Summer Weekend

Summer. Porch. Entertaining.

My three favorite words right now.

I love eating out on our back porch. It's a cosy nook, tucked behind the house, away from all the busy-ness of the street. Not that we live in the city or anything. But our street has its fair share of traffic. Especially in the summer when the motorbikes come out.
We entertained both nights this weekend. Good friends on Friday night and family on Saturday night.

Friday night was easy. Pizza and wine. Salads. Dessert. Lots of laughter.

Saturday night was sinful. Juicy hamburgs, coleslaw and baked beans. Seven layer bars. S'mores.
Beer. More beer.
I am loving my $0.50 vases. You saw the green one a couple weeks ago.

On Saturday, I added the blue teapot. I had breakfast with a friend and we decided to go tagsale-ing after.

Tagsale-ing. Is that even a word? My spell check is not very happy with it. But I know you know what I mean.

I spotted the blue teapot underneath a table as I was walking away from the yard. It was dented, had some minor rust spots and a few holes in the bottom. It didn't look like much.

"How much for the teapot?" I asked.

"You know it has holes in the bottom?" the seller asked.

"Yup."

"How about $0.50?"

Sold.
When I picked up the blue teapot, guess what was underneath it? A scale.

Not a stand-on-this-for-your-day-of-reckoning scale but a scale that has a "bed" and curved sides. Looks similar to the one above. But mine needs some cleaning and a new coat of paint.

I saw a photographer use a scale just like this for portraits of newborns. Absolutely the cutest newborn pictures I've seen: their legs were tucked underneath them, their diaper tushies were up in the air and the babies were sound asleep on the scale.

So. Cute.

If I ever start a photography business, I am so using this scale.
My dad came home from his winter in sunny Florida. That's why we were all gathered together.

We had to celebrate his homecoming. We did it with lots of kisses.
One of the best ways I get my kids and nieces to laugh for the camera is to tell them NOT to smile.

No smiles.

Ever.

That is guaranteed to bring about giggles and laughter.

I love shots like this. They're real.

I feel like I got to freeze a moment of time.

Jeesh, I can't stop getting sentimental over these pics. But I'm telling you. These guys were babies just a few days ago.

I must have slept a dozen or so years, just like Rip Van Winkle.
We ended the night with a bonfire and s'mores. Using burnt marshmallows. Because we don't know how to keep them out of the fire. And then they light on fire and we panic.

They still taste good. They taste like summer.