A Celebration of Love

A few weeks ago we threw an engagement party for our good friends, Rita and Michael. It was such a fun evening that I forgot to take pictures after everyone got there. Oops. A sign of a good party.

WInfield: Our Tenth Year!

This was our tenth year at the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield, KS and it was great! It was a little chilly and drizzly but it didn't stop us from having fun. We camp with the same people every year and they are like family to us. It's really fun to reunite every year and create traditions. One tradition we have every year is a scavenger hunt around the campgrounds. This year was a bit challenging with the rain but we managed to get everything on the list. The tie breaker was a poem writing competition. Ours was a beatnik type poem. Another highlight from the weekend was the vintage suit parade. The owner of the Lawrence downtown vintage shop, Wildman Vintage, took bags and bags of vintage suits down there and everyone dressed up and we marched all around the campgrounds. This is the kind of crazy thing that happens at Winfield and why everyone loves it so much and goes back year after year.

The chair ninjas usually visit a tent each night and pile up every single camping chair in front of a different tent.

Cooking in our "kitchen".

We can see Stage 7 (the coolest and only stage that really matters) from our campsite. Awesome!

Digging through the suits.

Our pad for 4 days. This will be its last year because it is a PAIN to set up and it might be just a tad to big.

Chad sitting on the rad table that Chris made (2!) out of plywood. He got the plan from an old Boyscout manual. They were the talk of the weekend.

Frying a mountain of okra. YUM...

Suit mania.

Parade time!

Courtney's 30th birthday and Kevin's (early) retirement!

Jamming at the campsite. Always my favorite time.

The scary radar on Saturday night. But nothing actually really happened. Phew!

Sunday morning Blind Melon jam with Courtney and Jeff.

Scavenger Hunt reveal of items.

Winners Courtney and Evan! They have to put it on next year.

Our group!!! Love you guys!

The gorgeous clouds on the drive home.

Late Summer Bounty

Well, it appears that Fall has finally arrived. I'm loving it. Hanging out by the fire pit in the backyard, having dinner parties outside, camping. Yes. These are the reasons I can't get enough of this season. We have been so busy! For me, summer is the perfect length. Right when I'm getting sick of watering and being out in the hot, hot summer air, it turns cool and you can begin to relax. It's kind of interesting. Perfect timing I'd say. I can't possibly even think about making one more batch of pesto or canning one more round of okra. No way. I'm done. I'm lucky I even got my fall crops in the ground. Thank you Kansas for giving me four seasons!

So we went to our annual bluegrass festival extravaganza last weekend. It was our tenth year! Holy moly! The pics below are what I came back to. A beautiful, bountiful end-of-summer harvest. Thanks Homer for taking care of our garden!

All of the okra in the white bowl went into the compost. It was too big and woody to eat. I forgot to ask Homie to harvest these. It's cool, they just keep on producing.

Fall radish crop!

Southern (Fried) Foodie Club Night

August's Foodie Club was at Leah's house and she chose Southern Food as the subject matter. I made crazy good fried okra (from my garden) with Depal's homemade buttermilk ranch for an appetizer. The main course was awesome fried chicken, bacon mashed potatoes, a delicious collard greens and pulled pork dish and freshly made biscuits. It was all topped off by Sean's gallon of Sangria. Not Southern really, but the best I've ever had. The dessert was Leah's own Mystery Pecan Pie (cream cheese was the mystery culprit). We were all a bit comatose after dinner, as I'm sure you can imagine. It was probably the most mellow I've ever seen our group. Needless to say, next month is Vegan!!!

After dinner nappy time.