Summer Has Come!

I hesitate to make such a bold statement as a title (after all, its only three days officially into summer), however the last four days have been beautiful, hot and summery. Today my friend Carli and I went out to the co-op farm that we both belong to (New Era Farms in Canby, OR) and picked lettuce, peas, strawberries and raspberries -- yum!




We didn't pick any of the currants for ourselves but I tried them and they were delicious. They tasted reminiscent of pomegranates and were just as beautiful.



Then I came home and made this.



I was going to go to Carli's house to watch a Woody Allen movie and share my pie but decided to stay home and enjoy it with Kevin and Joel instead. We all sat out in the backyard together and enjoyed the evening and the delicious berry pie (strawberry, raspberry and blackberry [frozen from last summer]).

So, some of you may have heard but for those who haven't, last saturday was Portland's World Naked Bike Ride (or WNBR for short). Clara, Kevin, Joel and I all participated in riding with an approximated 13,000 others. Yup, that's right, 13,000 naked people riding their bikes through the streets of Portland. Luckily it was a police sanctioned event so they were actually nice, they blocked traffic from interfering and looked out the vulnerable (unclothed) folks, way to go PPD!




It was hard to get any good photos since it was dark but I guess that is better since it adds more anonymity. It was a really cool event because it wasn't as much pressure as I was anticipating. It wasn't a big deal to be naked with so many other people (or almost naked in my case, I'm still a bit of a prude) it was just the same as having clothes on -- except you didn't. That was the biggest difference. People weren't checking each other out, there was no groping or orgy, it was just exhilarating. One of the spectators tried to spank a girl as she rode by but she and a guy next to her turned around and went back to yell at the guy. It was that kind of vibe, people watching out for each other and drunken grabbiness was not tolerated.

In other news, my garden is growing well. Or at least the potatoes are. Everything else is a bit stunted by our late start into Summer. Our apples are also doing really well. I've done two thinnings cause I didn't take enough apples the first time around. This time they're more substantial and have kept them in a bag for our chickens to eat, they love the green apples!












Chickens! In the near future we will be getting two more chickens from Carli's house. Joel and I put up a short-term run for the new chickens so that ours can see them before we introduce them. There will probably be pecking just to organize the order but I'll be prepared for it when it happens.



And here is Joel's handiwork. He's been working hard to get a good workspace figured out in the garage. He's done a really nice job organizing everything and made two work benches.




I've been working on my thesis very slowly this summer. This is the only piece I've made so far. Clara tested it out and it is a perfect fit! I'm ever so slightly too big to fit into it.




And that is about all for right now. Some changes will be happening in our house in the near future and I will let you all know how those go when they are secured. It's looking like things are on the up and up.