Father's Day & best wishes & summer

Happy Father's Day to all the dads, out there! James called his dad earlier this afternoon, and I called mine about an hour ago.

Also, belated Happy Anniversary to my parents, who celebrated 42 years of marriage on the 16th! And congratulations are in order to our nephew, Sean, on his graduation from high school last night!

I hope everyone's been out enjoying some of the awesome first-day-of summer weather that settled over the midsection of the country. Aside from watering my pansies and rosebush, I haven't stepped outside. Yet. It's all because I've been battling cherries. Fresh fruit is supposed to be good for you--if you get to it before it metamorphoses into penicillin. The displays in the store are always so appealing, and visions of how much healthier and happier it will make me crowd my better judgment, because after I get it home and sample the firstfruits, the rest generally camps out on my cupboard or in the fridge (it's very cunning; it camouflages itself well, holding perfectly still) until it turns a shade or shape it was never intended to become. Over the last month or two, I have pared, peeled, sliced, hacked, and mashed my way through apples, bananas, blueberries, nectarines, and now cherries. The spoils of this herbivorous slaughter include banana bread, apple crisp, mixed fruit crisp (the blueberries and nectarines mixed with some strawberries and blackberries strategically disguised as ice crystals in a corner of the freezer), and finally, today, cherry muffins. I still have traces of cherry blood behind my fingernails from butchering the darn things. For the moment, we are safe: there is no fresh fruit in the house. Hmm, I see the latest flyer has a deal on local strawberries, weather permitting...nothing says summer like strawberries.