Gold Ribbon

After 2-1/2 years (I think) of lessons at the Stonestown YMCA, a break, and then 2-1/3 years at La Petite Baleen, Anders has gotten his gold ribbon!

fava ascendant

This year, we've harvested a lot of salad greens, quite a few limes, some strawberries, some snow and snap peas, and a lemon. We're beginning to get cherry tomatoes and carrots. Now, though, the vegetable garden is dominated by fava. Indeed, rather than throw out unused seeds, I eventually planted every last one, and now we have 24 plants. (Some are in less than ideal spots.) If all goes according to plan, we'll begin harvesting around the end of September.

Sunflower: Day 127

Tall!



This is measuring from the 3 ft point, so we're talking somewhere between 59 (middle of the flowerhead) and 61+ (tippy-top) inches. I'm calling it 60 inches even. Five feet!


Here, by the way, are pics from days 123 and 124, respectively.

carrots!

tie dyes

If you go to Tree Frog Treks for more than a week of summer camp, you can end up with multiple copies of the same tshirt. But this week (week two for the boys at TFT), the kids tie dyed their shirts!

Catalina kayaking

Ready to go!



Sunday campsite.


Monday night.



Tuesday - heroic landing, time for a cocktail.



Sigrid lit the camp stove. (No small feat - she's scared of it!)


Third campsite. Not level, but it will do!


Wednesday morning.



Mission accomplished.

Sunflower: Day 122

Fancy!


What a difference two days makes.

angel

Things got rather wet and sandy after swim lessons today.

the summer of books

This has really been Anders's summer to fall in love with reading. But that doesn't mean Soren isn't doing his best, too...

tomatoes

It's all fun and games...

...until someone loses an eye. Luckily, we stopped shy of that point.

poppy seeds

Splitting California poppy seed pods, and spreading them through the garden.

Sunflower: Day 120

Signs of the yellow petals of the flowerhead!


56 inches. Maybe 57. So about a half inch a day since last week.

tired boy, painted face

A week at camp with Tree Frog Treks can be tiring.

new sleeping bag

Dads' Night Out

Ferment • Drink • Repeat

birdfeeder

Soren made a birdfeeder at Tree Frog Treks.


The kids started with pine cones, to which they attached pipe cleaners. A counselor then covered the pine cone with shortening. And then the kids rolled the pine cones in bird seed. Here's a close-up:


I hope the squirrels don't knock it down!

Racing Ribbon

Four down, one (butterfly) to go.

Oxtail Soup

Perfect for a winter day. Or July in San Francisco.

tablet and book

Sunflower: Day 113

Getting tall!


36 inches...

...plus 17 inches equals 53 inches, or 4 feet 5 inches!


Yay!