Summer! at last!

You may not remember, but we (and all of our fellow Mainers) certainly do, the gloom that engulfed our state for most of June and July last year. So, it's been nothing less than euphoric to experience summer at last! We've had several days already in the high 80s, bright sun, fluffy clouds, and blue sky. Sometimes, truth be told, it did get a little too hot. Like on Father's Day, when Binbin invited Yeye and Baba and the rest of us to the Portland Seadog's game. I thought it was pretty hot for about 80 degrees. Well, that's because is was really 89! We sat under the full might of the sun for much of the first five innings, wilting even as we consumed cupfuls of ice. We didn't stay to see the home team lose to Akron; but we did enjoy the fan support for one of the Chinese-American players: Ray Chang.

There's lots more to share about our summertime adventures, and I hope to put up some pictures, too. (I told Binbin part of our afternoon would be spent downloading, then uploading pics from his new Bean camera, which Ah-gong and Ah-po gave him!) For now, I want to tell about this weekend, which is fresh (literally) in my mind.

In the summertime, we get our produce from Little Ridge Farm, about 2 miles down the road from us. Keena runs the farm, but this weekend she and Zach are on vacation on Block Island, so they asked us to harvest the first bunch of ripe shell peas...600 feet worth of plants! We headed out early morning yesterday and today, so as to avoid the heat of the mid-day sun. And, it was glorious, pure and simple. Binbin helped pick peas from time to time, then he would scamper off to run around and explore the farm. There's much to see and do. Freddy the cat kept him company, and showed him a secret room in the underbrush. Dora and Dudley ducks have hatched 7 fluffy brown ducklings. Dora is the protective father. When Binbin got too near his precious little ones, he would stick his head out down low, tense his wings to the rear, then waddle headlong at top speed to chase Binbin away! It was so funny! We visited Keena's baby turkeys this morning, and they seemed to have matured almost overnight, trading much of their downy softness for tiny versions of mature turkey feathers. A couple of them spread out their tail and wing feathers and strutted around the makeshift nursery, practicing to be top turkey.

This morning, we also stopped to pick raspberries...again the first of the season. The branches reached out from row to row, heavy with green fruit, making a prickly maze for us to negotiate. It's hard to imagine that just two years ago, these bushes were but bare sticks in the ground that we helped Keena to surround with mulch and to water. The raspberries have a wonderful perfume, and even the pinkish ones that Binbin says he prefers have that flavor, just without the sugar.

With our Little Ridge Farm share, and this fantastically warm weather (global warming?), we have feasted ourselves on: lettuce, tatsoi, another variety of bok choy, Japanese turnips, spinach, shell peas, snow peas, and last season's rutabaga (Yeye liked that!). We've topped off our healthy veggies with strawberry-rhubarb crisp and tartlets. Jack has also discovered a remarkable cheese, a goat's cheese with an ash rind, called Clair de Lune made by Spring Day Creamery in nearby Durham. It's got a liquid creamy center (like a truffle) and a blue cheese finish.

We hope you are all having a great summer, doing fun things and eating fresh foods!