summer bliss

Everyone has a different view of what constitutes the perfect summer day. Mine would probably involve a hammock (exactly like the awesome hammock my sister-in-law brought to the lake house this weekend) with a view of the lake, cool breeze, warm sun, the sound of boats and birds and leaves rustling, the scent of pine in the air, a great book in my hand. This was my bliss yesterday (although instead of a book I was reading the sweet expressions of the little boy on my lap who was utterly transfixed by boats). The day was just perfect in every way. I think the cousins all thought so too.

papa rocks

The last five days we spent in Wisconsin at Papa and Gigi's lake house. Part of our visit was to celebrate my dad's birthday. Liam's gift was a t-shirt he designed. I transferred his "rock and roll" drawing and handwritten words onto a t-shirt using iron-on adhesive, another cut-up t-shirt, fabric paint and a button. Liam even added some of the painted embellishments himself (while I held my breath and bit my tongue). Before we left Wisconsin today I asked Liam what was his favorite thing about the weekend. Without missing a beat he replied, "The cake . . . and the presents."

p.s. He had a little help with the guitar.

painting from nature

Every visit to the lake precipitates some kind of nature walk or treasure hunt, as the jewels of the natural world litter every inch of the woods as far as we can see. Usually we just amass a collection on the porch and over time toss them back where they came from. Today we got a little more creative and experimented with our finds as "paintbrushes" on a big sheet of newsprint. Liam was especially fond of the green circles he could make with the acorn top; I loved the little bursts from the needles of the baby pine bough and the wings made by the maple seed pods. Most of all, I loved how intimately we interacted with each item we found: identifying it, delicately turning it over in our hands to see its every groove and texture, finding just the right spot to dip in the paint and ever so gently pressing the paint-dipped treasure onto the paper. It isn't often we do anything as deliberately as we did this painting today. I think I even breathed a little, and smiled.

lucky enough

If you're lucky enough to be on the lake, you're lucky enough.

I don't know who coined this phrase, but it couldn't be more true than it was today. Playing with my beautiful boys amidst the trees, water, reeds, rocks, birds and occasional deer (if we're really lucky). It doesn't get much sweeter than this.

zucchini roundup

Our neighbor gave us this mammoth-sized zucchini today. I think she wanted to see Liam's eyes bug out. And that they did. I actually think it's the biggest zucchini I have ever seen. I'm not even sure I have enough ideas of what to do with it all, and that's coming from someone who really loves zucchini. However, I'm thinking the best thing to do with it is to wrap it up as a gift and give it to my brother - who absolutely hates all forms of squash. But that would be wasteful (yet funny, very funny), so here is a zucchini recipe we really dig and some we can't wait to try.

Our new favorite is zucchini pancakes. Well, my new favorite. Thanks to Ina Garten for another winning recipe from Barefoot Contessa at Home.

Zucchini Pancakes
makes 10 (3-inch) pancakes

2 medium (or 1 large – about 3/4 pound) zucchini
2 tablespoons grated or finely chopped onion
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 to 6 T all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
unsalted butter
olive or canola oil

Grate the zucchini (lazy me, I used a food processor). Stir in the onion and eggs. Stir in 4T of flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. (If the batter gets too thin from the liquid in the zucchini, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.)

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and melt 1/2 tablespoon butter and 1/2 tablespoon oil together in the pan. When the butter is hot, but not smoking, reduce heat to medium-low and drop heaping soup spoons of batter into the pan. Lightly smooth out the top and spread into 1/4-inch thick pancakes.

Cook the pancakes about 3 to 4 minutes on the first side until browned. Flip and cook second side 2 to 3 minutes until browned and center is cooked through. Wipe out the pan with a dry paper towel, add more butter and oil to the pan and continue to fry the pancakes until all the batter is used. The pancakes can stay warm in a 300 degree oven for up to 30 minutes.


Other ideas for our zucchini include these:
:: Sweet and Savory Zucchini Bread from 101 Cookbooks
:: Chocolate Zucchini Bread from my friend Ann (p.s. I think my "holy toledo" beats yours!)
:: Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
:: Zucchini Strand Spaghetti from Smitten Kitchen (But I definitely won't be making my own basil-infused olive oil. I have to draw the line somewhere.)

Or, maybe we'll use it as a baseball bat or a doorstop or a dumbell. Today, it was fun just to look at it and carry it around.

buttoned up

This weekend I unearthed three big jars of old buttons I purchased for pennies at the flea market years ago and subsequently misplaced. I am weird, but it was a thrill to find them. I poured them all into a big bowl and Liam and I sifted through to find our favorites. We came up with lots of fun ideas for ways to use them, including as embellishments on several secret birthday gifts we are making. Creating gifts out of mostly recycled materials is one of the new imperatives on our "get out of debt before we die" plan. Seriously, since we have put the kabash on spending, our creativity and fun times making stuff together have really taken off. I would post our gifts now but some of the recipients may be lurking. Let's just say they are all cute as a button.

old mother

Tonight at dinner I was telling Liam about our upcoming drive to Wisconsin and how we'd be taking my grandma (whom we fondly call "Gaye") up to my dad's house with us. I asked Liam if he knew that Gaye was Papa's (my dad's) mom. He looked at me stunned and then broke into a huge grin.

"Mom," he said. "You're silly. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard!"

"No, honey," I assured him. "Gaye is really Papa's mom."

"But I thought Gigi was Papa's mom," he countered.

"Nope. Gigi is Papa's wife."

"You're goofing me," Liam laughed. "What if Gigi was my mom and Papa was my dad?"

"I think they're kind of old to be your mom and dad, don't you?"

"Well, you're old," he said matter of factly. "You have ankles (wrinkles) and dots on your hand."

Oh, dear. Just wait til you're twenty, honey. I'll be the one wearing purple.