Wynn is just beginning to coo, I can hear her on the baby monitor, and Laura is getting a few last seconds of shuteye before I wake her so she can prep and leave for work. Bottom line, this blog post is about to be paused :)
OK, it's now 20 minutes before noon, Wynn is napping, and I'm having some lunch. We had a terrific morning that included awesome weather, visiting the Stahley's, strolling downtown to the farmers market and saying hi to many neighbors and friends along the way.
Early this week we gathered up a basket of our apples and headed over to Farlin and Bess's to make cider. Wynn was integral in making sure no little wormies would accidentally make it into the juice (actually, all the worms are long gone by now, guess we'll have to get our protein elsewhere).
The press is many many years old, I don't remember the exact age. Farlin bought it from a local farmer he works for and after some repair and replacements it is now producing amazing cider! The apple tree truly is the giving tree.
Even Wynn tried a bit, and she seemed to like it! She is however still trying to get the hang of drinking from a non-sippy cup. We took home a gallon that we are thoroughly enjoying. Farlin has made over 50 gallons - much of which is in the process of becoming hard cider. It's the little things that make the cold long winters not only bearable but tasty :)
We were also pleasantly surprised by a "save the date" card from our friends in Philly. This was no normal run of the mill s.t.d. though, it was an amazing s.t.d.! Look closely at the photo below and you will know what I mean. Joe is wearing his Drexel kit, Caitlin her Tufts kit, and both are rolling through the country side on a tandem. We are of course excited and definitely saving the date!
With Wynn suited up, and now full from Joe & Caitlin's edible card, we headed off into the land trust to help Mike finish a bog bridge and enjoy a late fall hike. We started work on the bridge this past weekend and it looks like it's ready to go now. It spans an area that is an otherwise terrific mountain bike trail, one that I have often avoided due to the overwhelming muck. But not any more!
This area of the state is generally quite boggy, which doesn't exactly aid trail building, but does however add an immense amount of beauty.
One of the most enjoyable factors about living in this area is the incredible accessibility to things we love. Like trails, rivers, stores, potlucks, the library, swings, and our CSA. The summer days of regular pick ups are now over, but a small amount of excellent food is still ripe for the picking, and it's just a pleasant bike ride away. We picked up some kale, potatoes, and leeks.
Well you might guess what we enjoyed that evening: Potato leek soup (with fresh bread of course). Wynn was amazing, she ate some banana, apple, rice puffs... and was happy and wonderful. It was an amazing date-like-dinner, even better because our daughter was with us.
Part of being a parent, wait not part, I should say being a parent involves a 100 and 10 percent effort in keeping the little one happy - anything to avoid, as my sister-in-law calls it, IBS: insane baby syndrome, which of course leads to IDS or IMS! So we take Wynn for walks, rides, strolls, swings, give her rides on my shoulders, garden with her, cook with her, give her baths, feed her, feed her something different, look for something else to feed her since she's learning how to be picky, and sometimes put her in the sink in front of the mirror.
These might all seem like tiring, non-stop chores, which is exactly right! But this chore grows everyday and puts warm wonderful feelings into our hearts. I've never been so happy.
Can Farlin save me a gallon? :)
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