By Candlelight

I love days like this one.  The kind where there is nothing pressing you to be somewhere.  My day started out with a run with friends, and while it was a short one, it felt like a long one, and while it was an average pace, I was sure we were running really fast...nope.  :)  Guess I need to get back out there and start running more consistently again since I need to be training for a race!  From there, Jakob and I went to the Farmer's Market to fill some time while we waited to check out his football equipment an hour later.  It was fun to walk through the market with him, but kind of sad in a way too.  We used to go there at minimum once a month as a family, but now we just don't seem to have a free Saturday to do so.  My plan is to get there in a couple of weeks before we give our Saturday mornings to football practices and football games. 

By the time we got home, it was 10am...not late by summer standards and we had already been fairly productive!  :)  Everyone was up, the kitchen was clean (thanks hubby!) and we were ready to get some things done!  See...it's hard to get things done at home if we're never here for longer than the time it takes to get everything out!  It was a good day for accomplishing things.


The wood is sorted, some pieces cut and the apron for the table is built!  (And it is also stacked neatly in the garage according to size instead of piled on our front lawn!)


The yard is mowed...it is amazing how just mowing the crabgrass to the same level as the good grass can make it look so nice!!  :)


More harvesting...stay tuned, we picked these beets to make ice cream!!!


The pasture is mowed.  LOL...we call it a pasture because we previously had a fence around it with a horse in it. Everyone else who lives out here on an acerage calls there extra grass a lawn.  Ha!


Cooled off in a more appropriate swimming pool instead of an old appliance.


I wanted to climb in with them.  Oh the humidity and heat combination of the eastern side of this state. 


Adirondack chair # 2...done.  I absolutely love these chairs and have been wanting to replace the ones that were trashed by a tornado on the night that Millie was born.  Now we have four...two that are handmade from a dear friend and two that are hand-assembled from a hardware store.  :)
The day was fantastic.  I'm not sure what anyone ate for breakfast or lunch as everyone pretty much fended for themselves.  (I did make dinner though so we could all at least sit and eat together.)  There were no naps, but there were no cranking kids either.  Everyone pitched in somewhere, including trimming the weeds with scissors because we don't have a working trimmer.  Sorry I didn't take pictures boys!  The inside of our house is always a different story when we're being productive outside.  Yuck.  That will be today's project.  The sky was clear all day and the sun was shining.  Slowly a few clouds started to barely blow in and we decided it would be a good time to wrap up the table construction and get everything back in the garage.  With no time to spare, the sky opened up and the rain came down and the winds picked up and by the time we came in the house and prepared to watch a movie, the electricity went out and the sky was dark. 

Candles found, activities modified and the storm finally letting up a bit to allow enough light to remind us that the sun hadn't yet set, we went about figuring out what to do "off the grid".  Jakob took  to photograph the sky trying to capture the lightning.  The sky itself was beautiful--in terms of storm clouds.



The rest of our evening was by candlelight.  Reading, playing, and cooking. 


The kids had a ball lighting candle--and blowing them out and lighting the and blowing them out...


I said this all happened while we were preparing to watch a movie...we didn't include me.  I had opted to be in a quiet kitchen to finish the little bit of corn that we missed and make some ice cream.  Since we have propane, my stove was still functional, so four more little quarts of corn and a batch of sweet corn ice cream (the batter, not the frozen result) was finished by candle light. 



The power finally returned about 3 1/2 hours later, and the rain continued to beat down all night.  These are the days when I am in love with living out here.  :)