exit, pursued by bear

fresh ... well, mostly.

I've been woefully delinquent in sharing pictures from our CSA ... well, I've been woefully delinquent in updating this blog PERIOD, but that's another story.

Anyway! I was going to share details from the past two weeks of our share ... but I seem to not have uploaded the more recent ones, let alone what we received yesterday so ... here's what we received on July 1:

{as usual, here's a link to my CSA Flickr set; complete with notes and descriptions of what's what in the photos}

This was from our share from the 11th week (we missed about a month while we were on vacation -- a friend picked up our shares that month. It was great to share the love!)

• Prairie Grass Farms Ground Lamb
• Herbs en Route Parsley
• Ozark Forest Fresh Mushrooms
• Claverach Shoots
• Lee Farms Cucumbers
• Yellow Wood Chioggia Beets (swapped for 2 yellow squash)
• Eilerman Bros. Vidalia Onions
• Ozark Mountain Orchard Blueberries
• Kimker Hill Pancake Mix
• Heartland Fresh Chevre
• River Hills Poultry Alliance Eggs
• Companion Focaccia Bread

The bouquet of zinnias and sunflowers were an extra item that I picked up -- they were from Lee Farms. So pretty! I wish I could have bought just a bunch of zinnias, but they were already separated into these little bouquets. Frankly, I paid a little more than I normally would for this type of bouquet - but I LOVE zinnias, and I was too excited about them to go home empty-handed.

The pancake mix and blueberries made great blueberry pancakes one Saturday morning. I think the cucumber languished and died in the fridge - alas, cucumbers don't get too much love from me, I'm afraid. Either that or I swapped the cuke for a zuke ... now I can't even remember. If I did swap -- then I most certainly made use of the zucchini because I LOVE zucchini. Cannot get enough. The ground lamb is in the fridge - now we have 2 packages of ground lamb, so I'm planning on taking advantage of the bounty soon. 

Anyway! I'll upload photos and be back shortly.

Also coming up: a review of a farmers market-focused cookbook, details about the fantastic movie I managed to score free advance screening tickets to and! For the first time ever ...

A blog contest for readers! With a real giveaway! Exciting!! ;o)

calm.

I've had several frazzled weeks at work recently and today I'm not sure if it's catching up with me or what, but I am just not feeling great. I've been fighting off the onset of a headache since last night, and I think I'm slowly losing the battle. Just feeling "off" today, you know?

So I had to dash over here and find a pleasant picture from our trip in the hopes of improving my mood:

{Goyt Valley - Peak District; Derbyshire}

This will either cheer me up or make me cry, I haven't decided which ;o)

at last.

I am here, truly! Just finally coming up for air.

Since returning from our trip to England, I've spent the last few weeks moping about the house, missing England and feeling rather homesick - which always is an awkward, misplaced sort of feeling that I have and have always had, every since I was little and started spending my summers abroad. It's sort of strange to feel at home in two places; a little unsure of where you truly belong.

That sounds dreadfully morose! But truly, I really have finally recovered from my doldrums. It did not help to arrive back in Saint Louis in the midst of that horrible heat wave - with the heat index hovering around 110. I almost wept when we stepped out of the airport - it felt like we had walked straight into an oven. I truly didn't think I was going to make it through this summer - I was so unprepared for the heat which makes me absolutely miserable. It was such a relief when the heat broke - not much, but enough to make a difference!

I'm settling into summer in the city - enjoying everything Saint Louis has to offer - sitting on our back porch, enjoying our little garden - escaping to the cool of a movie theater and stopping for ice cream on the way home. It really has been a lovely summer so far -- although, I fully admit to having officially launched "Operation Convince Husband To Move Abroad" ;o)

As for our trip - I uploaded all of our vacation pictures right away - but I've had them marked private while I named and tagged each and every one ... it took AGES, but I think I've finally managed it.

Here's one of my favorites - snapped on our last day, on our walk back to my grandparents' house after dinner at the local pub:

{Sunset in Silverdale}

More pictures and posts to come - I promise!