Zack

Zack insisted on carrying these 2 buckets of tomatoes all the way - then waited for me to take the picture - they are heavy - hence the grimace. He loves to pick the garden vegetables - we do it together every other day, but he asks to do it every day! :)

Zack with Major

and with Rusty.

Saturday afternoon

Logan poundin' 'em in!

Grampy doing the same

Major patiently waiting nearby for Grampy to be done. . .

Harvest-Time

I made a triple batch of applesauce yesterday afternoon - put a bowl in the fridge, gave a tub to Spencer's family, and froze the rest (6 quarts). It tasted pretty good, but not as good as last years made with our yellow transparents - that tree only bore 2 apples this year - so I used only cortlands this time. Next year should be good for the YT tree. Earlier this week I tried something new with tomatoes. We have tons ripening fast, so I took what we had picked and quartered them, tossed with olive oil, arranged them onto 3 foil-lined cookie sheets, sprinkled them with finely minced fresh garlic, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper - then roasted them in a 325 oven for 3 hours. After they thoroughly cooled (and just before I went to bed :) I carefully picked each panfull up by the foil and poured contents into the blender and pureed - put into freezer bags and popped into the freezer. This is my alternative this year in place of canning (I still have several quarts I canned on the shelf from last year). I don't know if it was any easier, but gives us some variety.

Saturday morning

Abe, Logan, and I moved our picnic table and benches all the way across our yard from under the big oak to the patio for the fall. I didn't know if we could lift the heavy thing, but those two boys are like a team of oxen - they both got under one end and leaned into it and with only 2 rests got it where we wanted it. I was on the other end walking backwards and had all I could do to walk fast enough to keep from being plowed over! Then we went toadstool hunting on our lawn - we counted over 100 of them, various sizes - some were as big as a dinner plate! I gave the boys permission to kick them to smithereens into the puckerbrush, which they gleefully did - didn't think Dad would want to mush them up with the mower later. Dad and Spencer are shingling again. It's a beautiful sunny day with just a touch of fall in the crystal clear air.

Another Picture Wall Has Begun!

I may still paint the frames black - not sure yet . . . advice welcome. Angel faces.

Overnight!

These toadstools are springing up everywhere

Gram's lawn

Our lawn

Definitely a sign of too much rain!!

Tuesday Morning

Abram paid me an early visit this morning - snuck (is that a real word??) up our stairs and jumped me as I was coming out of our closet (no one can actually get up our stairs without the squeaking boards announcing they're being stepped on - but I let him think he surprised me) anyway, he voluntarily helped me make my bed as we visited about random stuff. Then he asked me if I knew why he had come and proceeded to tell me he needed me to print off a picture of him for a school project. By now it was actually time to be leaving for school, so I knew this was going to be a rush job!! :) We quickly woke up my laptop - found this picture of him atop Borestone wearing his "1st to the Finish" shirt - put photo paper in the printer - pushed print - just as his Dad opened the door and urgently told him it was time to get into the car. Spencer carefully tucked the picture inside his raincoat to keep it dry and they made their mad dash to the van. I had to take a deep breath to recover! :)) All fun stuff - what a boring ho-hum morning I would have had otherwise. ;) sorry about the formatting - tried to get rid of it several times - but aaarrrggghhh could not figure it out.

In the Leafy Treetops

Abe, Logan, and Zack up close

far away

good eye contact, boys!

Logan is on his way down. I had to convince him to go back up and retrieve a packet of graham crackers. They like the idea of having a snack stash, but rain is threatening - not good for graham crackers - so he agreed to rescue them. Earlier I climbed up with them to check out the view - can't see our house but they are in easy view of their Mom looking our her kitchen window. Many hours of fun ahead this fall. Logan told me he doesn't want any leaves cluttering their floor - that will be a daily battle when the leaves begin to fall - good luck on that boys! :)

Shinglin'

Zack moving a ladder by himself! (he insisted)

Spence and Dad laboring on Labor Day

Roasting Corn

Zack and Logan love to help Grampy with any project he has going. Here they are very much involved in roasting corn down at the shady place.

The process took longer than we thought - so we decided to steam the rest of the ears back at the house. The corn was the sweetest ever tasted - we all loved it! Thanks, Grampy, for all the good things that come from your garden!

Dinner with the Wards

Ivy's parents and brother and his wife have been visiting this week

Tonight was their last night in Maine, so we had a corn roast and lasagna supper together

Considered eating al fresco at the picnic table, but the weather was iffy, so we ate in. It was fun to share time and food together. We ended with blueberry cobbler ala mode. Bj and Aleesha fly out at 6:40AM from Bangor and Rick & Muriel fly out at 2:30PM tomorrow. They have had a busy week, spent a day at Acadia, built a tree house for the boys (I'll get some pics for a later post), went to Bangor shopping a couple of times, went out for ice cream a couple of times - made some fun memories. I know the week flew by for them, trying to get in all the fun in they could store up for when they are so far away.

Life is Good!

I absolutely love this time of year - temps are pleasant, humidity is low, skies are blue, apples are crisp, the garden is producing its heart out - sublime! Yesterday we had an entire meal of garden produce: new red potatoes, pole beans, shell beans w/cream, cucumbers, tomatoes, applesauce, and blueberry muffins - well, the muffins did not come from the garden - but it was otherwise grown right here in our backyard. I love that. Today, I baked oatmeal cookies and 4 loaves of oatmeal bread - heavenly aromas filled the house. Life is good!