Picking Raspberries

On Saturday we picked raspberries.

The berry-harvesting team gets happier,
more skilled and better behaved every year.





as does the speed with which we harvest what we
need for eating, freezing and jamming:



7.5 lb for $18.75. Mmm.

Kateisms

Kate: Mum, have vitamin C, pleeeeeeease?

Me: No, Kate. It's medicine, not pop. Why do you want it?

Kate: Cuz my so siiiiiccck.

Kate, doing her impersonation of Julie Andrews*: "Girl pink coat, lay hoo-hoo! Lay hoo hoo! Lay hoo hoo!"

*The Lonely Goatherd, from The Sound of Music

A Normal Sky

Photos of the Day

Thank you, G. Mae and G. Desmond for Kate's new suit!

Storm

Thursday evening 9 pm, after the kids were in bed, Dave and I stood outside the house beholding this sky. Never seen anything like it in our lives and I struggled for adjectives to describe it. It was warm like a typical summer evening, and bright like late afternoon. But such light! Brown, rust, golden, surreal, otherwordly, apocalyptic - it was like standing in a sepia photograph.

Here are some pictures Dave took - we did no photo-editing at all.
The next day, we read that up to 40 tornadoes struck Minnesota. Nothing happened to us and we still have all our trees, but 3 people are dead and countless homeless. The newspapers described it as the worst one-day tally in state history.

Jennaism

Jenna, in the car park of a strip mall: "Mum, I know what zeros are."

Me: "What are they, Jenna?"

Jenna: "They are very looooooooooooooong O's."

Jennaism

Jenna, twirling my hair around her fingers, "Mum, does hair grow when you water it?"

Emily Made Her Own Purse

It has been raining since I don't know when, so we've been stuck at home a lot, doing crafts while dreaming of parks and playgrounds.

Today Emily spent a long time making these accessories:

First, her hand-fan, complete with its own storage case:

Next, her purse, with handle (she meant "strap"), as she pointed out to me, inside of which is a wallet and credit card:

The credit card is in her name, of course

and the wallet contains bills and coins, which she painstakingly cut out. I was very impressed that she knew that bills came in round-numbered denominations, and not, say, "$29-type random amounts.

Her purse also has a side pocket, containing snacks (ostensibly for children):

(top to bottom): tube of sour candy, sweet, lolly, cracker and cheese.

I was so tickled by her attention to detail that I had to take photos and share here. And no, I didn't help at all - she sat at the kitchen table, giggling away, saying, "Oh this is so much fun!"

Jennaisms

Doing her Julie Andrews impersonation*: "One little girl in a pale pink coat said, "Lei hoo, lei hoo, lei hoo!" "

Contemplating the resurrection: "Mum, when we are asleep, is Jesus dead or did He stay rose?"

* "The Lonely Goatheard" from The Sound of Music

Our Summer So Far: Pictorial Update

Re-enacting The Enormous Turnip, but differently.






When Kate wins a race


Chalk art: Metamorphosis.

Jennaism

Jenna, reflecting on her day trip to the zoo: "I like cow feet. They look like high heels".

We didn't actually see cows today, incidentally. Bison, caribou, moose, prairie dogs, camels and other brownish animals, but no cows.