Change is Afoot

This blog has moved to www.chardetc.com. See you there. :)

Everyone in the neighborhood has chairs in front.

Such a lot of change in the life of our family. Lauren and William moved from Virginia to Cleveland last week, Katharine and George are finishing up their first berry-picking season together and getting ready for the Wee Elder to arrive at the end of August, things are adjusting for Mark, and I am thinking about my schedule for the fall.  And today Mark's parents and I visited Larksfield Place.

Wonderful dinner, per usual.  New table and chairs!

 The details are great fun, though: I spent a few days last week in Cleveland helping Lauren and William get moved into their rental house.  (They were kind enough to make me feel like I helped, anyway... I felt like I did a little more cheerleading while Lauren did most of the work - that girl doesn't stop moving very often!) We had a couple wonderful meals out (lunch at the Flying Pig and dinner at Paladar) and a couple of wonderful meals in (her famous squash pasta and a new Pasta Primavera from Frank Skitt's cookbook), a trip to the West Side Market downtown, visits to their new schools (University School for William, Ruffing Montessori for Lauren), and a walk around their delightful new Fernway neighborhood.

George's and Katharine's blackberry fence and veg garden

I can't get back into my new room at Coleman Middle School (where I've coordinated tutoring and mentoring for almost 20 years) for two weeks and Katharine is headed to Minnesota the last two weeks in July so it occurred to me it might be fun to offer some focused help with garden, house and whatever needs to be done to prepare for the arrival of the Wee Elder. The first order of business was the taming of the garden, which has grown a bit more than Katharine had expected. She took care of errant tomato branches while I cut back some weeds, sprayed a 20% vinegar solution on some of the bermuda and covered one of the paths between the raised beds with black paper and mulch. My hair was full of tiny burrs at the end of it all and Katharine had to take a brush to it and pick, pick, pick out the little guys. I spent the 20-minute drive home pulling the burrs out of my top and tossing them out the window to sprout along the roadside.

Picking blackberries

George and Katharine have done a terrific job keeping up with the raspberries and blackberries and using social media to let folks know when and where they are being sold, etc.  They've also hosted You-Picks every Saturday in June (photos and videos at www.eldersliefarm.com).  I didn't know what to expect the first time I went and was delighted to see that not only was it possible to go pick berries, but Katharine had prepared scones and mini-blackberry cobblers, Phil (George's dad) had picked up some very tasty coffee, and they had a wonderful set-up in the old carport.  I made some gelato and sorbet to contribute to the effort, which came out quite nicely if I do say so myself.  The whole thing was awesome.  Last week (June 30th) it was too hot to do much picking but they still had the baked goods, and a few people were able to go picking.  I'd go up there just for breakfast on Saturdays as long as they care to keep hosting us.

Must decide what I want to be called, and soon.  "Grandma" is not on the list of options. Mark will be Papi, like the Italian cousins call their dad - very approachable and friendly and endearing... would love to figure out something along those lines.