The fixer-upper

Painting sealant on the deck

There are many kinds of fixer uppers. There is the kind where the entire house needs a remodel. There is the kind that looks perfect but upon inspection needs some crazy things like a new shower. There is the kind that is in great shape and you fix it up because it doesn't suit your needs. When I was a child we bought the kind of fixer upper that needed a furnace and ducts installed, 50 gallons of paint on the INSIDE, and the first winter it leaked from the ceiling in the kitchen on the first floor (two story house). Needless to say, I have grown up liking old houses, but also feeling that "fixer upper" was bad language. That house, my mom's house now, is what I'd call a capital F.U. (Fixer Upper). She has poured countless hours and funds into that house and it is much better, but it will continue to be a Fixer Upper until the day they tear it down.

We bought a lower case f.u. When we signed the papers, neither toilet worked, the ducts needed cleaning, we needed to replace a structural support and the kitchen faucet... It was a long list, but the things to fix were small and fixable. We have mostly level floors, new windows, a new roof, updated kitchen and bathrooms. And so we have been making repairs a little at a time.

With the arrival of good weather, we have focused our attention outside. J has repaired latches and hinges on fences. Scott and J have pressure washed and painted the deck (a stop-gap until we can deal with some wood rot next year). Scott took down the fallen arbor, put wood chips in, has pruned, weeded, and generally made our yard look amazing and has pressure washed and is sealing the fence (it is absolutely gorgeous!). We are getting ready for house paining. Each step of the process, the house feels a little more ours.

As I listened to the power drill upstairs as Jason fixed the hinges on our bedroom door this afternoon, I thought about the work that we have put into the house and how it hasn't felt like work. I take that back. It has been hard work, but it has been joyful, productive work, not the drudgery I imagined. Of course we now owe Scott BIG TIME.

Newly cleaned and treated back fence.

Enchanted Forest

As last year's Christmas/Birthday present, Nana and Papa wanted to take Toe to Enchanted Forest. Between J's work and rehearsal schedules for three of the five of us, it has been difficult to schedule, but last weekend, we were able to make the trek to Salem and share a delightful experience. It was the first visit for both Toe and J. We borrowed my mom's van so we could all ride together and had great conversations on the way down and back.

I had not realized that the Enchanted Forest was the vision of one man, Roger Tofte, who purchased the land and built the Storybook area in his free time over the course of seven years. It is still a family operation. Pretty amazing (for more information, go to www.enchantedforest.com).

There was much more hiking than I had remembered. A beautiful, cool walk on a warm valley day. And even though there were many people there, the trails allowed you to feel like you were out in the woods with only a few other people.

Everything in the Storybook area looked freshly painted. Beautiful.

J went on the rides with Toe and Nana, Papa, and I watched and talked.

The "Frog Hopper"

Panning for treasure

The hissing snake

We went until we were all tired. Toe passed out in the car on the way home but revived when we stopped for dinner. It was just a perfect day: good friends, a great adventure, Grandparent time, all of us together. Thank you, Nana and Papa for such a great day!

The Sweet Scent of Apples

Our house has a mini-orchard, planted more than ten years ago by our friends Tim and Nancy (they owned the house  two sets of owners before us). We have a cherry, a plum, a crab apple, and an apple tree. They all blossomed beautifully this spring. The cherry is a little crowded and produced exactly two cherries. The rest of the trees have been producing like crazy. Right now we are dealing with apples. LOTS of apples.

We are not sure what variety these are. They range in size from a ping pong ball to the size of a large fist. Most are smaller than my fist. They are tart and crisp off the tree. When cooked, they have an amazing flavor but they tend to get mushy quickly. I have already made McDonald's style pies (an experiment suggested by Scott and deep fried for Toe) and one of my Gra'ma's style pies. The good news is that because they get mushy, they do not really need to be peeled. Thank goodness! They are so small, it is really time consuming. Jason eats three at a time right from the tree.

We are on our second harvest and Scott has gotten some puff pastry and begun experimenting with more pies for deep frying. We have sampled: apple/pecan/caramel, apple/pineapple, apple/bacon, apple/bacon/cheddar, all amazing. We're having a hard time getting over the idea that these apples came from OUR tree. I see more baking in my future....

The first harvest - more to come