Nurse Molly

We're grateful to have discovered Little Man's infection quickly so we could move into surgery and antibiotics quickly. Tonight we were blessed with a home visit from a fabulous nurse who taught us how to care for him for the next month ourselves rather than bringing him for 90 minute appointments at the hospital daily. Little Man has been completely cooperative without complaining a single time during the discomfort and pain. I so admire his willingness to do what it takes and his ability to remain smoothly willing to endure what comes his way. It has been a true pleasure to be by his side so close the past few days.

Michael in his Hammock

John receives snapchat photos of Michael "working" frequently, and most seem to have Michael reading in his hammock. John's text replies to Michael are so John ~ and so not blog friendly! It's been exciting for the kids to keep in touch with different apps while they're 1,000 miles apart, each busy doing their own exciting things.  

Michael's blog is quite detailed and the photos are amazing!  http://michaelindominica.blogspot.com/

Summer Weekends

Jay, John and I have spent many weekends on the farm this summer.  With John working only 30 minutes away, he comes over to help with our projects and enjoy some outdoor recreation. We really appreciate the way he shows up and steps up to help with what we are doing. He and a friend took our kayaks out for their maiden voyage on Sunday. I can't wait to get out there!

To use the kayaks we need someone to drive the paddlers a few miles up the river so they can jump out as they pass the house. We are still figuring out the best way to make that work. Uber is out!

It took John an hour to lazily paddle from the launch spot to our house. That seems just right for a Sunday afternoon that requires gardening, cooking, and house projects. 

THE JADE BEANS AND ROMAINE LETTUCE ARE GREAT THIS YEAR!

JAY PUT UP TRELLIS FOR THE CUCUMBERS TO GET THEM OFF THE EVER WET GROUND -- THANKS, JAY!

JUNGLE CRUISE EXPLORER INDIANA STYLE

MY GARDEN FRIENDS -- SO GLAD I ADDED THESE THIS YEAR!

THE ORGANIC WEED PREVENTER AFTER WEEDING HAS BEEN A HUGE HELP!

MOOSE -- THE DEARLY LOVED TROUBLE MAKER

MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE DUCKHEAD KAYAKS

BUG NETS MAY BE THE VERY BEST INVENTION OF ALL TIME -- OH, AND, AIR CONDITIONING!

She's Still Rocking Camp

After 6 weeks, she's still feeling great working at camp. Having so many friends around 24/7 is a huge perk, as are the days off in the Northern Woods! Making money, making friends, and having a good time -- LIFE IS GOOD for this girl!

Little Man is home!

They should call the battlefield for camp's Capture the Flag 'Wounded Knee' as year after year it takes out campers knees. Little Man came home with an infection in his now very swollen knee that started with a wound incurred during an intense (and mighty fun!) game of Capture the Flag. As expected, he promises me it was worth it.  This year he took 3 camping trips outside of camp and had a blast being in the cabin with the oldest campers.  The stories are still trickling out. I tell ya, he's one lucky guy!

 

 

Jay's headstand -- he really did it!

Jay's yoga is the real deal! I am always impressed with the headstands he can do (except for the one late at night in the Art Institute while wearing cowboy boots!)  This past weekend he did a headstand strongly and gracefully on the floating "magic carpet" at Susan's lake house. We didn't quite snap the picture in time, but you get the idea. 

Great Time with Grace

We spent 10 wonderful hours with Grace Saturday. It felt marvelous to wrap her in my arms! Grace immediately (and rapidly) recounted story after story of camp happenings. She is a well respected and well liked counselor, no surprise, who has taken charge making good things happen for the girls. Grace excitedly received her 32 Week Blanket along with a special poem about her at Red Pine. This is a big deal and a dear keepsake. She continues to teach fishing all morning putting worm after worm on hooks for the young girls. The fact Grace asked for that job still surprises me. It's just part of what I love about Grace's camp experiences. This next session she will direct the play "Pinichio" as well as direct the new camp choir.

We took Grace for lunch and a walk about town before heading to my friend, Susan's, remote lakefront house. There Grace took a 2-1/2 hour nap while we knocked out her laundry and dinner preparations. I even snuggled in to join her for a bit which warmly reminded me of days when she was a little girl. Grace charmed Susan's guests at a late dinner before we drove through the small deer filled roads to return her to camp.

Grace has 4 more weeks up north. Since the first 5 weeks whipped by, I expect these next 4 will as well, especially as we will welcome John, Michael, and Andrew back into the fold during the next couple weeks.

I am so grateful for the uninterrupted time we had with Grace. It was a treasure!

Playful Fourth of July

All four kids are away doing wonderfully fabulous things right now. The really amazing part is that all four are away at the same time for a spell. For the first time in 22 years we slept in our house without a single child home. Weird! I checked my phone frequently out of habit to check in with the kids only to remember I could simply sit back and enjoy Jay's company. It helps knowing they are each really glad to be where they are and it helps that Jay likes to have fun!

We hit a new record over the Fourth of July weekend by spending 4 nights in a row at the farm. We kicked off our vacation by seeing John on campus before spending a very productive day cleaning the porches and outside furniture. It was a two day job, but so worth it as the space is now welcoming and comfortable. The wildflowers are in full bloom and a constant delight. We ended our vacation with Jay's brother and friends spending 2 days at the farm with us. I'm so glad we finally had warm sunny weather! Unfortunately, we also had LOADS of mosquitoes that accompanied them ATVing and shooting a variety of LOUD guns. Oh, and shooting off LOUD errant fireworks, too!

JOHN AND HIS NEW TURTLE FRIEND

UNCLE MIKE & KATIE

Those smiles on Uncle Mike's & Katie's faces (on their recent trip out West) we saw a lot of this weekend! They obviously love their time together. It was warming to see Uncle Mike so happy and we were so glad to meet this special friend.

With our free day off farm, Jay and I enjoyed driving along Lake Michigan's towns from the Dunes to New Buffalo. We didn't find the antique stores we assumed we would pass along the way, but we did see some beautiful and carefully crafted homes on the lakefront. At a festive, fun beach restaurant we were able to eat rooftop overlooking the harbor in a much appreciated sun kissed spot. It was a happy carefree day. Aren't those amazingly precious and rare? I loved it!

VACATION PLAY DAY

 Unfortunately, I couldn't stay at the farm this week as intended as our 2nd car needs a new transmission and is in the shop. While initially I was disappointed, it also gets me off the hook weeding in the mosquito infested garden. My plants will just have to keep growing & carry on!

JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH NETTING!

Much love to you, dear ones. We remember you fondly and wish you happy days this summer.

Little Man Having a Blast

News from the Camper:  "My time at camp has been great so far. I'm in Cabin 1 and the people are hilarious. I got my 2 best (camp) friends in my cabin as well. It's weird how there are only 6 of us in the cabin though. The people are great, even the counselors. I've knocked out a chapter of my summer reading. I'm having a lot of fun and will write soon."

CABIN 1 -- At long last!

VENTURING OUT ON THE MYSTERY HIKE

FUN 4TH!

Don't Ask!

On vacation I do some things that are odd or seemingly unexciting,  so I am not going to ask J what he has been doing in a pop up tent in the dark for the last 40 minutes.

 

 

Shhh -- We're in Valpo!

John tried to take us to his favorite restaurant in Valpo yesterday,  but it was not open for lunch. Today we went back for dinner, and see why John enjoys it so much. What's not to love about dinner & books! I loved the menu tucked inside a vintage children's book, and thought the bill booklet was absolutely darling as an old library checkout envelope. We were quite pleasantly surprised walking through town with the lively full restaurants and an absolutely fantastic juice shop! I loved being able to buy a cup of organic coffee along with a bunch of fresh kale! My kind of shop!

Spontaneous Visit - Presentation Delight

We kicked off our Empty Nest vacation with a spontaneous stop at John's lab. To our surprise and great delight, John was heading in to a presentation addressing his research project. What a thrill it was to see him shine!

Turn up the volume to hear a tiny clip I took in stealth mode so not to embarrass him.

https://youtu.be/R8sFVLsiJB4

Rather than visit another city for our vacation, we chose to (hopefully) enjoy the farm. The aim is to enjoy each other & recreation instead of working from sun up past sundown as we usually do. Since Jay's idea of recreation includes chainsaws and tractors, I may need to find some new towns to explore. So far he has hung lights, trimmed bushes & answered a lot of emails, and we have only been here 4 hours!

Emily - 8 Weeks to Go!

What a thrill to be with Emily at her baby shower!

Summer Reading -- apparently on hold

Moose doesn't like being left home.  Tonight Jay and I went to Ravinia, a long evening out.  It was not worth it!

Slowly but Surely -- A Garden Update

YOU CAN SURE SEE WHERE I WEEDED TODAY!

The rains brought 3 million new mosquitoes to the farm this week with each and every one of them showing up in the garden this morning as I began my 2nd big weeding day. Working a garden 90 miles from home isn't an ideal situation, but, thankfully, my garden is enormously forgiving. Despite the very slow start, more seedlings have emerged and the early starters have continued to take off in our very sandy soil that fortunately drains quickly with heavy rains. Lettuce, beets, fennel, beans, and squash are all giving the season a good go despite the constant rains and temperature fluctuations. When I see how much work goes into weeding, I no longer complain about organic vegetable prices. It's uncomfortable work with mosquitoes and muggy air. Each time I work in the garden, though, I am reminded of what a great metaphor gardening is for living my life purposefully. I always walk away from the garden inspired to take charge of something in my own life that needs a little more attention and care.

POOR EARLY RADISH HARVEST -- BOO!

 While the garden takes a lot of work, I'm delighted by the septic field growing beautifully despite a half a tree landing on top of it last week.

PRETTIEST SEPTIC FIELD AROUND!

The Happy Scientist

In his lab on campus

Andrew and I were lucky enough today to visit John in his lab where he is researching for NASA this summer. He was nothing but confident and cool as he gave us a tour of his facilities. I was especially glad to meet his research director, Dr. Waters, one of John's favorite professors as well as his landlord. He has been a significant mentor for John during his college years. 

John is lucky to work in a basement lab this summer where it is comfortably cool, although a bit dark, void of windows. Perhaps it's easier on summer days not to see the trees blowing in the wind and the beckoning sun shine. The basement space didn't bother John one bit. It's so obvious he is excited about the work he is doing. What joy to see that!

I was most surprised by the tight quarters in which John spends his full days so enthusiastically. He must really love science and his project!  Moving around his lab space reminded me of the snug U505 tour with so much important equipment packed into such a small space. It's a good thing he and his professor work so well together and enjoy one another's company.  

John's research mission this summer is to determine the best solid waste reduction candidates for long range space missions (aka, how to make poop break down in space.) Since bringing more food is not an option for very long range space travel to places like Mars, astronauts will will need a way to turn their waste into food or soil quickly so they don't perish. John is genetically modifying the candidates they are selecting for waste reduction as well as working on a membrane fluidity analysis. He really is a happy scientist. 

River Rising

The heavy constant rain of the past few weeks has raised the river greatly. Driving to North Judson yesterday we saw many fields flooded with farmers crops sitting soggy surrounded by water. One field we frequently pass looked like a big lake. It is heartbreaking to see the time and money of planting wasted. 

Typical nearby field after the rains

Looking out my bedroom window from my bed made it feel like I was floating on a houseboat. The house is this close to the river because it is the only place we had clearance to build. I think this is the highest we have seen the river since we bought the farm in 2008. It has already started going down quite a lot, so I can't imagine how high it was when it crested. 

VIEW FROM MY BEDROOM WINDOW

 

Lobsterfest

One thing I love about Jay is that he loves a good party!  He finds fun things to do & makes fun things happen. I benefit greatly! 

It's not often we get fresh lobster in La Grange. In fact, it's only once a year at Lobsterfest! Jay never misses it!

ON THE NEWS AGAIN...

Michael on the air speaking about his work with coconut cheese production

The videos I took of Michael's 2nd television interview sadly are upside down and very poor sound quality which is unfortunate as he spoke so eloquently as he explained the challenges and processes his team is working through supporting the coconut cheese industry. Now he knows why I always repeated my dad's own words: "Slowly, clearly, and distinctly." You'd never know that this young man started a speech preschool the day he turned 3 and was in an intensive special program for 2 years followed by 5 more years of speech therapy. Young moms, take heart. Stay the course and it works out!

I learned most of what I now know about his work from this interview, so I wish you could hear it!  So far Michael's team has worked with 67 small producers of coconut cheese, which is a product more like fudge than cheese. I've heard that often the production is done at home with old family recipes. The key areas Michael and his team are currently addressing are:  packaging, machinery, labeling, exporting, and increasing the scale of operation. I'll let Michael explain more about his work and the industry in one of his own blog posts.

Just for the fun of it, watch the (silent) quick clip below to see what he was like in action.