Memorial Day

We had what turned out to be a lovely Memorial Day. This is my favorite time of year, on the cusp of summer with long light and all the delicious prospects of summer stretching out ahead. Summer arrived right on cue this year, with temperatures hitting 90 degrees today after a May on the cool side.

We started the day all walking Bismarck together. Edith is very keen on walking the dog these days. By which I mean doing the actual dog handling. Since he is 98 lbs. and she is 24 lb. and shorter than he is, this is something of a dicey proposition. He would never deliberately yank her off her feet, but if another dog rounds the corner, all bets are off. But he is generally patient, and so we try to give her opportunities when we're on grass. It's great that she's getting excited about taking care of Bismarck.


When we got in from a long meander along the canal (had to stop Edith from trying to squeeze through a crack in the gate onto her daycare playground), we all took a morning nap, which was heavenly. We woke up two hours later completely refreshed.

Then after lunch we decided to head out to Terhune Orchards. We'd been there at Halloween for pumpkin picking and enjoyed it, although we'd left with the distinct impression of a crowded zoolike place that had become too popular for its size. Turns out Memorial Day was nothing like Halloween. We were able to visit the ducks and turkeys in the company of just a handful of other people Edith's age with their parents. Then we picked our own strawberries, her first experience picking her own food straight from the source. She figured out quickly how to identify a berry and to pick it from the plant. We had a much harder time teaching her to put them into the carton instead of into her mouth. You pay by weight, so they'd asked us not to eat berries while still in the field. Edith surreptitiously snuck two or three, however, and her mouth and dress told the tale. We chipped in a bit more for the purloined berries. We finished off our visit by purchasing a basil plant so we'll have fresh basil all summer, then sharing an iced apple cider. Mmmmm...



On the way home we passed a farm that had been mentioned to us by a friend as a place where one can purchase a farm share for the summer season and thereby get weekly organic vegetables. This is something I'd been meaning to investigate that kept getting put off. We pulled in and spoke to the farmer. There are some shares left. We'd go once a week from now until Thanksgiving or so to pick up our share of whichever vegetables were harvested that week. They run from greens in the early summer through a range of about 25 or 30 vegetables down to pumpkins in October and November. You can also pick your own flowers and herbs while there, which would be fun with Edith. I think it would be a great thing to do with her as she phases out of baby food into all table food. We'd eat healthy, she'd learn where food comes from, and we'd all be made more aware of what's in season when and what you can do with various foods. In lieu of any big vacation this year, I think this is going to be our summer project.

In the meantime we visited the regular grocery store, where we got ingredients for a series of recipes in the Moosewood cookbook I'd identified earlier in the day. When we got home Edith and I transplanted some impatiens I'd received on Mother's Day into the downstairs bed. Then I made us some stuffed zucchini and a gazpacho-type soup while listening to the Memorial Day broadcasts featuring families who had lost loved ones and discussing the new documentary about a military hospital in Iraq. So much sunshine and health and goodness we enjoyed today; so much warped and wrong in the world. I daily count my blessings.