Labor Day Weekend

Have any of my loyal readers become aware that here in the Greear House the "Days are Just Packed!" Sure, I spent an hour hiding in my room watching my new obsession on Netflix (Heros Season 1...A busy life with no network television leaves a person a little behind the tide.) The rest of the weekend has been rocking!

Chapter One: Date Night


Saturday night I had a date with Falcom while Vince had a date with Marina. Falcom and I went to watch Last Songs with Jerami Youngblood, Emily Rydel, and Dave Welty. It was an evening of arias and other operatic pieces. The house was packed and the music was riveting. Falcom was easily the youngest person there, with Suzanne being the second youngest (I'm Kidding!). Although he put his head on my shoulder he did not fidget a bit as we watched from the front row seats. It was a terrific night. All three performers were outstanding. It is hard to believe that there is so much talent in this one small town.

But the night did not start there. We first picked up Mema and met Suzanne and went to Cosmic Kitchen for a Pre-Opera dinner. Falcom was much more fidgety at the Cosmic Kitchen than he was at the Opera. As kids get older and more mature it is easy to forget than inside that neatly dressed, maturing body lies the same little trick playing boy that poems are written about. You can see that Mema was unimpressed in this shot. But she knows how to get him back.

Meanwhile, across town...

Vince and Marina had gone to a fellow beekeepers home to use their honey spinner. Together they spent three hours spinning honey. Then they drove out to the end of the spit to Land's End Restaurant. They changed into their beautiful clothes in the van and went in for a lovely evening together. Vince said that Marina was glowing all night.

At one point someone said to Marina, "You look lovely tonight. Are you on a date?" She replied melodically, "Yes, with my Dad."

Back at the Opera...

Falcom had a few interesting observations. First; At operas, unlike at school, people are encouraged to wear black and black makeup, black tights and black shoes. Second; When people really sing, they sweat. A lot. And, they can do weird things with their tongues. (This is something I see Falcom doing with his tongue, but didn't think it right to tell him if he hadn't noticed already.)

After the show there was a reception. Falcom is beginning to realize that he can use his notoriety as a vocalist and his innate charm to get things, like an extra piece of cake or an extra ham roll. I kept finding him with more treats than I had left him with.

We picked up Willie from work at 10pm and this may have been Falcom's best moment of the night. Older, benevolent brother Willie, graced Falcom with two cups and instructed him to get two sodas for the car ride home. Ah! Ecstasy!

We returned home to find Vince and Marina snuggled up together watching a movie. When I asked her about her night she beamed as she told me, "Did you know that they are no longer giving mermaids in the drinks at Land's End? They are too expensive and the restaurant can no longer afford them. Good night, Mom!" and she blissfully went to bed.

Chapter Two: Brunch with Konrad and Gabi

The next morning we had a 9.15 brunch date with the wonderful Konrad and Gabi. As we prepared to walk down to their beautiful house, we began to consider the best method for dealing with the honey. Our honey is so thick this year that filling one half pint to take to them as a gift took 20 minutes. We decided that this was going to be an unusually slow process.

Gabi and Konrad blew our minds with delicious food that she makes from scratch. She says that there is really nothing to it, that she pre-makes it and keeps it in the freezer for such events, but I can't help but think, 'You must have had the magical baking gift at some point in the process of preparing for this brunch or there would have been nothing in your freezer!'

Valda was there as was Gabi's young cousin. The conversations were fun and food, well, it was delicious! The entire time I felt like I was visiting friends in Switzerland. The bread she baked is a Swiss recipes. The pie was Swiss style. The Quiche had the lightest flakiest crust. The cappichino... They have a wood stove that above the main cavity has a wood fired oven. This is where she bakes her bread. Oh yea. I felt like I was sitting in a European cafe.

After eating the kids all went to the lake for a boat ride and a swim in the sun. We had a difficult time extracting them so that they could come home in time to load up the wheelers in order to join Suzanne on a ride up the head of the bay for raspberry picking!

Thank you Gabi and Konrad for a fantastic brunch!

Chapter 3: Taking the Wheelers Up the Head of the BayThe "Head of the Bay" is accessible by a crazy and dangerous switchback road that is not maintained by the state. It is kept up by an Old Believer Village called Kachemak Selo. These folks living in the village drive this hairy switch back trail like it is nothing. Suzanne works in the village and she drives it each day like it is nothing. I drove it and felt like we were on a Peruvian highway; a single lane path with blind corners around every turn. It was fun to think that I was somewhere other than Alaska while I drove down this road with my mother holding onto my waist. I took this picture while driving. What a bad idea! Why didn't I just try texting?

From the bottom of the switchback we drove past the Russian Village and down the rocky and muddy bay several miles. Vince found this unusual squid washed up on the shore. Very cool find. Coal lays everywhere down that beach. My mother found a chunk the size of a 4-wheeler. This area is used by the Kachemak Cattleman's Association. Each spring they drive their cattle to this part of the bay in order to let the cows free range all summer. The cows are then butchered in the fall and sold to people who want locally grown organic beef. It is a trip to see the cows grazing in the tidal flats. The grass along the bluffs is mowed down better than my own lawn. Sure there are cow patties everywhere, but it is beautiful to be able to walk easily on an area that is as open and manicured as a golf course. You are probably wondering about cows and bears. Knowing some of these men, if there was a bear problem they would not be loosing money by putting their cows out there. This said, Falcom did find this awesome skull in the woods.
The sun was hot and there were barely any flies and mosquitoes. I couldn't believe it! We stopped to pick berries by a creek and an abandoned cabin. It was hard to bring myself to pick when all I wanted to do was lay in the sun and sleep! I know I'm not the only one who felt this way. Falcom caught Suzanne, on more than one occasion taking a load off. We laughed and chatted and picked. We found our way across creeks and mud bogs. We came up to the Fox river and we were just spell bound by the beauty of the early fall. After a while a fog rolled in. With the sun gone it became a bit cold. It was also getting late so we turned to ride back. As my mom and I rode along the mud flats passing the silhouettes of cattle standing out in the fog I said to her, "We have done some really cool stuff together haven't we?" She said without hesitation, "Yea."
Then the wheeler Vince was riding ran out of gas. I got to have the thrill of towing him back up that sketchy switchback trail. We were both toasted from the stress of it when we got back to the parking lot. Yea, I almost rolled him once (or twice). He freaked at me once (or twice). But whew! We made it and have great memories to think back on. Thank you Suzanne for a great day!

Chapter 4: Honey
The better part of Monday morning was spent with Vince straining our honey through cheese cloth and putting it in canning jars. This is a substantial undertaking when a person is dealing with 7 Gallons of Honey! By the way, that is the quiz answer.

What you are seeing in this picture is the straining process and the jar filling. Because of the heat this summer, we have such thick honey that it is even taking a long time for the air bubbles, left over from the spinning of the comb, to rise to the surface. As you can see in the jars it looks cloudy from the bubbles.

Trust me, it is delicious.

Chapter 5: Labor Day Bar-B-Que Dinner

To cap the weekends events Valda had a great idea...hamburger dinner. She was given hamburgers a while back and decided that since today was Labor Day we should all gather and have a Bar-B-Que. I was delighted Marge, Steve R., Suzanne, and my mom could come.

Willie and I got our first look at the coming potato harvest when we went to the garden to get enough potatoes for a potato salad. Looks like it is going to be an interesting dig! Mema and the kids made these Rice Crispy Treats and when they got home we decorated them with melted chocolate.

And now, on with the week!