However, as most of you know, we take every opportunity we can to spend time with our teenage kids having fun. It’s getting tougher all the time as they’re each so involved in their own lives. Summer jobs, concerts, sleeping in, and hangin out friends often take understandable priority at this stage in their lives.

This past weekend we had some of the best weather of the summer and took advantage of getting out on the boat to explore more of our river system. We also took our dog Molly with us… she seemed to enjoy herself too!

We pulled up to an island where we saw a beaver building a dam. Bobby jumped off the boat to check it out:

Jen explored the island on with Molly her own way:

Cruisin’ along

Bobby:

My aunt Myffie, who lives in California recommended this book, written by Barbara Kingsolver, author of Poisonwood Bible - one of my all time faves. I ordered it a while back but didn’t open it until I was away from home (fishing) and actually had some extra time on my hands.  I was hooked from the very first page.

She is truly an excellent writer. I think Barbara can take almost any topic and just make you want to keep reading, but this time, she really peaked my interest.  Totally nonfiction,  she elegantly chronicles a year of back-to-the-land living with her family. Not only does she make you laugh, she makes you think, and even more importantly, she makes you learn. I knew our food chain was screwed up, but she does a thorough job of explaining just how bad things are.

Here’s more about the book:
Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that’s better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

Rick’s going to read it next, but if anyone local would like to borrow it afterward, please let me know. Click on the book to order it from Chapters.

cloudy with showers and

FOG!!

Here’s a picture of Jeff enjoying himself just a little over an hour ago:

Actually we went to church this morning first and really enjoyed the service so that started the day off on the right foot. Now, I joke about the fact that if I want to make Rick happy, all I have to do is put on my apron. Its so true!! Then, he knows I’m cooking (or have been cooking) and such a simple thing, even in this day and age, really DOES make my man happy. So, when we got home, I said “would you like this to be an apron day?”. He just laughed… knowing darn well that I knew he did.

Anyway, I made him a delicious lunch served to him on a tray while he sat in front of the TV watching a fishing show. The weather was terrible, cold and cloudy - so our boat plans were out.

For Father’s Day I bought him two trees to replace two other tress that he hates. For years he has been complaining about two huge shrubs that we have on either side of the front deck walkway. They are impossible to shape and in his view ugly - I don’t mind them. But I thought, what the heck, if it makes him happy - so be it.

To make a long story short, he spent the whole day outside puttering around in the yard getting a lot done, including digging up the old trees, replanting them, and planting the new ones. Our sons, Jeff and Bobby, were with him every step of the way, and Rick’s comment at dinner was music to my ears: “What more could I ask for for Father’s Day than having my two sons helping me all day”.

Of course, I was on hand with the camera:

Here they are digging out one of the shrubs with Rick wearing his *Old Guys Rule* 50th Birthday T-Shirt:

and here are the boys carrying it to the back yard to be replanted:

I should have taken a picture of the news tress planted for a true Before & After. Next time.

If you’re still looking for an update on the adorondak chairs, please don’t ask. But I’m not complaining and definatly NOT nagging.

Every spring I get all excited and inspired… I buy too many plants, plant more seeds than I can take care of, and by mid July, I’ve lost interest. Four homes over 23 odd years, and I’m not much further ahead. I had some pretty nice perenial gardens going in at the house we lived in before we moved to ontario… but it took 12 years to get to that point. And hubby had a huge rassberry patch and nice plantings around the brook. Then we moved.

My best gardens were in St. Thomas Ontario. That house and garden area was sweet. What a great climate for gardening. Then we moved again back east to our current home and it’s been down hill ever since.

This is a small part of what I’ve been up to, but don’t get overly excited… Like I said, I picked the best to show:

Oh - and if you’re wondering how we’re making out painting the adorondak chairs - don’t ask.

She’s in Grade 11, and although it sounds totally weird for a mom to go to their kids school at such an age, this school is quite different. I can’t put my finger on it, but the kids, and her friends especially, really seem to *enjoy* adults. They’re good friends with many of their teachers and often have other adults visiting at lunch time.

The senior high lunch starts at 1:10, and I just made it for grace. Yup, they say grace. Twice. Once before the meal starts and once afterwards. Just short graces - a line or two. They are assigned tables, which change throughout the year, but the focus is to sit with a variety of people from all grades, including at least one teacher at each table. Everybody takes turns doing what is referred to as “dragging” and consists of putting on an apron, going back and forth to the kitchen to bring out the meal. Then they switch with the other assigned person for that day and that person clears the table.

The menu today was tomato soup (served in pitchers), grilled cheese sandwiches, and carrot cake muffins. There is also a full salad bar available at every meal.

At the end of every meal, the headmaster stands up, says grace again (???) and gives the day’s announcements, also allowing some of the students to speak. Of course I brought my camera:

This was taken from the entryway:

This was our table, see me??

Me and Jen laughing:

Jen, Patience and Ashlyn outside after lunch:

Today, my eldest son Jeff, got some great news. He was offered his first post-college, career related, full time job! He graduates from the Natural Gas Tech program at NBCC next month and he’s already got a job to go to! The company that hired him is the same company he did his practicum with and was his first choice employer. So he’s a happy guy and we’re proud parents! Honestly, it feels like just yesterday he was beginning kindergarten - the time goes soooo fast.

Jeff’s been through a lot and this is a fantastic accomplishment for him. We celebrated by taking everyone out to dinner tonight.

Below is a picture of all three kids. Bobby on the left, Jeff in the middle, and Jen on the right.

What did we have to go with it? Melted butter (of course), crusty bread, and a huge ceasar salad. Yummy, yum, yum! Finger lickin’ goood! Here’s a pic of hubby (Rick) with the cooked lobsters right before we chowed down:

Update on Adorondak chairs: Ha - not much. We bought the paint. Rick pressure washed them to remove old paint, they sat on the driveway to bake in the sun and dry. Then it rained. Sunday - well, we got sidetracked… what can I say?