We had a wet, warm week. The weather was weird. (That’s a lot of alliteration.) Monday was a school holiday and a planned big work day at home. Stacey ended up having to go to work all day, but Josiah and I stayed home and got a lot done. We mowed and tilled and trimmed and were both very tired by the end of the day. Even so, there’s still a lot left to do.
The weather was warm, but not what I would call Indian Summer. Indian Summers are supposed to be warm, dry, and sunny. We had rain almost every day. It was nice to have temperatures near 80 for part of the week, but it was too damp to do much. On Wednesday evening just at sunset we had a beautiful rainbow. It glowed in the east for almost half an hour. The combination of rainbow colors in the east and sunset colors in the west was spectacular, something I’d never seen before. We’ve had so many beautiful sunsets lately.
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| Wild geese flying through the rainbow in the eastern sky on Wednesday evening. |
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| Sunset in the western sky on Wednesday. |
We got more canning done during the week. On Monday I finished canning grape juice and made another batch of grape jelly. On Thursday Stacey processed our squash and pumpkins and put them in the freezer. We juiced the last of the elderberries and put the juice in the freezer. We have enough elderberry jelly down cellar, so we’re not turning it into jelly but will use the juice for cold a flu remedies. I only have a batch of pear-quince jelly to make this week and then I think we’re finally done with canning and can put the canner and jars away until next year. There are still cabbages, carrots, and apples, in the garden but and they won’t be canned.
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| Pears and quinces waiting to be turned into jelly. |
There was an odd occurrence on the back porch last week. My little bonsai mume tree bloomed. Just one pink flower. It shouldn't bloom until early spring. I don't know why it's blooming now. Maybe the day length now is the same as the day length in the spring when it usually blooms and it got confused. Whatever the reason, it is lovely and it makes me happy to see and smell it.
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| A single mume blossom on my bonsai tree. |
Daniel will be home on Wednesday. We’ve been awaiting this day in high anticipation for a long time. We’re so proud of him for serving the Lord for two years. Thinking about his homecoming makes me think of my own homecoming way back in 1979. The two events are pretty much opposites. Daniel, from all appearances, is coming back healthy and a few pounds heavier than when he left. I came home thin and sick with a bad case of bronchitis. Daniel is returning to a home he’s known pretty much all of his life, a place that hasn’t changed much during his absence. I was like the man in the John Denver song – I came home to place I’d never been before. My family had moved from Illinois to Los Angeles while I was gone. But some things are the same. He is coming home to a family that loves him and can hardly wait to see him. That’s the same. I hope he’s coming home with a feeling of having done something great, that he’s been on an adventure, endured trials, felt triumphs, and is returning home with honor. That’s how I felt.
After a week of strange, warm, rainy weather, things got cold over the weekend and we awoke to find snow on the ground this morning. It was just a thin crust, but it made me cringe. I like snow – within limits. It can snow from Thanksgiving until the end of February and that’s fine with me. I like snow during the winter in moderate amounts. But October is too early for me, although it’s not uncommon here. The snow didn’t last long. There was no sign of it by the time we got home from church. Seeing even this brief glimpse of snow on the ground has intensified my need to get things in the house, barn, and garden prepared for the cold months. We’ll be busy this week.
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| Snow this morning. |
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| Snow covered cabbage. |
