I’m sitting on a plane headed home from a work trip in England with 4.5 hours remaining. As much as I’d like to watch another sad love story I have loads of catching up to do! I know my mantra has been no pressure to write, but I’ve snapped a lot of fun pictures that I really want to share, so bear with me as I look over these past few months of summer. It’s becoming more and more clear to me that blogging is not my first priority or even my second. Blogging actually lives in a sea of “things Mary is interested in”, which must take a number and wait. I imagine that winter will change my heart. If I could get in a rhythm like my friend Ashley, I would blog 3 times a week, and they would be short, sweet and focused. She’s one of the most focused people I know. I’m one of the least focused people I know. ADD? Maybe.
Turbulence. Lots of it.
You’re not going to believe this, but my battery is running low. I’m going to have to save this posting for later. Dang it! Back to another sappy tear-jerking movie where I have to fight the tears so my seat mate doesn’t think i’m crazy.
…
Now two days later, I’m sitting on my couch, drinking my coffee and 100% committed to completing this post. Let the summer photos begin:
We watched the grapevines slowly mature throughout the summer,
(purple grape photos coming soon…)
we watched the orchestra of flowers slowly burst into song,
we watched the butterfly bushes become, amazingly, a butterfly magnet (I couldn’t help but have a photo hay day with them, such willing subjects!),
we watched the garden continue to grow and grow and grow…
the sunflowers became GIANTS
the fruits of our harvest began rolling in beautifully and in abundance!
We enjoyed a visit from my favorite Canadian, Karen, who stopped in the mountains for a visit on her way back to Sudan. I felt she deserved a proper southern meal – Fried Green Tomatoes with fresh basil over a bed of Jalapeno Pepper Jack Grits. So delicious. She agreed, although I can’t imagine her saying otherwise.
We also had a few visits from our friend Kari, who is an exceptional chef. She comes over to our house and cooks for us!
The first meal was of Greek origin. Steak over a lettuce wrap with hummus, tabouli, cilantro and some special sauce. She even brought me gluten-free crackers to eat it with. I’ll have to look to her for the recipe.
John showed off his homemade pickles to Kari
as well as his canned beans.
She also made us incredible fish tacos on another occasion. Come over anytime you like, Kari. She rocks.
We spent the whole summer coming up with ways to indulge in our fresh produce. We also ended up selling quite a bit of our veggies to people at work, our first market of buyers.
Ratatouille: 
Eggs, tomato and basil:
Marinated tempeh and kale: (a modified version of My New Roots recipe. By the way, Ashley discovered this blog and we are pretty stinkin’ excited about it.)
And totally unrelated to our yard or garden efforts, we went into the local Mexican Market for some “real” cokes (sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup), one of our few times a year indulgences, and found some plantains. We decided to fry them up for a yummy snack.
Throughout all this time, Farmer John worked hard on our vehicles, as well as his father’s, all of which needed maintenance or repairs.
I spent one Saturday shopping with friends and found an old dresser that I wanted to restore. It’s still unfinished, but here’s what I’ve done so far.
Stripped and ready for priming and painting!
Well, that only took an hour. I’m sure you are ready for a nap by now. Thanks for enjoying the latest summer update from the Daileys.
