Fruitflies, splashing and weeding... must be summertime.

Hey Ya'll,

We took our first trip to St. Geo in forever. Harley's very first trip to the island. We had some old friends visiting from Arkansas who rented a house for the week. This was also first time Harley has seen the ocean at an age that he can actually remember it.

We had a fine time building castles, and what we discovered is that Harley is the kind of kid that gets more joy from "crashing" them than from building them. Maybe he will be a demolition expert? Anyway, it was a bit tricky keeping him from demolishing Ravi's creation. (Our friend's son) And let me take this moment to say, that Ravi's castle was nothing less than sand sculpture! It was HUGE and magnificent! It was one of the largest I've seen, but as I said, I don't get out much, so... there is that. Anyway, he and his poppa, Geoff had been working on it since the day before and when we went out the morning after, it was still there! Whoa! Anyway, we played on the beach, and I went swimming in the salty womb from whence we all came. An activity which Harley did not want to participate in. He did get his toes we though~ I remember feeling that way at the beach, but my brothers were not quite as understanding with me. They took me in anyway. Which turned out ok, they held me and reassured me, etc... I just was not ready, and being teenage boys, they had no way of knowing. Besides, our family is the jump right in and ask questions later variety. Well, everyone but my amazing sister, who actually does practice what she preaches. And she preaches things like "Look before you leap". But that's another whole post. So we did have a wonderful day in the sun and ate up at least a half a watermelon. Our neighbors, who are also farmers keep us in fresh produce... thank the Goddess for them and for their yummy nutritious produce! So we dined on Watermelon and Mac and Cheese, splashed, chatted, played twister, caught up on the last 6 years or so, and the boys, Ravi and Harley hit it off like gang busters. We had fun just watching their shinanegins.

Also, we've been splashing in some other friend's pool the past week. Harley is learning all sorts of tricks and splashing fun. He now jumps into the pool from the side wearing his inner tube to my outstretched arms. So far so good... as in, no trauma.l

The time has also come for taking back my kitchen... at least in part. You see, this is the time of year for bulwievles (msp), moths, knats and fruit flies to take over my kitchen. And that means war. Last year was bad enough with just the fruit flies and knats, but this year they've told their other friends,(The moths and bulwievles), about the new B&B they've found and how great it is. So, this year we find ourselves cleaning cabinets and throwing away at least 75$ worth of grain items which said moths decided would make a great place to cocoon. sigh. We've only seen a few of the fruit flies so far, but they're coming. I can feel them coming as sure as I can feel a storm coming. The truth is that I don't ever really even get these populations down to a tolerable level on my own. normally they die out as the fall arrives. They are just too clever and quick for me, and we will not spray our house.... as much as I hate navigating around them and their mere presence is crazy-making...like having too many people in a room! I am thankful, however that despite the ongoing war in my kitchen, I am enjoying a cease fire on the back porch. No more spider poop on the appliances, no more mosquitoes biting me, no more frogs, June bugs or moths found in the washer~! This is big stuff to me. I'm very very happy that hub screened in the back porch. Hmmm.. wonder if we could just set up a grill out there and just skip the kitchen till early Oct.?

Well, we've lived in our beautiful residence since 2005 and we have just planted our first make-shift garden. We have: 1 tomato plant, 2 basil plants, 1 butternut squash(which resides at the Moon Hacienda) and 1 papaya plant so far. We are planning to throw a bunch of wild flower seeds and some sunflower seeds into the mix so ole Harley can get his jollies watching them grow and bloom. He does love to check on growth, he loves to dig around and pull things up when they need pulling. He is the perfect gardening assistant.

I have no idea why I've written this except to say I have surrendered my kitchen, we are all splashing as much as we can, and now FINALLY gardening too. Summer has officially begun.