Hi, everyone!
The last two weeks, I’ve been helping Grandma with end-of-summer activities! For the last weekend in August, Joe-san and Nancy-san came out to the bay with Moose-san and Tilly. Grandma was planning ahead, so she had baked another pork shoulder. I helped her pull the pork. There was enough for meals on two weekends, plus more to freeze!
Peaches were still ripening, so Grandma got some to make another sour cream peach pie. On Saturday morning, I showed Moose-san and Tilly how to make the crust! Then we helped Nancy-san peel the peaches for the filling. Grandma had dropped them into boiling water, so the skins came off in big pieces! We had to be careful to keep our paws out of the sour cream part of the filling when we put the lattice crust on!
While the pie was baking, Grandma took the scraps of crust and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on them. Then she put them in the oven to bake. Everybody had a chance to taste the crust before the pie was ready! Joe-san had coffee with his crust, and Tilly wanted to know how that tasted! Then we had a big rainstorm!
Even though it was a windy evening, we had pulled pork and peach pie on the porch. Then we went to the Point to watch sunset. It was so windy that sand was blowing off the beach onto everything and everybody! The waves were crashing over the lighthouse pier. We stayed in the car to watch sunset and the waves!
Because of the bad virus, lots of activities that would be starting again after Labor Day will have to wait until it’s safer to be together. Normally, Grandma would be planning for choir rehearsals and church services. Not this year! Singing together is one of the ways the virus spreads most easily! Instead, she’s been learning how to make a virtual choir. That involves all the choir members singing along to a guide track and recording themselves. Then the recordings get processed so the voices are together, even though the singers can’t be! Grandma helped LaVache’s grandma make a recording. LaVache wanted to see how it all worked, so I showed her.
The impatiens in the window box are getting so tall I needed a booster seat to see over them! Grandma gave me a box she got from Grandma Ginny to use. That works really well and I like thinking about Grandma Ginny while I sit on it. Our crabapple tree with the see-through trunk has dropped almost all of its leaves. It bloomed in spring, but now it has one blossom on it again. Grandma thinks it might be the tree’s way of saying “goodbye”. The oak tree in the back yard is dropping lots of acorns, but that just means “goodbye summer”.
It was windy again, the start of Labor Day weekend. Friday, we had another pretty sunset at the Point with wild waves! On Saturday, Grandma kayaked south of the bridge again. It looked like beavers were starting a building project in one of the channels! Grandma had to back the kayak out, because there wasn’t any room to turn around.
Sunday, Uncle Steven’s family came out for an end of summer fling! James’ and Thomas’ school is starting in-person classes . It won’t be safe for Grandma and Grandpa to be with Uncle Steven’s family until everybody is sure the bad virus isn’t spreading at school. Grandma wanted to make James’ and Thomas’ favorite foods to celebrate being able to be together for the summer. James and I helped make overnight sticky buns for Monday breakfast. Then I helped Grandma make not-fries.
Meanwhile, Uncle Steven worked on the Waveblaster jet ski and got the engine to run! It still isn’t ready to put in the water, but it’s getting closer! We had pulled pork and not-fries and broccoli with bearnaise sauce for dinner on the porch. There was AWACS coffee cheesecake for dessert! After dinner, we had a fire and marshmallow roasting.
Monday morning was cloudy, with some rain showers around. James and Thomas and Uncle Steven played video games while they waited for the sticky buns to bake. The weather got a little better, so James went tubing and Thomas got a boat ride to the shallows at the Point to swim. Everybody decided to go back to Fairport for supper, so that James and Thomas could get to bed early for the first day of school. Grandma started pizza dough at the bay. It rose on the trip back to Fairport, so she could make everybody’s favorite pizza toppings for supper! There was more AWACS cheesecake for dessert! Grandma sent another batch of overnight sticky buns home with James and Thomas, so they could have some on the first day of school. They got the leftover pizza and AWACS cheesecake, too! Grandma even had the supplies Uncle Steven needed to make school lunches for the first day!
The border with Canada is still closed to keep the bad virus from spreading, so we haven’t been able to be with Uncle David’s family all summer. We talk to them on Facetime. Bill and Karin started school today, too! I hope the schools keep everybody safe, so we can be together again soon!
Love,
Lion-san
Gorgeous sunset and wave photos. Pie looks delicious. What is AWACS cheesecake? I love the color of the crocheted blanket. Nice choices. Happy school days everyone. Hope all stay safe and well.
Great Aunt Betsy
Great Aunt Betsy, AWACS stands for Airborne Warning and Command System — the planes Uncle Steven worked with for NATO in the Netherlands. The recipe (Kona coffee cheesecake) comes from a restaurant Grandma and Grandpa like on Maui. When Uncle Steven made it in the Netherlands, he used coffee powder that was in his box lunch when he flew testing missions on those planes. James and Thomas started calling the result AWACS cheesecake.
We had a really good time! Making the peach pie was fun and really tasty. The dinners were great, the rainstorm exciting and the windstorm at the point was really neat! We were glad we were in the car not getting wet and sandblasted. Then you had a really great end of summer weekend with baking pizzas, overnight sticky buns and those sticky white things.