Hoarding Of Pfeffernüsse

Mmmm. Susie managed to convince Eileen to share her beloved pfeffernüsse and all their spicy goodness with us. They weren't really Laura's thing, and that's fine because then it's more for me. But I'm rationing them to try and last as long as I can. If I play my cards right I just may have one on Christmas eve to put on Santas plate, and we all know where it goes from there.

St. Nicholas is gettting pfeffernüsse!

Like Eyes All Around Your Head

I'm not even sure how well these can be seen on here, but I am experimenting with this new panorama app I found on my phone. These got kind of messed up. Maybe I needed better lighting. You may need to click on them to see a larger version.

I was inspired when Eric took some awesome ones, maybe I can get him to send them to me.

Eric... Hi... can you send those to me?

The Thanks, X14

Believe it or not, things have just now settled down after Thanksgiving. I didn't even realize it was Monday already til Zoraida Sambolin said something about it, and even now I'm kind of in shock. Maybe that tryptophan is getting stronger.

We had 14 people stuffed into our house for Thanksgiving. Seems fitting. But it started off slow with my parents, Eric & Fatih arriving late the night before and waking up slowly the morning of.

It seemed like we were in no rush and took the morning easy, gnoshing on muffins and Stella D'oro, sipping coffee and "coffee" and deciding whether or not get up and get to it.

The Krupp men arrived fresh from hurricane alley and were ready to get to business, and by business I mean actual business showing everyone the mythical heat injector on our front lawn.

It was nice to get outside since it was such a lovely day and plus I think my neighbors passing got the impression that I may be a real player in the contest of "let's-see-who-can-have-the-largest-generator".

Back inside hors d'oeuvres were prepped and just in time for more guests to arrive. Eric served up his homemade sangria, complete with beet shavings and quirky goblets.

The period of time between this and the next is blurry, but I seem to remember lots of serving bowls, bumping into one another and cooking going on in three rooms of the house. Dinner was about two hours late hitting our tongues, but our tongues were the better for it.

Before

After

Jammed some dessert down our throats and then busted out the Michigan rummy board. Everyone was a quick learner, except for Eric, but we had to change up some of the rules to keep the chips moving, despite my father having a panic attack over it.

Can't wait to do it again. Let's go for the big 20!

One Day Like This A Year Will See Me Right

Father's Day is better than birthdays. Birthdays just make you feel old and then you eat too much cake. Father's Day means that we watch Return of the Jedi instead of Housewives of NJ (even tho since I'm now on the computer the TV has mysteriously returned to terrible Italians). Father's Day means I get a back rub tonight. I think. I kinda need one.

I'll tell the day with photos...


gifts in black & white


pancakes of blueberry


a barn at sunset


a chair in the garden


a baby, a lady & a dog


a garden on wheels


foxglove and dogcoat


evening primrose


Yuula's first ice cream cone


she is an Estler


her best Colonel Sanders impression


sunshone child


a splash of color


a work in progress


a blank canvas


I don't feel like I've accomplished anything if at the end of the day my white v-neck hasn't turned to brown.

Happy Father's Day dads. Can't wait for next year.

A Pile Of It

We're on the verge of actually planting some plants in the vegetable garden, but first we need something to plant it in. Pocono dirt is notoriously rocky, so we turned to our master gardeners up the mountain for their premium compost, full of tasty horse turd and goat nugget, aged to perfection and ripe for the pickin'. Pick we did.


The givers of life thru dookie.


Right at home in a mountain of crap.


Yuula has no place complaining about the smell of someone's poop.

Oh, All The Pretty Things

Our first Mother's Day. Seemed to come pretty natural. My mother had told Laura that this was a good day to start planting some flowers in the yard and that's all she needed to hear. The two planned on making a perennial pilgrimage to the local growery to stock up on all the pretty things. But first, I had a few plans.



Laura thinks I made her a special heart-shaped breakfast in honor of Mother's Day, but really... I just love French toast.



After seeing how happy the heart toast made everyone, Yuula was less than excited for her glass jar of mush.



But once we threw her in a spring-y dress her attitude changed.



The girls came back with a good lot of pinks and yellows and in betweens. Dad & I were hard at work on the shed/garden project (still) so we appreciated from afar, but the brightening of the yard was hard to miss.





Yuula helped how she could, as in not at all, but being cutesy is enough when you're a baby.




Max.



Eileen and Susie showed up to take the Mom factor up a notch plus always adding a hint of absurdity to any modest gathering.



We went full-on spring and busted out the patio furniture and grilled. Nothing was fully prepped and ready for it's first seasonal testing, but I'd like to report that it had a promising first run.





Even the hammock made a surprise appearance.



The day was long and after such a drug-out and dismal winter everyone was in sunshock. The day ended with more sitting around and talking talk and less action. But that's the sign of a good day's work.



And I think Laura had a nice Mother's Day too.



One down.