Good bye, June. Hello, Cherry Festival!

Can you believe that June is over?  Turn the calendar pages tomorrow morning.... or tonight if you can't stop yourself.  Our small town on dual bays of Lake Michigan hosts the National Cherry Festival each July.  This year, due to an unusually warm spring, the cherries are ripe in time for the festival!

I just tonight finished this sweet cherry print dress for my 14 mo. old granddaughter.  It's her first year to truly witness the clowns, music, and many events of a Cherry Festival.  Her daddy used to march in the parades as a member of the high school band percussion section.  Will she? 

Oh, and I baked a raspberry-rhubarb pie tonight.  Never tried that combination before.  Delicious!

Summer Solstice

I don't know about you, but I love the longest day of the year!  It reminds me to get better in tune with the earth, the sky, the elements.  The long, warm days of summer are with us for a while now.  It's time to steal an afternoon with a good book and head for the hammock, the beach, your favorite porch chair.  Or, like the young people fishing off the end of our dock late on the Solstice evening .... seize the moment and enjoy the beauty of the season. 

These young folks grew up fishing off this dock.  There is a wonderful fishing hole there semi-surrounded by a sandbar.  It's a natural hiding place for large bass and all sizes of bluegill.  It's a winning spot for learning to fish.  Dads bring their young children to this prime learn-to-fish location for a winning experience.  Loons fish here.  Muskrats fish here.  Happy summer!  

Pies

A few cool, rainy days here put me in the mood for pie!!

First I made a chicken pot pie, then a cherry - rhubarb pie.
My, how we enjoyed them.

Summer Treasures

I am delighting in babysitting my 13-month-old granddaughter, Emily, a couple of mornings a week.
It is as good as any yoga class!   Getting up and down off the floor is great exercise and I put my "all" into it.  I neglected to tell her folks today that I am teaching her how to throw a ball.... this was immediately translated into throwing the dog's dish across the kitchen.  Emi is a fast learner. 

Another darling youngster is this newborn fawn we found in the yard at the edge of the woods a couple of days ago.  It was tucked under some newly cut branches and thick ferns.  I did not go too close but was able to snap this sweet photo.  It didn't blink or twitch a whisker!  Later in the evening a neighbor saw the fawn with it's mother so all is well.