Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!

Ross Lake
Picturesque Peaks

Views below the power dam

Since I spent most of the day sneezing and wiping,

here's some beautiful views from our weekend trip

to the North Cascades, until tomorrow.

Sneezes and leaves

A first blush of fall color.

Today was (achoo!) the first day of my version of Alex's cold (achoo! sniff). I spent a large part of the day in search of tissues (achoo! sniff, sniff).

Anni had yoga pt today, Alex was busy memorizing his monlogue for theatre, and Ari was off at college taking her first quiz of the quarter (achoo! sniff, sniff, achoo!)

It was a beautiful fall day today with a temp in the high seventies. Half the garden plants are dying from the cold weather last week, while the other half are starting to bloom, poor confused vegetation (achoo! sniff, sniff, achoo! sniff). I have to go look for more tissue now.

Pumpkins and Sunsets

We harvested the largest pumpkin from the garden today, that makes three so far.

We also did lots of weeding in the garden today. Along with the pumpkin, we harvested

squash, chives, carrots, bell peppers, and lots of tomatoes.

Anni and I went for an evening walk at Juanita Bay Park.

Remains of the Juanita Bay Pier at sunset

on the road again

Alex, Lisa, and I took a road trip across the North Cascades Highway today. We visited the farmer's market in Twisp and had lunch in Winthrop. We really enjoyed the incredible scenery along Hwy 20 with the mountains, glaciers, lakes, rivers, and waterfalls.

Bodacious Basil!

This is the new basil plant. Our last two basil plants met with a tasty end, pesto! This one should last another few weeks.

Today had a cool, foggy start followed by some beautiful afternoon sun. We have hope for those last few tomatoes on the vine.

We decided to make an unusual trip to the grocery store for some pantry stores and emergency bin supplies for fall. We had a reader question regarding what we do buy at the grocery store, so here's the list: organic O's cereal, organic tortilla chips, whole grain crackers, organic chocolate soymilk, organic unsweetened soymilk, organic almond milk, Greek yogurt, Cotswold cheese, low-fat Jarlesberg cheese, chicken herb sausages, pancetta, calamari rings, free-range chicken tenderloins, organic canola oil spray, non-aluminum baking powder, organic applesauce, organic peanut butter, Punjabi spinach sauce, Masala veggie burgers, dal curry, organic lowsalt tomato soup, organic marinara sauce, organic diced tomatoes, Italian starter sauce, organic tomato paste, canned crab, canned tuna, canned salmon, organic hummus dip, chicken potstickers, Thai chicken rolls, veggie broth packets, lowsalt organic chicken broth, cannellini beans, refried beans, organic baked beans, chicken chili, 2 bars organic dark chocolate, organic hot chocolate, 12 natural sodas, 1 pkg dog treats, and a basil plant. This is more than we usually buy, but given the current economy, we decided this was a wise time to buy. Most of the fruits and veggies are still coming from the farmer's market, CSA, and garden!

Saving the Sunflower

Fresh from the field of flowers (2), brave warrior Alexander has rescued the sunflower from the beaks of voracious blue jays. This golden trophy and its precious seeds are now safely drying in the diningroom.

Ariana found a friend from elementary school on her bus to college today and reconnected. Anni had appts with her speech team today. We worked on her Giz-Mo programming today.

We cooked down a huge pot of garden tomatoes today into an excellent tomato sauce with lots of garlic. The entire kitchen smelled like a Sicilian restaurante. The sauce was terrific over ravioli, Mama mia!

Full of Fall Bounty

Full of Fall Bounty

Above are the fruits of fall: apples, plums, pluots, and nectarines.

To the left is this morning's garden harvest: one large pumpkin, two heirloom tomatoes, 3 yellow squash, lots of little red tomatoes, and 21 large green tomatoes (not pictured) that need some window ripening.

And to the right is the today's CSA box: carrots, sweet corn, broccoli, romano beans red scallions, tomatillos, salad mix, green chard, basil, oregano, lacinato kale, fuji apples, nectarines, pluots, and red flame grapes. Boy are we ever going to eat our fruit and veggies!

Today for we had organic oatmeal with plums(friend's tree), hazelnuts (market), and honey (market) for breakfast, and for lunch, we had homemade veggie pizza with spinach (CSA), basil (windowsill), heirloom tomatoes (garden), squash (garden), red onion (market), and cheese (market). And for dinner, we whipped up a wonderful chili colorado stew in the slow cooker with pasture fed beef (market), purple potatoes (market), onion (market), garlic (market), lots of spices (pantry), and chili peppers (Yakima market). We served it up with fresh tortillas, cherry tomatoes (garden), corn on the cob (CSA, and melon slices (market). I think we're really getting the hang of this local eating! (market = our local farmer's market, not the supermarket)

Today, Ari was off to college again for her long day of classes. Alex took his online assessment tests, and Anni went to appointments with her OT and speech therapist. I finally made it into the gym tonight - yippee! I can almost fully rotate my shoulder. The PT must be working!

Sunshine and sunflowers

Sunflowers on the farm. We only have two in our garden, both under attack from a voracious seed-seeking squirrel. (Go get him, Barkley!)

Today was a cool one with some drizzle and some dazzling sunshine. The pumpkins are growing like crazy. I think we'll be harvesting another one tomorrow!

Ari has started her fall classes at college this week. She taking archeology, English, and student studies. She seems to be enjoying them, especially the English class.

Alex is busy with his online classes and will begin his theatre program next week. He seems to really be enjoying his science program this year. Anni is loving her busy program, especially time in the swimming pool, gym, and at yoga. She's also loving reading stories together. Arthur stories are still her favorites.

Fun on the Farm

Today was the Hog and Grog farm festival at Full Circle Farm. We had a blast with our friend Lisa and all the hand painting, decorating flower pots, riding in the horse wagon, and loading up on goodies at the pot luck. The kids especially liked all that chocolate; cake, chocolate, & dipped apples and pears!

It was another drizzly day here today. We harvested a few more tomatoes and went to the movies to see Ghosttown. It was very sweet little movie.

Peppers, pickles, and poppadums

Today's finds at the Saturday farmer's market! We found a purple pepper, purple grapes, and purple potatoes. We also found red potatoes and bicolor corn. We found sweet onions and chinese broccoli. We also found a gigantic peach, a sweet melon, and a cantelope. We also found cilantro, jalepeno peppers, green onions, a big zucchini, 2 globe squash, and some organic cheese. We love fall havest time! The kids had a great time sampling around the market. They got a huge blueberry monster muffin from one of the bakers.

After all that marketeering, it was time to use some produce. So we had a kitchen afternoon. We made 4 jars of bread and butter pickles (cukes & onions from market), 3 jars of apple butter (apples from market), 2 loaves of very zucchini (market) bread, and 5 dozen harvest special cookies. The kitchen smelled heavenly!

For dinner, we did another veggie dinner. This time we had Indian cuisine: pan grilled eggplant (market) with chutney glaze, spicy cumin potatoes (market) with cauliflower (CSA), cherry tomato salad (garden), grapes (market), and popadums.

I finally found a copy of that book Ellie told me about about the chickens: The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald. I can hardly wait to read it!

colorful veggies and otherworldly games

menu

Tonight's colorful veggie dinner: a tomato (garden grown) salad with basil (market) and red onion (market) , a baked zucchini (market) with garlic (market) and shaved parmesean, a mushroom (CSA) and spinach (CSA) rissotto, and a lemon cake with raspberry jam (homemade) and plums (friend's tree). It was terrifically tasty and smelled wonderful. It was fun to cook today as the weather has turned cool.

Today, Anni had her cooking group with her friend. They decorated little lemon fairy cakes with all manner of bright frosting and colorful sprinkles. Then they happily munched them. Anni also had her OT this afternoon and raced around the gym in the hand-car.

Ari had an outing to the library today and happily perused the used books shelf for bargains. She found a few good ones.

Alex worked on his school work and then we had a rousing game of Star Wars Monopoly. It was really fun! He was Bobba Fett and I was Obi wan. The light side won this round.

Fern Fronds, Fine Art and Veggie Feasting

One very frondy fern in the forest.

Yesterday was another sheduling rollercoaster. Anni had three appointments today! She's such a social butterfly! She did very well with her new speech therapist and her OT and vision teacher.

Then I had some fun. I went to the impressionism exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). It was terrific, showing how the old masters influenced the young painters and the impressionistic movement and beyond. There was one Cezanne still life that even looked very cubist in nature.

After all that fine art, I needed some fine food. So it was off to the Veg of Washington's monthly dinner with my friend Lisa. There was some very tasty vegetarian Indian food from a local restaurant (Mayuri). It was terrific! I especially loved the spicy potato and cauliflower dish. It gives me a great idea with what to do with that cauliflower currently residing in my veggie crisper in the fridge.

Today, we picked up the last of Ari's college text books and opened a banking account for her. Can you believe our little Buddha baby is all grown up? We can't! Anni had a speech appt and her yoga pt today, which she loves. Alex worked on his science project for a good portion of the afternoon. David did some last minute, end of season house painting on the eaves by hanging over the roof -yikes! I had an appt with the pt for my shoulder, which is coming along nicely. Tonight, Ari and I had our weekly writing group. With all that going on today, we had Thai take out for dinner! I'll cook tomorrow!

I did manage one brief run through the garden to havest a squash and many tomatoes. Our weather was very grey and cool today. We may be coming to the end of our cool summer season. It's time to get the home and garden ready for fall!

Wandering Wisteria and a Golden Pumpkin

Wandering wisteria threatens to take over house.

The gorgeous sunshine continues to hold on. We harvested oodles of tomatoes, as well as 3 squash, 2 cucumbers, and our first pumpkin of the year!

Today was a busy one. Anni had her speech appt this morning and an OT appt this afternoon. Then I had PT.

We had another garden inspired dinner. First, we made italian wholewheat bread in the bread machine. Next, we ran spinach (CSA) penne in the pasta machine. Anni and Alex had great fun snipping the noodles as they came out of the machine. Then, we whipped up a garden fresh tomato sauce with plenty of market garlic and windowsill basil. Alex thought the big green tubular noodles looked like tomato caterpillars, such a charming dinner image! Dessert was more of those excellent plums from our friend's tree.

Jammin'

The jams and ice teas

Tonight's dinner


Today was a relaxed Monday. We only had one appointment. We went to the college to purchase Ari's textbooks. She's very excited about getting started with fall quarter.

It was a jammin' day again. I made 3 jars of ginger-pear and 1&1/2 jars of ginger-raspberry. I also made 2 jars of fruity blueberry and raspberry ice tea.

Tonight for dinner, we had skinny pork chops with apple-chipotle sauce (market) and plums (friend's tree) with feta cheese. We served it up with olive oil and garlic couscous and a red, white, and blue salad with lettuce (CSA), radishes (CSA), blueberries (market), and mini cherry tomatoes (garden) dressed with our favorite homemade dijon vinegrette.

Berry Pies and Blue Skies

One tasty blueberry and black current jam tart!

Yesterday was market day. We picked up several pounds of pears, blueberries and apples. We also found an apple chipotle sauce, grassfed beef, fingerling potatoes, zucchini, and mini eggplant.

Today was too gorgeous to stay home, so we hit the road. We went hiking on the Iron Goat Trail up in the mountains. We hiked 9 miles, with the first 2 straight up! phew! Anni did a great job, but was really, really hungry afterward!

Deep Thinkers

My two deep thinkers in their respective poses. Alex thinking about what to cook, and Ari wondering which of her thousands of books to read next.

It was another busy day. Anni had cooking group with her friend Mira. They made apple-cinnamon pancakes. I took the kids to lunch at a local pizza place so they could redeem their summer reader certificates. Then Anni had OT and later aquatherapy. Is it the weekend yet?

We tried out the pasta machine tonight for dinner. We made lemon-pepper fettuccini with a seafood sauce-delish! Once we figured out how to load the machine, it was a snap!

The garden goddess was smiling today with all the sun. We harvested lots of tomatoes, a squash, and some chives. One of those pumpkins is awfully close to becoming a pie, too.

Playing and Reading

Alex playing dollhouse.

Ari and Anni reading a story.

Today was another warm, sunny day. The garden smiled.

We had another busy day. I had my PT appointment this morning. The bumbling bicycler can now raise her arm. Anni had speech and assistive tech appointments this afternoon. Alexander cooked up a very spicy pasta for dinner tonight. Ari and I had our writing group this evening. And David gave the telescope a look to see if he could spot Jupiter in the night sky.

Congratulations to Ari for getting her first job! Now, about that rent (just kidding!).

Many thanks to Karen and her sis for the pasta machine. We'll give it a test run this weekend!

A box of bounty

The CSA farm box for this week

Our Middle Eastern veggie dinner

It was another beautiful day. This might be the sunniest stretch we've had all year. We harvested again. This time it was lots of tomatoes, carrots, yellow squash, and chives.

We also had lessons with Anni's vision teacher, and Anni went to OT today. She loved driving the hand car, a little speed demon in the making.

We picked up our CSA box from the organic farm today. As always it was full of goodness. This time we had potatoes, onions, spinach, romaine lettuce, carrots, corn, red and green cabbage, oranges, limes, grapes, peaches, nectarines, and plums.

We made a terrific veggie feast for dinner tonight and invited our friend, Lisa, to dinner. We had a Middle Eastern themed meal with tabooleh, humus, crackers, a tomato-veggie-lentil soup, fahlafels, spiced yogurts, feta cheese, plums, fig jam, organic wine, and wholewheat pita bread, made from scratch. It was delicious. We're looking forward to leftover fahlafel sandwiches for lunch tomorrow!

Afterwards, we played in the backyard with Barkley, stargazed, and took over Anni's dollhouse with starwar figurines. Ah, good times.

Show me the money, honey

Gigantic plant threatens to take over back deck!

Today was another busy. Anni had OT at home and then a speech appointment. Ari had an interview. We had a trip to the library, and I had a PT appointment. Then we went out for dinner. About the only thing that happened in the garden was a brief watering this morning. We did have sunshine again, so we're hoping for some harvestables tomorrow.

We had an inquiry about the cost of the project. Well the budget guy (David) tells me we're spending almost exactly the same as last year for food. Considering recent inflation and our capitol outlay costs for the gardening materials, I think we're ahead with the project. We are also eating healthier food than last year, lots of organic fruits, veggies, and whole grains. So in terms of nutrients and taste per dollar spent, I think we're way ahead. In terms of nonmonetary costs, we are spending more time doing things together as a family, like cooking, menu planning, gardening, composting, marketeering, and traveling locally. Just cooking with honey is an ooey gooey family experience all in itself.

Back to school joy

The utter joy of back to school. See Alex's ecstactic look of ecstacy as he begins his computer work? Ari is so daunted by her upcoming college schedule that she's taken to hiding behind her curly locks! Just kidding. They are actually kind of excited about their new subjects, specifically Alex wants to get going with life science and Ari is looking forward to archeology.

Anni had a great day to restart her Yoga program, most of it was outside today. She down dogged and chanted while I harvested plums from our friend's tree. The kids also went blackberry picking with David this afternoon. We love free fruit! The garden yielded another oodle or two of tomatoes today.

We had a BBQ for dinner tonight with WA coast salmon with blackberry-chipotle sauce, rosemary (front yard) fingerling potatoes (farmer's market) with baby carrots (garden), and a tomato (garden), cucumber (CSA), and lettuce salad (farmer's market) with dijon vinegrette (homemade in kitchen), and fresh blackberries (field across the street) for dessert.

After dinner and clean-up, we took the telescope out to the back yard and looked at the moon. It was a clear sky and we could even see the individual craters on the moon! Very cool.

In the continuing saga of the ballad of the bumbling bicycling, I saw the bone specialist today. The wrist is still broken in two places and I'm back in the splint for another month. Alex calls it mom's gauntlet of unlimited power. I kind of like that (but only for the peaceful pursuits of ecological good.)

Fun at the WA Coast

Today, we had a fun day at the Washington Coast. We visited Roosevelt Beach, Pacific Beach, Moclips Beach, and Ocean Shores. It was both beautifully sunny and breezy. There was kite festival going on at Pacific Beach. The kids found several great shells and a skimmed many sand dollars on the waves. The kids also liked picking their favorite flavors of salt water taffy. On the way back we stopped at the wildlife refuge to look at all the brown pelicans. We also saw two turkey vultures and a seagull catching a crab. We all had a blast, a splash, and lots of sand between our toes!