back to school???

third video this week?  yup, that's where we're at this week. 

my news feed is full of parents trying to decide what is going on with their kids and school for the fall.  it's a crazy time and i feel terrible for parents trying to figure it all out.  the university where i teach is doing part online and part in person, so it has been interesting trying to prepare for that!

the holderness family is keeping us entertained so much lately,  here's their latest video about going back to school in the fall.

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

blueberry recipe roundup

we picked a bunch of blueberries when we went blueberry picking on sunday!  we've enjoyed some on top of vanilla yogurt and on top of vanilla ice cream.  now we have to find some other ways to use them.  here are a few of our favorite blueberry recipes that we've made over the years . . .

- blueberry pie milkshake
- strawberry blueberry yogurt smoothie
- blueberry buttermilk scones
- vegan blueberry cornmeal waffles
- cornmeal waffles with blueberry compote
- lemon poppy seed crepes with lemon blueberry cream cheese filling

enjoy!

love, laurie

"zoom zoom"

if you pay any attention to car commercials, you likely know that mazda's slogan has been "zoom zoom" for quite a long time.  between us, ryan and i have owned 3 different mazda suvs over the years.  we have several "zoom zoom" stickers that mazda has given us with our car purchases.  i always thought it was a cute slogan, but didn't know that "zoom" would take on such a different meaning in 2020.

my work hours are consumed with so many zoom meetings for both the theatre where i work and the university where i teach.  anyone who has spent any amount of time zooming with coworkers knows that it can be both frustrating and entertaining.  i got a good laugh when saturday night live did this skit on their show back in the early spring about coworkers on zoom . . .

more recently, the holderness family came out with a taylor swift parody video about zoom.  it gave me a good laugh as i get ready to hop on yet another zoom meeting this morning . . . 

happy zooming!
love, laurie

"hypochondriac" parody

the holderness family is at it again with another funny video.  their videos are what's getting me through this crazy time.  here's their parody to "she's a maniac" about hypochondriacs!

love, laurie

blueberry picking

we always enjoy going to local farms in the summer to go berry picking.  we didn't get to go at all last year, and this year we weren't able to make it during the weeks that strawberries were available for picking.  so, we were happy to be able to get to a blueberry farm this weekend to go blueberry picking.

the first time we went blueberry picking at paupack blueberry farm, we got a bunch of berries, but the last time we visited, we hardly got enough to cover the bottom of our bucket.  so, we were really pleased to find an abundance of blueberries this year and we were able to fill our buckets full!

it was a warm morning, but the breeze was refreshing.  it was nice to get outside and escape for a little bit in the blueberry fields.  a few pictures from our picking adventures . . .

when we got home, leko had to inspect our blueberry bucket.  of course we didn't let him get too close to them, because we didn't want his fur to get stained from the berries!

love, laurie

snapshots of life lately . . .

a few photos of . . . a political event that ryan worked as a stagehand, selling tickets outside at a local dance company for their recitals (which all had to be canceled due to the stupid restrictions on indoor events now), a bird who came to visit on our porch railing, ryan's parents' cat pepper in my parents' cooler, an ice cream date after a very hot and long bike ride, and buy one get one free salads for dinner on a hot day from our favorite salad place.

love, laurie

crabby

my parents bought this stuffed orange crab for leko last year.  over the weekend, he was in a crabby mood, so i pulled out mr. crab.  (i would be crabby too if i had to wear that fur coat in 95 degree weather during a several-day heatwave. 

i had to laugh at how he had mr. crab balancing on his paws.  what a silly guy!

love, laurie

a visit from a butterfly

when we were at ryan's parents' house on friday, ryan was walking around their yard when he came upon a butterfly perched on top of a flower.  he was able to snap a few pictures of it before it flew away . . .

love, laurie

a trip to manning dairy farm

we're in the middle of a heat wave, and it has been terribly hot outside lately.  on saturday evening, we decided to cool off with some ice cream.  we called up ryan's parents, and asked if they wanted to meet us a manning dairy farm.

we visited the cows and then had some ice cream.  it was a nice (and refreshing) little outing!

love, laurie

a trip to the trolley museum

three years ago, my parents and i visited our local trolley museum.  we checked out the displays at the museum and then took a ride aboard a real trolley.  we really enjoyed it, and since then have been wanting to take ryan and his parents.

on friday, we all got together for lunch at ryan's parents' house and then took a trip to the museum.  it was too hot of a day to do much of anything else, so the air conditioned museum was a welcomed escape from the heat.  after looking around the museum, we rode the trolley.  the breeze coming through the open trolley windows was refreshing.  it was such a nice 10-mile round trip through our area. 

we wore our masks and kept our distance from everyone else.  it was a nice outing!  here are a few pictures from our outing . . .

love, laurie