Today is my Father’s birthday.
We will celebrate his life and remember him today.
We miss you!
We will soon be celebrating Thing 2’s birthday. He’s my little Peridot! I was sure that he would be born later in the month, closer to Dad’s birthday (must have been wishful thinking) but he surprised me, at Wal-Mart.
I woke up that Friday morning feeling “different” but not sure about it being labor. I decided that just in case it was, I needed to go to Wal-Mart and get some supplies for my home birth that I still hadn’t got (remember I thought I had a couple more weeks). So I’m walking around Wally World pushing my little cart and the contractions started to come on good and strong. I’d stop and let them pass then shop on. Wouldn’t you know I ran into just about every person possible who wanted to stop and chat with me. The last one, a very chatty old friend, I finally had to say “I need to go, I’m in labor”. The look on her face was priceless. She wondered if I needed an ambulance! Ha!!
So I made it home in plenty of time, my Mom came up and did my belly cast (talk about last-minute!), Tana (my doula) arrived we got everything ready, the midwife showed up and he was born around supper time on his Grandma M’s birthday instead.
The Little Pirate and his ship at Dad’s Cabin.
Happy Birthday Lil’ CNW.!
The Birthday Boy and his cake that his sister made for him!
Blowing out the candles!
His new bike and helmet!
The Garden
We went to the cabin on Saturday (7/20) to start preparing for Dad’s memorial and the family’s visit. Scott had been out and mowed around the cabin, down the drive, making it easier for us to get in. Dean spent the next couple of days mowing and weed-eating the rest of the yard, around the back of the garden/greenhouse and behind the cabin. I cut down the overgrown comfrey that was so large it branched out over the walk-way to the cabin. It’s in bloom now and the bees were really working! You could hear a constant buzz of them working the comfrey and chives. The kids started weeding in the garden. We got the new plants and the strawberries weeded. The seeds that the kids had planted last month were producing some really nice radishes. We harvested quite a few of those and ate them! We also had some more rhubarb out of the garden.
I spent a lot of time looking around at what needs to be done. Before winter sets in, we need to wire brush and sand the exterior logs and put a sealer on them. Some of the logs are starting to dry out too much and if they aren’t sealed soon, we could be looking at dry rot and that would be a disaster.
Since I wasn’t able to live out there this summer, and do the work that I had hoped to do, all of those chores are still in need of being done: finishing the outhouse, tearing the old porch off and building a deck on the front of the cabin. Caring for the garden, harvesting and putting up the produce, making rhubarb wine. Hopefully the weekends will stay open for me to be able to go out more frequently and get some of that work done. Dad’s friends are so good to plant/weed/work the garden and help keep the place looking “lived in”, I can’t express my gratitude sufficiently. Good people, that’s what they are. It is a lot of work.
1 pound chicken breasts
½ cup tequila
½ bunch cilantro, leaves only
juice of two limes
salt and pepper
Place all into a zip-lock bag or bowl to marinate for 4-6 hours or overnight.
2 bell peppers, green or colors are nice, sliced
1 sweet onion, sliced
2-3 Roma tomatoes, sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and Julienne *can omit
Oil for sauteing
½ cup tequila
juice of 1 lime.
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
Heat your pan over med-high heat.
Drain the marinade from your chicken, discarding, then slice your chicken breast if you haven’t already done so.
Add oil and chicken and stir-fry until your chicken until almost done, pour in the additional tequila and lime juice then add your veggies (and jalapeno pepper if desired) and finishing cooking until crisp-tender.
Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Serve with warmed corn or flour tortillas, rice, beans, pico de gallo and salsa verde!
Muy bueno!
A photograph of Mount McKinley from the Stony Dome lookout point in Denali National Park. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
State Tree: Sitka Spruce
Fish: King Salmon
Gem: Jade
Mineral: Gold
Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
Flower: Forget-Me-Not
Motto: North to the Future
Alaska was admitted to the union on
January 3, 1959.
Land Area: 586,412 square miles,
equivalent to 1/5 the size of the continental United States (AKA:
lower 48 or “outside”) and is way bigger than Texas.
Highest peak in North America: Mount McKinley (AKA: Denali) 20,320
feet in elevation.
Kenai, where we live, is one of the oldest
permanent settlements in Alaska, dating back to 1792. You can find
jade on the beaches along with agate and jasper, and some say the
occasional piece of gold. We have significant Russian and Native
cultural influences here in our local area.
Alaska on my mind... 