babyhood / DAILY FARM LIFE / IN MY KITCHEN

signs of summer

big | little

I know I was supposed to write another installment in my green laundry "series" this week, but time got the best of me, and other posts got in the way. But I promise I'll share more early next week. I have some more good things to pass along and a giveaway! 🙂 So be watching.

Summer has suddenly arrived around here and with that the much anticipated filling of the pool. The pool here on my grandparents' farm has been around since the 30s or 40s. Most of it was dug out with work horses and then some excavating tools at the end. It is spring-fed and sucks the breath straight out of your chest when you dive in. But oh, how good it feels on a sticky, hot summer day. The other thing I love about it, is that it hasn't changed a bit since I was a little toddling bare-bummed swimmer many years ago–except for the fact that there's no longer a giant red crab painted on the bottom, and I've sewed new curtains for the girls' side of the pool house. While we wait the few days for the pool to fill, it is like a concrete beach for the girls to play in, the perfect warm-up to refresh their swimming muscles and techniques.

I've graduated to baby pool lifeguard

Last summer was the year I sat poolside with a hot, sticky newborn attached to my chest making me sweat in places where I didn't know possible. This year, I've graduated to baby pool life guard and hose-holder. Things are looking up.

Yesterday, the girls swam with two frogs who somehow made it up the drain to hang out in the cool water of the pool. Their panicked squeals turned to curiosity after I gave the frogs names–my trick for making all scary things seem like pals–Besty the bumble bee who flies all over our porch and sometimes in your face, Paul the spider who lives in the corner of our shower, and Charlie the fly who is…basically everywhere and even followed us all the way from Wisconsin to Maryland. The naming thing works like a charm.

the last hurrah | one more batch of jam

This morning I started my last batch of strawberry jam for the season. My chubby-fisted friend will be sorry to see them go. Ive always know she had all the skills and muscles she needed to walk, she just needed the right incentive. This morning, she took four confident steps across the kitchen floor for the big bowl of berries I was holding out to her. My girl's got a thing for the berries.

it started out so innocent | just one strawberry

strawberries and crawling in the grass : don't mix.

I just don't recommend giving them to her outside and then letting her crawl around in the dirt…not a good combo, but good for a laugh and a bath in the kitchen sink.

**messy strawberry pix courtesy of my cousin…thanks, Mags!**

Happy Weekend!

m.

big | little

I know I was supposed to write another installment in my green laundry “series” this week, but time got the best of me, and other posts got in the way. I had been writing some Above Ground Pool Reviews Buyer’s Guides in that time. But I promise I’ll share more early next week. I have some more good things to pass along and a giveaway! 🙂 So be watching.

Summer has suddenly arrived around here and with that the much anticipated filling of the pool. The pool here on my grandparents’ farm has been around since the 30s or 40s. Most of it was dug out with work horses and then some excavating tools at the end. It is spring-fed and sucks the breath straight out of your chest when you dive in. But oh, how good it feels on a sticky, hot summer day. The other thing I love about it, is that it hasn’t changed a bit since I was a little toddling bare-bummed swimmer many years ago–except for the fact that there’s no longer a giant red crab painted on the bottom, and I’ve sewed new curtains for the girls’ side of the pool house. While we wait the few days for the pool to fill, it is like a concrete beach for the girls to play in, the perfect warm-up to refresh their swimming muscles and techniques.

I've graduated to baby pool lifeguard

Last summer was the year I sat poolside with a hot, sticky newborn attached to my chest making me sweat in places where I didn’t know possible. This year, I’ve graduated to baby pool life guard and hose-holder. Things are looking up.

Yesterday, the girls swam with two frogs who somehow made it up the drain to hang out in the cool water of the pool. Their panicked squeals turned to curiosity after I gave the frogs names–my trick for making all scary things seem like pals–Besty the bumble bee who flies all over our porch and sometimes in your face, Paul the spider who lives in the corner of our shower, and Charlie the fly who is…basically everywhere and even followed us all the way from Wisconsin to Maryland. The naming thing works like a charm.

the last hurrah | one more batch of jam

This morning I started my last batch of strawberry jam for the season. My chubby-fisted friend will be sorry to see them go. Ive always know she had all the skills and muscles she needed to walk, she just needed the right incentive. This morning, she took four confident steps across the kitchen floor for the big bowl of berries I was holding out to her. My girl’s got a thing for the berries.

it started out so innocent | just one strawberry

strawberries and crawling in the grass : don't mix.

I just don’t recommend giving them to her outside and then letting her crawl around in the dirt…not a good combo, but good for a laugh and a bath in the kitchen sink.

**messy strawberry pix courtesy of my cousin…thanks, Mags!**

Happy Weekend!

m.

34 comments on “signs of summer”

  1. My boy has a thing for strawberries too! He would do just about anything for one, I think.

    That pool reminds me of my friends pool in CA. The first private pool ever built in Placer County. It is definitely unique!

  2. Oh the pool looks great. I am sure we will be down for a swim soon.

    Yummm the berries look good. much better than rocks Huh? 🙂

  3. Ohhh, so long shirt! I have yet to fully get fresh strawberry juice from my girls shirt. Maybe your pre measured laundry balls do the trick?

    That pool looks marvelous! I’m jealous!

  4. I LOVE THE BERRY PICS! God made dirt and dirt don’t hurt:) My hubby just shakes his heads some days. I think being in the dirt is great!

  5. what a cool photo (and history) of the pool!

    i love playing lifeguard now…so much easier than nursing with a sticky newborn. I totally relate. I think Penny has the same bday as Elizabeth and that was such a memory!

    my strawberries just started getting rosy today! must have been the spike in humidity! I can’t wait to eat some!

  6. It’s about 97 degrees here today which makes me want to jump right into that pool! Those strawberries also look delicious. Happy Weekend!

  7. Oh my goodness! That sweetie sweet face 🙂

    I love that photo of your gals and their concrete beach! And what a smartie you are, naming those pests.

    Have I told you today that I just think you’re fantastic 🙂

  8. When we lived in the country our elderly neighbors had a pool made out of the bottom layer of a silo. It was set into a hill so that the top of the hill was the deck and the pool jutted out of the bottom and you had a nice little view of forest, pasture, and pond. I spent my entire pregnancy in that pool; it was the only time my little one was still in utero. We swam there a lot over the years- this is the first year in about 30 that the pool hasn’t been filled.

    Beautiful post, Molly!

  9. I am loving the berry pictures!!! So cute:) And the pool will be so lovely for summer.. I know we feel very lucky to be able to jump in the pool on hot days!!! xo!

  10. Looks like that pool should be in a movie. Ours is less glamorous, but just as cool, and we spent plenty of time in it Saturday. I’m sure we’ll be in it all week, too, with the weather the way it is.

  11. That is a gorgeous pool! I wish ours was that pretty. I like the idea of naming “scary” things. I’d like to name the wasp that stung me in my back yesterday Cowardly Ethel the Wasp. That’s better.

  12. That is a gorgeous pool! I wish ours was that pretty. I like the idea of naming “scary” things. I’d like to name the wasp that stung me in my back yesterday Cowardly Ethel the Wasp. That’s better.

  13. That is a gorgeous pool! I wish ours was that pretty. I like the idea of naming “scary” things. I’d like to name the wasp that stung me in my back yesterday Cowardly Ethel the Wasp. That’s better.

  14. Oh my goodness…your pool looks amazing! It’s freezing right now in WA state, but as soon as it warms up I will come back to the top photo for comfort.

  15. mmm, what a yummy baby. The naming of things is a good trick. I’ll try it for myself: Richard, the monster that lives beneath my bed, Hugh, the murderer that sneaks around our house at night. And me? I’m thirty and irrational in the dark.

  16. that pool looks absolutely idyllic. oh and flies around here, the aggravating, bigger than they should be kind of fly are called ‘Ted’. When littlest man finds dead one we have a dance and a jig for ‘dead ted, dead ted, dead ted…’xxx

  17. Oh I am with on the naming thing. We had a big huntsmen living on our walls/celings. We called him Hunter and he was good becuase he caught the flies (sorry Charlie) and mossies (which my daughter is alergic to). So it was all wonderful until hunter decided to make himself a home in the placemat drawer under our table. Ah, time to go Hunter. The girls were crying as we let him go outside. Psychology hey!

  18. That is about the biggest pool I’ve ever seen. For the longest time I couldn’t believe that the little heads down at the end could be actual people! I’m totally jealous. I hope you have a great summer and a smooth move to your new home!

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