good food, good friends

even though we're rapidly approaching our fifth summer here in ligonier, it's taken a while to feel rooted. i'm not even sure i feel that way yet, but it's been a good year. more often than not, it's just the three of us hanging out (or just dylan and me during the day), which is why it was kind of crazy (and lovely) to have such a full weekend.

friday night leeanne came for dinner, along with a young couple who just moved here to do some organic gardening in conjunction with a retirement community (or something...clearly that doesn't sound like the entire story!) it was a warm, beautiful day, and we ate on the deck. jim grilled venison medallions and made a chimichurri sauce, i made a spinach salad, leeanne brought homemade bread which we spread with brie and had with wine. so nice:)

afterward, we headed up the hill to celebrate the first birthday our our friends' daughter. they had lots of cousins visiting, which provided dylan with lots of kid-table plates from which to filch cake;)

the next night, we hosted two families for jim's homemade pizza. the last time we all got together was a few months ago when dylan was still new at walking. this time, she held her own, playing happily with the 2-4 year-olds. she's grown so much in the past few months. every week is different, since she learns three or four new words each day. she is a little talker!

dylan also apparently feels a special kinship with our dog, syndey. for months now, i've been wrestling dog food out of her mouth on a daily basis. she knows to stay away from sydney's food and water; she'll point to them, telling us "NO! NO! NO!", proving she gets it, but nevertheless, every single day i find her with a mouth full of kibble. it's almost more than this queasy pregnant mama can take!

now she's also taken to climbing into sydney's kennel. again, ew! she clearly does not share her mama's animal aversions. no, she loves all God's creatures, from the littlest mouse to the tallest "neigh."

last weekend my parents visited, and we had a great time together. they brought their old patio dining room furniture, which they lovingly scrubbed.  it nicely fills our long-empty back porch, and i look forward to spending time out there this summer.

we are also starting work on our first garden. i was envisioning a simple plot of land, but jim built four beds, a fence and a gate, and laid beautiful stone paths.  we're planning on herbs, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, beans, onions, garlic, and lettuce.

our friend dan, the mushroom man, stopped by this week with a bag full of spinach from his garden, asparagus, and a tree limb plugged to grow mushrooms, with instructions to put it somewhere shady that will get rain. how cool is that? he promised to return with some heirloom tomato plants.  our very own santa claus.

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