Despite a skirmish with my neighbor’s son over the volume of his hip hop, we had a fantastic day.
Future Farmboy and I started out with an early trip to the Oak Park farmers market, for doughnuts, provisions from Shrooms Kitchen, veggies and some fresh flowers.
I’ve found that I can no longer feel ready for a party until there are fresh flowers/greens in multiple rooms in the house. This new requirement is, I’m sure, my subconscious paying homage to my late mother-in-law. Without fail, she had the most beautiful arrangements, featuring the simplest in-season, backyard greenery at even the most mundane family gatherings.
My choices today: Tuber roses (my grandpa’s favorite) to dress up the vase of pussy willows that I still need to plant; some orange honeycomb bouquet none of us can name for the drink station and bathroom, iris for the kitchen; and a lone sunflower for the cobalt blue vase on the Hoosier Kitchen. I also had an arrangement on the buffet of the ornamentals I picked from The Farm.
I’m sure none of the 16 kiddies who visited today noticed. They were here for “Horton Hears a Who” stories, games and prizes. But I was pleased that 4H Champ noticed! That was my happy moment.
A close second was the result of the iFarmer’s hard work on the hand-cranked vanilla ice cream. Most of the kids got a shot of helping to turn the crank. And their parents reaped the benefits…fantastic vanilla ice cream. Next time we’ll do a full gallon. The two quarts went quickly. Only a few lucky kids got seconds.
All and all, a good day surrounded by good people.
Virtual Farmgirl 