11 August 2013

We picked blackberries on Monday.  Our kids are big enough now to pick more than they eat so we picked quite a lot of blackberries in an hour.

 Some of the blackberries ended up in a blackberry cobbler for family night dessert.

 We've been very neglectful gardeners this year, but we're still enjoying lots of delicious produce.  Our favorites are these tiny currant tomatoes.  Our only complaint is we eat them too quickly.  They almost never make it inside.

 Becky is the only person in our family who typically likes green beans.  This year we planted the fancy haricot verts variety and more people are eating them.  The skinny beans are so tender you can eat them raw.

 Two of our grow boxes are being used by neighbors who have no room for a garden.  They are both better gardeners than we are.  We like looking at the cool and creative ways they fit a lot of plants in a small space.  This is a photo of Dave's cantaloupes.  Each cantaloupe is slung in its own hammock.  Dave's produce is very pampered.

 On Friday, Helen's violin teacher gave us a pass to a rehearsal for the local classical music summer festival.  She doesn't usually play in the festival, but someone got sick and she was substituting.  It was a fantastic experience.  We listened to first rate music in a beautiful outdoor setting.  There were only about 30 people in the audience so we sat in the premier seats.  We snacked on apples, blueberries and candy and left when the kids got bored.  This experience may have ruined ordinary concerts for us.

Here are some photos of our little summer home improvement project.  Our front steps started crumbling a couple of years ago.  By this Spring, they looked like they had leprosy.  Concrete is supposed to last longer than 9 years, but it didn't so we needed to replace them.  

 Our old steps were too steep and awkwardly spaced.  Also, our builder had chosen not to install a handrail.  This made a dangerous combination, especially when the steps were wet or icy.  We had the new contractor add a couple of steps and shorten all of them to make the steps safer.

 Our friend, Alan, built us a handrail.  This is a photo of Alan testing the fit of the handrail before he sent it to be powder coated.

Here is a photo of the finished project.  The shorter steps and the new handrail make our front entryway much safer.  Alan did a fabulous job with the handrail.

It's pear picking time again!  Abe has been to the orchard a couple of times, once with his friend's family.  Our air quality has improved dramatically this week and we are very thankful.