Thursday, May 31, 2012

{p,h,f,r}: Summer's Nigh Edition

We are now officially down to half days at school.  I think we are at 3 more half days, but I'm sure the kids have a much more exact countdown going on.  Probably down to the hour.  

Thanks to our mild winter, it's also strawberry season around here.  Yum, yum, I just love strawberry season.  I took the four older kids strawberry picking on Monday morning, and they actually worked pretty well.  Sally was the quickest and most diligent picker -- she filled three buckets!  Bun was the least interested, even though he swore to me that he would pick and not complain.

He held to his word - he did not complain, but neither did he do much picking.  In fact, he mostly directed my sister to pick berries for his bucket.  He'd say, "Oh, I see a really red one right there!  Can you just bend down and grab it for my bucket?"   He'll make a great manager someday.

We picked 29 pounds of strawberries, and most of it is jam now, with a not inconsiderable portion going to enormous strawberry shortcakes for Rob and myself.  The kids like the berries plain, without the cake and whipped cream.  I really don't know where I went wrong with them.

Summer is almost here, friends, and we can practically taste it.  

"See all these delicious strawberries?!  Yeah, I didn't pick a single one."

Fiver and PopPop getting the good stuff out in the field.

Francie even got up early on a vacation day to go picking.

Sally's third bucket of berries.
And the tell-tale red thumb that shows not all of the berries made it to her bucket!

One of the prettiest early summer sights.

Jam!

Old, gross carpet that has been in our house for 15 years.
It doesn't look so bad in this photo, but it used to be white.

Pretty, new carpet.  I realize it looks a lot like the old carpet,
but it looks much different in person.
Besides, this one is supposed to look tan.

Music appreciation time.
Nothing like moving the furniture around to make it all more interesting!




Joining up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for {p,h,f,r}.  Go over there and check out the others, plus Sukie's beautiful wedding! 









11 comments:

  1. Oh, beautiful, yummy strawberries! You're making me hungry for them, but we won't have strawberry season for another month or so yet. Isn't strawberry picking fun?

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  2. Oh, the strawberrrie look so good. I now want to go strawberry picking. We planted strawberries this year but will not have any fruit until late summer.
    Enjoy your new carpet. I can relate. We need to replace our bedroom carpet. It was once a lght blue and now it's a dingy gray.
    Visiting from {p.h.f.r}

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  3. Fun! I have no idea how to make jam. Good thing I didn't have all those strawberries to do something with. ;) I like my strawberries with just a bit of sugar. No cake and whipped cream needed.

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  4. I must say that Bun is an excellent manager - and this is coming from his "employee" whom he was directing to pick and was also keeping count regarding how many I had picked for him! He's too cute!

    The strawberries are delicious and it was fun. And now, we're on into summer, and more fun!

    PS - Look how long Mopsy's hair is getting!

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  5. Mmm, what delicious pictures! And I can see the difference with that rug!

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  6. Your pictures make me wish my own strawberry garden was producing something (one or two strawberries here or there don't count!). Delicious!

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  7. Strawberry time is the best time of the year! Rejoicing with you and the new carpet! I know how happy that can make a person!

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  8. yummo! strawberries...so much fun

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  9. Yay for strawberry season and a new carpet! We are going picking next week! And hopefully we will sell this house before we have to replace the carpet. Your kids look just as sweet as those berries :)

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  10. You are a better woman than I . . . I have exactly a pint of jam to show for my efforts so far, and that is the "no-cook freezer jam" variety. We've picked about 14 pounds of strawberries this weekend [of course, I have fewer laborers in my corporation - so we can't easily get to your level of production!] A large portion of them are washed, hulled, and frozen whole -- perfect for breakfast smoothies. I'm still deciding what to do with the rest , , , :-)

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