Taming the Wild (and not so Wild) Things

Last night Eric and Maddie were outside picking berries.
As we pick them just about every day, we only get a few, maybe a dozen raspberries for each day.
"I want you to put these (about five) in a bowl for me," says Little Cakes.
"Well...."
Mama pipes in with "Do you want them in yogurt, baby?"
"Yeah. I want some in a bowl wiff yogurt."

Back inside...
"Dad!..... I need more berries in my yogurt!"
"There aren't any more. (I think I heard Eric rolling his eyes, but I don't wanna blame unjustly.) They need to grow. We'll have to wait."
Trev came into the kitchen, and asked Eric about something, I can't remember what, and after their conversation....
"Dad!.... Did the berries grow, yet?"

Today I was outside taming the climbing rose. So I could liberate the grapevine, which has finally taken off! (I planted two of them, one four years ago, and one five - one finally got like five leaves for the first time last year. This year it's gorgeous, and we'll have grapes!) Anyway. I was cleaning up that mad area - there's the climbing rose, the creeper, and the grapevine all about in the same spot.

Maddie was back there with me picking raspberries.
She went around to the back of the raspberry canes - a place Eric nor I care to go, as it's cramped and jungly back there.

She lifted up one of the creeper vines, walked under it, and headed into the depths of the chaos.
"Well, I'll trim this, too, so she can get back there, and have a special spot to pick berries," I thought.
I cut back the daisies, and the creeper, and cut off some old raspberry canes.
She went to go back into the melee again a few minutes later.
"But...... Where's the Go Under?"
"Oh! I didn't know you wanted the Go Under. I was just trying to make it easier for you. Uh..."

Hmmm.

After looking around for a bit, I found a straight stray branch/weed tree that needed trimming. I cut the twigs off of it to make a stake. I grabbed a couple of other supplies,... and there we now have an three-or-four-foot-tall enchanted entrance to a secret raspberry garden!


After being frustrated and contemplating why this sword wouldn't balance (because it was too heavy on one end) Trev decided that it made a great gun (shorter), and started looking for other things with which to make a more sturdy sword.
Aha!
Trim a few twigs off....
Next Mama could be found with her laptop on the back patio (covered, in the shade thankyouverymuch) looking up recipes for Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars.
(That would be the second big score for Mama, for those keeping track.)

Next?
Taking shelter from the wild elements, I guess. What else?

Girls with big sticks. Er, rather Borrowed Swords. Maddie has been asking for several months (since age 2 1/2) for me to put her on top of the swingset. To which I respond, "Nope. It's one thing if you're dextrous enough to get up there yourself..."
She was thrilled today that she could finally do it herself. You know. So she could hang six feet up, upside down.

After a couple of weeks of pondering how to make a slide for the pool, I decided that I could and should just disconnect the slide from the swingset, connect it to the tramp and pool. Add the hose with a trickle at the top, and voila! A Water Slide.
(Score another for Mama, and make it a pretty one.)

Non-dairy Cookie Avalanche Icecream. Poolside.
Painting en plein air (which is the only way we do it these days). Au water colours.

No action on the Sugaring, yet.
Though we didn't check last night.....

Today I am wondering if a bit of soft banana and brown sugar is really All That Tempting.
I mean, we have six foot high catnip. And huge peppermint patches. And roses. And hollyhocks in their prime. And raspberries. Er - all grown sans pesticides and chemicals.
Not to mention a dozen or so popsicle sticks abandoned on the grass, chucked watermelon rinds, and a scrumptious compost heap.
What's a dab on a tree, compared to all that?
Hmmph. We'll see....

In Swimming: The Next Step, just now Trevelyn was floating on his back, waving his hands back and forth, and kicking his feet. Wow. Again - not a lesson, just a natural inclination, what comes from loving to play in the pool. Amazing!!
Then a head-first slide into a frontal float, and a kick to the other side of the pool.
Wow! again.

Trev wants to learn how to drive. He's asked five times in the last two days for us to teach him. We've agreed that we would. The next time we're out on a dirt road. Or when we're out late at night in a large, empty parking lot (our neighborhood grocery store's parkinglot would be a great place.)
Just now, "Mom. Will you teach me?"
"Right now? Uh, no, I can't right now, Trev."
"Why not?"
"Well, I'm hot, I've had a beer, and I don' wannu."
"How do you drive Backwards? I know left and right, and up, but I don't know how to drive down."
Ha!

Last night, he said, "I wanna drive to McDonalds." lol.
I suspect that's the real reason that he wants to learn to drive. [rolls eyes]

What a perfect, lazy, celebratory, summery, indulgent Saturday.

I think we're having crab salad with crackers and watermelon for supper.
Wanna come over?
We have this great new slide....