Summer Memories...

Flip Flop Shop

The Flip~Flop Shop is now open!


The flip flops I make are soft and fuzzy, so they're great in the summer "and" the winter!
(Muddy, Laura and I like to use them as slippers also!)

They make great presents for Children, but Adults can't resist them either!


The Flip~Flop Shop


~~Elizabeth

Is it mine or his?

I made some homemade doggie biscuits for our Mr. Bingley. In this first picture we are having him "leave it". That is something that we have taught him to obey before he digs into treats. He won't even trust himself to look at it until the person that said 'leave it' says 'OK!'.

The second picture is me trying the treat myself. (with Mr. Bingley eying me) ~~~ They were really good!


We will have some of these treats for tomorrows farmers market.

~~Laura






(And no he did not eat the whole plate....we allowed him just one)

The Rest of the Story

You are probably all wondering what happened to our birds. They have left us! I personally saw the first bird flying in the garage. A couple of hours later they were ALL gone! (boo hoo) It was really strange that the time that it took them to all hatch was spread out over 3-4 days, but they all decided to leave the nest the same day. Pretty neat!

Here is a picture of the 'empty nest'~

~~Laura

Garden

Here's some pictures of the summer garden. The charentais cantaloupe were sooo...juicy and yummy. The zucchini plants were beautiful and just died out too soon. The beet greens were a daily part of our meals. Corn, blackberries, and the tomatoes were all great. But, wow, we love swiss chard. Sauteed in garlic with a squeeze of lemon juice and soy sauce--awesome!

~~Sisters

Happy Birthday Laura!

Thought we would start at the end of July--My 16th Birthday. It was a pretty special one because my parents went halvsies with me on my new sewing machine! My old one (Elizabeth calls it her new Elna Jane) just wasn't giving me the right tension -- so my parents surprised me with the idea of helping pay for one so I could get it immediately. Of course, as soon as the new one entered the house, Elna Jane acted perfectly--good for Elizabeth.


Since I'm the baker of the family, I like to make all the birthday cakes--even my own. This wasn't actually a cake, but it did the job just fine. I found this recipe for chocolate zucchini muffins on Debbie's Blog. I'm up for anything with chocolate. I have made these three times since then, and have even changed the recipe --- keep an eye out for the new version in our upcoming cookbook.


Daddy took the family to dinner for our celebration. Muddy and I asked the waiter to make special salads. The waiter later told us that the chefs in the kitchen were so excited and had alot of fun coming up with something different and special. Here's the result. It has lots of veggies, mango, raspberries, avocado, as well as a beautiful chunk of brie--my favorite.

The waiter then surprised me with a little birthday candle on my dessert plate. What a special ending to a perfect birthday!

~~Laura

Apologies

We're so sorry we've been neglecting the blog the last few weeks. With the winding down of summer came activities that just took alot of our time. Farmers markets and an out of town photography class took a good chunk. But we're back, and we'll try our best now to post at least twice a week. There's so much to share. We have, at least, been collecting pictures ready to post. So beware of an avalanche. Hope you enjoy, and we love receiving your comments. We'll try our hardest to respond.

By the way, Elizabeth and our Mr. Bingley were watching me rollerblade this afternoon. They were hanging out in the back of our van keeping me company while I got a bit of exercise in. Elizabeth was a bystander because her knees have been bothering her -- Muddy thinks she's going through another growth spurt.

~~Laura