New Bedroom

The fairies worked hard and painted Simone's new room and decorated it with a new bed! Here is a photo of Simone and Mary reading a book in Simone's new bed:

And now just an artsy photo of the room the next morning.

This was Simone's first time ever sleeping in a different room than Mary and I (but in the same house). Kind of bittersweet.

July!

Take a look at the photos from July - some pretty cute ones of Simone, like these:

Nocino, the verdict

A year ago today, Simone and I picked a bunch of walnuts to make Nocino. All I'd read said that you should wait 3 or even 6 months to taste it, and around Christmas time I tasted it and found it a bit disappointing. It was kind of bitter, sweet enough, but just not very tasty.

In the past I'd made some lemon liqueur that tasted bitter and generally unpleasant. A year later it ended up very smooth and bright. Turns out, age can help liqueur a lot. So I put the liqueur back in the cupboard and waited.

A few weeks ago I took a sip and it was pretty good! I think it'll be awesome over some ice cream.

If you stop by the house, you should have a taste.

The Shawshank Redemption

Simone and I are hanging out together this weekend. She was very tired from a day in the sun and water. I'm kicking back, having a cool, Jalepeno vodka mojito, enjoying the best movie of all time: The Shawshank Redemption.

Van

Two years ago, Mary bought me a van cherry tree, yes, the one the deer tried to eat (well, it actually did). We planted it last year, along with an apple and a plum tree.

It did get planted in a potentially wet area of the yard (i.e. the front yard), and endured a brutally cold snap in the winter, and then the deer came along. Needless to say, I was a bit disheartened.

Well, the cherries came on and riped very nicely, all of 10-20 of them. We missed some because we were on vacation, but were able to eat a few. And I must say, they were very tasty indeed.