new favorite things

Oatmeal has always been one of my favorite breakfasts. I think I could live happily for the rest of my life eating only oatmeal or Greek yogurt (with honey) every morning. Except with bacon now and then. But it's always been my thing. No one else in our family would touch it. I could load it up with berries and honey or mix it with an equivalent amount of brown sugar and both kids would turn their noses up at it. "I don't like oatmeal!" Will will occasionally eat some to please me. Because I keep telling him that it's so much better for him than the Frosted Mini Wheats he eats every. single. day.

And then one day, everyone woke up and asked for "some of that you're eating mom."

The difference was that this time, it was steel cut oats. I only discovered steel cut oatmeal myself this spring, having avoided it at all costs for years because I thought it would feel like grits, and I don't like grits. Except then I remembered that I do, actually, like grits. So I gave it a try and low and behold, my new favorite thing! And surprisingly, everyone else likes it too. Even Evelyn, miss picky, will gobble up a bowl. At least on alternating days (because she doesn't consistently like anything except fruit and "Chicken Wings" at the moment).

Since the mornings here are nice and cool, I've been making up a big pot of it when I first get up, giving it a stir now and then while I'm making the coffee, and generally, it's perfectly done by the time the rest of the crowd drags themselves to the table. Curiously, I've found that the Bob's Red Mill Farm brand cooks much faster than the classic tin of Irish Oats. They don't taste different, so I'm not sure why, but in this case the faster cooking time tips the scales in Bob's favor when I go shopping. Because it does take time. Not a horrible amount of time. Like I said, I can get a pot of oatmeal simmering away first thing and it's ready about the same time the coffee is. But it's not as fast as, say, instant oatmeal (gag - sorry, I love oatmeal but I can't stand the instant stuff). At the moment our crock pot is in storage, but I'm eager to give the overnight cooking method a try once we are moved and unpacked.

At the moment our favorite mix ins are dried cranberries and brown sugar (for the kids) and blueberries and granola and a teeny bit of brown sugar (for me) Will flips back and forth on which he likes better. I'm curious though, if anyone else is a big steel cut oats fan? How do you eat it? How do you cook it?

sweater beginnings or christmas knitting, the summer edition

I know it seems early to be thinking about winter sweaters, especially when half the country is broiling away, but sweaters, as I've learned (remember Will's Christmas/Valentines/Spring Break Sweater?) take time to knit. So if I want to knit three before December, it's time to get started. In fact, I think I started Briton's in May last year. So really, I'm behind. Whoops.

courtesy of Ravelry

This time around I'm starting with Evie's sweater. Since last year I made the colossal mistake of believing that anything pink would be fine by her and we ended up with a sweater that she wont wear, I enlisted her help in selecting a pattern. After some perusing through Ravelry she chose this sweater, which, unfortunately, only comes as a kit. In Danish. But the idea is pretty straight forward and armed with my trusty copy of Knitting Without Tears (which just happens to include directions for a round yoke sweater) I think I'll be OK.

The plan is to use two of my handspun yarns, the colorful one I chose for the purpose, knowing it would be about as Evelyn as it could get with all that pink plus all those other colors. The white is a soft mohair that I just finished spinning last night which seemed like a good foil for the brightness of the pink. I'm hoping it will be a good combination. And that there is enough of the white. Although on the plus side, I can always spin more. One of the benefits of spinning.

So it's official. I've started my Christmas/Solstice knitting. Christmas in July, right? Briton's sweater, which he has very sweetly requested be EXACTLY like the last one (although since the last one still fits he has agreed that it can be green and green instead of another blue and blue, for variety) and Will, well, he might get a hat. Or socks. Or another Spring Break sweater. We shall see.

Anyone else crazy enough to be knitting Christmas sweaters in July?

frogmania

We have frogs, people. Lots and lots of frogs.

In the first weeks after our move, Evelyn spent hours and hours (and hours) watching tadpoles. Tadpoles in the creek, tadpoles in the river, tadpoles in the lake and even some frighteningly ginormous tadpoles in a tiny pond near Stowe. She loved them. She talked to them. She named them. And then, one day, they were all gone. No more little herds of black commas scuttling around the shallows of the lakes. We moved on to minnows and wildflowers and building rock towers.

My guess is that they went somewhere to hide from her prying fingers. They'd probably been scooped up in a jam jar one too many times. But they are back, and grown, and catching frogs has become part of the daily routine around here.

"Mom! You have to look at THIS one!"

Yesterday we spent a good two hours catching frogs, and then bugs to feed the frogs, and then letting the frogs go and catching more frogs. Armed with the net we made out of a mesh bag and a wire hanger to catch them and an old Cool Whip tub to hold them, they are as happy as clams (the kids, I'm not sure the frogs are super excited about the whole situation).

 This is what we wanted. Children knee deep in mud, catching frogs, and minnows and salamanders. Writing messages with sticks and rocks and smelling like river water and needing to be hosed down nightly, and sometimes twice a day. Sweaty, stinky, happy.

a canoe! a canoe!

If you drove around the little town we now call home, you might notice something about most of the houses. First, there would be a Subaru. I'm totally not kidding here. Pretty much everyone has one and after a month or so of driving ours along the rutted, dusty roads, I understand why. And also why most of them are used. And dirty. Because why drive a nice, new, clean car where it's just going to get muddy and rusty, right?

So. the Subaru we have. But the other thing that almost everyone has tucked under their deck or wedged between the garage and the house or hanging in carport or strapped to the roof of their (Subaru) car, is some kind of canoe or kayak or paddleboard.

Funny story, about the paddleboards, by the way. Paddleboarding is like surfing, on a lake, with a paddle. The first time we saw paddleboarding in action, it was a guy with a huge, frizzy grey beard way across the lake and, due to the sunlight (and us not knowing about paddleboarding in the first place) we couldn't see the board. Just a guy. Walking on water. No joke.

Anyhoo, after almost five weeks of watching everyone else canoe, paddleboard and kayak, we finally, finally found ourselves a nice, used canoe and spent all of Saturday puttering around the lake on it. Bliss. The kids caught a bucket full of fish, I read, Will pried a lot of hooks out of fish mouths (must remember to get barb-less hooks this afternoon) and we only quit because the sun went down.

I know that kayaking is more exciting and paddleboarding seems pretty interesting as well, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the canoe. I so vividly remember paddling with my parents through reedy creeks around Lake Coeur d'Alene- the silence, the smoothness of the water, the cattails that I would bring home and let crumble to pieces in my room. It's an all together kind of activity, instead of a solitary one. We can all smoosh into our canoe, along with the dog and a lunch bag and assorted fishing equipment, and still have room for daddy's long legs. There are plans in the works for some canoe camping fun later this summer and much peering at weather reports for the after work hours of the next two weeks to see just how often we can get out on the water. I'm wondering what will get old first, the canoing, or eating sandwiches for dinner night after night so that we can head out to the lake ASAP when daddy comes home. Humm, I might need to come up with some better portable dinners. Any ideas?

on the fourth of july

There was a parade, unlike any I've ever seen.

Oh, sure, it started, and ended, with a fire truck as all good parades should.

But in the middle...

 That's the "Eye-cloud" and "Super-PAC (man)" there, in case you wondered.

 Apparently last years theme involved nudity and the unfortunate lack of it.

 Which was probably pretty interesting.

After the parade there was dancing, and potato sack races and a water slide, and Frisbee games, and a lot of sitting around in the sun (which was hot, but not too hot, thankfully).

And now there is a general consensus in the family that next year we should be in the parade, instead of just watching.

This could be a good look for Will, don't you think?

happy fourth

We're off this morning to the Warren Independence Day Parade. Yesterday the village sprouted buntings and banners to match the flags that live year round on every telephone pole.

The kids made hats and had a practice parade at camp yesterday so they are fired up and ready to go. Here's hoping that, wherever you are, you're having a lovely 4th of July.

past the bobbin mill

Practically every one we meet here tells us about a hike we should go on, or a swimming hole we should find, or a hike that leads to a swimming hole.

The weather here (look away those of you who are suffering through 100+ heat) has been perfect for spending the day outside. Sunny enough to swim but not so hot that you want to run indoors after a few minutes. Perfect. If only I could find some way to avoid the midges and the blackflies I'd probably never come in (OFF, even the nasty DEET kind, has no effect. I've ordered some Skin So Soft but if anyone has ideas, send them my way, Evie and I are being eaten alive!).

This weekend we drove out to find the Bobbin Mill walk. The mom who told me about it said "You're going to think I sent you to the set of a horror movie when you drive up, but just keep walking, I promise, it's beautiful." So naturally, we needed to try it out. While the old bobbin mill at the base of the trail isn't quite horror movie worthy, it's pretty sketchy and I have to admit if there hadn't been other cars there we might have gone somewhere else, but she was right. A few steps up the path and old mill dissapeared, leaving a high tree canopy and dappled sunlight on the trail.

And at the top of the trail, or at least at the top of the well walked part of it, some thoughtful, wonderful soul built a swinging bench that overlooks a slow spot in the creek where the kids spent a good two hours getting soaking wet, sliding down rocks and catching water-skippers. I've come to the conclusion that getting my children dressed in actual clothes is a waste of time. They might as well just wear a swimsuit all day, everyday. Both are pretty much constantly wet these days. At least they are unfazed by the idea of jumping into a swimming hole fully clothed.

You'd think we'd get tired of shady, tree lined walks along creeks, but you know? Somehow I don't think we ever will. Really, honestly, truly- I love summer.