Summer Journal: Week 2

It was a week of bounty. 

If any of you remembers my Day Zero list from years ago, it included a goal to one day make crackers. Weird goal, I'll admit. Well, I finally completed it on a whim. I found a bag of flaxmeal in my fridge (while digging for something else, of course) and there was a recipe for crackers on the back of the package. I happened to have all the other ingredients (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic and onion powders, salt and water), and it took just a few minutes to stir it all together and spread out on the baking sheet. The crackers were not super crisp, which means I probably made them too thick and/or didn't let them bake long enough. The flavor was OK. I'll probably find a different recipe for next time, but hey, I made crackers and lived to tell the tale.

I am envious of my neighbor's cottage garden. One day, I would love to have flowers and plants completely take over the yard. I'm building a list of perennials I would plant, were that dream to come true: bee balm, fever few, Jacob's ladder, candy tuft, coral bells, coneflower, tickseed, rose campion, sage, black-eyed Susan...etc.

Meanwhile, the nextdoor neighbor kids enticed me with their lemonade. They're raising money for their mom's eventual trip to Seattle for a kidney transplant.

Golden evening light on a walk around the neighborhood. I'm entranced by these trees with the fluffy orbs.

On Friday night we rode downtown and sat at the bar of one of our favorite pizza joints and watched the end of The Neverending Story. Fact: I got to go on the movie set in Munich and saw Falkor (that strange creature below) in person. And yet I've still never seen the whole movie. And now that I've seen the end, I don't really want to.

On Saturday morning, I walked out to our backyard and noticed our cherry tree had a good number of cherries on it. Usually the birds and squirrels get to them first, but not this time. Joke's on you, critters! These sour things are mine.

So I made a cherry rhubarb tart. Very tasty with vanilla ice cream.

We've officially made it a tradition to picnic at this spot on July 1. 

The spot above is in Peacefully Valley. If you've ever seen the movie Benny and Joon, the house where Joon lived is just a block down from there. The current residents set up a special little free library, appropriately named.

Peaceful Valley deer took advantage of the lovely evening, too.

On the Fourth of July, we took Luna out to Bowl & Pitcher for a morning hike before it got too warm. It was beautiful, as always.

Ah, the pine-y smells.

Later, Joel rode his bike and I drove up to Arbor Crest winery. One of us earned our wine a bit more than the other.

Another Arbor Crest view. We've dreamed of days like these all year.

And finally, we got back on bikes later that evening and rode to Riverfront Park for the fireworks.