Here are some new discoveries from this weekend:
- I like having visitors. Okay, maybe this isn't a new discovery, but something I was acutely aware of this weekend. As two people who like to entertain, I love that fact that people call us to see if they can come over and hang out, which three unrelated people did on Saturday. I might be shooting myself in the foot for saying that, so let me re-phrase: I like it when people call us to come over and I don't have a house to clean or a big project I have to get done. One of my favorite things about living where we do is that, for the most part, people want to come visit. Not everyone can do what we do in their backyard. One of my concerns with moving to the country was that we wouldn't see our city and inner ring suburb friends as much. So, my policy has always been that if friends ever want to come to us, our door is always open.
- I find picking grapes very therapeutic. It is a nice contrast to what I do on a daily basis, where I am on the phone all day, in front of the computer, checking emails, texting, etc . It's nice to do something outside, with no distractions other than fighting the bees for the grapes I'm picking. Plus, it is rewarding when I can literally see the fruits of my labor. And grape harvest only comes once a year, so I might as well enjoy it! We picked and bought some Marquette grapes from a local grower.
- I like raspberry wheat beer. After a friend called Saturday afternoon saying he wanted to stop by with his homebrewed beer for us to try, I admit I was skeptical. We may be "wine people," but we certainly don't turn our noses up to anyone wanting to bring us beer. Plus any beer with "berry" in the title is my kind of beer--and good beer it was!
- I found, yet another creative use from my leftover garden squash. Thanks, Mom, for helping me think outside the box. Or...rather inside the box in this case. The window box, that is. We pulled out all the dead flowers and came up with a lovely arrangement of....overgrown squash. What do you think?
And perked up our little entrance wagon with some squash and pumpkins from our patch.
- Dogs get bee stings.
Pile of crushed grapes + swarm of bees + one curious dog pawing at pile of grapes
X this event happening twice
= one dog getting stung by bee two times (once on lip, once on paw)
Four grown men are actually capable of bonding over something other than sports and beer. Here are four men, three of whom don't know each other, spending a football Saturday crushing and pressing grapes.
- My dogs are very neighborly. It's amazing how many more neighbors I met once we got dogs. Normally I am actually with the dogs, taking them for a walk (read: chasing them down the road) and the neighbors come out to pet the pups (read: help me catch the dogs). But on Saturday, amidst the grape crushing and sqaush decorating, the dogs took it upon themselves to stroll on over to some neighbors around the corner and introduce themselves. Apparently they just stood by the front door wagging their tail as if to see if maybe this house had a dog they could play with. Thank goodness for dog tags and nice neighbors who actually call the number on the them.