This & That

Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

These boys and their parents came to visit for the holiday weekend. It's so fun to see them and how they've changed over the past few weeks since we've seen them last. My daughter is really good to FaceTime me frequently so I can see them, but it's not the same as getting your hands on them and watching their little faces light up when you talk to them.

My fuzzy-headed Monarda are blooming. I just get such a kick out of them. 

And after not blooming for several years, the lilies decided to put in an appearance. I have no clue what makes them bloom or not bloom, but they've got more buds on them than we've ever seen. As a reminder, I picked these up because I thought they'd work with the colors my daughter picked for her wedding. I found the bulbs at the grocery store...total impulse buy.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week.....I got this one of John, who was apparently tired of waiting in line at the zoo.

And hey, here's my boy, who happens to be in the Air Force....and is sporting some hardware there. Every once in a while, the military takes formal pictures and he sent this along to me.

From Marc's family, here's Isaac with not 1, but TWO missing front teeth.

And lastly, some video of the babies while they were here with us. You can see my husband is working hard to get some grins, but you'll see who finally gets one in the end. :)

 

There Were Amazing Driveway Fireworks

Oh yes there were. But let's move a little earlier in the day, shall we? I mentioned in this week's food post that it was a big cooking day, and it started with making the batter for the homemade ice cream my husband begs for at every opportunity. I love him, I really do, but the recipe is a bit labor-intensive, like standing and stirring it at the stove for about a half hour until it's just ready to boil....not boiling, not simmering, but somewhere in between. It's really good stuff, but it does require some dedication. 

Having done that, I moved on to something I thought the kids would really love and it was these cookies, which I will not link the recipe for, much as love the site they came from. The recipe requires jello powder in it, and the resulting cookies come out tasting like a combination of Nerds and Crunchberries. If you're into that sort of thing, these will work for you. They didn't work for most of the adults and even some of the kids, and won't be repeated. 

While Eric and my husband were setting things up, Gwen decided to see how far up my red maple she could climb. Turns out it's pretty high.

Then we broke out the sparklers. Sparklers actually give my husband and Evan serious nightmares. Frequently, if they were on call on the 4th, there was some kind of sparkler eye injury they had to deal with. The kids were well monitored and generally tried really hard to stay at safe distances.

Not sure about this kid, though. I think Eric had something like 4 going at once.

Then it was time for the big stuff.

And when I say big stuff, I mean stuff like this. In Idaho aerial fireworks are prohibited for general use, so you can't buy anything that leaves the ground. That's not to say they're totally innocuous, but things aren't going anywhere but the driveway. Music was courtesy of Evan and Jan.

Eric did find this big daddy canister in the local Walmart parking lot. Look at the timestamp....it's almost 3 solid minutes of stuff going off. It was certainly Grand Finale worthy.

 

The Girlies

My husband and I are incredibly lucky in that we have a greater percentage of our grandchildren living close to us, including our only 2 granddaughters. When all the kids are together, it's wonderful, and chaotic, and incredibly noisy, so we decided to take the girlies to the cabin for a couple of nights for some individual time.

We took a wander, as usual, and as usual, this is my perspective. I'm a slow hiker. I'll go....but I'm slow.

We took a route that put us over the railroad bridge. This is the reverse of what used to be my favorite creek view. Same body of water, I'm just looking at it from the opposite direction. My favorite view no longer exists, since it was washed out several years ago in a mega spring runoff. This spot is a few hundred yards (?)(perhaps my hunting sons can give me a better idea about the distance?) down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.....sorry...squirrel moment. My mind often works that way. I have trouble staying laser focused at times.

We got to the river and played many rounds of Fetch It Up with mostly Gus. My husband tried to throw a few for Ollie, who ran out of steam fairly quickly, poor boy.

And the walk back to the cabin, again from very far behind. You can see traces of the roof line in those trees, but you're going to want to pay special attention to the clouds in the distance.

The wander was hot. We got into the cabin quite late the night before and were a little slow getting out. Still there were pretty growing things to be seen. In my mind they're all panting like I felt I was.

Back to those clouds. We had a good rainstorm during the afternoon which cooled things way down. It was glorious. My favorite thing.

The girls tried their hand at fishing with grandpa.

You can see the results was pretty tiny, but they had fun anyway. We also took a hike up Skunk Creek the next morning...my favorite hike, where I scared up a doe in my slow progress up the trail. Unfortunately, I committed the grievous sin of leaving my camera behind, and was kicking myself down the trail about it. It was great having some quality time with the grandgirls. They really are grand.

Croque Monsieur or Madame

From the kitchen...

There was cooking....so much cooking last week. We went to the cabin with our granddaughters, my daughter and her family were here, plus it was a holiday. Did I take pictures? Of course not. But before all that....before the mega rush of making lots of food, there was a night of Thrown Together and it was just as good this time as it was the first time. In fact, we had enough left over that we put it in lettuce wraps for lunch one day while my daughter was here.

There was also this sandwich. I'm a fan of sandwiches. I'm so much a fan of sandwiches that I have a dedicated night once a week to some kind of sandwich. I tried this one which has a really Frenchy-French name, but it's really just a fancy name for a ham and cheese sandwich with a little sauce on it, and it's a lot easier to make than you might think. I found the recipe in this cookbook. As far as the Monsieur/Madame part goes. If you have a plain sandwich, it's a monsieur. If you put an egg on it, that makes it a madame. We've tried it both ways and I think I prefer it with the egg from Eric and Elisa's happy hens. Makes 4 sandwiches

Croque Monsieur/Madame

• 1 Ttablespoon butter
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• A pinch each salt pepper, and nutmeg
• 8 slices French, Italian, or sourdough French bread, about 1/2 inch thick
• 4  slices deli ham
• 8 to 10 ounces Gruyere cheese shredded (2 to 2 1/2 cups) divided
• Softened butter for buttering the bread

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook and stir until bubbly. Add the milk all at once and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Remove from the heat. (I usually do this step in the microwave.)

Place 4 bread slices on a baking sheet. Top each with a slice a ham and about 1/4 cup Gruyere. Top with the remaining bread.

Preheat the broiler to low broil and adjust a rack to 6 inches from the heat. Butter the sandwiches on both sides (outsides). Place them under the broiler until deep golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Watch closely to prevent burning.

Spoon one-fourth of the sauce (about 3 tablespoons) over each sandwich. Top each one with 1/4 cup of the remaining cheese. Broil until the cheese begins to brown, about 2 minutes.

Serve the sandwiches with a green salad or fruit platter.

Variation: Croque Madame

Fry an egg over-easy in a small skillet and place the fried egg on top of the sandwich as soon as it comes out of the oven. This is how I see most French people eat this sandwich.

 

Happy 4th!!

We had amazing driveway fireworks with the grandkids last night which is always fun. Post coming about that next week. 

I am grateful for this country and the freedoms it represents. I'm grateful to those who preserve and protect those freedoms. I'm mindful that those freedoms cut both ways. For me to be able to speak, worship and gather the way I want to, I have to afford that same tolerance to others. 

Have a wonderful Independence Day!

Around Here This Week

So around here this week....

In addition to the wander around the canyon rim, there was some time in the garden. I caught this one of Jude's little face in among the sunflower stems. We have several volunteers along one side that are already about 6 feet tall.

We also cut some lettuce for the first harvest of the year.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week.....Eric's family was at a family reunion for his wife's side of the family in St. Louis. 

They had all kinds of fun.

And it looks like the food wasn't bad either. All of that didn't make up for the mess that was made of their return trip with Southwest cancelled something like 1000 flights. Unhappy customers abounded. 

Collin's boys were at a museum again. What struck me was how long-leggity David is looking.

John decided the floor was a much better place at church.

And Collin tells me he's very into his dogs right now. If you look closely, you might see a resemblance to Ollie and Gus in a couple of them.

Marc's family is also at a family reunion in Spokane. Weird, freaky heat wave going on there with temperatures up around 108° which I nuts. I can say at least it's not that hot here.

From my daughter....I have no words for the cuteness.

She also sent this video of him fighting to stay awake.

 

The Rim

It's no secret to my family that I'm an early riser. My husband and I decided this week to wander the rim trail that goes along the Snake River Canyon. I walked, he lapped me on his bike. 

If I'm going to be outside in the summer, in the brain-baking heat, in the hell-on-earth season of the year, I'm going to do it early. My feet were walking past Evel Knievel's jump at 6AM. Part of that was due to the fact that my husband is still on Alaska time and is having some trouble getting his internal clock reset.

If you don't know the story, Evel Knievel was a motorcycle stunt guy who liked to jump over things like rows of cars or busses. He decided to try jumping across the canyon. There was a ton of publicity about it and Born to Be Wild types from all over flocked to watch it happen. Bottom line is that the jump was a flop and the motorcycle enthusiasts trashed where ever they were. The incident is not remembered fondly by those who were living here at the time, and now the pile of dirt that was his launching pad has somehow become an historical site.

I was OK with the early start time. There's something in me that feels almost righteous about being up before the sun.

Some thoughtful person chalked this thought at the start of the trail. 

There was also some wildlife to observe. I saw multiple little rabbits.

Very hard to see, but there's a deer wondering if I'm a safe person. Me? Yes. My husband? Not so much...but since it's the very wrong time of year, and this is a doe.....totally safe.

We went to this spot where we could see Shoshone Falls. The flow of water over the falls is controlled further upstream. During the growing months, water from the Snake River is used for agricultural irrigation, so water isn't booming over the falls right now. Spring is the time to see it at its best.

Do You Know What July 1st Is?

Today is Canada Day.

You might remember that I was born there, I have a heritage there, so I feel a connection. I like to put a post up on Canada Day to remind my kids of this. They have a Canadian heritage from my side of the family, and sometimes I feel like that gets overlooked a little bit.

It's true that I live in America, and I married an American, and I had American kids. I even changed my citizenship from Canadian to American.

But I have Canadian roots, and by extension so do they. Happy Canada Day!