Monday was Labor Day and we had a quiet celebration at our house. There were just five of us, the Shilligs, Stacey, Josiah, and me. We had chicken barbeque and pasta salad, watermelon, and s’mores. It seemed strange to have such a small group, but I guess that’s the trend for the future.
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| Our Labor Day cookout. |
We finally had some hot weather here at the end of summer. Midweek the temperature started to climb and by Friday we hit a balmy 86°. I loved it. It came too late to do anything for the tomatoes, they’re already rotting in the compost, but the peppers, which were just tinged with a little blush, began to redden quickly. Things have cooled off again and it doesn’t look like they will warm up much again. It was nice while it lasted.
The big event last week was a visit from Sarah and Tash. They arrived on Friday and will be here until Wednesday morning. Because Sarah is here, Hannah came home for the weekend. It’s nice having a house almost full. We are spending most of the time doing things we love – playing games, making and eating good food, and talking and laughing together.
On Saturday we went to a friends house in Andover, New York, to put up a barn quilt they bought from us last year. It was a big 8'x8' panel and it took some ingenuity and manpower to put it up. It looks nice, a bright spot on their hundred year old barn.
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| Putting up a barn quilt. |
These last days of summer are days that I especially cherish. They are beautiful days. The mornings are often foggy with low lying ground mist. When the sun comes over the hill and shines down through the mist it is beautiful. Knowing that things are about to change quickly, I try to take time to delight in the things I see. I love the bright flowers that are still holding on in my garden – cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, and nasturtiums. The soft pink stonecrops have started to bloom. The gladiolus and dahlias are at their best now. I love to bring bouquets of them into the house. I love the goldenrod and asters that are blooming along the roads and in the fields. I love the mushrooms that pop up in the lawn. I even love the big spiders that spin their webs out in the meadow and on the front porch near the light. I see the world of green and growing things starting to shut down and come apart and I revel in all of it while it lasts.
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| A bouquet of dahlias. |
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| Stonecrops in the garden. |
Today after church we drove down the road and took family pictures in the sunflower fields in Colesburg.
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| Sunflowers. |
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| In the sunflowers. |
Tomorrow I plan to pick another batch of broccoli. I don’t know if I’ll freeze it or if we’ll just eat it. If I keep picking it and don’t let it bloom, it will produce florets until we get a hard frost. While I have Sarah and Tash here to help me, I will pull up the beets, carrots, and potatoes. The elderberries are ripe now and we need to pick them before the birds eat them all. We’re still waiting for the grapes to ripen. They are late this year and may not be ripe before the frost comes. We ordered some from the Amish just in case. We also ordered a bushel of pears since our trees didn’t produce very many this year. I guess the canning season isn’t quite over yet.
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| Broccoli. |
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| Grapes not ripe yet. |
Today is Fast Sunday. We went over to Shillig’s house to break our fast. Sarah made her version of the Taco Bell Crunch Wrap Supreme for us and a strawberry cream pie for dessert. Kurt and Julie made taquitos, salsa, guacamole, and chips. I was really hungry and the food was so good and I ate too much. I’ve got to take a brief siesta before I do anything else.
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| Our Sabbath fiesta. |
