The Italians Are Coming! The Italians Are Coming!

I just like saying it as if I was Paul Revere. I am pretty sure there will be no gun play upon their arrival. The family I nannied for almost 20 years ago is all grown up, mostly. The father is coming with the two boys as the eldest is going to a attend a couple courses in Ann Arbor and the youngest is traveling with dad to come visit after they see the eldest off on the train from Chicago.


Wow. Good thing I am not an English teacher. That sentence is a wicked run on.


The youngest was 10 months old when I arrived. He is now in high school.

I refuse to admit, officially, any sort of aging on my part.

June. A Few Highlights.

Seattle, Washington. I was so excited to show my family this as I loved visiting in college (crap...20 years ago.). Somehow, it wasn't the same. I don't know why I am surprised. It's been 20 years, but, it seemed like just yesterday. Wah.

Blueberries, Tongass Rainforest, Sitka, Alaska.

Mosquito Bay--through the trees, Tongass Rain Forest, Sitka, Alaska.

Hubbard Glacier, Alaska.

Docks in Sitka, Alaska. I pretended that we were moving here and life would be dreamy. Then.....I realized that there is a lot of down time in small towns and Alaska is really far away.

Just kidding. I would move to Sitka for a while in a heart beat.

Ketchikan, Alaska. There were lots of diamond jewelry stores. I think maybe I was done being on the ship on this day. I did like this little area, though.

Monkey Puzzle Tree, Buchart Gardens, Victoria, Canada. One of the highlights of the trip for me. This place was flipping amazing. I really, really liked it.

Sunken Garden, Buchart Gardens, Victoria, Canada....this was a surprise. You would never know it is there.....the amount of time and effort put into these gardens was mind boggling.

Himalayan Blue Poppy. Buchart Gardens, Victoria, Canada. Poppies. We Already established that I heart them. But blue??!?!?!? What will those crazy kids come up with next? I may or may not have bought some seeds to bring home regardless of the fact that they probably won't grow in zone 4. A girl can dream.

A cedar.....I think. A flippin tall tree, at any rate. Same place.

We went on a family cruise to Alaska. Second family trip in 39 years. Plus various spouses. That's a lot of family time. It went much better than I expected..........AND I won $500 the first night in Bingo. That doesn't stink.

Lionel Live.

Hiccups. from SoThereThen Gal on Vimeo.

MY favorite is when he goes for the camera and hiccups right into it.

When we got him six days ago, he looked like a black lab puppy. He still does but today, or maybe yesterday, a mastiff wrinkle became more apparent on his snout, right behind his nose. We took him to the vet on Wednesday and he had gained 12.5 pounds in three weeks. Lionel---toddlergoofball. With the attention span to match as the next video demonstrates:

The Attention Span. from SoThereThen Gal on Vimeo.

He Might Be Lionel.

Mastiff Mug.

Superman Style Sleeping.

Baby Teeth.

The Sleep of the Dead, Toddlers and Puppies.

Our Newest Addition.

Poppies. I Heart Them.

A poppy. What a fun name. It sounds hoppy and happy. It is one of my top three favorite flowers. This beauty was waiting for me when I came out to water before school this morning. Glee-producing...that is how much I love them. If I could have had them in my bridal bouquet, I would have. My mom said that they didn't do well as a cut flower. Boo and hiss.


I love the crinkles. I love the hugeness and boldness of it all.


I love the papery look, but when you touch it, it is petal soft.




This one should be open tomorrow morning....as I was walking into the garage to put the camera away so I could go to school (the boys have been using it in the garage as they document the restoring of the Torino)---I noticed this:


How many people can say their outfits coordinated and downright match their garden flowers? Huh? And I didn't even plan it. My poppy and I......we are one.

One More Step Forward.

So, we had a home visit for MidWest Mastiff Rescue on Sunday. I think we have decided to go the rescue dog route again. I must say it was an easy decision. A: Cheaper. (By a lot.) B: Good Karma. C: Sophie was a rescue dog and enough said. I have a soft spot for drama cases. Shocking no one.

I, of course, want to adopt them all. Again, shocking none.

But, we shall start with one. We have requested a female, puppy/young dog. Sometime after July 4th after we are back from our travels so there are fewer transitions to said dog. I think/know I really want a fawn mastiff but, truth be told, I would take just about anything. Although, I am really hoping not a brindle like Sophs because I can still tear up at a picture of her and that might be too much. Or it could be really fantastic therapy. Something tells me that isn't the case.

I just want a dog in the house again. A lot. Frannklin, the bulldog, came for sleepovers this weekend and I had forgotten the sound of clickity-click on the wood floors and the messy water drinking and climbing up on the couch ordeal.

I miss her.

Many Sophomoric Things Could Be Said...

Wurstmaching. That is a lot of meat that will thus become bratwurst. Ah, the Bratwurst. We have already grilled some of this batch and I must say that the boys did a very excellent job. I have yet to sample the cheddar and jalapeno version. This is loading up the sausage stuffer thingy. I am sure there is some official name, but no clue.

These are the casings for the sausage. Apparently, they must be soaked to make them pliable. Sheep intestines, I do believe.

The meat has to be packed in pretty good to avoid air bubbles in the brats.

Sausage stuffing contraption hooked up to the press that will press down on the meat that is packed into the stuffer that will squooge the meat out into the sausage casing....

But first you have to load the casing onto the sausage stuffer and oil it up so that it slides off easily....entering the sophomoric area (If we don't already have a day pass in sophomore land.)

Those casings are long! There is a finished picture at the end of the post. I was surprised.

Some trouble bubbles that were popped with a sharpish knife.

This apparently took some finesse. The person doing this job has to make sure that the casing doesn't get caught up on the loader tip and at the same time wind the stuffed casing into a coil.

Ta Da! This was one casing...I left before they were completely finished. They had two big tubs to fill up.

This is the same first finished product. After there were a couple coils done and in the tub, but before they were pinched off by twisting the casings into sausage shapes, I had a job. That job was to pop the air bubbles in the casings. I was steadfast. I was focused. I did NOT pay attention to keeping the coils neat and orderly. I was thorough in my bubble investigations. I might or might not have gotten a little yelled at for messing up the coils. They were pretty.

And now, they are yummy as the finished product.