Summer Fun!

Summer is flying by! Already it's almost August, school will be starting soon and hopefully some cooler weather is on the way! 103 degrees as I left work last night at 5:00!! The house won't cool down, I can't cool down and it's downright icky out!!!!
Thought I'd post a few signs of summer here in Lynden!!

I was out garage saling last weekend when I came upon these goings on on Main Street...
A little John Deere parade!!! Only in Lynden!!! About 40 different John Deere tractors driving down the street!!!! Raspberry Fest, third weekend in July. 3 on 3 basketball tournament, sidewalk sale, old cars, and my favorite...

Shave Ice!!! I love this guys truck, covet it actually! Even went online to find one for myself, however, I really want this one!!!

Cute little downtown Lynden!

Took a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island and went with my SIL Meagan, http://www.aserenescene.blogspot.com/, to the Seabold Vintage Market Show. Had a great time with her and found a few goodies too, but of course, no pictures!!


Liz and her best friend...aren't they sweet?!!! Liz recognized us right away from our blogs and was so cheerful and kind!!

This cute little booth had darling miniature aprons hanging on the front of their booth!
It looks like Meagan is negotiating a deal, but she's really asking to take pictures so she can paint them later. She got lots of great ideas!

Love all of the textiles that Liz creates and displays. Such beautiful colors too!

While Meagan and I were out and about the guys all went on a hike. Brian loves to hike, but no one in the family shares his enthusiasm!!!! He's thrilled that his brother lives in the area now, as they both share that passion!!!

Meagan and I worked on stuff for her upcoming art show and the guys had a rousing game(s) of poker!!! Thankfully, no cigars!!

Blueberries are coming on quickly! These are from our friends house! HUGE as you can see and very good. They were out of town recently and we didn't want their berries to go to waste!!!

Tyler and Brian at Larabee State Park.

Had to get a picture of Tyler driving his raspberry picker. He was thrilled!!! Notice that he won't look at me?

Once the girls saw the camera they were more than willing to pose!!!!

Good ratio, 4 girls to 1 guy!!!! This has been a great summer job!! Had a few 60+ hour weeks, but those paychecks are pretty awesome!!!

Kind of hard to tell, but Tyler sits about 10 feet up and it's a little breezy up high. Watching Tyler leave in the morning with flannel pants, jeans, shirt and sweatshirt seems weird, but it can be quite cool up there.
Today, however, is supposed to be over 100 degrees again. 4 days of this heat and at least one more! It's awful, and muggy , and I'm getting nothing done...because I can't move or I sweat!!! The power was out yesterday at Brian's office and they finally all went home. No AC on a building full of windows!!! Power's back on today, but no AC yet!!! Welcome to my world honey!!!!

Sunny Days

It's a beautiful sunny day here in Lynden and I've been outside for most of it! Three hours picking raspberries and peas! Another hour shelling and freezing! I did take some time to read the paper out in the sunshine during a little respite!! Here's the big picture of the garden. Hard to get it all and get it close enough for you to see.

Ran out of bowls, so dumped the peas into a lovely gift bag!!

Two bowls of red and two of white, but forgot to take a pic of those!! It's hard to tell, but the berries are so BIG this year! They fit over my finger and are about an inch long! They are so tasty and beautiful!

Getting ready for the freezer. I freeze them on cookie sheets and then put them in freezer bags. This way they don't stick together and get all gooey. I don't spray my berries, so I don't wash them before I freeze them, or ever I guess! I love to just eat them frozen out of the bag, sometimes with a little sugar on them. They are to die for fresh, with a little vanilla coffee creamer poured over them!!!

These are Champagne berries and I actually like these better than the reds, fresh. They are sweeter and milder. They don't keep very well though, so they need to be eaten right away. I don't think that they taste very good frozen, like the reds better for that!

One thirty foot row of yellow and two of the reds. More than I need, but it's fun to share!

Here are the peas, zucchini, beets and summer squash.

A front quarter with lettuce, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Swiss chard, carrots and sunflowers (not blooming yet!).

The corn is about 4 ft. tall and the pumpkins (my favorite) are blossoming and putting out cute little punkies!! I would be happy to grow a field of pumpkins...maybe in Heaven!

Baked a few batches of cookies, paid bills , balanced the checkbook and now that it's almost 5:00, maybe I'll get that shower in!! Salmon for dinner and a nice relaxing evening!!

Still Here!!

Some of you are wondering where I've been...I have many excuses, but no valid reasons!

I tend to spend so much time reading other's blogs that I never seem to have time to post one! All of your lives and stories are way more interesting to me than rehashing mine!

I also tend to post when no one else is in the house (guys are out golfing) and of course I'm having a problem with photos again. Turns out I deleted a whole card last week as I was trying to post. Now that may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but I rarely have my card made into pictures, cuz I have so many that my bill would be about $200.00!!! And... I don't know how to store them on my computer. Pathetic, I know. So, I lost pictures from as long as a year ago. My daughter's 20th birthday, my son's 15th birthday, the entire basketball season, Father's day...you get the picture. The only good thing is that as I'm aging, I can't really remember everything that was on the disc!
Now my computer won't read my card with the new pictures that I took so I'm back at square one! Hopefully my husband can sort out my mess, and wouldn't it be great if he found the photo's hiding somewhere on the computer? !!!! Pray people!!!!

I've been very, very busy with my garden! The strawberries have ended and the raspberries are going strong with the blueberries not far behind. I'm picking 3 huge bowls of raspberries every other day and giving lots away! Lots of lettuce,cabbage and peas on right now too! I love it though! I feel very pioneery as I put away my "crops" for the winter , and fill my jars and freezers! I put up 30 pounds of cherries and 24 pounds of apricots this week - froze some, dried some, made lots of jam, and the most beautiful apricot pie! And yes, I will be eating it by myself as no one else likes apricots or pie. Ashleigh loves pie, but not apricot! So Sad!!! These people don't know what they are missing!!!

Ashleigh is house sitting for friends this week. They have a pool. It was very, very hot yesterday. Brian and I took full advantage and spent 3 hours swimming, laying in the sun, reading and napping! It was heavenly!! All by ourselves, no yard work, no cooking, no phone or TV. Very relaxing!!! Ash is also working hard this summer. 40 -50 hours a week at one job and another 10 at her other job! Two 14 hour days during the week , but she is loving having her weekends off!! And actually having some money to spend!!

Tyler is working hard too. Been in the raspberry fields since June 5th, five days a week. Now that they've started picking, he's doing 12 and 13 hour days, six days a week. He's driving a picker and I hope to get some pictures this week! What a great opportunity the kids have here, to be able to work at 14, make some great money in a short amount of time and still have a whole month of summer before school starts. I'm so thankful that everyone is employed!!

I have been working lots this month also, both at the kitchen shop and at drench-mate. I'm in the garden every day harvesting, weeding, etc. Brian and I got all the mowing, edging and weed-eating done yesterday and all is well! Church this morning where were doing ten weeks of the ten commandments, Larabee State park after church and now home to wait for the rain. I've got a good book to read , a quilt in the works and life is good!