Author: Elicia Wetstein

backyard living, no. 1

how-to, photos, stories, words

[this one is for claire.]

and now, dear readers, i shall now feature a series of posts about how to live in one’s backyard.

to start, one must have a place to sleep, such as a treehouse, or perhaps a tent. i have already featured such a post here.

next, one must have  a restroom facility (fully equipped with toilet paper), like an outhouse in the corner, like my sisters and i had in our fourth-acre backyard of sand in new mexico.

one must also have a way to prepare food, such as a firepit, bonfire, or grill.  the main diet of  a backyard camper may consist of hotdogs, chili, hot cider, and smores.

more examples of backyard living to follow.
…

picnic in the leaves

a day in the life, photographic journeys, photos, stories, words

i went over to play with em & jen in their massive pile of leaves.  but not just jumping in it.  fallling off backward into it from the swing, running around the tree and flying into the pile,  diving into it. oh for a massive pile of leaves with a swing nearby.  perhaps i shall migrate our leaf pile.

little girl, next door neighbor.  played in the leaves too.

we had a picnic too. cider, spice tea, cookies.  sitting in the leaves.

…

oatmeal

a day in the life, stories, words

because oatmeal is periodically made at our house for breakfast, we daughters are forced to eat it.  i have endeavored to, each time, put different toppings on my oatmeal.

100_4143

this time it was bananas (more bananas than oatmeal), milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate chips.

i finished it before mom came out of the shower, so that she wouldn’t tell me not to eat chocolate for breakfast.

*the best kind of oatmeal to eat (if you must) is stone ground oats.  not rolled.

…

(re)decoration

photos, stories, thoughts, videos

as you all know, our room was painted this summer.  dull white to a lovely blue.  we got rid of the bunk bed clara and i shared, and now have two twin beds.  i changed my comforter by turning it upside down.  it used to be this sailor/nautical theme, now it’s white.  clara has a reversible comforter too, and its this lovely purply brown pattern now.  i have a hanging paper lantern, now clara has one too.  my dresser is between our beds, her dresser is on the opposite wall.  i have a lovely jewelry tree on my dresser.  function and beauty, right?  and the rug on the floor ($3 ikea) really defines the floor space.  except you can’t see it…  changes still to come: curtains, coat rack for clara, and bookshelf.

100_3846

100_3847

…

partay

a day in the life, photographic journeys, photos, stories, thoughts, words

100_3743

^ i’m loving how the balloons look, aren’t you?  this picture was rather hard to take… just because it was into the sun and i was afraid i was like burning out my sensor or something.

100_3801

^ clara’s cake.  this is what results of cake decorating skills after 9 at night.  yes, 33 candles although she’s only 14.

we roasted hot dogs and had chili for dinner, and smores and cake and ice cream for dessert.

100_3756

^ i’m not sure what she was reacting to… but it’s funny.

100_3780

we all smell like smoke now.

…

tea & scones

a day in the life, photos, words

tea and scones

this morning melissa made chamomile scones.  i made whipped cream, and as it whipped i read anne of green gables.  the part where she’s forgetting things as she’s cooking.   and, as fate would have it, i forget my whipped cream.  it whipped far too long and was close to becoming butter.  but it looks rather like clotted cream, which is kind of what we were going for.  irony much?

…