In Lists: A Few Favorite Things

Here are just a few things I’ve been loving this summer:

• Poetry by Billy Collins
• Herbal Armor Bug lotion.  We are a non-DEET bug spray family, and by chance I ran across a container of Herbal Armor while on vacation a few years ago and bought it.  This lotion is very strong smelling, because the smell is what gets the job done.  There is a lot of citronella and geranium oil in this blend, and it really needs to be applied outside (definitely not in the car!).  However, it works amazingly well and can be reapplied without any concern.  Herbal Armor has worked better for everyone in our family compared to other non-DEET bug sprays that we’ve tried.
• This lid for jars that infuses water with fruit flavors.  Dr. Peds brought this home a few months ago and I rolled my eyes.  Then I tried it and fell in love!  It’s a zippy lid that fits over any size of wide mouth jar.  I use it with quart jars.  There is a compartment to put fruit in to flavor the water.  You can add fruit in any combination, and I have had so much fun trying different flavors out. I leave it in the fridge and drink out of it all the time.  Flavored water is so refreshing in the summer.  I’ve especially been enjoying a mixture of strawberries and lemons lately.
• Last year we mostly switched out of drinking glasses to drinking out of various sizes of jars.  This has worked so well for our family, because we always have jars floating around from jam or applesauce that I use during preserving season, and then when the food gets consumed, we have a lot of empty jars until the next season.  I never feel bad about a jar breaking when a kidlet drops it, and cold milk just tastes really good coming from a jar.  Best of all, if someone doesn’t finished drinking what is in their “glass,”  I just put a jar lid on it and put it back in the fridge.
• Bike rides with Mr. TOF.  He is doing so great with his bike, and I love that we can go on short bike rides together.
• Long summer skirts.  I love long skirts.  I really love how long, super comfortable skirts are in fashion this summer.  I have been wearing skirts as often and I can this summer, which has been a lot.
• Wildflowers.  I love them every year.  This is no exception.
• Black currant jam!  It has been a tremendous year for berries this year.  The strawberries were wonderfully sweet.  The raspberries are plentiful.  The blueberries in our area are loaded, and after two bad years for black currants, the berry farm near my house has a bumper crop of this year!  I hadn’t eaten black currants before moving here.  They are super popular in Europe (actually I am pretty sure I tasted black currant jam in Europe when I was a teenager, but didn’t know what it was because I’d never heard of that kind of berry before).  The owner of the berry farm has a European accent and he planted a small field of black currants.  They aren’t really a berry for just eating off the bush, but I’m telling you, black currant jam is my absolute favorite jam.  It is SO tasty.