swing of things

it's been on my mind quite a bit lately that i haven't posted on the blog in awhile. i got out of my routine a few months back, and haven't quite been able to get back there again. it may be awhile before i revisit being a blog "writer." for now, here's a picture of the raviolis (1st attempt) i made after christmas. they turned out not so great, not terrible to eat but really not very pretty. i've made another batch since then, and am going to make some more tonight. the pasta stuff is tricky! i have realized now that it makes so much sense that mostly old italian grandmothers are the true pasta makers. they've had a whole lifetime to become masters at it!

this picture makes my heart happy

i was unloading the veggies from my CSA box on monday, happy as a clam, and then realized there was someone singing in my kitchen, "it's a veggie fest! a veggie fest!" then i realized that someone was me. if it wasn't official before, it is certainly so now: i am a huge food geek. who sings along to their tomatoes without even knowing it? i just love these delicious, little guys!

a little veggie salad using plum & roma tomatoes, yellow & purple beans (the green beans were actually purple when they were still fresh; they lost their color when i blanched them), purple eyed peas, thinly sliced zephyr & yellow squash, shaved red onion, sherry vinaigrette, s/p & basil. delicious!!

i blanched the purple eyed peas & the beans. everything else was left fresh & then tossed together. i'm in food heaven for lunch today!

my little college graduate

it's official! benny is diploma'd. last sunday he donned the cap & gown and did the walk across the stage. it turns out that there were only 2 other graduates from the computer science department (whereas there were like 45 million business degree graduates), and he was the only cum laude ("with honors") graduate out of the 3. pretty cool, huh? i'm so proud of him!

congrats, my husband! (the picture is of ben with his brother, gabe, and dad, bill)

the umbrella

i took these two alexander kiddos to the park today. we played "narnia" (watchman insisted we talk with british accents. he's 4, people! this kid is hilarious!); we went down the slides; we monopolized the swing set. the highlight of the day? it was the red umbrella of course! it's so funny, the things that adults don't think about as being cool. and then a child looks at it and "it's a sword! no, it's a parachute!" genius. so we had fun charging the bushes with the red umbrella, followed by "jumping" out of a plane. (and then in my most reponsible manner, i emphasized the fact that we could only pretend jump, that to really jump we'd need an umbrella the size of a house and, of course, adult superivision. just call me bethany "debbie-downer" weaver.)

ben, the baker

with all my talk about food, i just had to show off the bread that ben baked today. delicious! it's traditional french loaf made with whole wheat flour. beautiful, huh? that ben is a man of many talents..

oh happy day!

i looked out my window today & saw some bluebirds happily munching away on something in the trees. and then it hit me: the figs! the figs are here! i feel a little like a cheshire cat right now, quite pleased with myself & basking in the glory of the fresh fig. and, well, how convenient! i was about to make lunch! it was destiny. so here we go, some mixed greens, some quartered figs, a little salt, olive oil, balsamic vinegar & fresh basil. it doesn't get better than that. (well, unless the figs were wrapped in some thick bacon and popped into a hot pan for a few minutes. now that is also a thing of beauty. hmmm, maybe for dinner..)

the firepit

we dug this firepit, surrounded it with stones, then lit some wood on fire & scorched marshmallows. it was a thing of beauty.

ahoy, chattanooga. we'll see you tomorrow!

happy 4th, people!

ben took this little sailboat out today as it was the perfect mix of sun & breeze. there were quite a few other people zooming around on boats pulling water skis, inner tubes, pretty much whatever works to be pulled behind a boat that zips along at 4o mph. there was one kid in particular being pulled around who was whooping up a storm, obviously enjoying himself. i thought he was dying at first, he was so loud. i sat around and "sunbathed" (which consisted of coating myself thickly with spf 50 and sitting in the shade), enjoying our last couple of days up here. in a minute, we'll be building a little campfire on the edge of the lawn next to the water to listen to the sounds of early fireworks which have already started. you can see them just over the ridge where they're being fired into lake michigan. we'll head over to see the real show tomorrow.

i think i'm hearing the same kid from earlier making the same "delightful" sounds from earlier. reminds me of my brother. love you, brother!