The last two weeks have been filled with good old American fun, so of course I've written nothing about anything we've been up to. That's a good thing, though! Even though I'm sure there's some blogging taboo of writing about old activities, that's what I'm going to do anyway.
Aunt Libby's visit a couple weeks ago was a great excuse for some fun outings and I was itching to go berry-picking. We ended up finding the most charming blueberry patch that I've ever seen. It's small and tucked into a little woods. Finding it was a challenge, and I'll admit that we almost left because it seemed a little risky (let's just say the place didn't look very popular). When we finally did zigzag our way through the woods in our Camry, there was only one other car back there. Luckily, the man was really friendly and told us what to do. The owners of the patch are very elderly and don't really go back there anymore. So when you're all done picking, you go up to their house, the tiniest little lady looks over your spoils and announces how much you owe. Our grand total? $1.50 for half a cake pan's worth. I gave her $2 to cover the cost of all the berries Charley grabbed from my harvest and threw into the field. Stinker.
As you can see, he had a great time and actually did a pretty good job once Libby showed him what to do! I'm not sure that all of his berries were ripe, but he didn't mind. One of the best things about this place was that Charley could safely crawl around because there wasn't any poison ivy in the rows. He did gnaw the flowers off a few plantains before I could stop him, but I figure they just added more fiber to his diet.
When it was time to pay I may or may not have gotten to go into the owners' house. Um, adorable much? It was sort of a cross between hoarders (not in a gross way though) and treasure pickers I guess, and their inviting me in (to see the dogs--5 terriers who only stopped yapping when someone exclaimed "We already know she's here") was pretty adorable. There were some real treasures in that place in the vintage coolness department, seriously. I'll definitely go back to do more picking either this week or next.
After all the picking and naptime, we headed to the pool with play group, and I discovered that all public pools in this town are not created equal. There were fountains and toys galore, which was way more fun than our normal swimming spot which is also connected to the adult pool, so it doesn't feel as fun.
Then later, I made a seriously quick recipe (as in, it didn't take me twice as long as everyyone else to make) consisting of pasta, sauteed zucchini and garlic, feta, olive oil, lemon zest and dill. It combined a recent recipe in the newest Martha Stewart Living (oddly, it's not on their website) with one from Real Simple, and I was quite pleased with the results. Try it if you like! I'll write out a real recipe if anyone wants it. Happy Monday, and please come back soon for more adventures, Aunt Libby!
