Easter Egg Hunt in the Vineyard

This may well be the Easter egg hunt to start an annual tradition:

Ruger - the Dog - Update

Sammy's dog Ruger is now known most often as Lars's dog.  He still sleeps in a crate in Lars's bedroom and spends his indoor time on the tiled floor of the living room or kitchen.  He is getting so big so fast.  He knows his name, and listens to all the basic commands - and he listens well!  Lars takes him for runs most days through the vineyard and around the blackberries. All the grandchildren play with Ruger and he loves the attention.

Elena's First Birthday

We celebrated Elena's first birthday today at the farm...the first of several celebrations, and we had a blast...and cake, balloons and a doll!!

Celebrating a 55 Year Wedding Anniversary

Tina's parents came to the farm this weekend for a slightly belated celebration of their 55 years of marriage.  Way to go Ute and Werner!!  Although it rained both days, we still spent a bit of time outside to see the grapevines, the berries and the garden.   We had a lot of fun family time inside, and celebrated with champagne and cake:

(cake recipe courtesy of Leigh Ann and her link to  Sugarhero,com)

What a Weekend

Our weekend got off to a great start:  a new granddaughter was born on August 21, just before noon. Welcome Elena Weyant, at 6 lbs 14 oz, and 17 inches long...

We also harvested most of our corn and worked on blanching and freezing on and off all weekend - with help from Zach, Rachel, Toben, Fiona and Adelaide.

And Tina continued staining barn boards - using up another 5 gallon bucket of stain - slowly making progress.  Someday we will have the most awesome barn in the county!

A Week at the Beach

A whole week in Hilton Head Island - Tina, Jeff, Lars and Toben!!  What a blast...played all day  and fished all night.

Massive Storm System  Approaches

Calm After the Storm

Tea Party!

Fiona turned three years old this week, and she had one of her birthday parties at the farm - on Valentines Day!  We were all very excited  - well, the ladies and princesses at least were excited -  to plan a "tea party", complete with fancy clothes, lots of necklaces and hats that we decorated during the party.  We are all hoping that this is the first of many little girl's birthday "tea parties".


We used some of Tina's demitasse collection for our teacups along with the small bread plates from one of the china sets.  Jigglers were served in fancy containers, fruit was arranged on skewers, pretty cookies were served on platters and we had baked an assortment of tiny cupcakes which were decorated with colorful icing.

The room was decorated with streamers and balloons and Samantha turned one of the high chairs into a birthday throne with the help of a lot of satiny fabric  and tulle - in shades of pink with a bit of a zebra print accent!

It was such a blast - we all played dress-up, old and young alike - and it was hard to tell who enjoyed it most:

Toben and Omi

Rachel enjoys her tea

Tina and Opa

Gracie and Toben

Adelaide models one of
the decorated hats

Fiona admires one of her
presents: a tiny purse

New Year - New Grandbaby

We are excited to welcome Freyja Rebecca Neill to our family.  She was born in Boston on January 3, weighing 8.3 lbs and she was 20.5 inches long.  Her parents, Anja and Duff, and her big brother Leif are very happy to greet their beautiful new daughter and sister.

Chambourcin Harvest - Take Two

We picked the majority of our Chambourcin two weeks after having picked the first batch (the grapes we used for the rosé wine).  Luckily we had loads of helpers - big and small, and we ended up harvesting the remaining grapes in just a few hours.

Toben

Fiona

 

Leif

They were beautifully ripe, amazingly sweet grapes that should make a great wine!  We destemmed, crushed and sorted the grapes before dumping them into the fermenting tank.

This year, we were much more prepared for making wine and had all the necessary "ingredients" and lab equipment ready.  We also decided to use the same type of yeast for all our wines.  Check out this block of yeast:

Blueberries on the 4th of July

One great way to celebrate Independence Day is with a feast of blueberry desserts.  Since we have an abundance of fresh berries right now, we came up with the following selection for the day's picnic.

Fresh blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream:



Blueberry-sour cream custard tart:

Adding the layer of berries to the custard

The always favorite fruit pizza, one version with a berry variety in every bite and another version of artistic flowers (both are courtesy of Sam's skills):

Passport in a Day?

Ever wonder if it is possible to get a passport in a day - without any previous plans?  Well yes, it is... if you are extremely lucky.  Here is one crazy passport story that began with a plan for a trip to Italy way back in January.  The very important part of this story is the reason for the trip:  Shadley and Tom's wedding, and Omi had to be there for her granddaughter's important day.

Everything went as planned, trip was booked,  dress was sewn (Omi would not have had it any other way than to maker her own special dress) and suitcase was packed.  Then all plans fell apart when Omi tried to check in at the Pittsburgh airport.  "I am sorry, Ma'am - but we cannot take you".  Omi thought the fight attendant was kidding, but she was not.  When you travel to Europe, your passport has to be valid for 3 months - from the date of arrival.  Omi's passport was set to expire September 9 - she could not fly.  The helpful flight attendant told her that the only alternative was to either drive to Washington DC or Philadelphia for the nearest passport office that could actually issue a passport the same day.

It was about 7:30 pm on Wednesday, when Sam and Tina heard the story and decided that no matter what, they were going to try and get Omi to Italy in time.  First thing was to call the airline and make sure that Omi could get on another flight.  We were assured that there were openings for Friday, Saturday or Sunday (the wedding was Monday) and the airline would honor Omi's original ticket.

The problem was that one needs a pre-scheduled appointment, with an appointment number,  in order to get into the passport office.  Appointments can only be scheduled via the 24/7 automated passport appointment system.  Tina called for DC and Philadelphia and no appointments were available, at either location, for at least a week.  We could not talk to a "real" person until 8 am the next morning, so we decided that Omi should sleep and leave for Carlisle early the next day, so we could try to drive to either DC or Philadelphia.

At 8:00 am the next morning, Tina talked to the passport hotline, and was told that we could not get in without the appointment and they did not see any available.  When we asked what would happen if we take a risk and just show up, we were told that we could try, but they were not sure if it would do anything.  However, they did take the time to tell us about all the info we needed to have, which included proof of the immediate flight in addition to all the normal passport application papers.  Note that were were  NOT  told that just driving to the passport office would be useless.  But we were told to keep trying and calling  the automated appointment system, on the off chance that someone would cancel.

Wouldn't you know it, that by 9:00 am an appointment opened in Philadelphia for 10:30 am.  This was incredible luck.   We just reserved it,  so that we would have a number to get into the office, knowing full well, that we could never get there until 2 or 3 in the afternoon).  Tina called the airline and got them to email  an itinerary for a flight with today's date.

Omi left early from Pittsburgh, and met Tina and Sam at the Cumberland Valley Turnpike Plaza to save time. We got off at the Carlisle exit for a new passport photo (this took less than 5 minutes!!), and got back onto the turnpike towards Philadelphia.


We made it about 15 minutes before they closed (you were supposed to get there before 3:00 pm), and luckily Sam was along, because she and Omi ran in while Tina found a place to park.  The lady at the counter was not too happy, since their appointments was 4.5 hours earlier, and they were told that they had 10 minutes to complete the forms - Sam filled it out, while Omi read off all the numbers.  They handed in the form before by 3:00 pm, and we had the new passport before 4:30!!!

Crazy luck that this worked out. On the way back, Sam called the airline and got Omi's flight confirmed for Friday.  We got off at the Carlisle turnpike exit, where Jeff met us, and Tina and Sam went home, while Omi continued to drive back to Pittsburgh.  She made her flight, and made it to the wedding in plenty of time.  The wedding must have been absolutely beautiful, in a most spectacular setting - and we have a happy end for Shadley and Tom, and for Omi's travel adventures as well!!

Bluegills and "Krabby Patties"

Jeff has been fishing in our pond - sometimes with Toben and once in a while with Fiona as well.  They have been pretty good a catching bluegills, by the bucket full.  One afternoon of fishing usually yields 4 lbs of fish fillets.



Since the grandchildren are not too keen on fried fish, Jeff has been experimenting with making fish cakes.  He told Toben that they are "Krabby-Patties" and ever since then, Toben likes to eat them.


Here is Jeff's Fish-Cake recipe:

• 1 lb cooked fish fillets (fried lightly in butter, in a skillet until a fork can pull the fish apart)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons "Old Bay" seasoning
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard (we used "French's")
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped parsley
• 1/3 cup mayo (we used "Hellman's light")
• 1/3 cup bread-crumbs

Mix all ingredients, except fish, together.  Then carefully fold in the fish, cool for at least one hour in refrigerator, or over-night.  Form into paddies, and fry in medium hot skillet until done.