Life lately - Summer is coming!

With apologies to those who have already seen some of these pictures, and also for their iPhone quality, here is what we have been up to:

I made and then froze bags and bags of pumpkin puree. It was fun and a lot easier than I thought. I ended up trading one bag to a friend for eggs from his chickens and lemons from his tree. It was a neat feeling, I enjoy self-reliance.

Summer showed up last weekend, in the form of some perfect weather - sunny, warm, but not too warm. Sonny and I took a break from our marking to just sit on the porch and drink a beer and get some vitamin D. I even got a slight sunburn!

The dogs got to play hours and hours of fetch, their favorite pastime. Shortly after this was taken, Jet ripped a chunk off his pad on his front left paw. He then proceeded to run all over the deck tracking blood EVERYWHERE. We then had to clean it all up so it didn't stain the wood. Sonny commented that it felt like we were cleaning up after a murder. It sort of did! It wasn't a deep or serious injury, but it did bleed a lot and Jet is too dumb to know when to take a break, so lets just say it took some time to scrub it all away. Jet has spent the two days since limping around but still wants to play.

I've been cooking lots.

Enchiladas prep

French onion chicken

Steak with caramelized onions, gnocchi (thanks mom!) and "blue" salad

I spent part of this weekend helping our friend Corin to rip out an invasive weed called asparagus vine. Its quite voracious and takes over entire forests, similar to what kudzu is doing to the southern U.S. We then planted some native trees - kowhai - which have beautiful yellow blooms and are an important source of food for the tui. It was tiring but it felt good to be out in the sun. Corin let me borrow his garden tools, and I am starting up our veggie patch. Battle of Hannah vs. the clay will be detailed in a later post.