A few pictures from our son’s two birthday parties this past weekend. I can’t believe my “baby” is three years old! Happy Birthday, Zane (and Papa, too)!
Zane’s Third Birthday // Part Two from Kelli Wilson on Vimeo.
A few pictures from our son’s two birthday parties this past weekend. I can’t believe my “baby” is three years old! Happy Birthday, Zane (and Papa, too)!
Zane’s Third Birthday // Part Two from Kelli Wilson on Vimeo.
“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2014.”
Lillia: This week you’ve been listening to a podcast called “Welcome to Night Vale”. It seems to be a sort of dark comedy. Your dad and I were discussing how you are a person who is highly susceptible to being scared, and I mean really scared, and yet you are also attracted to things that frighten you. You like to walk to the line between being genuinely terrified, and perhaps just a little uneasy. I do not like to be scared at all, so I had to learn where to draw the line (PG and under, thanks). But, it will be more nuanced and subtle for you, and you’ll have to be careful about what you expose yourself to as you get older.
Zane: Today is your very last day as a two year-old. I cannot believe it. I would be in denial, if I wasn’t so aware of it. Although we are still very much a duo, I can feel you pulling away, ever-so-slightly, and it does hurt. But, let me be clear: YOU are not causing me pain; and, it is more sadness than despair. I know we have at least a couple more years before you go away to school, and then after that there will be many years to go before you leave home. Still, I do feel it looming, just a little bit, already.
“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2014.”
Lillia: This week you got your class assignment for the coming school year. You have Mrs. Ronning! You really didn’t care who your teacher was, but you were very concerned about who would be in your class. Thankfully, your best friend is in your class this year. You seem very relieved now, but on the way to see the class lists you said, “I have butterflies in my stomach, and newts, and the newts are devouring the butterflies.” You are a strange kid, but I love you! This year you have a locker, so when we went to buy school supplies you bought some things to put in it, like a wipe off board. I cannot believe my child is old enough to have a locker.
Zane: This week we’ve played outside a lot. The weather is so cool, it really feels more like fall than summer. You’ve been really enjoying riding your little push bike. You can’t go very fast yet, but you look so gosh darn adorable wearing your little helmet. I think you just need an inch or two more of height and it will be a lot easier for you to make your bike go! You’ve also grown very emotionally attached to our vegetables. You helped me pick a zucchini and some cucumbers to make lunch, but then you cried when I tried to prepare them! Poor little Zane! I never meant for our garden adventure to be so traumatizing!
In summer, the song sings itself.
—William Carlos Williams, “The Botticellian Trees”
I loafe and invite my Soul;
I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass.
—Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass , 1900
I’m so far behind on my blogging, and especially on my garden update posts. This will be a whirlwind tour of the garden over the past three weeks. We’ve had downy mildew, hail stones, and rodents munching on unripened squashes. But, we’ve also had delicious zucchinis, cucumbers, and even some ripe red tomatoes! In fact, we had enough tomatoes to make some delicious roasted tomato sauce for our pizza last night. We would have had more if the hail hadn’t taken out at least half of them while they were still green. The only thing we haven’t tried yet are the lemon cucumbers that I had completely forgotten about. I kept thinking, what’s wrong with these cucumbers? why aren’t they turning green? I’ve decided just to be cool and enjoy what time I have left with my little plants before autumn arrives. I’m still pruning out the bad leaves but I’m not going to obsess, especially since everything still seems to be producing vegetables just fine.
One thing I have learned from this gardening experience is that we moderns have it good. I know that there are people who homestead and provide all of their own food — good for them! But, even people who are providing all of their own food are doing it by and large by choice, at least here in the United States. If they absolutely had to, they could go to a supermarket somewhere (even if it was a long drive) and get some food. Our forebears didn’t have supermarkets. If blight took all their tomatoes, they had no tomatoes. Despite its many faults, I am very, very thankful for modern agriculture. I never have to worry that there won’t be any food available (of course, paying for it is an entirely separate issue), and that is something I think we all take for granted.
Zucchini Fritters, adapted from Damn Delicious
1 large zucchini, grated, strained, and dried as much as possible
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
3 tsp minced garlic (you could use less or more depending on your taste)
1 large egg, beaten
salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
Grate the zucchini and dry it out as much as possible. I put it in a colander (as the recipe recommended) and patted/smashed it with paper towels until it seemed dry. I probably could have done it more, as my fritters took a really long time to cook through. In a bowl combine zucchini, flour, parmesan cheese, garlic and egg; add seasonings to taste.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. The original recipe states, “Scoop tablespoons of batter for each fritter, flattening with a spatula, and cook until the underside is nicely golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side, about 1-2 minutes longer.” I apparently missed this step and scooped mine by the 1/4 cup! They took a long time to cook, but they were so good.