The Vittetoe Times » cooking

The End is Near…

Karen — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:39:06 +0000

I say this every year, but I will say it again anyway. Remember when we were young and summer used to end at the end of August, not the end of July? OK, I’m done complaining. Don’t have much to complain about. Only that we will be leaving Kentucky in five days and it’s a bittersweet goodbye. We’ve had nothing less than a two-month blast of a summer vacation, even if we did regularly participate in activities such as menu planning, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning and laundering for eight people, and maintaining a car and a yard and a supersized family. None of that seems to matter when you can hop on the bike and take a ride in the country for an hour as the sun sets in the west (never mind the mosquitoes, they can’t keep up). Or when you can take a drive into the countryside and ride a free ferry into Illinois, shop at an Amish dairy farm and bakery, and learn the true meaning of locally made. Or when you can pack up the car for the weekend, kayaks on top, and head to one of the endless lakes with water as warm as a bath and air that stays warm far into the night and campsites within walking distance of the shore and paddling out at dusk and dawn and love, love, love. Or stepping on metal step after another into the depths of the world’s largest cave. Or swimming in Zak’s parents’ pool, eating their delicious home-cooked meals, and feeling like we are staying at a bed and breakfast. Or Bruce taking the girls to visit his family for a good long time, enjoying at last the day at the picnic area in Cades Cove that he has spent our marriage telling me about, where the girls wouldn’t get out of the creek all day and caught frogs and crawdads, saw a snake and a fawn, and had a day they will never forget. Or taking one more day at the paint-your-own-pottery place, where this time gifts for home were on their mind… Or taking a drive into St. Louis to stay in a “fancy” hotel with a circular tower, a room with a view of the Arch, walking distance to the Cardinals game (they won 8-4!), where Bruce and Zak struck up a conversation in line and got handed box seat tickets, where we could pretend for one glorious weekend that we were rich… oh, but we are, aren’t we?

But, alas, the end is near. We will spend the first half of the week indulging in a few more bike rides, one more beach day, and then begin packing our million point five items (we thought we would have so much space going home, as we brought so many items to give to Lucy, but it appears we might be heading back with MORE) into, on top of, and behind the van. We’ll head out on Friday night, make a stop in St. Louis so the girls can go in the Arch for the first time (we didn’t have time over the past weekend), and drive all night while they sleep. Then we will have just ten days to rest and recover, to rediscover our friends and our home, before reality hits. Reality being, school starts! This may seem overwhelming for most families, but for a teacher it’s double duty. Every year I feel like I’m beginning a new job all over again, and this year I kind of am. I am working with different teams and doubling up on my ESL class and teaching a computer class for the first time! It’s going to be a stressful but exciting new school year, especially since it is Riona’s first (and only) year of preschool and Mythili is entering kindergarten! Oh how the time flies… Seems like we were just pulling up, and now we will be heading out… but life is cyclical, so I’m sure we’ll be back before we know it, on two wheels or four. For now, here are my poems for the girls this July.

Kentucky June

Karen — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 15:18:10 +0000

It is impossible to summarize June, and would be more adequately defined, day by day, here. Filled with bike rides that have taken me in all directions from Mayfield, first to the Mississippi River in the west, then the Land Between the Lakes in the east, even south to a Civil War battlefield in Tennessee, to wonderful excursions with the girls, everything from camping along a cove where we kayaked and swam into the night (the water being relentlessly warm), a petting farm with miniature versions of every animal you ever imagined, the beaches where the girls could spend a lifetime (five hours without a fight, complaint, or announcement of boredom), walking along the pivotal intertwining of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers in Paducah, taking the Vittetoe Express (my bike + tagalong + bike trailer–yes, a train of bicycles) to the parks and library, meeting two published Kentuckian authors (and their pets), going out to eat, visiting farmers’ markets that run twice weekly and are just blocks away, baking fresh peach pies and apple cobbler, and alas, sending my four favorite people onward to Tennessee for the next part of our summer-long journey…
It is impossible to summarize June, but for the girls, I have made my usual attempt. Here it is.

A Busy January

Karen — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:45:38 +0000

We have been busy! Isabella has attended two birthday parties this past month–one at Skate City to fuel the fire of her new obsession: roller skating. She absolutely loves it, and last weekend she and Mythili had their first of six lessons. Mythili learned how to march with her group, and Isabella learned how to stop and skate on one foot. The girls are happy and so are we: in addition to the affordable price of lessons (just $30 for the six-week session), the girls get to skate afterward at the first open skate of the day. AND it’s just over a mile from our house. Can’t be beat!

In addition to the excitement of roller skating and bike riding, Riona has reached her own milestone this past month: potty training. We hunkered down and stuck with it at the very end of Christmas break, and by the end of the first week back to school, she’d mastered the bathroom. After nearly seven NONSTOP years of changing diapers, we are officially beyond the baby stage! Exciting times in the Vittetoe home.

I have been busy working, baking the brownies and a new recipe: flourless chocolate cake (sure to be gone in an hour or less), and keeping up with my new blog. Bruce has been busy coming up with amazing new recipes and creative ideas for our dinner every night–everything from homemade hoagies w/meatballs to pepper lime chicken and latkes. It’s all about the food.

Another exciting event: as I write this post, my sister is in labor with her baby! More news to come when s/he arrives!

February is sure to be as busy. How the time flies when you’re having fun.