Bliss

Had the best weekend with the kids. Rode on Saturday, and took Allen to buy some Bakugan at Target. They are always sold out, but a kid at school let us in on the secret of Saturday morning shopping. We showed up before horse riding and were able to find what we wanted. Of course, since Allen didn't have enough allowance money, it meant he was going to be in for some labor at home later for Mom. I told him it would involve sweeping the front sidewalk and helping me clean out the shavings in the chicken house. He agreed.
On the way home, we stopped by the farmer's market in town. Got some lovely potatoes, beets, onions, tomatoes, cantaloupe, peaches and plums. Amazing the variety that is in season this time of year. I have been reading a book lately called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which chronicles a year in the life of a Virginia family as they only eat what they can produce or purchase locally, in an effort to decrease the amount of petroleum involved in bringing them their food. It has been inspirational. I certainly am not up for that particular challenge, but it has made me crave the wonderful things the local farmers produce and make me want to support them so that farming in this area is profitable. Cooked up a huge pot of beets just for me for lunch. So sweet and yummy.
Made potatoe salad for Brian.
Got ready to go outside to work, when the rain started and ended up doing laundry instead.
Brian and I went to a farewell dinner for the headmaster at the school our kids go to. The food was great, but the funnest part was the Scottish dancing afterwards. They had four dancers arrive and the dancers cajoled us(all the guests) into participating in a program of at least 10 Scottish dances. Brian and I ended up dancing in about 4 of them and it was the most fun I've had in a long time. We didn't get all the steps right, but it felt so good to be moving after such a big meal.
Today the sun shone bright, so the kids and I headed outside to work. While Allen swept the front walk, Emily and I tackled the weeds in the garden. I offered to pay for each bucket of weeds she pulled and she went right to work. The plants in the garden have been getting adequate rain and we were able to harvest our first zucchini and a small bundle of beets. We were able to weed half the garden before Allen was done with the sidewalk. Got busy shoveling out the chicken house. Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Made a lovely mulch pile and filled the compost bin. Gave the birds fresh shavings and straw. Emily filled their waterers. Then she and I went back to weeding and got the worst of it done in the entire garden. She is becoming such a hard worker as long as I'm there to keep her company. (Which helps me work harder as well.) Then we ordered pizza and jumped in the pool to cool off. What a lovely lovely day. 9 days of school left. Can't wait for summer when most days can be like this one.