Back to Reality

We have been road tripping...hence the lack of posts. I have lots of pictures and stories, but for now a short post. The garden went crazy when we were gone, and I came home to lots of good things. I love these beets! Not only are they neat, they are so sweet and delicious.




My first ever home grown ear of corn:


I was thrilled to see it came out even and beautiful, and it was super good!


We stopped at one thrift shop on our trip in Fort Collins, Colorado. They had just opened and we scored a few cheap things. These awesome mugs for $1.50:


And this framed weather vane for $2.


I am very glad to be home. More to come.

Chard Frittata

We had fun making dinner from the garden last night. We had our first Swiss chard harvest (although we had enough weeks ago) and Aaron cooked it up into a frittata.



We used spoils from my friend's garden (I watered for him while he was out of town). Tomatoes, jalapenos, and there are a few figs in there. Not pictured are the 7 eggplants I also picked.


Blackberries!


Strawberries!


The frittata, unflipped.


My first beet of the year!


What do you do when you have 6 extra egg yolks from dinner...make creme brulee of course!


I could get used to this whole summer thing.

South Sister Birthday Summit

I decided I wanted to hike the South Sister this weekend to celebrate my birthday. We left Friday and drove straight there, set up a tent at Devil's Lake and got up at 5 to begin. The mosquitoes were awful, out at 10:30 pm and still some at 5 am.

The mountain:
I love how the path leads visibly right up to it.


Nice and cool in the morning.



Finally getting somewhere, it doesn't look that far until you find a few people on that ridge. (Hint there are two people in white to the left of center on the trail, click on it to make it larger)


The captivating blue waters of Teardrop Lake


We summited at 10 am, 4 hours and 20 minutes after we started. I definitely took my time going up. Not stopping much, but going slowly.

We made it!


Me at the very highest point.


The paintbrush was so beautiful and in so many different shades of pink and red. I was gawking over it along the way.


We were prepared to camp out another night, but after getting that dusty and sweaty we decided to head home. This is how I spent the rest of my night:



Sunburnt and broken. My knee had been bothering me for 2 weeks or so, but nothing too major. This hike did a doozie on it. So I've been trying to stay off it and keep it iced. I think it will heal up alright...just probably not going to be able to do the Muddy Buddy in 2 weeks. It's not worth more knee pain...I've never really had it before. It sucks.
Overall we had a great trip and I was so thankful we left early in the day. Climbing up at 12 pm looked hot and miserable. And we got to go home and have a relaxed Sunday, the first and last one we will get in a while.