The Ultimate Snackfood

Due to being out of town in Seattle (of which I shall blog about later), it had been some time since I've been to my garden. Ben and I went there this afternoon, and good thing we did! It was high time to harvest some of our vegetables, especially the peas.

The vines were bent over backwards with all of the peas, the pods plump and ripe. We filled an entire big mixing bowl to overflowing, and that doesn't include the ones we munched as we went along. To tell the truth, we hardly made a dent in the pea patch, but it's a start.

Now I love garden peas, it's the only way I'll eat 'em. Growing up I was notorious for eating out all the ones from Granny and Grandpa's garden whenever I came to visit. Picking all of those peas today was fun, and Ben got pretty thrilled with them too.

Yet it was only after we got home and I had three children (only one of which was my own) hanging around gorging upon peas that started me thinking. Fresh garden peas are the ultimate snackfood for a variety of reasons. Here's just a few aspects about them that make them so great and appealing to kids:

Creative - every kid can think up numerous ways to crack open those pods.

Fine Motor Skill - getting to the peas takes some ingenuity.

Environmental - comes in it's very own, biodegradable packaging.

Therapeutic - the repetitive motion of getting them can be very soothing.

Nutritional - they're good for you and I'm just lucky that I have some left for supper.

The peas were such a big hit I saved some for a snack for tomorrow when we go to the park. But with a large pea patch groaning under the weight of their crop, it's a lucky thing that my kids enjoy fresh peas so much. I foresee us eating a lot of them in the foreseeable future.

Book of the Week

Seriously, does anyone read this? Ah well, my love of books will have out.

Exploring a Legacy:
"Blue Latitudes:Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before" by Tony Horwitz is a wonderful adventure and history read, especially in the summer when one dreams of traveling to far off places for vacation. Two hundred years from Captain Cook's birth, the reporter retraces the footsteps of the impoverished farmboy who became England's most famous navigator.
From England, Canada and Tonga, Horwitz visits all the lands that Cook discovered and explored, not only to gain insight into a compelling historical figure, but to see his influence and legacy in the lands whose destiny was changed with the arrival of his ships. Fascinating stuff.

Doings of A Doughnut:
We just discovered "Arnie the Doughnut" cooked up by Laurie Keller this week at the library. From the first line of "Arnie turned out to be just the kind of doughnut he hoped he'd be-chocolate covered with bright coloured candy sprinkles." you know that you're in for a good laugh.
Unlike the other confections at the bakery, Arnie does NOT like the idea of being eaten. To avoid the usual doughnut fate, he has to get creative. What really makes the story so fun is the illustrations, it's next to impossible to open the book and not leaf through all the pages. This one leaves me wanting a good doughnut to eat, but only after the story so that Arnie can't see what I'm doing.

Happiness is a (Knit) Blanket

Remember Linus van Pelt from the Peanut comics? Linus adored his blanket, if he didn't have his beloved blanket, he went into withdrawal. He was always my favorite character-well, him and Snoopy. But when I became a mother, little did I realize that I would shortly be getting not one, but two little Linus van Pelts of my own.
Both Ben and Brigham have a passionate love for their blankies, or "baby" as they call them. They are knitted blue creations that they adore.I only wish that I could take credit for knitting at least one of them!
Woe betide us if we do not bring them on a road trip! They will not go to sleep without them, and they love to take them everywhere. Now that Ben is almost four, he has become (slightly) less needy when it comes to his baby. He no longer insists on bringing it everywhere. Although once in Edmonton he insisted that he needed to bring blankie to the library, but instead of carrying it or stowing in the stroller he wrapped himself up in it. He looked like some bizarre, tiny bag lady. Granted though, stranger sights have and will apear again along Whyte Ave!
Brigham though is even more passionate about his blanket love. We can never get out the door without him making the plea for "bwoo baby" to come along as well. Yesterday he determinedly carried it all the way to the park, around it, and back home resisting any attempt I made to put it in the stroller so it would stay remotely clean. Handwashing those blankets can be a pain.
Yet as a mother who only relinguished her own beloved baby blanket at the age of twenty-one, and only because I worried that it would shortly disintegrate, I can understand the love of a cherished blanket. I believe that Ben and Brigham should be allowed to keep their "babies" for as long as they need them.
Although with all that love, they do get a little worse for wear. Ben's blankie is hardly blue anymore, and I often have to mend runs (or "owies" as Ben calls them) to keep it from unraveling. Brigham's is fading too. But it is fun to see my two blond boys enjoy and love their blankets, just as a little blond girl did hers years ago.

Book of the Week

Welcome booklovers! Here's my current picks.

Serious Sass:

For those of you who do not share my love of knitting I beg your kind indulgence. I do have to share favourites from my expanding knitting book collection. There are those who laugh with disbelief when thay see I own a book titled "Stich'n Bitch Nation" (by Debbie Stoller). Like it's predessessor "Stich'n Bitch" it has been on the bestseller list, but the one I own is better. It has more patterns, fun anecdotes and is one of the best sources of explaining complicated techniques that I've ever seen (thinking cabling and adapting a pattern).

Although there are some patterns I will never make (like the bikini) there are many which I have and still long to create from this one. I've lost count of how many pairs of alligator mitts I've made from here (yet still haven't made one for myself), the psycho bunny phone cozy or the lil' devil pants for infants. On my wish list are the monster slippers that look like they escaped from the Muppet studio, the toque with bear ears, the steering wheel cover and lots more. This one ain't granny knitting!

Damsel in Distress? Where?!:

I have had my copy of Phoebe Gilman's book "The Balloon Tree" since Christmas 1986 and I treasure it still. It is falling apart, the cover is ripped and worn, but I suspect that I will never have the heart to throw this one out. It will always have a place of honour on my bookshelf because it was one of the very first books I ever read on my own, and loved with all the passion of a six-year old girl. 

Incredible as it may sound now, I had great trouble learning how to read and detested the exercise. My teachers were playing with the label of "learning disability". Knowing my love of stories, especially fairytales, my parents persevered. As a gift I received this book and I was entranced. The princess Leora (who looked about my age and even had brown hair like me!) must save the kingdom from the evil archduke when the king is out of town. The magic that unfolds is sheer balloon fun! The illustrations for this one is spectacular, and leave me wishing that I could buy them as art prints to hang in my home. Not just because they're beautiful, but because they're great fun too. Don't miss the delight that is this book.

Reason #52 Why I Love Jason's Vacation

What a fabulous time we had at Edmonton this past weekend! We went to the Young family reunion and enjoyed catching up with friends and family. Jason played some golf with the guys, the boys ran riot around Gigi's house with their cousins and I got to explore Whyte Ave with my sisters and cousins. Talk about great fun!

Today is a low key day here at home. I woke up this morning feeling sick, and the fact that I'm covered in mosquito bites does NOT help. I am convinced that those vampiric little pests were not a part of the original creation when God made the Earth-they were part of the fall and meant to plaque us. Anyways, the majority of my day has been spent napping, lying prostrate on the coach, and scratching mosquito bites. Not exactly fun, but I'm really grateful that Jason is home, he's really picked up the slack. Of all the things I looked forward to in having him home for the summer, him playing nurse to his sick patient of a wife wasn't one of them, but I'll take it. Instead of the usual feeble attempts to keep things running when I'm sick, this time I can just focus on feeling better. Ahhhhhhhhh!