Winthrop Weekend

Well, I didn't have plans to visit again, especially since we were just here last weekend...but the draw of the awesome Rocking Horse Bakery scones and Grandma's chock full currant bushes were just too strong. Guess Mt. Fuji and my latest scrapbook projects will just have to wait a day or two.

We arrived in Winthrop in the late afternoon and hit the garden right away. We picked, and picked and picked and picked...you get the picture. I have no idea how many pounds of berries we ended up having but it was a lot. Grace was a big help with rinsing and picking through them for bugs and leaves. I brought my much neglected juicer and we revved that puppy up... Appearantly my Mother-In-Law thought that I was going to go and de-stem all the berries and then boil them to make juice.??? Nahhhhh, just throw those puppies, stems and all, into my handy dandy BRAUN juicer. Thank God for good German engineering. LOL I made three batches and then had to quit as Grandpa was getting a little worried about when dinner was supposed to be. So I saved the last batch of juice and I will process it at home later. Grace had fun helping to put the berries into the juicer, licking the juice, stirring the pot and then of course taste-testing the whole thing in the end.

The jam turned out wonderful. I forgot how much fun it is to make your own and how yummy the end result is. Needless to say we'll be picking more berries and anything else I can get my hands on for more jam making sessions in the near future.

Almost Forgot...

my hubby wanted me to pass on this photo he texted to me this morning. He is up in Port Renfrew, BC on the west coast of Vancouver Island fishing with his buddy Jim and his son Adam.

I guess this is a record breaking catch as it's the biggest Salmon caught there this season. Adam caught it and it weighed in at 47 lbs, (that is 1 1/2 times as big as Grace!!!)

What a whopper, we'll be eating good for a while...

102 Posts...

wow, I just realized that 2nd last post was my 100th post on this blog. That's a lot, not as many as some people (Miss Julie), but still a lot.

I feel a lot better at having updated my blog, but even with the best of intentions I just don't seem to have the energy to finish my posts lately. Sorry for those of you who actually check my blog regularly.

My leg seems to be getting better. I took the steri strips off today and it's a nice scar, but what's 'nother one on MY legs. LOL

Here is a photo I took of Grace enjoying an Oreo cookie. She picked them out especially at Target for herself since I don't care for them.
We hit the Farmers' Market on Saturday morning and picked up some fresh carrots, corn, kohlrabi (if you've never had them check it out, love them!), and Gracie even turned down ice cream in favor of a chocolate milk from Starbucks. I spent the rest of the weekend limping around, doing a bit of chores, watering our flowers, trying to get some class samples completed for work and keeping out of the heat. Also did a bit of Olympic Games watching. Man, I miss my volleyball.

I think I must miss my hubby too, since I haven't even felt like digging into the treat I bought for myself. I got some yummy Mango Ice cream (low-fat of course!). But I just realized it's still sitting untouched in the freezer. Weird...

The Fair (Take Two)

So the first time we went to the fair for the second time this week. When we headed there on Monday we ran a bit late and didn't really have a chance to see any of the displays or the animals. So I promised Miss Gracie that I would take her again later during the week. Of course we had to wait for the hottest day of the year to go...what's up with that?

Anyway, we headed out around 2:30 in the afternoon since I had to have my leg massaged in the morning. I had the stitches removed on Thursday but have been dealing with a lot of muscle pain in the calf. I went in again to see the Doctor on Monday as the pain was so bad I had trouble sleeping. She said it was just tension and to take a painkiller and stretch. Well, the pain medication helped to a point but it was getting ridiculous. So I am still in a bit of pain, but have been icing and applying heat, that with the pain meds seems to get me through the day. Not sure when I'll be able to get back to the gym though...

Anyway, the fair... On the way to the fair Grace fell asleep in the car. So when we got there I got lucky enough to find a coveted spot in the shade. I had packed her stroller, which we really don't use anymore, but thought it may make things easier on my leg. Good thing, cause I loaded her in it and headed straight to Woods Coffee. They had wonderful A/C and of course I had to have a refreshing Avalanche while Grace slept. After about 30 minutes I decided to head into the fair grounds to see if she would wake up. Well, I think I made it through most of the indoor and outdoor commercial exhibits until she was awoken by a band playing on the small stage. We then set off to find the animals. Of course all Grace wanted to do by that time was hit the carnival rides. To our dismay we found that hey had taken out the dog/cat display barn and we had missed the dogs completely as they were there only till Wednesday. What a bummer. Anyway we saw the animals including the calf that had just been born on Monday night. Grace got to pet a few goats and cows, not so much luck at the horses. And I just couldn't convince her to pose with the llama for a photo for Grandma.

We ate some more junk food, (I am proud to say that I did not give in to the looming temptation of having a 2nd Funnel Cake!). Although I really wanted to. LOL


Grace got to choose three rides to go on, and the merry go round with the horses was her favorite. We got home very exhausted and tired that night and hit the hay pretty early.