After driving by a box full of abandoned puppies on the back dirt road to TGT Friday night, we couldn’t get them out of our mind. So, on Saturday Matt went back and rescued them. All five of them. They are so cute…and skinny. We hope to be able to find a good home for at least a few of them. We tried to give them to Fiona for her birthday, but that doesn’t work very well. 
Want one?
We’ve lived here for almost 5 years AND we have coffee trees in our yard. They are beautiful and the flowers smell amazing, but we’ve never attempted to actually make coffee from them. One lazy Sunday Matt decided that was the day that we’d start.
Coffee Trees Blooming
Ripe Coffee Beans
Putting the worker bees to work
Matt getting started on separating the good beans and removing the pulp (red part)
That was before we figured out the ‘wet’ method of mashing them to remove the outer pulp
The beans then had to ferment in water for almost a day to remove the slimy part
Then we let the beans dry out in the sun for about a week
At this point the beans still had an outer husk (parchment layer) on them that needed to be removed (you can see it starting to peel off a couple in the picture above). Luckily Mama Jackie had the appropriate tools to help pull that off, so we didn’t have to manually do it. Or at least the process wasn’t as manual as it could have been. (After a bit of research I learned that some people just leave the parchment layer on and roast it all together)
Now we’re left with the green bean that’s ready for roasting.
Right now the house smells amazing!
Roasted (~30 min)
Ready to drink
Definitely not bad for a first try; we just might have to do this again. We ended up with just over a pound and a half of coffee. Nice!
In other news…..
We got a 9 year old last week. She’s pretty amazing. She had a birthday party…actually a few. It’s not every day you get to turn 9.
Also, last week I was swarmed by bees while out for a run. Luckily I am not allergic and was finally able to outrun them and get back home. It was very scary, and I counted 13 different bee stings leaving angry welts on my head, arms, and back that had me uncomfortable for a few days. Benadryl at bedtime did wonders. I’ll definitely never run without my phone again.
We are back into the busy school routine plus piano (Tierney), guitar (Ashlyn), soccer (Anderson), and, swimming (all). It’s been warming up, and we’ve been riding bikes to school – it’s a great way to start the morning.
This weekend will be one of those really hard to be abroad weekends. One of my beautiful Goddaughters/nieces, Queen Fiona, is turning 6. Now we miss lots of birthdays to be sure, but hers is the day before the Second Annual Mike Coyle Fun Run. It was such a great event and it kills me that I can’t be there again this year. So, if you are in the area, get your crazy hair on, and go out and support Mike’s precious Goyles.
http://mikecoylefunrun2014.weebly.com/
And finally, Matt took a really cool photo last week in Kenya. Another rough day at the office.
After our adventure with the Holcombs, we had a quiet rest of the week in Leadville. Tierney and I even had a chance to go out and ride the Mineral Belt Trail after our legs recovered a little. This is when she asked me “Were all stores like that when you were little?”.
We also had a great time at Chelsea and John’s wedding in Keystone
We do love Leadville
Matt then dropped the kids off at “Camp Brown Haven” (Cape Cod with the Browns) and quickly returned for some meetings. We got to spend a couple nights together at a funky hotel in Denver. While Matt was in meetings, I met up with old friends from Tanzania, and we also had a great early anniversary dinner.
Cape Cod is as beautiful as ever and this year we celebrated Webb’s retirement with a sunset cruise in Barnstable Harbor and on the marsh. Congrats, Webb!
There was, of course, also great beach time and walks along the dunes.
Back in Boston we enjoyed the pool and an early celebration of Ashy’s birthday.
Now we are back at home (except for Matt who is already back on the road) and trying to get on a schedule to prepare for school that starts Monday. Despite a dead car battery, two flat tires, and no internet for the first day, it feels good to be home after a month and a half away - this morning I had eggs from our chickens with avocado and passion fruit from our yard, and for lunch I’ll have a salad made from many things from our garden (lettuce, spinach, beets…).
It was an amazing summer. Thanks to everyone for putting us up and for putting up with us. We miss you!
……..and is it just me or did we just leave AT-ATs on Hoth????
