The picture above is from somewhere in Michigan. I have several pictures like this saved.... a path leading off into the woods. I'm not sure why pictures like this are so intriguing to me. Is the sense of adventure they conjure? Perhaps the notion of 'the journey' they imply? Not sure, but I love pics like these. Mostly, I just wish I were actually on those paths walking through the woods.
It's been crazy busy around here lately. Sorry I've been lax in my blogging. This weekend is my daughter's dance recital. Her teacher doesn't just do a little show where each class comes out and dances and that's it.... no, she rents out a huge music hall at ISU, and puts on a HUGE performance with backdrops, props and everything. Each class' dance tells a part of the story, and the older dancers have the main character parts of the story. This year we're going to see "Alice in Wonderland". At the end of the show, the whole company (around 300 kids) are on the stage for the closing number. Basically that's just a bunch of hand waving in the air, because there's just not room to do much else. But the place usually sells out for this show, with family members coming to see their little angel perform, from all over the place. My daughter's class are ladybugs. Eh, what can you say? My in-laws are here for the even, and my sister-in-law comes down to stay with the boys for the evening (there's no way they could last through this thing).
I planted some Peperoncini seeds and now have seedlings. My wife and kids and I love these things, so I decided to pickle some of my own. What are they? They're those little wrinkly peppers you get in your box of Pappa John's Pizza. Yeah, we love 'em. I'd have bought plants, but I couldn't find them anywhere, and I had to order the seeds! I was at Aldi the other day getting some groceries and the cashier pointed out some plants they had. I came home with a fully grown, ripe-fruit-bearing Sweet banana Pepper plant. Picked some red peppers off it that evening and had em on salad. Wow are they good. Sweeeeet. Really excellent sliced lengthwise and spread with some cream cheese!
The rest of the garden is doing ok. I cultivated the other day to help get rid of weeds, but that only seems to make it worse. It turns over new weed seeds and allows them to grow. Plus, my compost pile had bindweed seeds get into it. That's wild morning glory. I've got these little things springing up all over the place... YAAAAAAACCCKK! Drives me crazy. The onions are growing well. My grapevine is covered with blossoms. The tomatoes are finally showing signs of growth and have a few blooms. My lettuce -bipkus. Beets... eeh, we'll see. Peppers, I think they'll live. Cukes, I've got five plants out of a whole package of seeds. Green beans. They're spotty and I'm going to fill in the spaces with new seed. Yeah, I'm crazy. I'm not sure what happened. I don't think it was a problem with the seeds. I think it was that it rained for several days not long after they were planted, and they must have gotten too soggy. I dunno, but I'm disappointed. We'll see how they do as the summer goes along.
My mother was pulling some weeds yesterday at her house. They were growing around her mailbox where she usually plants flowers every year (and swears she's not going to plant flowers every year, but they never survive). She got tired of pulling weeds because the roots were all spread out (crab grass, I'm guessing). So she went and bought, not one, but TWO bottles of bleach and dumped on them. "I reckon that'll get rid of 'em," she said. Yes, I imagine it will.... and anything else you plant there for awhile. Sheesh. It'll probably wash out in the next couple of rains... I hope.
I do have several other pictures that I'd like to share with you of some things I enjoyed this Spring, etc. I will get to it, I promise. My wife is plugging away on her Masters degree in nursing. She begins her practicum hours in just a few weeks. It's going to be a busy summer with all of that. I started the last week of curriculum with my daughter yesterday, so we should be 'done' with school by the end of this coming week. However, we are going to continue to do some things through the summer. She needs it. (Though I need a break too).
Our CSA started two weeks ago. So far we've gotten salad greens, spinach, green onions, radishes, Boston lettuce, strawberries, chives, and kale. I may be forgetting something. It's exciting to see what comes each week. What's more interesting is seeing what I decide to do with it! I made a really good Kale and white bean soup last week. Some of the spinach is in tonight's lasagna. Strawberries are going into a glaze for cheesecake.
Hope you all are well.
Grant. Male. 4 1/2 years old. Whiner extraordinaire. But he can give you the most genuine, loving smile in a heartbeat. This little penguin is just one of his many stuffed animals that find their way into his daily play. He loves toads (to death, literally), can ride a two wheel bike without training wheels, and loves to help.
And Anna. As I type this, she's spending the week at her Grandparents'. At nine-years-old, she's doing very well with her reading. This book, "Stone Fox", was her last reader for the year in our core 3 curriculum from Sonlight. Not to let the summer go unused, I went to the library and got her three books to read while she's at Grandma's; "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" (one of my favorites), "Caleb's Story", a follow-up to "Sarah Plain and Tall" which we read this year, and "How to Eat Fried Worms". She finished "Tales ... " before the weekend was out.
And finally, showing their creativity, the kids built a space ship in the backyard out of crates, cardboard, a basketball goal, and some other miscellaneous stuff. What a riot.
Finally, a picture of some of the peonies from my yard. This variety is called "Bowl of Beauty". I dug up the rootstock from my wife's Grandmother's yard and was able to get two bushes growing. I love peonies, but these are just about my favorites. And for you non-Indiana type people, the peony is the state flower of Indiana.
It is made of metal and hard plastic. The pole is telescoping so you can adjust the height and it screws down to hold it in place. The bottom is equipped with a hard plastic, pointy tip and flange (kind of like a ski pole) to keep it in one place. 
