two week's worth

Before I proceed to rant about the busy-ness of work, my outdoor enjoyment of the unrealistically short Wisconsin summer, and miscellaneous other things, which keep me away from my computer-for-leisure, I must say, I am grateful for the encouragement of my friends and family who remind me to continue blogging. Every now and then I tend to forget, you see. And, we have been away for the last two weekends!

Two weekends ago, we went to Springfield, IL to visit with Ryan’s extended family. We had the privilege of visiting with his grandmother/aunt/uncle/cousin+cousin’s husband and also, his uncle and wife who were visiting from Alberta, Canada. It was a great weekend, and very very nice to spend time with family. We did take both dogs with us, which made for an interesting road trip with frequent rest stops! Here is a picture.



We went camping this past weekend, sans doggies, just Ryan and me. It was relaxing, and fun! We took full advantage of having some time to ourselves, surrounded by natural serenity. The weather was perfect. Even when it rained a little in the early part of the morning. We were fast asleep and didn’t even know it had started to rain, but we stayed toasty and dry inside the tent – thanks to the rain guard that held up very nicely! We cooked Spam and eggs over a campfire…which makes up the one time a year that I eat Spam! It was delicious, and it is really the perfect camping breakfast! Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the trip (there are more on facebook).







Last night, we had the pleasure of dining with some friends, who we have not seen in sometime. It may or may not have something to do with the fact that they are proud new parents as of almost eight weeks ago! It was really nice to just sit and catch up over drinks (for two of the four), and Mexican food (for all). I held the baby girl for a few minutes....*sigh*....five more years. Well, maybe four.

In other news – the garden is still thriving! Despite the fact that I sometimes forget to water it. Well, it’s not that I forget – I’m discovering that everything looks and tastes fine whether or not it gets water everyday. Again, I’m discovering, sometimes three or four times a week suffices. I can’t help but think back and smile fondly at my blog from March. I realize now that I am capable of “gardening”, to the degree that I planted things in the earth three months ago, and those things have survived, flowered and borne fruit – all due to my tender-loving care. (And some of Ryan’s but he has agreed to let me take full credit.)