Well, it’s already round-up time again, although I’ll admit that I cut this one a little bit short because we headed out on vacation, and that will, I hope, be worthy of a separate post all about our road trip from Pennsylvania to Illinois and back with a bunch of stops in between. Until then, please enjoy this overview of our monthly action, eating, watching and reading.
What We Did
Early in the month, we attended a community fireworks celebration at our local baseball stadium. A bank in the area sponsored the free event. We ate some snack-y foods and drank sodas and beer while waiting for the show. It was a satisfying outing for the Fourth, and a way to test our anxiety about larger public gatherings. We might try to see a baseball game this summer now that we’ve been to the stadium when it’s full.
Then, we celebrated the Fourth of July with our friend David. It was a two-months’ late celebration of our birthdays (he and I have our birthdays on the same day in May but we weren’t all fully vaccinated yet and school was still in session). He came over and hung out and we ate food. (See the What We Ate section for specifics.)
July gave us more catch-up time. We had friends over for a short hangout/lunch. The kids played games, the moms talked, and it was a lovely time of catching up.
And we hiked with church friends up to Eagle Rock, a moderate uphill climb at one of the nearby state gamelands.
The kids and I also attended a launch party for my friend Shawn’s new book, The Weight of Memory, at the beautiful creekside home of a friend of his. It was a fun night of celebrating creativity.
We went to the drive-in to see Black Widow. Since we’re all caught up on Marvel movies as a family, we thought this was a good way to see the newest release. It rained for close to half the movie which meant we were trapped inside a steamy car, wiping down the windshield. It’s been probably 20 years since Phil or I went to a drive-in movie. (There was a drive-in theater 10 minutes from where we grew up, so we went all.the.time as kids and youths.) Cars are different. People are different. (Sorta rude sometimes.) But it was a good experience.
I had lunch with a couple of work friends. Way back in May, I had ordered some end-of-year gifts for two of my co-workers and the shipping was delayed until after school was already out. Then with vacations and such, we finally found a time to get together for lunch. It was a fun time of catching up.
As a family, we hiked the Turkey Hill Trail near the Susquehanna River. It was more than 6 miles on a steamy summer day. And it was labeled as strenuous. (It was not wrong.)
We almost ran out of water. We had to rest in the shade in the last two miles so those of us sensitive to heat did not succumb to its pressures. But overall it was a great hike! Beautiful and challenging with varied terrain and lots of good views. We hiked a ridge line, crossed a creek (no one fell in this time) and walked through a wildflower field.
Phil saw a bunch of birds, including an indigo bunting, which was one he’d never seen before. We looked at it through the scope and it was brilliantly blue. We haven’t had a lot of hiking opportunities this summer compared to last summer, so we’re trying to make them count. Despite some whining, complaining and mild fighting (all part of the hiking process these days, I think) we all really enjoyed this hike.
Haircuts! Daughter and I went a little bit shorter for the rest of summer.
Long’s Park Summer Music Series! We missed the first one of the return to summer concerts because we were at the drive-in, but we made sure to make it to the next one. Maggie Rose and Them Vibes performed. According to our son, “This band is A LOT.”
He wasn’t wrong, and I wasn’t informed that there would be a ’70s costume contest. The music was amazing, though, and I didn’t realize how much I missed hearing it live with crowds of other people. (Outdoor crowds. I’m still not an indoor crowds person.) A lovely Sunday evening.
Vacation prep. Going on vacation is so much work. It’s worth it, but it’s so much work!
What We Ate
Mac and cheese pizza. Our son has added to his weekly menu rotation. I under-seasoned this, so next time, I’ll adjust that part of it. Otherwise, it wasn’t too bad.
For our Fourth of July gathering: baby back ribs, creamy potato salad, grilled zucchini, and, of course, cake.
Breakfast at Gracie’s on West Main. Phil took me out for a breakfast date on a Wednesday when we couldn’t go to the woods because of appointments and a heat advisory. I had the Gracie’s breakfast: two eggs, bacon, home fries, a slice of toast and a slice of banana bread. Phil had the chili hash. We ordered banana bread to take home for the children because we’re nice like that. (And as the kids were putting away dishes, a glass broke and they cleaned it all up with a little direction from us.)
Ice cream. We hit our Wednesdays hard on the ice cream trail. First up was Pine View Dairy, which has the best waffle cones in the county, hands-down; our choices for flavors were: butter brickle, strawberry cheesecake, triple dark chocolate and chocolate chip cookie dough.
Then it was Oregon Dairy. But it was so hot we had to eat these so fast, plus we’d gotten double scoops because this was “dinner” after our hike and late lunch. We were a mess by the time it was over. Flavor choices (we each had two different ones): cashew raspberry and cookie monster; unicorn and rainbow sherbet; coconut almond fudge and salted caramel truffle; chocolate fudge brownie and chocolate marshmallow. The waffle cones were just meh. I think we would have enjoyed this more if we hadn’t had to inhale them.
Finally, we went back to Good Life because they had sweet corn ice cream available and our son really wanted to try it. So, that’s what he had: sweet corn ice cream sprinkled with Old Bay; other flavors we ate: fresh mint with oreos mixed in; raspberry with butter cream and brownies mixed in; blueberry with graham cracker crumbs and pecans. It’s hard to top Good Life for us because of the overall quality of what we eat there.
Pattypan pizzas. I went out to the garden one afternoon and discovered our squash plant had been BUSY. So I pivoted on our dinner plans and made these personal pattypan pizzas. Our son, who last year was not a big fan of squash, ate it and liked it.
Kenyan braised collards and meat. This was just something different to use up some of our garden produce.
Popcorn and ice cream and snow cones at the drive-in.
Pattypan squash stuffed with pork and rice, topped with parmesan. I get asked a lot what we do with the pattypan squash. Here is exhibit B.
What We Watched
When Calls the Heart. I finished season 8. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
All the Bright Places. Apparently I was in a YA mood after finishing the book Not If I Save You First, so I watched the movie version of the book I’d read with my book club last school year.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier. This is our Saturday night show but we spent a couple of Saturdays outside the house, so we got back on track. I love the banter.
Kim’s Convenience. A solid comedy choice for nights when we don’t have a lot of time to invest in a show.
Fresh Fried and Crispy. We checked out one episode of this and learned about some new foods we’d like to try if ever we’re in St. Louis. But the show overall feels overproduced and maybe for the TikTok/Youtube viewer. I don’t know if we’ll go back to this.
Upload. So much yes. We watched one episode and it’s good.
Legomasters. Every week, the creativity leaves me in awe, and I’m 100 percent sure I don’t have the patience for epic Lego builds.
Love and Friendship, a movie adaptation of a Jane Austen story, Lady Susan, I’d never heard of. It had some funny moments.
Black Widow. Amazing. I can’t wait to rewatch so we can fully appreciate the storyline without thunderstorm interruption.
Virgin River. I had to start a new series for me in the evenings after I’m done working and taking care of people for the day. I got to episode 2 and realized this was based on a book series! My TBR pile keeps growing. There’s only a 6-month wait for the first book on the library’s digital book app.
Rick Steves’ Europe. Our favorite travel show with Debra and David Rixon is no longer included with Amazon Prime, so to get our travel fix, we have to look elsewhere. We watched one episode with Rick Steves about the Austrian and Italian Alps. Do I want to take a cable car to the top of a mountain? Yes. Would I be anxious about the whole thing? Also, yes.
Nailed It! The kids and I finished the current season.
The Olympics.
What We Read
Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter. A recommendation from the middle school librarian, and a perfect choice for my North America selection for the Read Around the World Challenge.
Spy School by Stuart Gibbs. Another read-aloud at bedtime. Hilarious. And page-turning.
South by Ernest Shackleton. I’m obsessed with this real-life exploration adventure and I need a book set in Antarctica for my Read Around the World challenge. Written in the explorer’s own words, it’s sometimes technical but also fascinating.
On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn. The final Bridgerton book. (Except there’s a prequel, I think, and some bonus epilogues I haven’t read.) My favorite of all the books. Now to wait (not so patiently) for Netflix to catch up.
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Of course, I finish this one and immediately want to read the next one. I’m having a problem with starting a bunch of series and getting overwhelmed by wanting to finish them all.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Maybe my favorite read of the whole year so far. I love One and his grumpy nature, and the way the story builds is just brilliant: slow at the start, drawing you in until you realize what’s happening, then everything goes NOT according to the main character’s plan and you can’t stop reading. This is on my all-time favorites list. (Now maybe I should actually make that list.)
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. I was overwhelmed by this one at first because there is an extensive family tree at the beginning of the book, but once I was invested in the characters, the lineage didn’t matter so much, and I couldn’t put it down. This one checks the box for Asia for my Read Around the World challenge for the library’s summer reading program.
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. My pick for South America on the Read Around the World challenge. It’s a slower pace than what I usually read but beautiful so far.
