Week 27

April used to be my favorite month of the year (selfishly - because of my birthday, of course), but I am here to say that July is officially the b-e-s-t.

On July 1 we continued our tradition of a river picnic with Luna. It was a beautiful, albeit slightly windy, evening, complete with a mama duck sighting with her 16 ducklings hopping on her back swimming upstream.

On Tuesday, I drove to Boise to join my siblings in celebrating my mom, belatedly, who turned 80 in February. We cooked together, played cornhole, watched old family movies, went to a Hawks game on the 4th of July, and picnicked in the mountains where our Oma (Mom's mom) joined us via butterflies and wildflowers near the spot near where we scattered her ashes. My nephews debuted a film they had worked on earlier in the week. We presented Mom with an album of words that described her, as submitted by her family and friends. The most common word was "gracious." We were not surprised. It was good to celebrate our mom, who continues to exude grace and inspires us to live our lives as other-focused as she does. And good to spend nearly a week with all three of my siblings - an event that hasn't happened in almost 10 years, along with nieces and nephews who are developing into young adults before our eyes.

Reading

Ha. I had some time to continue progress on my Elena Ferrante book, but not much.

Recipes

After making pizza using Mom's recipe for pizza dough on Saturday (i.e., my sister made it), I was inspired to use it more often! It was a major flashback to childhood but also just a darn good way to make pizza crust (you par-bake the crust and put it back in the oven with toppings). We were cooking for 16-ish all week, which meant a taco bar one night, baked potato bar another night, burgers and brats another. It was fun to make food with my siblings and appreciate what great cooks they all are.

Back at home, earlier this week, I also grilled this super-good southwestern-style pork loin.

Making/Doing

I somehow managed to knit sock #2 in a week, completing a pair I started in February, the last time I was in Boise.


Watching

I was subjected to Emergency! and CHiPs this week, thanks to my brothers and nostalgia. I must say that Eric Estrada was, indeed, a looker.

The Tour de France began on Saturday as well, which commences a special season in our house. Not to mention more birthdays and partying to come!