Harvest

With Keelyn's help, we have harvested our first grown- from -seed tomatoes.
The seeds were started in Florida this spring by our neighbor Len. Grown in a large terra cotta pot, this very strong plant has required full sun and LOTS of water. We are anxious to try our first tomato in a sandwich! Keelyn is also helping with the picking of a handful of cherry and yellow pear tomatoes. We eat those for snacks.

My girlies

My four (Lisbeth included) Haarhoff girlies have arrived at the beach. A hot day today, we spent the entire day at the beach playing in surf that has reached 70 degrees. Tonight it has rained again :-) so we are watching movies and TV. Tomorrow: more beach!!! Plus, there is a long list of things we want to do in just a few short days.

Ladies who lunch

Here we are.....Elaine, Lee and me...all recent HAPPY retirees from the Health Department where we worked together for many years. Elaine is vacationing here this week, Lee lives near Millsboro and has a good man in her life. She brought her photo album and we enjoyed seeing pictures of Lee and Joe together. It was a very enjoyable catch-up time!

Birthdays and rainbows

We celebrated Eva's 9th birthday today at Aunt Becky and Craig's pool. It was a perfect day for a pool party...warm and muggy. Yummy food and lots of time for swimming as all the cousins (minus Will who is not convinced that a pool full of water is as fun as ocean waves) demonstrated their swimming and diving skills. And then Eva shared her cupcake birthday cake....yum!

Once we arrived home to a brief rainstorm we looked up and saw this full rainbow!

House tour

Day 2 of the Bethany Beach house and cottage tour found us touring six homes, all very unique and with some decorating ideas we will try to incorporate into our own homes.

Picture on upper left: Jenni and I look at tour book to make a plan of action.

Upper Right: Pink arrows show the way.

Lower left: Booties required to wear over our shoes into each house.

Lower right: One of our favorites was Delaware's 1st certified "green house", built in 2008.

New toy

Look what Will got me! It's a 4 gallon pull-along water sprayer on wheels to expedite my watering chores in the neighborhood. Though it did rain last night, my watering duties will begin again soon since the sun and humidity returned during the day. Thanks, Will....Moppy is happy to have such a useful new toy!

Pickles

While on the Cove this weekend with Dave and AM and the gang, the girls and AM made pickles (I stirred the vinegar, sugar and spices.) We may have a winning jar of pickles! They are very crunchy and stay cold in the refrigerator. While accomplishing this task, AM and I reminisced about our canning experiences with our moms and grandmothers in hot kitchens in mid-summer. The canning endeavor took a week in Ma's kitchen and resulted in many jars of beans, peaches, applesauce, piccalilli, catsup and yes, PICKLES.

Crabs and sunset fishing

Today we were treated to a lovely day on the Cove. While Ann Marie, Layne, Eva and Lorie browsed in North Beach, David, Jack and Jim went sailing and kayaking. Then we crabbed off the dock, ate an amazing dinner, and went fishing as the sun set over the Patuxent River. And then more PEACH PIE! Thanks Dave and Ann Marie for a great day!

Sisters

When Kylie is not playing lacrosse, Keelyn and Ella are having some fun time in the pool....refreshing on a hot, muggy day. During the afternoon game, the sky opened up and POURED rain on us.

Hot lacrosse

Ninety- eight degrees, add twelve more degrees for heat from the astro turf and you've got one hot day for playing in a lacrosse tournament! We had the pleasure of traveling to Germantown, MD to watch Kylie the goalie compete with her team, MD United Lacrosse Club (MULC) in a series of 60 minute games over a period of three days. We are staying over tonight at a Marriott Residence Inn because tomorrow's first game is at 8 am. We are really glad that breakfast is included! Maybe tomorrow will be cooler.

Beach reunion

Today we met up with Judy and Dale, Sam, Troy and Teagen and Allison and Jody at the cottage they are renting near Rehoboth. Troy grilled us a delicious dinner complete with grilled corn....yum! It was fun catching up and watching Teagen growing into a little boy who will soon be two years old. They have had a lovely beach week and their cottage suits them well.

Sunday is market day

We arrived at the market this morning only fifteen minutes after it opened and already there was a long line for the fresh bread booth. We were shopping for beans today to freeze and bought a bunch of fresh yellow and green beans. They will taste great this winter. There is an abundance of corn right now and it is delish! Think we will be eating lots of salads this week. I'm trying this recipe for CORN FRITTERS:

1 48 bottle canola oil

1 c flour

1 1/2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 large egg

2/3 c milk

2 Tbsps butter, melted

1 c fresh corn kernels

Heat oil to 375 degrees in deep fat fryer.

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and pepper together in a medium bowl. In another bowl whisk egg, milk and butter together. Stir into dry ingredients. Fold in corn and let sit 5 minutes. Drop heaping tbspfuls of batter into hot oil and fry until golden, about 3 minutes (work in batches of 3-4). Drain on a baking pan lined with paper towels.

Swinging beach day

What weather we are having! We have opened all the windows to let the cool air in. It was actually chilly at last night's band concert, but who is complaining?

Biking to the newly remodeled and enlarged South Coastal Library is on today's agenda. Holiday crowds have traveled home and once again our little community is enjoying its sleepy summer status......

Beach trolley

When traffic fills the road to the beach and parking spaces are hard to find, we take the trolley to the beach and boardwalk in the evening to get our ice cream or listen to a concert. The trolley stops are decorated with benches and pots of flowers and serve the two trolleys that run all day, every day. Will likes waving at people we pass and watching them wave back.

Junior beach bum

Try to keep Will out of the surf!! Just as Keelyn wanted to become part of the sand when she was a toddler, I think that Will would like to be part of the ocean. No hesitation here! He is settling right into the beach routine of eating, sleeping and playing on the beach.....and we love having him and Jenni join us.

Happy 4th of July!

What an incredible fireworks display we enjoyed tonight! Lots of people watched from the beach as we saw new color combinations as well as some new fizzly white replicas of flowers. There were four grand finales! Just as we thought the fireworks were over, they started up again. Jim captured a few good shots with his camera perched on its tripod.

Independence Day parade

It doesn't get any better than this! Front row seats to a down home parade....Bethany Beach's 25th 4th of July parade. We joined members of the Benjamin family for the hour long array of marching bands, cars carrying dignitaries, and many, many kid-decorated bikes, scooters and wagons. Very well attended, this event begins a weekend of picnics, concerts and fireworks.

Mom/Grammie

Today my mom would be 85 years old if she were still alive. I hope she is having a big party in Heaven with HER mom and sister. Her birthday for our family marked the beginning of a usually hot and muggy summer in Rochester when we lugged mattresses downstairs to sleep on and set up a long folding table in the garage to eat dinners on. We found lots to do in the neighborhood just hanging out with our friends and when it got TOO hot we would find someone's cool basement where we retreated to play cards or Monopoly with the portable transistor radio playing what are today's "oldies".

We disappeared in the afternoons or Mom would remember her early 1950s fear of polio and insist we come in for a nap. Though taking a library book to a quiet place in the afternoon was not all that bad! Then we would "clean up" for dinner served as Dad came through the door from work. Always a yummy dinner that Mom had constructed while we were out of her hair. After dinner a walk to Carvel proved a suitable dessert. Even today I love to duplicate that wonderful summertime schedule.