Well here we are. It’s September now. The year is definitely in decline. It’s dark now when I get up in the mornings. On Friday, the first day of the new month, it was 33° when I went down to do the morning chores. One degree lower and we might have had frost. I have grape, tomato, and pumpkin vines loaded with unripe fruit. They’re not ready for frost and neither am I. But that’s how September is. Things get colder. Not that August was very warm to begin with.
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| Dahlia. |
The trees are showing definite signs of changing now – there is color starting to show on the hills and I’m already cleaning leaves off the lawn. Out in the garden the sunflowers are blooming. I always think they are late, but when I checked my garden entries for past years, I find that this is when they always bloom. My dahlias are spectacular right now. I brought some in and made a bouquet. I’m waiting for a shipment of fall bulbs to arrive and then I will be busy planting and dreaming of spring.
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| Sunflower. |
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| Sunflower bud. |
Once school starts my world takes on an entirely different feel. During the summer, when I’m just working at home, I don’t have to shave every morning or care about how I’m dressed. But when school starts, I’m pretty much on call. I have to be ready every weekday morning in case they need me. That means I have to look presentable at a moment’s notice. That puts restrictions on my summer casualness. Last week I was called in two days. This week I’m already scheduled for three days. That’s how it goes from now until next June.
I harvested more onions last week. It’s been a good year for onions. These are red onions – the biggest red onions I’ve ever grown. They are sweet and mild and delicious. I still have a row of Yellow Spanish onions to harvest.
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| Red onions on the back porch. |
We made a batch of relish last week. We finally had enough cucumbers saved, we had plenty of onions, and a friend of ours gave us beautiful peppers. Daniel helped me do the grinding on Monday and we salted it and let it rest. On Tuesday I cooked it and canned it. We got 16 pints, enough to last us a year if we’re careful.
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| Grinding cucumbers, onions, and peppers. |
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| Relish ready to cook. |
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| The finished relish. |
On Friday I took Daniel to the airport in Rochester where he caught a flight to Thessaloniki, in Greece. He’ll be in Greece for a few weeks then go on to Monsampietro Morico, Italy, where he will be until the end of October. We were worried about him flying. Last week he had surgery to have a pilonidal cyst removed from his tail bone. It was a simple outpatient surgery, but he has stitches and for a week has not been able to sit comfortably. We didn’t know how he would do sitting for ten hours in airplanes, but he seems to have done just fine. He flew from Rochester to JFK and then to Istanbul and then on to Athens and then to Thessaloniki where his cousin Emma met him. She’s been in Greece a few weeks already. We’re excited to hear about his adventures.
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| Daniel ready to embark. |
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| Daniel in Thessaloniki. |
I’ll admit that I’m a little nervous about Daniel’s adventure. So much of the world is unsafe and unstable these days. I’m not concerned about Italy so much, but Greece worries me. Daniel has never traveled out of the country before. I think he’ll be fine, but I’m a worrier. He’s with Emma and she has foreign travel experience, and that helps my anxiety a little. I worry and yet at the same time, I’m also a little envious of Daniel. My children (actually just my daughters until now) have gone places I’ve only ever dreamed about visiting. They’ve been to Belize, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Israel, Mexico, and Hawaii. Now Daniel will have gone to Greece and Italy and, since he flew into Istanbul, Turkey too. My wife has been to Hawaii, the Netherlands, England, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and France. I’m not as well traveled. I was in Japan for two years and I’ve been to Canada a few times (which doesn’t really count as a foreign country) and once when we lived in LA I drove down to Tijuana (which is Mexico, but just barely). Now, in my advancing years, I’m not keen on traveling so much, but in my heart I still long to see certain places.
When I was younger I dreamed of going to Europe. I’d read great amounts of European History. I actually did more than read and dream. At one point, after my mission, when I was in my early twenties, I saved some money and made plans – detailed plans – to go to Europe. I was going to go to Greece, Italy, Austria, Germany, and England. I knew which hostels I was going to stay at, which places I would visit, how much everything would cost. I spoke a little German from high school and college and I had studied a little Greek (I still remember how to ask for a room with a bath and if eggs are available). I was ready to go. But I didn’t want to go alone and no one could or would go with me. So I didn’t go. Now I wonder if I’ll ever see those places. I hope Daniel takes a lot of photos.
Next year the Rome Temple is supposed to be finished. We are hoping to fly over and go to the open house. I’ve even decided to give up my 2018 gardening allowance to go toward the cost of the trip. Who knows what will happen between now and then, but I can dream.
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| Another dahlia. |
Rachel and her family moved this weekend. They now live near Pittsburgh. We’re excited that they live just four hours away. They are coming up to visit us in a few weeks. We can visit back and forth more often now that we live closer to each other. I love being with my family. Hannah and Miriam are home right now and Daniel was and will be again in November. It’s nice having children and grandchildren around.
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| White dahlia. |
Today it is raining. I think this might be the remnant of Hurricane Harvey, but if it is, I think it should be warmer than this. It is chilly. As I sit here, I have an electric heater on to take the chill out of the room. This morning we lit the pilot on the furnace – something we don’t usually do until October. The thermostat is still set to 40°, so the heat won’t come on for a while yet, but we are ready if we need to turn it up. We’ve already made plans to get firewood. It makes me sad to think about it. But the seasons do roll on.
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| Bouquet of dahlias. |
