Very long post, pull up a chair and sit a while!

Yesterday morning my 3 girls and I hopped into the van for a quick (and late ) Saturday morning trip here:

The Farmers' Market was the place to be, I tell ya. We lucked out on a perfect parking place right out front. There were tons of people and an energy in the air that's only found in the middle of summer.

We also found something else. A new vendor that was a perfect and most pleasant surprise on a hot July 3rd morning.

The Italian Ice guy!!

Grandma Sandy and Dogos got mango, Peanut got tie-dye (??) and The Boss got strawberry kiwi. Unfortunately, for the 2nd trip in a row, Dogos was being quite disagreeable.

Ok, let's face it, she was a terror. She hates, hates, hates, to be hot and her shrieks of protest drew more than a few alarmed stares.

Thankfully, Peanut was with me and she kept that stroller moving while I waited to get the produce we wanted. I had hoped the Italian Ice treat would subdue her, but it was not to be. So we shopped as quickly as we could and got outta there fast enough to take her unwanted treat to Middle Man before it completely melted. He doesn't know it wasn't originally intended for him. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?

The rest of us enjoyed our treat.

See? Doesn't it look good? Makes me wish I had some right now.

We had barely left the Farmers' Market when my cell phone rang. Guitar Boy was calling to say that he was back from Scout Camp an hour and a half early and I needed to pick him up. YEA! Guitar Boy is back! I was happy to hear his voice and his 3 sisters could hardly wait to see him.

Before he left, he wasn't much for words, unless they were insults thrown in the direction of whichever sibling was nearby, so imagine my delight when he could hardly talk fast enough while recounting his various adventures throughout the week.

One of the more interesting stories he told was that of his Wilderness Survival challenge. I call it the never ever in a million years and for no amount of money could anyone ever get Grandma Sandy to do this and neither should anyone else challenge. This is how it works: The Boy Scout can only take whatever supplies can fit inside a baseball cap and the group then hikes out to a remote, isolated place to spend the night.

Guitar Boy borrowed a net hammock from a friend and finally found 2 perfect trees on which to set it up. He got it all set up and moments after he sat down to catch his breath in the heat, the Camp's Scout instructor for the challenge walked by and said, "Oh yeah, you can't use that. You have to sleep on the ground like everybody else so you better get busy building a shelter."

I personally would like to know why Guitar Boy had not already been informed of this requirement since last year, hammocks were perfectly acceptable, but thats probably the mama bear coming out in me. Nonetheless, poor Guitar Boy had to set about constructing a shelter. He said that by then the other Scouts had already gathered the best sticks, so he had to make do with what he could scrounge up. He managed to assemble something (lordy only knows what it looked like!) and piled up some leaves to keep him warm (oh my mercy me) and settled down for the night. The next morning he said he woke up with dirt in his mouth and about 20 ticks on him. I had to laugh when he said, "Mom, I never thought I'd say this, but never in my life have I been so happy to sleep on a camping cot the next night!"

I'm very proud of him. I never could've done that. As I recount this story now, I'm thinking of the many people in other countries for whom sleeping on the ground is the norm. And on this 4th of July I'm so thankful for the thousands of service men and women that sacrifice so much to preserve our freedom that allows me to live such a comfortable and spoiled life.

Here is Guitar Boy on the way home while he's telling us of some of his experiences. I think at this point he was describing how he tied his pocket knife on some kind of rope thingy and attached it to his body somehow so he wouldn't lose it on his mile swim across the lake. WHAT??

Guitar Boy is no soldier protecting our country, but he was the only Scout from his troop to participate in this year's Wilderness Survival. In spite of the fact that he did NOT personally sign up for Wilderness Survival (Troop Scout Master is responsible for that one..argh) he stuck with it and did it anyway. His other troop leaders wanted to recognize his accomplishment so they awarded him this......

...the brand new edition of the Scout handbook! Guitar Boy's previous handbook got misplaced in the Flood of 2010. Of course he didn't tell me it was missing until the night before he left for Scout camp when we couldn't find it and it was too late to replace it, but I'm very proud that his troop leaders were impressed enough to reward him in some way. The fact that his Troop's Scout Master was the one that signed him up and then wasn't even there the entire week may have had something to do with the other troop leaders recognizing Guitar Boy is probably beside the point. ahem

Another surprise in my day was the discovery of this little sign:

The part you can't read says Estate Sale, and I found this sign right around the corner from my house. I've become semi-obsessed with googling Estate Sales in this area. I'm in search of either a much larger dining room table to accommodate our large family or a smaller table and chairs to put downstairs, once the flooring is finally installed. I'm not seriously considering buying anything but it's fun to internet-shop. When I saw this sign and all of the cars, I just had to stop.

I found a small little pedestal table to replace a table that didn't survive the flood. When I saw it, something about it seemed familiar. Someone I know has a little table like this....is it you, canape? Maybe it was my Mimi, I can't remember. Maybe it was meant to be mine. I dunno, but I found this little cutie (even though its a horrible picture....sorry)

as well as this pretty platter.

As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly which purpose it would serve.

Upon our return home, we found Middle Man hard at work. He and The Chef had been working in the yard the entire morning. At this point, it must be said that Middle Man is charming, funny, and cute as can be but when it comes down to actual work, Middle Man usually either gets "sick" or has to go to the bathroom. When we drove up and saw this......

...the rest of us were in shock. When I say that Middle Man worked, I mean he WORKED. He hauled logs that our neighbor cut for us from an enormous discarded limb, he swept the patio which was a task unto itself, he picked up sticks in the yard, helped to squirt Round-up on weeds, and also inspired his little sister to help.

This is The Boss, wearing Middle Man's former "yard gloves." The Boss loves these things within an inch of her own life. I don't know how much help she was, but judging by the fact that I had to re-glove her at least 10 times, the gloves as well as The Boss both got a good work-out.

In case you're wondering what happened to Guitar Boy/Wilderness Survivor, this is what I found him doing.

He stayed that way for at least 4 hours and I can't say I blame him!

While Guitar Boy was sleeping, Dogos was napping, and the middle 3 were outside with The Chef, Grandma Sandy set to work in the kitchen.

Much to the kids' delight, I cut up this Farmers' Market find...

....prepared these butterbeans to be frozen and stored for the winter...

and got the rest of our vegetables ready for supper...

The green tomatoes were at The Chef's request. He will use them to make fried green tomatoes with lump crab meat and white and red remoulade sauces. He ain't called The Chef for nothin'.

I also got some "peaches and cream corn" to freeze.

While I was taking care of kitchen things, The Boss would come inside to take a break from "her work" to have a watermelon snack....

Not only was she sweaty, she loved the watermelon.

Can you tell?

What I failed to mention was that on the way home from the Farmers' Market, I saw a little grandpa on the side of the road selling cantaloupe. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture (actually, I did, but I accidentally deleted it when trying to upload it because I'm an idiot) so take my word for it when I say that it was huge. Enormous. So big, in fact, that The Boss enthusiastically exclaimed, "You got us a pumpkin?!??"

The Boss may love watermelon, but Middle Man had to snack on the cantaloupe.

This summer I started a small herb garden. When I say small, I mean to say that so far it includes only basil, oregano, cilantro, and sage.

I think I mostly got the sage because it looked pretty, see??

We had an herb garden years ago, but that was when we had a deck, no kids, no pets that cared enough about uprooting plants, and I think I mostly wanted to just grow stuff. Over the past 2 years I've started cooking again. The Chef always uses fresh everything when possible, so now I want to use fresh herbs, myself. Plus it makes me feel very Martha Stewartish. heehee

Imagine my surprise when worlds collided yesterday in the culmination of this....

I sliced the tomatoes and cucumbers from the Farmers' Market, made The Pastor's tomato/cucumber vinaigrette with fresh basil from my tiny herb garden, and the cheap I mean beautiful Estate sale platter that had just enough lip around the edges to hold it all. Yea, me!

It was one of those fun family Saturdays.

I hope you had one too.

And Happy 4th! We’re off to celebrate with the Pastor and The Gentleman, aka Jr. He’s a veteran and hero for us all.

Happy birthday, USA!!!!