Summer Adieu

The week was warm and lovely, but there was a feeling of sadness in the air. Late summer, for all its glory, is sad. I can always sense the changes waiting just ahead. A morning that’s a little cooler, a prematurely changed maple leaf that’s fallen on the lawn, a whiff of wood smoke on the breeze makes me melancholy. Things will soon change and I’m not ready for it.

Late summer sunset.

It rained enough during the week so that I didn’t have to water the garden, which was nice. We’re eating tomatoes now, but the big harvest is yet to come. The lawn has fully recovered from the dry spell. It’s lush and green and needs to be mowed twice a week just like it did back in May. I’ve begun cleaning out the flower beds, pulling up spent plants and weeding. It will soon be time to plant fall bulbs and I need to have some clear space for that.

The long flower bed.

In the world of wild flowers, the goldenrod and asters are in bloom now. In the garden, these are dahlia days. I love their bright colors and perfect forms. The morning glories are glorious now. I planted two kinds, purple Grandpa Ott’s and Heavenly Blue. Every morning I go out to look at them. Until this morning, only the Grandpa Ott’s were blooming, but when I went out this morning there was one Heavenly Blue open. I hope many more will follow.

Dahlia.

Another dahlia.

Asters and elderberries by the back porch.

Morning glories.

Canning season proceeds apace. On Monday I made pickles and crab apple jelly. We picked up a bushel of peaches from the Amish. They were very ripe so Hannah, Josiah, and I set to work right away and blanched and froze them. I saved some out and made a batch of peach jam. We got another bushel of peaches on Thursday, but they weren’t quite ripe, so we waited until Saturday to blanch and freeze them. I will also use some to make another batch of jam.

The week's worth of canning.

On Tuesday we picked apples. Well, we didn’t actually pick them. The apples on the yellow transparent tree were ripe and falling off the tree, so we laid a tarp under the tree and Josiah climbed up in it and shook the branches. Hundreds of apples came tumbling down. We put them into five gallon buckets on the back porch. I estimate that there are over two hundred pounds of apples out there. So applesauce making has begun in earnest. Unfortunately, yellow transparent apples are very tender and shaking them down from the tree bruised many of them. We’ll have to work quickly to can them before they go bad. I’ll be working on that all day tomorrow.

Josiah shaking down apples.

Gathering apples on a tarp.

Apples waiting to be processed.

Tuesday afternoon I asked Daniel to tend the bees. I can’t risk working with them anymore since I’ve been having such bad reactions to their stings and they seem bent on stinging me. Daniel prides himself on being a bee whisperer. The bees seem to like him. So he donned the bee suit and opened one of the hives. It went well at first. He looked at two frames of comb. One was brood comb, the other only partly filled with honey, so he put them back. When he pulled up the third frame, a bee stung him through his glove. Then instantly the bees went crazy. They mobbed him stinging the fabric of the bee suit. Some of the stings made it through to his skin. He let out a yell and fled the orchard with a cloud of bees in hot pursuit. Those of us who were watching from a distance took off in all directions. When Daniel finally escaped the last bee, he came into the house (we checked him thoroughly to make sure there were no bees hiding on him) and we counted the stings. Six stings – on his hand, his elbow, arms, and back. If that had been me, I would have ended up in the hospital. So at this point I’m thinking I may have to give up keeping bees. I can’t take care of them. Even Daniel the bee whisperer can’t handle them. I’ll have to ponder on this.

Daniel tending bees a moment before the stinging began.

A big change came to us on Thursday. School started. I don’t usually get called in to school until the second or third week, but on Wednesday afternoon the school called and said a teacher had a death in the family and could I cover the first two days of school for high school ag. So on Thursday morning I went to school all by myself. It felt odd to have no children of my own in the school. I’d never been in school on the first day as a teacher. It was hectic. Some of the students were wild. Some were confused. Some were both. Now that school has started, summer is over. I’m back on a rigid schedule. I have to be up and bathed, shaved, and dressed every weekday morning just in case the school calls.

Going to school by myself.

Yesterday morning Daniel and Seth left. It was great having them here. We put them to work while they were here, but we managed to have some fun too. We played croquet and board games, we had fires out in fire pit almost every night. Yesterday they drove to Detroit where they will spend today with Sarah and Tosh. Then they will go on to Missouri on Monday, then Colorado on Tuesday, and then back to St. George by Wednesday night. I didn’t want them to go. I never want my children to leave when they come home. Today the house seems too quiet, as it always does after company leaves – especially Daniel who brings a lot of life and noise home. Stacey, Josiah, and I went up to the temple on Saturday morning. We were not here when Daniel and Seth left. I don’t know if that made harder or easier for me.

A game of croquet.

Playing Seven Wonders.

This week on Wednesday Stacey, Hannah, and Josiah are leaving. Hannah and Josiah are going down to Tennessee to visit Rachel’s family for a week. Stacey is going to Arizona to a niece’s wedding. That means I’ll be home alone for five days. I can keep myself busy, I never have a problem with that. With painting, canning, garden work, and chores, there’s always plenty do do. The quiet will be nice for about an hour and then it will seem oppressive to me. I won’t sleep well during their absence, I never do when I’m the only one home. I’ll survive.

We’re home from church now and settling in for a quiet Sabbath afternoon. The Shillig’s are coming here for lunch and they are bring most of the meal with them, which is nice. It’s a beautiful summer Sabbath afternoon, warm and sunny, green and breezy. I almost hate to nap through it, but I will anyway.