Potter's bowling party

We headed to Midway Lanes this afternoon for Potter to celebrate his birthday with some buddies from school. Such fun, I have not bowled in literally years. Even Molly and Caleb did pretty well. Who wouldn't with the bumpers up??

Potter, Charbel, Neil

Dave and Caleb wait with anticipation
Hovering around the ball return, that little breeze up in your face
Neil in action
Potter has perfect form, should try out for the PBA

Molly crashin' the pins down!

Potter and Neil pause for a picture of indifference
Neil proudly holding the key to a 300 game!
Caleb getting his ball from the return; seriously, the kid could easily carry the 8 pounder!
Mommy and Caleb waiting for that spare

Quiche au Roquefort

I made the pastry for my next mtaofc recipe on Wednesday afternoon and then let it sit in the fridge for the requisite overnight stay. Last night, I rolled out the dough and got it in the springform pan to do the partially cooked shell. The rolling out of the pastry was not hard at all and I dutifully wrapped the dough over the edges of the top of the pan, placed it in the over, set the timer for 7 minutes and went on my way. Thankfully, I went to look on its progress after about 3 minutes to find that the edges of the pastry had slid down into a huge mass onto the bottom of the pan. UGH!!! I yanked it out of the oven and the had to roll out what little remaining dough I had and then I REALLY REALLY rolled the dough over the top edges to avoid the same catastrophe. It came out looking close to how it should. Later, I mixed up the eggs, cream cheese, roquefort, butter, and cream into a smooth, silky filling. I baked it until it was golden brown and I have to say the taste was out of this world. This coming from a girl who really isn't into blue cheeses that much. Next is the bacon and cheese quiche.........at some point when our arteries have recovered from the richness of this quiche!!!

Blaise and Lila

I thought it pretty funny for Blaise to accept Lila sitting so close to her. Blaise is old (16) and very grouchy. Actually, only around other animals, she has been very loving to us the past several months. If you don't know, we found out that Blaise is in early renal failure, so we aren't sure how much longer she'll be around. Of course, getting the new puppy could be what does her in!!!

Lab Puppies!!!!

Today, we went out to a breeder in Harpursville to look at some labs. We thought we'd only see the parents, but as it turned out we got to hold 2 different lab puppies who were each about 2 weeks old, from separate litters. One dog who was older (by three whole days) was a much darker yellow lab, the younger one was light, almost white in color. By some miracle, when we asked the kids which one they preferred, they all agreed on the lighter colored puppy! Hooray!!!! So we have put down our name and preference for gender and will be sending her a deposit check to then be ready for picking up our puppy over Columbus weekend when they will then all be 8 weeks old and able to leave the mother. (Boy, won't the mom be happy to not have to nurse 9, yes 9, puppies anymore!!) All of us are really excited and starting to make a list of all the things we will need to get for our new family member. Sadly I have no photos. Be assured that there will be updates about this as soon as anything new arises.

Brussel sprouts, part 2

I made these again on Monday night and they were as big a hit as the first time. This is what the finished product looks like!

Dad roasts the three wise (wo)men

There is a story behind this, much too long to describe. Suffice to say that these three women pictured with Dad were truly the rocks that we needed during Mom's illness and after she passed away.

The big blaze

The grand finale - THE BURN!!!

After stuffing our bellies with some delicious food and drink for an hour or so, it was finally time for the burn. This was the 10th annual burn, where all who are invited can bring something that they want to either put in their past or just get rid of an have no other way of disposing it. Some let go of past memories, one man burned his old 'fat' suit, now that he is down from a 42 to a 34. We didn't take anything this year, but next year, we'll be sure to come prepared. I got a really good sequence of shots of Steve lighting the huge bonfire. Once it was in full blaze, getting within about 10 feet of it was as warm as you wanted to be, and this was on a relatively cool night as well!!!

ZEBA!!

Helen Baran (in the white shirt) has gotten a new puppy and her name is Zeba. She is a German Shorthair Pointer and full of energy here at 6 months old! She can be bribed, momentarily, with a treat to sit or shake, but mostly she likes to jump and twirl around, usually taking whomever is holding her along for the ride. The kids were so excited to meet Zeba, as we've been getting pictures of her growth over the past few months. Zeba was the calmest when we went inside, put her in the crate and let her eat her dinner. I know as she gets older and goes to obedience class, she'll get better - she has to!!!

Riding the harvester

Kids riding on the harvester!!

The Harvester

The big draw was the harvester, it is huge and fun to climb on! Steve Baran was really great about letting them get all over it, inside the cab and sitting at the wheel! A couple summers ago when Potter spent a week with Granny and Granddad, he got to ride all over the vineyard as they were harvesting the grapes!! I know that next time we go, they will be riding this again.

The Baran's vineyard

Dad has some friends in Westfield who own a vineyard and the grapes that they harvest are then sold to the grape co-op that makes Welch's grape juice. How cool is that?? Every end of summer, they invite a whole gaggle of friends over to their property for a burn (I'll get to that next) and a big cookout/party. This year, we made our schedule work out so that we would be there for the event. The kids LOVED being at their vineyard; there were so many riding machines to look at and of course, walking around in rows and rows of endless grapes is pretty humbling. You feel like the speck in 'Horton Hears a Who!!' The grape harvest is set to start around September 10th, and proves to be a bit smaller, given the wetter, cooler summer that we've had.

Around Chautauqua Institution

Dave took the kids to the climbing playground on Saturday morning while Dad and I went to the grocery for a few things (we ate really well on this trip!), and then later in the day, Potter and I went down to the bookstore and then the Refectory for some ice cream. He always has to get onto the fountain and play with the fish squirters.