Full day...

We had a very productive day today. I started the day by making a big pancake, egg, and sausage breakfast. I love making pancakes, and Sunday seems to be the only day that I can carve out time to make them. So, I was happy to find myself in my robe hovering over my trusty cast iron pan that I use for pancakes.
Then, we put Lili down for a nap and Alex and I turned off our phone and listened to NPR's "This American Life" while drinking coffee and doodling around with some watercolors.
Then, Alex harvested most of the remaining basil in our garden, and Ema came over and we all made pesto with our new food processor! I did read that in Italy they do all the chopping by hand and it is supposedly far more superior. However, we did not do it this way.
Then we went up the road (only 1/4 mile) to pick more apples. The kids were climbing the tree barefoot and at my eye level all I could see were their summer worn feet. Something about them in the trees felt very classic. We shook the branches and the apples fell to the ground with a thunk, thunk, thunk. A very satisfying noise.
Then, we went to a different neighbor's house and had a late afternoon apple pressing. Lili sat in her stroller and watched the chaos and excitement around the press for at least 15 mins before she wanted to get out.
The apple press works like this: Somebody cranks the wheel to the left and apples get thrown in this chute. The apples get taken in the teeth of the rotating wheel inside and smashed up as they roll through and down into the bucket below.
Then when the bucket is full of apple mash, you take the crank at the top of the press and twist clockwise. This pushes the wooden plate inside the bucked down and presses the juice of the apples out, where it then drains into your waiting vessel. (In this case a bowl)

We made a lot of juice that got consumed right away (Lili drank 1 and 1/2 sippy-cups full) and we filled a five gallon jug to make into hard cider as well.

It was nice to have such a day. These past few weeks have felt very full, and overall I feel consumed by my seemingly never-ending to-do list. There have been days this last week where the dirty laundry felt like it was going to eat me... Although today was busy- This is the kind of busy that I relish- busy, productive, yet nurturing.