We had a long list of things to do yesterday. We threw it away.
We ate a big Dutch baby for breakfast, piled into the car, and headed downtown to the river and the Saturday Market with the rest of the city. We felt a little silly in our jackets and jeans when everyone else seemed to think it was bathing and fountain splashing weather (I guess we still have AZ bones). But the people watching was fantastic, the food was delicious, and the sunshine by the river was just what we needed. Perfect.
and cute babies, of course.
because I love that cute baby. She clapped in delight tonight upon seeing her big sister, which was the cutest thing ever. And then she grabbed the top of the ottoman, stood up, and make her way around it to grab something. At 6 months and 3 weeks old. Not okay, people. Not okay.
Back to cookies and apples. I have a couple of really entrepreneurial children. Much of their time is spent thinking "how can I make money from this?" which is a trait that definitely did not come from their parents, given our allergy to making as much money as possible. Or even as we should be. But anyway. Gunnar wants to buy a laptop - a 13" MacBook Pro, to be specific, which costs $1200. I told him that we would match him $1 for every $2 that he saves. He decided that selling his cookies would be a good start. These aren't your everyday cookies, mind you. They are Grand Central chocolate chip oatmeal cookies made with our home-milled flour and our home grown eggs and all organic ingredients. They are Fancy Cookies. Yesterday, he made dough for 4 dozen cookies. Today, there was signage and baking and a sister wanting in on the action. She spied the remaining apples from our 36 pound box of Granny Smiths and grabbed "the spiraler" (the peeler/corer/slicer) and headed out the door.
While Gunnar posted "cookies this way" signs all over the neighborhood, she and her little supervisor manned the table.
Gunnar came back and they waited for the business to roll in.
And waited some more. The guy working on the neighbor's yard bought a glass of water. They continued to wait. The neighbors came, and they perked up.
Things slowed again, but picked up when some friends saw signage and followed it our way.
At first our customers were all about the cookies, but once The Spiraler went into action, everyone wanted apples too. The girl was relieved. They rounded out the afternoon with sales to our awesome mailman who can't resist a kid with a stand. Bless him.
On to the quilt. When Blair put her pattern up for sale, I bought it immediately to make a quilt for Annika in white/red/aqua. But then I thought about using it in blues and greys for Gunnar. And I have another person on my list who likes subtle colors. The pattern as written is gorgeous, but let's face reality. I was not going to complete three quilts with several hundred squares each before Christmas. Some innovation was in order. I sized it up to just the primary motif by using 6" squares, which made a 54"x66" lap quilt = just perfect for my recipient.
I even pulled out my blue Flea Market Fancy fabric. That's how much I love him, the mystery recipient. I'm really prod of how well I pieced it - all of my corners matched up, which is unheard of for me! Pins are your friend. Who knew?
I'll back it in a blue herringbone fabric, bind it in a bright color (it's still me, after all), and may even hand quilt it like Blair did. Then I move on to the two full size quilts with 4" blocks. To be done by Christmas. Yes, you can laugh now.
I know I shouldn't complain, since rain in Phoenix should always be viewed as a gift. But really, we've had a lot of rain in the last month. Two days a week of rain, during the time that's usually the best time of year here, when it's in the 70's and beautiful. This is the time of year that we hold on to while we're suffering through the summer heat, the time that makes living here (sort of ) worthwhile.
So we will ignore the gloom and show you some pretty pictures from our trip to Tucson a week ago. I'm way behind.
We spent the morning at Saguaro National Park on the west side of Tucson. The park is split into two sections that are separated by the city of Tucson. Next time we'll go east. We went looking for the Petroglyph trail, and ended up on what Lindsay called the Indiana Jones ride through the park in our decidedly not 4 wheel drive Eurovan. Whoops! We ended up at a smaller nature trail that I could comfortably walk with my ever expanding girth. I'm always amazed at the variety of plant life that we find in the desert when we take time to look. We'll try to go one more time next month (baby permitting) when the wildflowers bloom. One benefit of our ample rainfall should be a glorious wildflower season.
We spent the rest of the day in Tucson with Lindsay, who was kind enough to give up her sleep-in and watch TV Friday to hang out with us all day. We had a nice lunch and wandered around Fourth Ave while enjoying the beautiful afternoon. Hopefully we'll be heading back soon.
I know I promised a lemon recipe roundup (that I'm still working on. Have to really hone that lemon cake by making it over and over again) and a survey, but we've been caught up in some lovely warm weather that is unseasonable even for us.
We took our trip to the zoo today. Here were some of our favorite things.
watching their pennies go round and round until the get to the bottom of the cylinder
lanky giraffes
sunning turtles
hungry goats - he climbed onto the bucket to chew on the broom
a carousel ride in a handknit sweater that is getting too small
high fives with the sting rays.
We came home with smelly hands from feeding the sting rays and petting the goats, cold faces from the wind, and happy hearts from a fun afternoon with each other and a good friend.
Hooray for afternoon adventures.
