You've heard of Christmas in July...

...how about Independence Day in Winter??

So operating on the Benchley principle that "anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment", and having decided it was time to update the ol' blog, instead of writing about current things which are fresh in my mind like I should be doing I'm digging through old pictures and realizing I never posted about the 4th of July!  How could I be so negligent as to have let y'all make it through July without yet another picture of a strawberry-and-blueberry patriotic cake??  The oversight must be rectified immedjitly.

I call it "Independence Day Horror", thanks to some extra-juicy strawberries...

And since half our readership is blanketed over with cold white stuff, I thought a few pictures of warm green stuff would be welcome?

my eyeballs feel happy just looking at this

 Or is that too depressing?

At any rate, this past year we had a really fun Fourth!  The Witherspoon Fellowship program that initially drew me out to DC (well, that and Mr. Pickles) was having a reunion at an alum's family farm way out in the country in MD -- like, other-side-of-the-Bay-Bridge country.

Mr. Pickles' arch-nemesis: a field of soybeans.

 Yeah, it pretty much was that gorgeous.

It was an odd experience, in a way -- aside from the Rector's family, ours was the only one with a child over 2.  And several of the alums were like, "Oh, you were a WITHERSPOON Fellow?  Wow!"  Because the Witherspoon Fellowship hasn't existed for about six years -- it's the John Jay Fellowship now.

It was like, "Oh my gosh, you were alive when there were DINOSAURS?  That is so cool!  You are so old!"

But everyone was very congenial and welcoming -- as you would expect people to be when you all share a common life mission (being card-carrying members of the vast right-wing conspiracy and all).  Still, it's an odd experience talking with people who have recently begun their careers.  They seem like such babies.  And then you realize how YOU felt in their position, and you realize how old and stodgy you seem to them.

Getting old is weird.

At any rate, this farm was on the bank of... some river in Maryland whose name is escaping me right now but I could probably find it on the map later.  And they had a boat!  So after meeting & greeting we suited up and went down to the shore to play.

Andy was thoroughly grossed out by the wet sand.

trying to keep as little of his feet touching the sand as possible

Daniel, however, had no problems, despite the color of the river.

ugh, I can't believe I let my children swim in that!

Even Mr. Pickles had fun.

How could you NOT climb this tree??  I mean, look at it!!

Andy eventually became reconciled to the inevitable.

Then he realized it was just a bunch of wet dirt and he actually began to enjoy himself.

AND he could splash in water!  And it came over his toes!  How fun is that!

So, back to the boat.  That was An Adventure!  The host took a few people sailing on the river in the family's boat.  Miriam and the Rector's youngest daughter bonded instantly -- they were enthused about the whole thing.  Katie chickened out at the last second, when she started feeling seasick. 

...which actually turned out to be a good idea.  Can you tell how windy it is?

 It was REALLY windy.  SO windy, in fact, that as soon as the boat disappeared out of sight down the river, it capsized.  With two young girls on board.  In including the youngest daughter of rector of the whole program who was wearing a neck brace.  The poor host was MORTIFIED.  They all had to swim for shore (note how wide that river is), and start the long trek back to our beach.  Fortunately another boat owner came and rescued them so they didn't have to walk so far.  Then the owner went back down the river with some help to rescue his own boat.

Miriam's assessment:  "It was AWESOME!!"

When Miriam wasn't almost drowning, Andy was giving his mother heart attacks.

Instead of enjoying the Boating Adventure, Katie spent her time profitably, collecting approximately a billion clams to bring home.  We refused to let them in the house, which turned out to be an inspired idea since they began to emit an... interesting odor after a day or two.

token picture of Jojo, lest he be neglected

Miriam also says that the river was very shallow for a ways out, so you had to go really far to get into good swimming depth; but by that point the river bottom was all slimey and you could feel it squishing through your toes, so they didn't stay far out for long.

No, no one developed any weird rashes or picked up any parasites.  As far as I know...

The kids loved wandering freely o'er hill and dale.

wide open spaaaaaceeeeeeeees.......

After an amazing barbecue dinner (Mr. Pickles and Miriam are raving about it as I write this) and a very patriotic Episcopalian Evensong, we got a bonfire going and all gathered 'round.  The blazing fireball was much appreciated, since by this point the temperature had dropped significantly and we were FREEZING.  In July!!

The evening ended with a mini fireworks display (which was actually pretty impressive), so it was a very proper Fourth.

----------
A couple days later Mr. Pickles pulled out our own personal arsenal, and we hosted our own driveway fireworks show.

Several neighboring kids flocked over as soon as they heard the whistling and popping.

God bless America!

Random Fall 2014 photodump

*creeeeeeeeak*  [peeking in door] 
Wow, it's really dusty in here.  *cough cough*

Hello everybodeeeee!!  I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for our next exciting installment of the Ongoing Adventures of the Pickles, and since I had nothing better to do this afternoon I thought I might oblige our adoring public.  Mwah!

Here are some random bits of Pickleness from the fall.