Bits of Fall

Oh glorious Autumn!  Fall season just doesn't last long enough for me.

This year Gramsie and Pops came for a little visit, so you'll see
them with us in these photos as we spent some time at Marvel Hill and
took a beautiful outing up to the Canadian border.

Smell-good candles, cookie and pie baking, soups, and scenic drives
are on the upswing here (not to mention a lot of raking in the yard!)
as we stuff ourselves up with all the outdoors we can fit before winter :-)

Clayton and Carolina recently made the most scrumptious pies from our Summer Cherries.
The crust was melt-in-your-mouth flaky and the filling that perfect sweet/tart that I love!

Our family has seen bears on three different occasions, as well as much evidence at Marvel
Hill (including but not limited to some destroyed apple trees).  Here is a bear story you may enjoy:

Yesterday we drove up to the cabin and rolling into the driveway Dad says "Oh no.. one of the shop doors is open"

Someone else queried whether we remembered to shut it when we left last time?
"Hmm... don't know."

"Maybe," says Aloria "...maybe a bear pushed it open"

"I don't think so 'Lor" says I "There's a  gaping opening not four feet away where we haven't yet
installed the roll-up door.  I imagine a bear would rather walk through the obvious opening if
he cared to get in."

Alas, upon closer inspection there were three neat dusty paw prints on that door.  A bear had
indeed pushed it open. Well I'll be! Aloria was right. Haha!  Not sure if that means our bear
was a gentleman or trespassing marauder, but while the lid had been removed from one trash can,
it didn't appear anything had been stolen :-)

Maiden Voyage of the Dinghy's

Still no boat names, but that didn't stop the fellas from embarking on

the maiden voyage before Summer's end!

Two dinghy's were unloaded and launched into the Pack River, which is

a sandy-bottomed meandering stream which flows into lake Pend Orielle.

Also, Dad took the kayak with Bryce, Uncle Daniel launched his rowboat,

and friend Jon came with his water craft too. 

The girls and I (with Miles-boy) waved them out of sight around the bend, 

drove away, and waited to hear when they were ready for pick up.

It was to be a half-day's adventure, but the guys packed essentials for a

"just in case" overnighter.  A call came at 5pm with the message that they

wouldn't need picking up until the morrow, so a minimally planned for

overnight on a sandy beach crowned the Pack River adventure.

Apparently it was a cold night

Apparently no campfires are allowed during this dry fire season.

Apparently Bryce somehow managed to leave his fleece behind.

Apparently Dad equipped the boys with warm sleeping bags.

Apparently Mountain House and some trail mix is good enough for dinner.

Apparently it was a blast, and...

Apparently one night was enough for everyone ;-)

We womenfolk loaded up again the next day and drove downstream to wait.

We heard the echo of voices first... and then they appeared!

What a great adventure!  I sure was glad to have them back with the rest of us

and to hear tales of collecting freshwater mussels, sleeping in swim trunks, and

how hard sand is to get comfortable on in a sleeping bag.

In the end there were four boys smiling from ear to ear, completely wiped out from the

fun and ready for dinner and a snooze - completely satisfied :-)

Successful endeavor!

Cherry Picking 2015

Our last real cherry picking happened two years ago.
This year, we have a house with our own cherries to pick!  I have to admit, I was
completely surprised to find this out, even though I knew in October that there
was a cherry tree here.

You see, our tree is an ornamental cherry. Well... half ornamental you might say.
Some time ago it sported from the original tree trunk and when Spring arrived,
our tree was weeping pink blossoms on bottom and showing off billowy white above.

My children were ecstatic!  They were sure this meant fruit, and I was wishing
I'd pruned the tree before it flowered.  Alas, they marveled at this wonder with
complete faith that June would produce a cherry pie.  I, on the other hand, doled
out pessimistic predictions that whatever came from the top of this tree wouldn't
be worth eating.

Every day for at least two weeks, someone brought in cherries for me to inspect.
From the time they were barely orange and still the size of a large pea, Zachary was
certain they were Bings (such optimism!).
Really, I just didn't think it likely an ornamental would be grafted onto a true eating
variety of root stock.

Well, as you might have already surmised, I was wrong.

That would be a good enough ending to this story, but it's not the end.  Even edible
cherries when they have sported straight up, are not easy to pick and eat.  Plus the sports
only equal half of a small-ish tree!  No matter. For days the children were in its branches
and cleaned out every cherry they could barely reach.

Clayton one day picked 200 cherries (he counted them of course), used the cherry pitter
which Great Grandma sent, made his Great Great Grandmother's famous pie crust all
on his own, and even crowned his 200 cherry pie with a lattice crust!

(That is the amazing pie and amazing grinning boy in the last photo of previous post.)

Once our own little tree had been cleaned out, we got permission to pick from someone
else's trees.  The photos below are that outing - absolutely perfect from my perspective,
since I had 4 serious pickers, 3 dedicated to a good effort, 1 perfectly happy to eat cherries
from the bowls and buckets, and 1 content to sit in a stroller and watch.
That meant I could play with my camera and we still left with quite a lot of cherries!

The next day these kids spent the afternoon pitting and put up five gallons
to freeze. Wow!  All on their own, and I'm excited to think of having cherry pie
at Thanksgiving this year :-)

Thank you Great Grandma~ Your Pitter was our inspiration this year!!