hump day nuggets: little bits of the season in photos and words about the last week
You know that feeling when everything is tight with love and loose with life? Like, your jaw is squeaky with holding onto this instant but your body is a kite in hearty wind, ready for whatever swell comes along?
I feel like that tonight, on this late night after a long effing day of nothing panning out like it was supposed to. The great consequence in ill-timed circumstance is that it is almost always better if one shifts their perspective.
I am getting really, really good at shifting my perspective.
Goodness abounds.
nuggets.
:: I have recently promised myself I won’t own anything without pockets (unless it is amazingly adorable. You know). I made a skirt a few weeks back and it has generously sized pockets which are awesome for hands, dog poop bags, lipstick, half-eaten granola bars and beans.
I love that each kid has a pocket. They love it too.
:: We have a secret river beach stash. It is in town but, surprisingly, not many know of it. This time of year, as the mountain waters are warmish, a quick trip is my favorite spontaneous adventure
:: I can still scoop a sleeping Ruby out of her car seat with an inhale and into the sling with an exhale. This is an essential summer tool.
:: Given our propensity to sport, it is probs no surprise that we mounted our baby swing on a 15 foot rope. Our daughters and their friends spin and sail in that plastic bucket. Recently, Margot found new use for the swing.
She loves hanging from her arms and sailing so we started watching youtube videos about trapeze. Sister is hooked. We made a simple trapeze out of an old dowel and new rope.
We removed branches and hung it pretty high to make it swingingly fun. The top knots are very secure and we drilled holes in the dowel, threaded the rope and tied beneath the swing. It is barely within reach for Margot and she has already mastered hanging from her knees and flipping. Watch out, Cirque.
:: I went for a sunset hike with a friend and, HOLY, I want to do this more often.
Alice and I were both so happy, both so synchronized, we panted at the same moment.
:: We don’t quite have the massive beet harvest yet and, therefore, rely on the farmer’s market. Seriously, I love how much Margot loves beets.
:: Harvested the last of the peas, pulled them and the garden is loving the extra sun.
:: I had a random bloggy meeting tonight, which was fun. Ellann is impressively biking across the country in support of affordable housing and had me make her a hoodie detailing the epic adventure. It was fun to meet. Really, every encounter I have with a reader or writer I’ve ‘met’ online has been wonderfully wonderful. Love that.
And we had this incredible sky show together where the trees copied the clouds who mirrored other clouds, all brilliantly split by blue.
:: Summer squash rolling in as predictably as the tide.
:: We ventured off to the fair and will be going back. Man, I really, really like the fair.
I said I am getting good at shifting my perspective when things are wonky but, really, it is my daughters who do the shifting of my perspective. Could I be more in love with two kids? Nope.
I have a zillion things I want to tell you about like the clothes I am making Margot, the recipes I have developed using food from our garden, how fabulously photogenic, spirited and weird the fair is…See you soon. I have great intentions to write about it all. It may happen and it may not. I am ready for whatever swell comes along.
happy, happy hump day out there
:: :: ::
27 Comments
I love Ruby’s shades of green and blue dress. Very sweet.
I’m turning 30 tomorrow and am going to list the “30 things I love at this moment” on my blog. I have loved your last few years of loves. Thank you for the inspiration!
I see a’ sista’s fabric on display. We should get together!
A trapeze! I cannot express to you how awesome that is! Beautiful photos, as always. I love your family. 🙂
Love the new site look! And the photo of Margot with the beets!
Amazing idea with the trapeze. Our daughter would love that! She takes gymnastics and her favourite is the bars, so we bought a chin lift bar and she uses it in her bedroom doorway to practice.
Any talk of Halloween around your parts yet this year? Margot’s costume last year was a hoot and so totally her, I’m interested to learn what she’ll decide to be this year.
I know nothing about beets and how to prepare them. Could you share some tips or a recipe? 🙂
Here are my nuggets this week:
http://littlesidekicks.blogspot.com/2011/08/hump-day-nuggets-free.html
Morning, Friend. Loving that photo of those girls at the end. And the pockets. And the sweatshirt you made your new friend…it turned out fabulous. Margot cracks me up, that hunger for adventure and swinging ropes and higher, higher, higher. I miss her.
xoxo
Tina, I made a roasted beet salad for my new girlfriend 11 years ago.She hated beets at the time, but it was all part of an elaborate seduction scheme. We’re now happily married (Thanks, Canada!) so not only is the salad delicious, it’s very powerful, so be careful who you serve it to…..Here’s the recipe: top and trim the beets. Place them in a baking dish with 1/4 water and a few garlic cloves. Cover and bake at 350 for about an hour, till a paring knife goes in easily. Cool, then peel and cut into 1/2 cubes. Meanwhile, make a sherry vinegar vinaigrette or used a purchased basalmic one. Toast some walnuts along with the beets or in a toaster oven. Crumble some blue cheese–a good one; don’t get those nasty crumbles. Wash and dry some lettuce, place in a large bowl along with the beets, and dress with the vinaigrette. Arrange on plates and top with the walnuts and cheese. Generously pepper. Serve and swoon.
Yes. That last photo is adorable! You have a beautiful family and a refreshing perspective on life. Thanks, again, for sharing!!
giving this a shot 🙂
my nuggets…
http://seelife3d.blogspot.com/2011/08/our-sundays.html
Love the sweatshirt you made for your friend! And the trapeze!
Love the pictures and have a fantastic week!
OMG – so true about pockets. I have a couple of summer skirts w pockets and every time I put them on I secretly hi-five myself that today “I HAVE POCKETS”. Ahhh–the simple pleasures of life. Thanks for sharing. Lovely pictures. xo
Funny that you mention secret river beach spots. I’ve been wondering where the best spots are for taking a little guy! Any suggestions? (Without making the secret spot public, of course 😉
An alternative for beets: Wash them and trim the root and greens but leave an inch or two of the greens (I have no idea why, but that’s how my grandma did it and how my mom does it, so just leave some, K?) Roast the beets in a 350 degree oven until they can be easily pierced by a fork. Let them cool then peel and slice. Melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and add the sliced beets. Sprinkle them with just a little more salt than you think they need and fry them up until they’re hot and delicious.
And always remember, no, you’re not dying, you just ate beets for dinner last night :).
Such good stuff there in your neck of the woods, love the sling insertion with an inhale/exhale, the river splashing (I have the exact same picture of my 2 kids), beans in the pocket. That hoodie is awesome, I bet that felt great to create.
XO
Ooohh, this post, for me, emitted something extra from it…pure sweetness, lots of love & contentment.
Salivating for pickled beets now.
Your precious skirt and the memories you are making for them: maybe someday your girls will write a book called, “My Mama’s Pockets”.
Sincerely,
Kelly Next Door (In Idaho 🙂
Nice post. I had a day like that yesterday too. I just love all the recent pics of the clothes you’ve been making. So cute! I really love the cross country bike trip sweatshirt. What an awesome idea! :)Margaret
Thought about you guys while I was swimming in a high mountain lake yesterday – reminded me that ONE of these summers I still want to go river swimming with you and your clan. That’s just something that FEELS like summer 🙂
,,,please, please do tell of the recipes from the garden delights, the quirky fair, and the wardrobe you’re making for margot,,,we’ll be patient for your words, promise!,,,
,,,tomorrow, we’re off to the fair, you’re right it is “weird” and full of “spirit” and what i enjoy most is chatting with the young people about their animals and i especially love watching them take care and tend to their prize possessions,,,and of course once a year i love the corn dog on a stick,,,
,,,margot on the flying trapeze, love it!,,,i love the sweatshirt you made, after you made me the t-shirt (that i adore) i thought about another shirt with az and md and a dotted line between the two,,,maybe someday when you’re not so busy and m&r are in college,,,(smile)
,,,beets rock!,,,
,,,i’m a voracious reader of your words and one day hope to meet you too!,,,
http://3saltydogs.blogspot.com/2011/08/hump-day-nuggets.html
Working, working, working on the shifting of perspective and acceptance of my little one’s timetable.
And feeling justified in publishing Nuggets on a Thursday, since I work Saturday.
I love how so many of your photos manage to tell a story and show your girls without even highlighting much of their cute faces. You do a great job of framing the moment. I especially like the river photos in this post. And the trapeze is brilliant. Not exactly trapeze-related, but Margot might like two books about rope-walking, both beautiful, which my heights-wonkiness-fearing son loved: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers & Mirette on the High Wire.
I would love to hear more about your garden recipes! I planted beets for the first time this year and I’m not really sure what to do with them. My husband likes them raw, but I’m not a huge fan. Love the nuggets as always!
My Lola LOVES beets too. Today, she kept asking for cheese, so I opened the fridge to get her a slice when she caught a glimpse of the beets I bought today from the farmer’s market. She is a freak about them!
Awww, that pic of Margot and Ruby in the bike, just amazing, not to mention the one RIGHT after. And I can’t wait to grow beets. I’m a beet lover myself… The hoodie is amazing & the trapeze, even better!!! That is totally something Sneaky would be game for. He’s a total daredevil athlete in the making.
My nuggets, here: http://shaylenmaxwell.blogspot.com/2011/08/week-in-reflection_11.html
Love hump day nuggets, love the pictures of your girls loving on each other <3
That last pic of sister kisses just makes me giddy. Beautiful.
each post is so sublime. Love the world you write about. Just beautiful. My kids are older and forbid me to post pics of them in my blog. So frustrating! When I made Freshly Pressed last week, my daughter said: See! all those people would know who we are! ha! I hope your lovely girls appreciate all the love you’ve put in to this. It’s a beautiful thing. Fills my heart reading each post. : )
That sweatshirt is the bomb. A conversation starter for sure too! Great collaboration between you and Ellann.
Shifting of perspective – easy some days, harder on others. And I’m not doing well shifting this week. I’ll get through it. Love that you give us inspiration to learn to go with instead of fighting upstream. Anyway, it’s more fun to float with the current anyway.
Happy weekending!
Jennifer from Annapolis