Beat the Heat 2011

As many of you know, we escaped the sweltering Mississippi heat for 2 weeks and headed north on a road trip. We packed the cooler with cucumbers, set the GPS to Burlington, VT avoiding highways, and hit the road. Along the way we saw good friends and family--although not everyone we would have liked to have seen; fell in love with the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley, southern Pennsylvania, the Hudson River Valley, and pretty much every small town we drove through; marveled at how different the driving is when the roads aren't full of pick up trucks; were reminded that cloth diapers really are better than disposable; and were shamed into starting a new workout regime as soon as we got home (we may be fit for Mississippians, but that isn't saying much!).

Here are some pictures of our journey. As usual, I've decided that it is better to post too many of them now rather than wait 6 months till I've found the time to winnow it down to a respectable number.

Beat the Heat 2011

Let us know if we should try to include you in Beat the Heat 2012.

In other news, the farm is doing well, although we have hit a bit of a slow period. The heat has done a number on a lot of plants and we now have worms in the cucumbers. Such is the life of farm with no chemicals. Phil has started seeds for the fall planting and we're looking forward to our first ever CSA.

I'm back teaching again and am trying to stay optimistic about my students. We'll see how long that lasts.

Evelyn has started day care and we realized that quality day care is hard to find.

Oh, and a white teenager in Jackson, MS reportedly decided that a fun thing to do would be to hunt down and kill a black man. Here's the story.