summer reflection

I fell off my writing routine this summer, desiccated and shriveled by the heat, my responsibilities, and another little one making his/her presence known a la nausea, exhaustion, etc. Now I'm back, and autumn's colors are a few short weeks from brown drab. Reflecting on summer is a reminder of the blessing of God's good gifts.

Here are a few summer highlights for your viewing:

We picked strawberries when we visited family this summer, lovely juicy strawberries. Large bags of them still greet me when I open the basement chest freezer to remind me the temperatures have probably cooled down enough to make that batch of strawberry jam. Smaller bags will enjoy a much less time-consuming end with pancakes, in smoothies, on ice cream.

 No summer is complete without a batch of pesto...or in my case, a few double batches. We ate some fresh with homemade bread, on sandwiches, with pasta, on grilled pizza, and plain by the spoonful. The other containers are ushered to the freezer to use later for any of the above purposes, or one of our favorites: pesto chicken pizza. A warm reminder in the colder months gardening season will return soon.

A friend gave me the idea for jalapeno poppers this spring, and we grew a jalapeno and an Anaheim pepper plant in our garden this summer. Both peppers were abundant, so we grilled a fair share of jalapeno and Anaheim poppers. Directions: cut pepper in half the long way and remove (or don't remove) seeds depending on your heat preference, fill the cavity with cream cheese, wrap with bacon and grill until done.

These little men keep growing. Per the picture, the older is a serious young man, 3 going on 33. Just this morning he packed a "lunch" (wooden pizza--yum!), put his shoes on and asked for the keys and money to drive to work. To his credit the money was change for washing the car. The younger is playful and independent, our silent little wanderer who still enjoys cuddle time, lots of hugs, and his thumb. (JN - 2, CA - 1)


The Accountant and I enjoyed date nights at home in the summer: put the boys to bed early, grill something delicious (steak is a usual suspect), prepare some greens from our garden, and sit on the deck watching the sunset. It's glorious, and if we ever move, I might stipulate we have a deck with a sunset view. On this particular occasion, we also dined on homemade French bread with a garlic and cracked pepper olive oil for dipping. And a glass of wine.