Author Jen Meyers

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Berry Fever

The very end of June and beginning of July is berry picking season at my house. Black raspberries, a.k.a. black caps. They grow abundantly around our yard. Which makes for very happy children, snacking on berries all day long as they roam the perimeter of the yard, harvesting ripe ones. And a very busy Steve with picking and picking and picking for several weeks. Usually by the end of two weeks of picking, he’s all picked out.

Mmmm . . . berry goodness.

Me, too. Well, not picked out. But certainly berried out. Though I’m not usually out there picking, I am the washer and freezer of all things berry. And I have the purple stained hands to prove it. While black caps are so yummy right off the bush–fresh and juicy–they also make the best pies. Which is what all the bags of berries I have stocked in our freezer are destined to become.

Ebba’s favorite way to pick berries? Take all the ones out of my hand. “Me have all,” she says.
Nothing like a berry patch in your own yard.

But what I’m loving most about the berries this year? The entertainment value. My kids go out and pick and pick and pick. Like all day long. It’s keeping them busy and very, very happy. Plus they’re not quite as desperate to eat the berries Steve has picked for freezing . . . though they still ask regularly. You can never eat too many berries, right?

It’s hard to keep little hands out of the washed and drying berries. Uh, big hands too. Just don’t tell Steve.
You know who else likes to eat black caps? Daddy longlegs.
See those prickly parts? These are some well-protected berries. I’m glad I’m not the one out there.

It’s hot and humid today so those berries out there are ripening at light speed. We could probably pick all day long. Hmmm. Maybe we will.

Hope your week starts of with sweet goodness. Have a great day, everyone!

By jen | July 11, 2011 | Blog, summer |

This Moment

 In this moment I am . . .

* loving the black raspberries growing all around the perimeter of our yard, filling little tummies, keeping small hands busy, and stockpiling in the freezer for future pies.

* looking forward to an afternoon with friends getting messy at our Messy Party this weekend.

* fretting over book stuff at least a little every day.

* enjoying the generosity of neighbors who let us swim in their pond on these hot, humid summer days.

* suffering from an unusually intense allergy season.

* appreciating the relief of a rainy day, and the rainbow umbrellas that come with it.

What’s going on for you in this moment?

By jen | July 8, 2011 | Blog, in this moment |

Books to Read!

I’ve been reading The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas to the kids at night lately. I don’t remember how I came across the book originally. I had been scouring the library for good YA and MG fiction to read, and lucked into Sarah Prineas. And I do mean lucked. Before I even finished reading them I’d already hopped online and ordered both books in the series. Oh, yes. They are that good. Riley liked the first book so much, he went off and finished it himself, and moved on to The Magic Thief: Lost.

If you haven’t read her books, you must. Sarah writes beautifully, and she’s woven a fabulously original tale about a boy who is more than he appears to be. Most brush him off, but his wizard-mentor recognizes his intellect and understanding, and believes in him. I loved the book and couldn’t put it down. I also couldn’t pry it out of Riley’s hands while he was reading it, and Torin and Cael ask for “one more chapter” over and over again each night we read.

The third book in the series–The Magic Thief: Found–came out last year, but we haven’t bought it yet, so I can’t tell you how fabulous it is. Yet. And somewhere on her blog Sarah said she’s already written the fourth book, but she didn’t know when it would be coming out because she has another book series coming out in January 2012, the first book of which is called Winterling. Can’t wait to read that, too.

I’m always on the lookout for good books. Got any recommendations for me? I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading lately.

By jen | July 6, 2011 | Blog, books |

“This is Stars Hollow. You take three left turns and you’re back in the center of town.”

Yesterday, my neighborhood hosted a parade down our half-mile-long street. The beauty and charm of a small town. Totally silly and fun. For a moment I felt like we were living in Stars Hollow with the Gilmore Girls. It was that kind of good-hearted silly craziness. Decorated tractors and trailers with happy very-noisy kids (those were mine) paraded down the street. One of our neighbors offered us a ride in his trailer. My kids were thrilled! They painted large pieces of paper in red, white, and blue for decorations on it. They gathered every instrument they could find (they were the band, you know) and played as loud as they could. Which, when you’re riding behind a large, noisy, blue farm tractor, doesn’t come across as sounding loud at all.

Two of my boys wore their newly tie-dyed shirts (we’ve been practicing tie-dying for a messy party we’re having on Saturday. It’s been waaaay too much fun.) At the end of the parade, we gathered for lemonade and cookies. Unfortunately, my littlest was running a fever–which I did not realize until the parade was about to start. So we paraded with the neighborhood, then I carried her home while Steve and the boys stayed to celebrate.

I also got to spend time this weekend with some lovely friends who moved to France a couple of years ago. I did my best to convince them to move back here. I tried coercion, threats, bribes. Even hypnotism. (Okay, so maybe I didn’t threaten them. But I did try the other tactics.) It didn’t work. (That could be because I know nothing about hypnotism.)

But I did spend an entire evening–a whole five hours–laughing like I haven’t laughed in a long time. Do you have friends like that? You know the kind. The ones who you can be apart from or not talk to for months, even years, and when you get back together it’s like no time has passed. That you pick right up from where you last left off. These friends are like that.

As this week kicks off with a firecracking bang (Happy Birthday, America!), I’m hoping for time to work on my revisions amidst all the getting ready for the upcoming party. Lots of neatening to do so we can all get messy with our friends.

What are you hoping for this week?

*title quote from Gilmore Girls

By jen | July 4, 2011 | Blog, friends, kids |

Smoke from Space

The wildfire in New Mexico can be seen from space. The smoke from the fire, that is. It’s phenomenal, in an awful way. An astronaut took a picture of it from the International Space Station that you can see here. Thanks to Katrina for the link.

I wish for you a safe weekend. Especially those living near and battling the wildfire.

By jen | July 2, 2011 | Blog, Earth |

Randoms

We’re off to the local theatre to see a kids’ show this morning, so I don’t have time for much. But I do have a few quick random things.

First? Eva Cassidy singing “Fields of Gold.” If you haven’t heard of Eva, you have totally been missing out. There’s no video of her singing it (she died in her early thirties), but this is a soundtrack of her with some beautiful video footage as visual accompaniment.

(You are so gonna thank me for introducing you to her.)

(You’re totally welcome.)

On a serious note, did you know that drowning doesn’t look like drowning? There’s no arm waving and people can’t yell for help. Since it’s summer and people are hitting the pools and beaches, this is a good time to learn or relearn this. Read this description of what someone looks like when they’re drowning. It’s incredibly scary and sobering because it’s not what you’d think drowning would look like, and so very necessary to know if you’re going to spend time around water, especially if you have kids. And don’t rely only on lifeguards to watch your kids when they’re in the water.
Lastly, something fun. Go here and click on the blocks in the window to make music. Make patterns and hear what they sound like. Remove a block/note by clicking it a second time. Draw a smiley face or your initials. Let your kids play too. The more you click, the more complicated the music. And it’s all beautiful! So cool.
We have a crazy busy weekend ahead–getting together with old and new friends, and a neighborhood parade–so I probably won’t make it back here until next week.
Happy weekend! Happy last day of June!
By jen | June 30, 2011 | Blog, music, randoms |

Ode to Summer

So, I’m neck deep in revising my fourth draft, feeling terribly clever at times and like I’m missing some brain cells at others. It feels like it’s going s-l-o-w, like I don’t get enough time to work on it. That’s probably because I don’t get enough time to work on it. Hello, four kids!

Yup, it’s busy here. I’m considering having myself cloned. Or better yet, cloning someone who’s much better at keeping the house clean and making well-rounded dinners than I am (which could, in fact, be just about anyone). Or maybe just hiring someone to do that. (I suppose they don’t necessarily need to be a clone.) *big dramatic sigh* Perhaps I’ll do that someday. In the meantime, I’ll keep ignoring the mountain of clean laundry waiting oh-so-patiently to be folded across the room from me. And feeding the children cereal for dinner. (Not all the time, I swear. We had a real dinner last night.)

This is in our garden. I get to look at it every day. Aren’t I the luckiest?
And don’t ask me what kind of flower it is. I don’t know. I just know it’s pretty.

But you know what? It’s summer! There is playing outside to be done, walks to be taken, ponds to frolic in fully clothed (oh, yes, kids fully submerged themselves in neighbors’ pond today on our walk that took us only halfway down the street before we stopped to test out the water). Two and a half hours later we came home drenched (well, they did–I was still dry), tired, and happy. Ah! The beauty of summer days–exhausted children! They all fell asleep quickly and early. And I got time to write.

Oh, Summer. Thee I love.

By jen | June 27, 2011 | Blog, summer |

This Moment

 

In this moment I am . . .

* excited to have seen the first monarch of the summer this week.

* happy for another day spent out of doors. Walking, exploring, discovering.

* tired in a good way from an afternoon spent yesterday with dear friends.

* grateful our state parks have bathrooms in which to rinse off shirts that have been thrown-up on.

* looking forward to picking strawberries and sugar snap peas when we go pick up the fresh goodness at our CSA farm today.

* anticipating the sweet, simple joy those strawberries and peas will bring to my kids.

* saddened at the diagnosis of a loved one.

* glad it’s Friday and we get a weekend to spend all together.

* lucky to spend my days with four growing littles, and my nights creating imaginary people.

What’s going on for you in this moment?

By jen | June 24, 2011 | Blog |

Randoms

A few random items of interest today:

I’m totally loving author Barry Eisler right now. He’s gotten a lot of flack and been the object of much speculation since he turned down a two-book half million dollar deal with St. Martin’s Press. His move, along with the success of certain indie authors, has shone a bright hot spotlight on self publishing. He’s responded across the web with integrity, intelligence, and politeness. Yesterday he responded to a piece on self publishing at Salon. He’s number 11 in comments.

Have you heard about Salman Khan and the Khan Academy? Yeah, me neither. Until last week, that is. I rediscovered a site I hadn’t visited in a long time called Freely Educate (which, by the way, has the best tag line I’ve seen: “proving that a high quality education can indeed be 100% free”). Khan Academy was listed there, so I clicked. It’s a free site where kids can learn K-12 math, as well as some humanities subjects, finance, and some sciences. Take a look at Sal’s TED talk, and if that doesn’t get you excited about education I don’t know what will. It’s twenty minutes of time well-spent. (Though his talk is about 15 minutes in reality, then he answers some questions posed by Bill Gates.)

Riley (almost 9) and Torin (7) both signed up for it. While Torin’s not terribly interested in it yet, Riley is steamrolling his way through the lessons and LOVING it. I expect he’ll have mastered everything through calculus in a couple of months. (I’m kidding. But you know what? He might.) Regardless of whether you go to school or home school, if you want to learn, relearn, or need some extra explanation, this is the place to go. Kids can do it all on their own. Watch videos that explain the mathematical concept, do practice exercises, and get small rewards for their efforts. And it’s free. Sal Khan is my new hero.

Lastly, this is just the coolest time-lapsed video of Earth, some views from space, some from Earth. What an amazing planet we live on.

Happy Wednesday!

By jen | June 22, 2011 | Blog, randoms |