School started this week with little fanfare. We checked school supplies the day before and were relieved that we had what we needed. Made lunches, caught the bus, and there it was: back to school. My eldest online school doesn’t start until the 15th so we are grateful to have a grain cart driver/ furniture mover until then. We are in the middle of a great room swap. The youngest goes to the guest room. My office goes to his room, Ben goes to my old office, and the guest room goes to Ben’s office. Why are we doing this during the absolute busiest time of the year? Because we were too busy in February and we have guests coming in a matter of weeks.
Summer was a lot of ordinary days. I drove a lot, (my ode to my Honda pilot is in the May SBT.). Amongst that there were moments of absolute bliss.
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1. Picking Saskatoons: The Saskatoon crop was incredible this year. I haven’t been picking in a long time as I have been trying (and failing) to cultivate my own saskatoon crop in my yard. This year when I had the chance to pick, I jumped at it. We picked for a couple hours and barely moved. The berries were coming off in bunches. I have never seen so many. I got two big buckets in no time. I made a pie and froze the rest.
2. Iced Pistachio Lattes: I had one for the first time at the Lakehouse in Wasagaming, I got home and immediately searched up a recipe and made pistachio syrup.
½ cup shelled pistachio (rinse the salt off them)
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup water
Bring everything to a boil and then let sit until room temp.
Blend everything until smooth.
You end up with this paste that looks like split pea soup, but it tastes amazing and perfectly compliments your iced coffee. (Or a pistachio gin sour)
3. Paddleboarding picnics: The weather has been weird, it has kind of gone like this: Monday: smoky, Tuesday cool, cloudy and humid, Wednesday: burn your face off hot and humid, Thursday: humid and thunderstormy Friday Humid and thunderstormy. Saturday and Sunday: Freezing, raining, smoky and humid. Repeat. Lake weekend days have been next to zero. But we are prairie people so sometimes you just need to pull the paddle boards to the lake, throw on a sweater and have a sunset picnic featuring nerd clusters, sushi, s’more bars, kombucha, garden veggies, and tequila shots (with salt and lime).
4. Dancing: To quote my friend Heather “my new best thing about middle age is dancing at my friend’s kid’s wedding” and I fully agree. We danced until 1am. 1am!! I haven’t stayed up that late in so long. Sometimes I get up at 1am and am fully confused why multiple kids are still up and about! IT IS THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! Anyway, I sound like an eight-year-old who got to stay up to 1am.
5. Frozen: Being a boy mom, frozen has not been high on the list of things in my life like it has been for some of my friends. This past winter I got suggestions from my art class kids (mostly grade 3 girls) as to which Disney movies I should watch. And Frozen was my favorite with Tangled coming in close second. (honestly Olaf put it over the top). My niece was living her best life in Europe all summer and her request when she got home was that we (her mom, aunts and grandma) take her to Frozen at the rainbow stage in Winnipeg. Being that she is the only girl grandchild we would do anything she asks (she is 22 and learned this at a young age). The show was incredible! The rainbow stage is outdoors, and it was a cool evening and somehow the cool breezes knew just when Elsa was doing her magic and would blow through. Shivers.
6. Tomatoes, always tomatoes. This is the best tomato crop I have ever had.
Bonus: homemade woodfire pizza in the coolest neighborhood in Winnipeg you have never heard of. Watching the fourth season of the Bear and then binging all four seasons again. Working three movies at our community theater: Formula one, Superman and Fantastic Four. Teaching two weeks of Art Camp.
Mostly this summer has been about my kids. The older they get the more I feel panicky about how much time I have left with them at home. It makes it hard to show up in this digital space because their lives are theirs. Creating used to be about finding myself outside of being a mom, now that they are older, I have lots of my own time and spending time with them feels sacred. I used to have an impulse to share everything and now I want it for myself. I hope to keep writing these because it is a good counterweight to all the awful in the world. I just want to admit they aren’t coming as easy as they used to.