I Scream

You Scream
We all scream
For ICE CREAM!


On hot summer evenings if we finish dinner early enough and the girls aren't quite ready for the getting-ready-for-bed routine we head over to Prince Puckler's for a treat.
This time, Sahara passed by the fresh strawberry for Mint Chocolate Chip. As you can see, she's in good company.
He made a surprise visit on May 17th. Why didn't we go that night?
After ice cream we go round back to the park to burn off the sugar.
Lydia enjoys swinging and watching her sister's antics.

When my patience runs out . . . I follow . . . out the door, into the garden. This morning my patience left me early, so in the cool sprinkles Sahara and I harvested these. Being outside transforms us both.

Rose Grandma Shirley Valentine

Rosy was left by the side of a country road with a can of tuna. Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Joey saw the can, poked around, and found her on Friday morning. The vet said she is about 4 weeks old, full of worms and fleas and dehydrated.
She has now officially adopted us.
Last night Sahara gave her three happy thoughts to think about before she fell asleep and walked away saying "night night . . . te amo" which is what we say to her every night.
This morning, with Sahara out of the house and Lydia asleep, Rosy went exloring. I left her alone for a bit while I kneaded some bread. She disappeared. I searched the whole house in every nook and cranny with my sweetest gentle voice calling her back. No luck. Later, while getting ready to do some laundry, I lifted up Pablo's pants noticing they felt a bit heavy "He must have left his wallet in the pocket" I thought. Of course it was Rosy in there, not his wallet.
As though our lives weren't full of enough adventures and excitement!

Beach Bum

Lydia visited the coast for the first time last weekend. None of us had been since last summer.
Pablo had a workshop - didn't even make it down to the beach, pobrecito. We had enough fun for all watching Lydia put handful after handful of sand into her mouth. Sahara was more interested in feeling the cold cold water on her bare feet and seeing how much sand she could cover Lydia with before I protested.

She was completely unaware of the bare bum!

Saving Seed

It is the time of year when we start looking around the garden for seeds to save. Today we need to pluck little lettuce seed clusters. A few days ago we set up shop on the stone path up front to save the sweet pea seeds. It is a great job for kids to help out with. I think we'll set some aside to gift to her teachers in the spring.

Blueberry Love

On the 26th of last month we headed north to check out OSU's agriculture research area which was hosting an open-house. Our first stop was to blueberry heaven.


Over 400 different varieties of blueberries and all for the picking.

Some other folks had the same idea, but there was more than enough for us and any number of bears that might stroll through.

We ate enough to make it through the winter and then some. Our favorite variety was "Elizabeth."

Even Lydia liked the taste of them!

Sahara ate herself into a stupor.


This past weekend, our favorite blueberry u-pick farm opened up after being closed for a few weeks. We arrived at 8:00 a.m. and it was already packed. The bushes were COVERED with huge, gorgeous berries! Pure joy. We picked fifty pounds in two hours - enough for the winter, pies, jam and even ice cream.
Life is good.