Extended

One of the beautiful things about babies is that their birth can create so many new relationships--not only between them and their parents, but between them and other extended family members: grandpas, grandmas, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Forest's sister Crissy was in Illinois for a couple of weeks this month. Ramona got to meet her and her family for the first time. Cousin Aubrey was perhaps the most eager to hold her and give her kisses . . .

. . . but she let other people have a turn, too.

A Tribute to Rainier Cherries

Although it may sound made-up, today is National Rainier Cherry Day. I actually think Rainier cherries are good enough to deserve their own holiday, and plan to celebrate accordingly.

Last summer, while we were in the Great Northwest, Forest and I got a taste of Rainier cherries in the best possible way . . . right off the tree.


Note how many more Rainier cherries we picked compared to the red ones:
We used David Lebovitz's recipe for cherry sorbet from his book The Perfect Scoop (of course just adding a pinch of guar gum). I've never been able to churn up the Rainiers into ice-cream-form, though . . . they are just too good the way they are.

Apricot Sorbet

The texture of this sorbet is incredibly smooth, making it stand out from most other fruit sorbets. We used David Lebovitz's recipe from The Perfect Scoop, and just added a pinch of guar gum with the sugar.

Blessed

Yesterday Ramona received her baby blessing at church and got all dressed up for the occasion.
Babies are blessings in and of themselves.