Memorial Day Weekend

It was a lovely long weekend with the family.  I am forever grateful for the blessings I have living in the country I live in, surrounded by family and friends.  It should go without saying that those who died while fighting for their country deserve to be honored.  The USA is extremely polarized at this moment in time, but I think we can all agree that those soldiers who died while defending our nation have earned the respect of all of us.

My husband planted the garden this weekend.  We have had relentless rain, so I am concerned that everything might drown.  He planted tomatoes, peppers, brussel sprouts, purple cabbage, eggplant, watermelon, cantaloupe, beans and herbs.  He planted lettuce, spinach and peas several weeks ago.  It looks like we might have enough lettuce for a salad very soon.  We were able to get enough asparagus for 2 dinners.  Nothing beats asparagus from your own garden.  I prepare asparagus very simply, I roast it at 350 degrees with olive oil and Penzey’s Fox Point, it turns out perfect every single time.

We stuck close to home over the weekend.  We had some friends over for dinner on Saturday night.  It was wonderful.  We had our first summer like evening and we sat on the patio with good food, wine, music and conversation.  Those moments are free of charge but worth so much.  I made Kale Salad on both Saturday and Sunday night.  I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I cannot.  It’s absolutely delicious.  Sunday night dinner brought all 3 of my children home and my daughters included their boyfriends.  My husband made his famous Korean Ribs.  We have given up meat, but they were still in the freezer from the pig we bought last year.  I did forgo the ribs and had veggie burger instead.  The 3 boys that were here certainly appreciated a rack of slow cooked ribs from the grill though.

My daughter is moving back home from college for at least a year.  She will commute to school, so she had to buy her first car over the weekend.  Car shopping takes way too long.  The girl test drove ONE car, was pre-approved for a loan and asked very few questions.  It still took 5 hours to complete the transaction.  I am very proud of her, she saved her money and secured a loan without any help from us.

Hannah with her new car

Our chickens continue to lay a crazy amount of eggs and the bees have been very busy.  We lost a hive in recent weeks.  Pretty unbelievable that they survived what has to be our coldest winter in decades, only to die off when it was warmer.  Eric has no idea what caused the hive to collapse, but it goes to show that we need to everything we can to protect our honey bee population, they are so fragile.

After being fortunate enough to have a 5 day weekend, today it is time to get back to work and get back to real life.