You can read more about Franny’s accident and recovery from his broken leg. I’ll write more about his last appointment, but not now. Now I just want to bask in the joy of jeans and shoes.

There was no bone in my body that felt like whipping up a pie on a warm summer day. But he was so enthusiastic and sweet, it felt completely wrong to give into my own lazy desire to play sloth. I examined the tree, as he washed out a container for our pickings. He was the holder, I was the picker. Slightly taller than Lootie, who had the farthest reach of the three boys that were picking earlier, I was able to get to spots that still had some nice, ripe berries on them.

Not enough for a whole pie, but I had a bag of frozen blueberries in the freezer to supplement, and was pleased to have the opportunity to put them to use in a pie. Frozen blueberries are a common staple at our house, but I’ve yet to have actually made a pie with them. I used this recipe from Crisco for a Bluebbery Pie as a base for the pie we were making. I say “base” because of my inability to stick directly to the recipe when baking. I did my best to stick close to this one, though.

I had about 2 cups mulberries and the rest blueberry.

Franny was in charge of stirring, but he got sidetracked by the guinea pigs. I picked up the scent of bubbly, boiling fruit on the verge of burning, and ran to the rescue. It had started to scorch on the bottom, but thankfully not enough to taint the flavor of the filling.

I used the double crust recipe, but it didn’t seem make enough for the bottom and the top. So I enlisted in my standard oatmeal topping (oats, sugar, molasses, butter, cinnamon, salt and a dash of vanilla).

Initially I started to roll the dough for the crust, but that didn’t last long and soon I was using my preferred method — my fingers to press the dough into the dish.

Franny helps with the filling.

Top me off!!!

Ready for the oven…

Franny holds up our creation.

It was fantastic, and I’m not a big fan of fruit-filled pies. Thank you Franny for suggesting we make pie. I’m so glad we did.

Frank’s brother took us out to dinner tonight at their favorite supper club. Somehow it took us five years to finally get around to doing it. Scrumptious. Shrimp cocktail for appetizer, wine, bread, salad, and then, bring on more food!!

I ordered two lobster tails with a potato (something-er-other) on the side, and Frank ordered steak and a lobster tail. I LOVE how the butter came melted in the dish with a candle to keep it warm. I haven’t had dippable butter in way too long.

Enjoying some grasshoppers after the meal, my lovely sister-in-law and myself.

Our oldest son babysat all of the cousins while we enjoyed dinner — three boys and three girls, all under the age of 12. Bless his heart!!

Frank’s dad came along with us, which was nice. That makes two dinners out in the past year for the five of us. We had a fabulous time. Yummy food and slow time spent with people you love. Joy.

Honestly, I don’t give him much thought in my day-to-day. I don’t listen to his music on a regular basis. The last time I enjoyed MJ, it was at Frank’s cousin’s house. We listened to his greatest hits as we drank wine and ate finger foods. It was fun. Nostalgic with a dash of creepiness thrown in, since Michael was such an oddity. Because of the “kid” accusations, the skin color changes, the plastic surgery…

When I heard the news of his death, I was sad, though. For the same reasons. Nostalgia, no doubt, peppered with a bit of compassion for the later years of his life. It definitely wasn’t what anyone would call normal. And back before exploiting your kids and family on reality TV became all the rage people kinda thought that MJ went a bit koo-koo because he reached high celebrity at such a young age.

Let that sink in, people. Especially those that have cameras follow them and their children around, branding their faces into the world’s brains.

Speculation on Michael’s family and their contribution to his quirkiness was evident. But come on. Kids and early celebrity/icon generally don’t mix well. Most of us can conjure up examples in our head of child-celebrity gone wrong and parents pimping their kids out while they enjoy the riches.

It is a sad trainwreck. As a culture we put people on pedestals for the wrong reasons, treating a celebrity as god because of how they make us feel or how they distract us, or how we envy them. It no longer requires talent to reach a state of godliness in this country. Celebrity, once somewhat reserved for the exceptional (athlete, musician, actor), is now handed out to those born into circumstance (money or otherwise). It is not enough to simply watch their movie, or listen to their music; we want to know where they buy their coffee, what’s their favorite spot on the couch, refrigerator contents and how the inside of their bathroom looks, including the closet.

Endless, the amount of media generated from the “entertainment” business. From magazines, to television shows, blogs… let’s face it, the celebrity in this country are like drugs — if they were eradicated, how many people would be out of a job? What would we do if we could not peer into the lives of others, dissecting it on a daily basis?

Words?

Sal, after his first day at boxing camp. The boys, who all wrestle, are also interested in boxing (don’t get me going on this one — even though Frank boxed as a kid, I’m not down with it). Uncle Bob, Frank’s brother, offered a week-long boxing camp to Carlito, who turned it down (big talker), Franny’s still healing, and Dante is at an intense wrestling camp. Sal decided to do it.

He came home the first day with a burger and a malt (grandpa’s treat), fell to the ground sweaty and exhausted, almost too tired to take his wraps off. He said he was “done” with boxing. Too hard. Not going back. He’s now on day 3.

Though I’m not big into pre-packaged or frozen meals, in the past few years I’ve broken down and have added more of them to my shopping cart. The summer days, with the four boys home, always leads to a significant increase in our grocery spending and food consumption. I know that I often break down and will do take-out because I am short on time. But it isn’t like take-out is any more “healthy organic” than frozen.

I wish I had the time and discipline to be a better homemaker, meal-planning, gardening, cooking, cleaning. But with me working, now (out of the home and at home), my time for those things has lessened. And frankly, I didn’t feel I was doing all that well as a homemaker before I started working outside the home (which is why I figured I might as well get a job since I was wasting my time on my butt at home).

I wish I weren’t so confused.

I found my camera. We left it in the pocket of our red camping chair, which we were using when we were at the host’s house of the soccer party last weekend. Thank goodness. As poopy as my camera is, I love it. Though the house is rather far out and not on the way of any of our normal errands, Frank ran out to pick it up so that we could take pictures at the wedding, baptism and graduation party we were attending this weekend. SO glad we did.

Friday is a blur — Saturday we had an out-of-town wedding to attend, about 1.5 hours away, an old friend of Frank’s. Frank was one of the groomsmen, so I got to see him all dressed up in a tuxedo. I liked that. We didn’t get home until late Saturday night, but managed to have enough downtime to watch a movie before bed. Sunday was the baptism of Frank’s cousin’s first child. Frank was the godparent. After the service the group went to a nice Father’s Day buffet. It was a real treat to have all the cousins and family together. After the baptism, we stopped at one of Sophia’s friend’s graduation party.

Many pictures were taken, but here is one of my favorite:

Sal, tangled up with popping streamers from the wedding.

How was YOUR weekend?

Also, on Father’s Day (this Sunday, June 21), A&W will offer 90-cent Papa Burgers.

Yum. I’m all down with free stuff.

The first and foremost remnant of my weekend escapades: my camera is nowhere to be found.

We’ve traced back to the last spotting of the camera, which was at my brother’s stepdaughter’s wedding Friday night. I took oodles of pictures, left to change for the reception, came back and somewhere in between misplaced my camera. It has my phone number scratched into the side, so it would be easy enough to return, if the finder was so inclined. And if they weren’t so inclined — easy enough to keep as well.

Very BIG bummer. We don’t quite have the funds at this moment for a new camera. There’s no “good” time to lose a camera, obviously. With weddings, baseball games, summer fun, and of coarse, new cast changes, I will have to find an alternative (my phone camera will suffice, but it is a sad choice for a replacement).

So… yeah, Nikon? If you’re looking for someone to review your Nikon D60 Camera? I’ll be your Huckleberry.

Friday was the wedding, which was very nice. The kids stayed home, since the wedding was geared more towards adults. The ceremony was simple and quick. Like, not even 5 minutes quick. Between the wedding and the reception, Frank and I went home to change (as reported earlier). We stopped off for a bite to eat at Red Robin (split a Whiskey River Burger and some onion rings), since my brother said they’d be serving finger foods, but not a whole meal and advised us to eat. Don’t have to tell us twice!!

We stayed at the reception for a few hours and came home, picking the kids up some dollar burgers at McDonalds.

Dante’s team had their last soccer game on Saturday (over by Milwaukee), and Sal had his last soccer game (here in Madison) at the same time. Both won their games. Carlito had his final soccer game later in the day. I believe they won, too. Lootie played goalie for half and then on the field for half, just as Sal did during his game. Both Sal and Lootie’s teams were splitting up after this season. Dante’s a central “attacking” midfielder, in case you’re burning in the head to know this fact. At his age, the’re a little more technical in where they play and what they are called.

We went to Dante’s team’s soccer party that night, which was a blast. Great group of parents, and nice team of boys. The hosting parents have a house complete with a pool and a humongous backyard. We ate walking tacos and I got in on a parent -vs- kids game of dodge ball, which involved much smack-talking and stretching of the rules to ensure us parents had a fighting chance at winning (and yes, we lost). The team gave me a gift certificate to Maharaja Restaurant (Frank’s pick — parent called him on the sly to ask where I would like to go) as thanks for being the team manager. Super duper sweet of them, and totally unexpected.

Sunday was mostly a rest day, church in the evening. After church I made some chorizo tacos and we had a fire outside with some neighbor friends. Nice, relaxing night where the kids played and us parents sat out, sipping margaritas, wrapped up in enjoyable conversation. A period of time was spent mimicking the Lovahs, which is essential to lively conversation, if you ask me.

Another busy but very enjoyable weekend.
How was YOUR weekend? Link it or leave it.