate lunch and Vera requested I then take a photo of her eating her watermelon.

Grandma cleaned out Great-Grandma's fridge. There were over 100 apples squirreled away in there! Great-Grandma can't even eat apples! But we're grateful for the hoard. It made 10 quarts of excellent applesauce and a huge bag of dried apples. When we went to visit her a few days later there were already 12 more apples in her fridge. :)

My dad used to read me the same Cinderella book over, and over, and over, and over. Vera is helping Matthew keep the tradition alive with a continual flow of requests for, you guessed it: Cinderella.

The Young Men helped us cut down another tree and several huge sun-blocking branches in our backyard. My garden is so happy to have nearly 3 more hours of sunlight to soak up. 

Matthew in all his glory trimming tree branches.

I took a lot of photos of my little garden helpers that day. I couldn't help it. These wild animals were too happy and precious.

Theo got the muddy lips from finding a dog ball and wetting it with this mouth, then dipping it repeatedly in the dirt to add...flavor, or texture I suppose. 

Vera digging in my garden.

Behind the "Duck Park" there is a fig tree, two actually. I smelled it one day. I love the smell of fig trees. They smell like childhood summers: summers that aren't too hot for you to be outside all day, where you're not too worried about what could be in the murky canal water to build dams and fairy houses all day, where you sit in a mulberry tree knees covered in scratches and mosquito bites and you sing and play. That is what a fig tree smells like to me. The next time we went to the park I noticed a few purplish figs, but I couldn't reach them. I made a tentative plan to go ask the owner if I could pick some figs. The next time we went to the park, I noticed the second tree. This one had branches low enough that I could reach and pick perfectly ripe figs. Unless you know someone, it's so hard to find ripe figs. I've never seen them at a grocery store. I loaded my hands with them and we feasted. They were so good that I was resolved to go knock on their door. I worked up the courage, with two cute children in tow and my most charming smile. I offered to pick some for the owners, but he said they wanted to cut them down and I could pick as many as I wanted. Though one of my children sat in the mud trying to put rotten figs in his mouth the whole time, and the other child sat on the porch whining and crying because of mosquitoes, I picked about 5 pounds of figs. I ate a few fresh, but had already eaten my fill earlier, so I turned the rest into fig rosemary jam. I can't wait to glaze a chicken or marinate pork chops in the sweet and savory jam. I love figs. I love summer abundance.

When I attempt to stretch in the evening, Frida sees this as an invitation to be as close to my face as possible. Lying on my neck is preferable to her.

It's really hard to keep little brother away from your books while you read. It really doesn't matter what she has in her hands, he wants to be totally involved. 

Playing "Ride the Frog" at a friend's pool with the cousins Saturday evening. I think evening swimming is my favorite. It's the end of the day, you're usually in shade, the water is warm but the air feels cool when you get out. It's almost a novel feeling at the end of a hot July day to have goosebumps and shiver. I relish it a bit. 

Quotes:

Vera Angry about having to get out of the bath. "I dont care about ANYTHING!"
Me: "What does that mean V?"
Vera: "It means I don't care about anything in my LIFE!"

"Can I have some more candyloupe (cantaloupe) please?"

"I'm a new princess. My princess name is dolphin."

V was dancing around and bumped her head on the laundry basket. She started crying.
Me: "What happened?"
Vera: "I hurt my head!"
Me: "What happened that hurt your head?"
Vera: "I was probably dancing around."

"Papa, will you please draw me Lucifer?"

"Papa, I want to be Lucifer for Halloween!"

"I want to be Kitty Woman for Halloween, and Papa can be Batman."