Garden

We had an amazing garden year. I didn't blog about it because I was too busy canning it. It always seems like such a great idea in the spring ... sure, put in a few more rows of peppers ... an extra hill of zucchini ... a new variety of tomatoes. Then September rolls around and I find myself with 55 lbs of ripe tomatoes to process after work but before leaving for a conference the next morning and I think, what was I thinking?!

The kids were more involved this year. Gavin loves to help plant stuff (perhaps I can blame him?) and Lucy is good about picking berries. There weren't many blackberries this year but the raspberries came in strong and we had blueberries galore, once we realized we could scare the crows away by attaching Mylar balloons to the blueberry plants. The kids held their annual Northfield Farmer's Market jam sale over two Tuesdays in August, but they've sold more by word of mouth than they did sitting at their stand.

After losing last year's zucchini crop to squash bugs, I was more aggressive this year and got two nice strong zucchini hills, which produced more zucchini than I could ever have anticipated. Even after unloading bags of zucchini on friends, I was still left with more than I knew what to do with. So I tried my Aunt Brenda's zucchini relish recipe, which turned out extremely well. I think I'll look for an antique food grinder on eBay so I can give next year's batch the right texture.

The green peppers took off this summer. When Howard helped me harvest them the night before the first September frost, he counted 75 green peppers. And that doesn't count all the peppers I brought in to use in my salsa batches and zucchini relish and fajitas and everything else I could think of using peppers in. A couple of Anaheim pepper plants yielded what seemed like hundreds of hot peppers, and I planted jalapenos as well. I didn't have to buy much for this year's salsa.

After all that work, it is SO satisfying to look in the jam cupboard! It didn't all fit, so the extra stuff (applesauce, tomatillo salsa) is on top.

This year's supply of garden preserves:

Jams: raspberry, triple-berry, raspberry-peach, low-sugar raspberry, wild raspberry. All home-grown except the peaches and the wild raspberries, which were foraged from Paine Mountain.

Syrups: blackberry and blueberry. Delicious. I'm making more of both next year!

Salsas: garden salsa, jalapeno salsa, green tomatillo salsa.

Zucchini Relish

Spaghetti Sauce (I had to do something quick with all those tomatoes!)

Pink Applesauce (apples from Ellie's, not much on my trees this year)

In the freezer: grated zucchini for zucchini bread, cubed rhubarb for Rhabarberkuchen (from Kate's garden, but she gave me my own plant for next year), roasted Anaheim chiles, and gallon bags of butternut squash for soup. Just a few more squash to cook and I'm declaring myself DONE until next fall.

Gram & Papa

It has turned into a lovely tradition to have Sharon and Howard come to Vermont each September. Sharon and I go to the Exponent retreat and Howard takes Austin and the kids to the Tunbridge World's Fair.

Exponent Gala

This year's Exponent retreat marked the 40th anniversary of the publication of the magazine, so we went the night before to a gala celebration at the First United Church of Cambridge. It was amazing, and so fun to meet some more of the women who started this whole thing in Boston the year I was born. Sharon was our photographer as the board re-created an iconic Exponent photo with the statue of John Harvard in Harvard Square. She managed to get this photo before the Harvard police chased us off. Well-behaved women, indeed.

Exponent Board 2014

Mother Daughter Book Club (MDBC) Team

Howard was the photographer for the Book Club and BookKids at the Color Run 5K while Sharon and I were away. I was disappointed to miss all the fun, but it sounds like everybody had a great time and nobody was mad that their younger/older sibling got to do it too. Or at least, they got over it.

BookKids ("Book Nerds") Team

Gram has been doing a lot of family history lately. She came with hundreds of photographs of family members and ancestors for a family card game. We didn't work on making the game because we were having too much fun looking at the pictures.

It's so pleasant to have Gram and Papa around to hang out with. I love that they are retired and can just come and stay for a few weeks.

Happy #70 a little early, Howard!

Boston Birthday Bonanza

My boy is nine years old!

We celebrated with presents and an ice cream cake from Ben & Jerry's.

Gavin decided that instead of a friend party, he wanted to go on a family adventure to Boston. We haven't spent much time in Boston -- we usually tend to go to Montreal when we start hankering for some city life -- so we are woefully unfamiliar with this very cool city only 3 hours away from us.

We stayed at the "W" hotel, which is a pretty edgy place. The decor was very . . . interesting. Gav was a bit freaked out about the eyeball in the bathroom watching him brush his teeth. The W redeemed itself when we arrived back at our room after an evening wander around town to find that the staff had left four special cupcakes an a birthday note. That and the fact that there was a Panera Bread across the street made Gavin insist that we stay at this hotel every time we come to Boston.

We saw some of the Freedom Trail monuments and the Swan Boats in Boston Common (but alas, no Louis the Swan playing the trumpet). Our biggest adventure was spending the day at the New England Aquarium. They had great displays and even though it was a Saturday it didn't feel overcrowded. 

Watching the penguins.

Unusual sea life.

Lucy had a perfect seat for the fur seal show.

On our way out of town we stopped at the Isabella Stuart Gardner museum. They have gone through a major expansion since we were last there, with a huge modern addition leading into the quirky old house. But it is still the same old collection of wonderful and unexpected pieces of art, in a perfectly-sized museum. A great way to end a fun Boston birthday.

Fourth and Seventh

Gray kids on their first day of school.

Gavin was a little hyper.

Lucy started seventh grade, her middle year of middle school. She let me take this picture but only if I was really quick about it.

Things I want to remember about my fierce seventh-grade daughter . . .

She is defining herself as an athlete. She's been getting up for early morning cross-country practices since a week before school started. That's dedication.

She has a funky and unique sense of personal style.

She is starting to love her curls, not fight them.

She is not the least bit interested in boys. Except in movies.

Little kids follow her around like ducklings.

She loves her puppy with her whole heart.

She loses everything. Particularly her clothes. How?

Her feet are exactly the same size as mine.

She wants to be involved in everything.

She will gladly dig in the mud for salamanders, catch frogs and snakes, and jump in the river with all her clothes on. But now she showers afterward.

Gavin posed a bit more willingly for his official 4th grade picture.

Things I adore about this sweet and silly fourth grade boy . . .

He will only wear plaid shorts.

He has decided he likes his hair long and messy.

He worries about the pressure of being a fourth grader, and the great responsibility that goes along with that to set a good example for the younger grades.

He can't wait to get a locker. 

He feels very strongly about the brand of sneakers he wears. (Vans or Converse)

He still hugs his teachers. Current and past.

He can spell any word.

He will read any book as long as it is a graphic novel. 

His class is full of his friends. Because he considers all the kids his friends.

He still refuses to match his socks.