Summer List

As you know from the list on the right side of my page, I have made a "to-do" list for the summer (and actually, I keep thinking about things I want to add to it - go to at least one "open air service", fly a kite, etc) and I am trying to keep myself to actually completing the list. I find that so often, I have the best of intentions but realise at the end of the season that I have missed things that I really wanted to do. Not this year!

We have packed in so many of the goals already and the summer holiday is only one week long. I thought I would share a few photos of our good times.

Last Thursday, in the heat and humidity, we went to pick strawberries. That has been an annual summer tradition for me since we moved north. I always make jam and I always pick too many berries. This year was no exception. Dh came with me (which is a huge sacrifice for him - he was taken to pick various things as a child and still sees it as child labour), as did Pk and LB (yes, the "Little Bean" has stuck for me). Pk actually did a remarkably good job picking and LB had a great time eating (we insisted on paying for extra when we were leaving since he must have eaten at least a quart, little stinker!) I made strawberry-rhubarb jam (21 jars of it!) and have been spreading the wealth ever since (we have done several personal deliveries to friends in town). We bought the rhubarb at the end when LB was getting grouchy so Dh did the buying. I asked for three bags of it and he miscounted and bought six! We ended up making a pie for our next-door neighbour who loves rhubarb but whose wife hates it (he was dropping broad hints about relish... I guess we are committed) and to a great friend who spoils us with yummies all the time.


This afternoon, Pk and I managed the "read outside" goal. LB was horrible last night and to be honest, I was dragging by lunchtime. Once he went to sleep, I needed to find something to entertain Pk that wouldn't kill me. I decided that we would take our library books outside, lie in the shade on a blanket and read and, I hoped, would fall asleep. We're reading "Winnie the Pooh" in anticipation of going to the movie in a couple of weeks (I have never taken Pk to a movie and Dh and I think it's probably harmless and at least it has a literature tie-in) so we read a chapter. I am not sure how much she is actually understanding but she is enjoying it. I have dreamed of the day that we could start reading novels together like my mom did with me. I still remember reading Noel Streatfield (e.g, "Ballet Shoes"), a marvelous British author who wrote about children working in dance and the theatre and my mom read to me until I was at least 11, I think. I hope Pk and I can do that.


Sadly, Pk didn't doze but I did get a chance to recharge a bit and we got some books added to our list for the library summer reading club. This was definitely an experience I would like to repeat again this summer.