ponies and pickin'

Things are slowly shaping up around here. Dan's got a loaner car from work, a fuel card from his boss, and the potential for a company truck. My wagon's days are numbered and hopefully I'll soon be driving something a little more reliable.  My sewing machine is in the shop, a brush against emma's ear no longer causes a recoil in pain, and the rest of the family is back in town after various excursions around the globe. (Big congratulations are in order to my father who is back from rowing in London with two gold medals from the races at Henley on the Thames.)

We had a good weekend of work and play--mowing and weeding for my grandmother, making sure the spring-fed pool was just the right amount of coldness(you can only tell by getting in, of course), and Sunday dinner on the patio. This was followed by the older girls giving Emma and Mary rides around the paddock. Emma started her first riding lessons this summer, but sometimes I wonder if Mary won't end up being bigger horse-lover of the two.

This morning the girls and I went to my uncle's house to pick my most favorite summer treat in the whole world--raspberries! I could probably overdose on them if it were possible. When I little I used to get scolded for sitting in the back of the volkswagon bus and finishing off the whole pint before we even got them home. I think I've passed this on to my children. I probably heard, "just ONE more, mommy" every five seconds on the thirty second trip home from picking.
I don't know what the berries will become. I'm thinking they'll just be scattered over vanilla ice cream after dinner tonight. And the rest will be eaten right out of the basket. yum.

We also stopped to pick some queen anne's lace on the way home. We are anxiously waiting for their little white flowers to soak up the purple dye--a trick I used to love when I was little. Emma is checking in with them every few minutes, I'm trying to encourage her that these things take time and that the flowers need to drink up the colored water before we'll see any changes. Thankfully, I got her off for a nap despite the impending color show.