Did we have fun watching these things grow and pop up everywhere throughout the summer and early fall!
Ok...so these two pics below...they're the same pumpkin, first from the front and then from the back. I find it stunningly like what social media quite often represents...1st the pretty, perfect pumpkin, yet, reality is that the back is squished, dirty and won't stand up by itself so it's propped up by a rock. Deep thoughts with pumpkins...🎃
We ended the day with Aldi's pizza, monopoly and a fire going out on the patio. Sounds delightful, right? Well, that was after having to miss church because of our whacked out divided family/pick up mayhem/general dysfunction and blah-blah...and some real poor sportsmanship, near tears behavior during monopoly at times (no, not from me, hahaha...though it was close when I got a request for a carpool change late in the evening that I could NOT fathom being able to do and feeling bad about it)...so, yes...there were some beautiful, perfect moments to the day and then, looking a little deeper...there were also the squished up, dirty parts too! Sounds like real life.
Our hockey player fractured his radial neck at a trampoline park last Friday. He got casted today and amazingly, if things go as they're supposed to, will be only casted for two weeks. But then will have some "range of motion" stuff to work on before getting back into anything. Going to be a quieter time for this athlete.
A radial neck fracture can occur when you fall onto your elbow, or most commonly, when you fall onto an outstretched hand (and the force of impact is transmitted up the forearm to the elbow). Its an injury also commonly seen in adults (but slightly different, see talk).
For more about the radial neck, follow this link. Hahaha...I'm sure you have plenty of time to go read up on radial necks. (-:
Now Pumpkins...
I planted some seeds at the end of June, I think four took, HUGE seeds, and they've taken over the back corner of the yard. Can't wait to pull them out of the pumpkin patch as we get into October. My giant one (maybe three feet diameter) above was pale yellow like the one next to it that I just discovered today, forever. Just started turning orange this week. There are SO many little ones just getting started too, not sure how far they'll get before the end of October or frost hits. Super fun though!
I just let them keep growing, free-range like (haha) since no one uses this space really. See them growing up the trees in the back? One recently plopped it's self on that blue tarp covering my picnic table (never quite got that out this summer), one crept into this no-man's land of space in the middle of this triangle of trees on the border of our yard and our neighbors, one tried to grow onto my back neighbor's lawn but got lawn-mowed over. Kind of cracks me up all the pumpkin vines everywhere.
Little would you have ever known that while taking but a mere moment on our drive to school/work to snap this tranquil picture of such divine, natural beauty, my car was in an uproar of "MOM!! What are you doing??!! MOM, Let's GOOOOO, come on, let's get going!! MAAAAAHHHHHHMMMMM, StopTakingPictures!!"
Well there's just loads of stuff going on with this pic. First, I edited it on my iPhone because I wanted to get rid of my address on the mailbox. Looked and looked for a little "blur out" feature to no avail and then came upon this "magnify circle" thingy. Thought it had a kinda cool effect and it covered up the address. Second, some ladies at church have uploaded the bible app and it's pretty cool. You can select any version of the bible to read. Some of us are reading the New Testament in a year together. I've kinda taken to making "verse images" too. The pic above was made in the bible app. You can select one of their pre-fab designs or upload your own design with whatever verse or words you'd like. I've made quite a few now with my own pictures and just post them over on my bible app home page...literally, my only social media these days and I like it so much better than all the others (of which I suppose I only ever had facebook, haha). And, the zinnia garden, planted by seed pretty late in June, absolutely thriving.
Wow, what an awesome discovery as we made time to be with Lara while she stayed on at university this summer. I can't believe the terrain we traipsed upon while hiking this park, it was so dramatically different from our state only five hours away. We still have areas to hike in the park so hopefully we'll get back there again. We stayed at their lodge the first night as we arrived late and camped in their campground the second night. Worked really well.
Awesome suspension bridge!
Don't get many pics of this girl as she spreads her wings.
💖
Love that this guy chooses to wear shirts with scripture on them.
He was given hand shakes and positive feedback from a few strangers about his shirt, great to experience.
The Punch Bowl.
Fun.
Harrison singing to the heavens!
(-:
Wedge Rock.
Um...Yep...
Cool place to rest.
Wished we had time to be on that river.
Next time.
And then...who would have believed it...the state park had an olympic sized swimming pool...and...I forgot my suit! What??!! (-:
We actually camped three times this summer, how cool was that?
Oh . . . well . . . I think more accurately it's First Day of School and fruits & veggies, but I'll fix that up later. Now...let's try this again shall we...
Harrison's 1st Day of School
10th Grade!
And he actually did kinda get the hair slicked over.
This is the crack of dawn for me, so when he said, "Should I drive?" and I hadn't had coffee or anywhere near a good nights sleep, and our drive is down the highway with lots o' cars...that question got some kind of garbled..."noI'lldoit" . . .or something. It's all a blur. But, as a record keeper of life, I got the picture!
Just pulled into the school's driveway and had to capture the sunrise just peaking over the trees with the first day of school boy, who's in his second year of "no school uniform" and as an excellent driving student busted me for taking a photo while driving in the school driveway, oops! Just look at how peaceful that view of the school campus is out the window.
We do have a little drive to get there (carpool starting next week so I won't be all the way down at the school daily as I knew would be the case when he initiated his desire to attend this particular school), but he was absolutely led to the best place for him. It is unfortunate the fall out from his desire to be here as SP and his family so vehemently and with a legal battle even, tried to prevent him from attending this school. Strangely, they'd never even met with any teachers, attended an open house, met the principle, nothing. So, so other-worldly of an experience. All of that started only a few months after Ben's death if one can even imagine and it's resulted now in an unfortunate break between Harrison and half his family. Tragic, but as always, we continue to be held in His care! Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
🌟
wow...some "real life" mentioned here on the old, feel good blog. So let's snap back to recognizing the beauty of the day and get on to the fruits and vegetables issue at hand...
Once and for all . . .
Tomatoes are Fruit!
But cucumbers aren't!
(-:
Was out in the yard again walking my vegetables around for a good photo session.
Discovered this spot on top of the grill cover of the Weber grill that's leaving in exchange for a sweet one from my brother J!
Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?
The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example.
As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits, such as tomatoes or bean pods, may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term 'fruit' may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example.
So, the answer to the question is that a tomato is technically the fruit of the tomato plant, but it's used as a vegetable in cooking.
THOUGHT I'D KEEP THESE TWO INTERESTING FOLLOW UPS...(-: . . .
All cleaned up, slicked back and ready to go . . .
Oh...um...wait a sec...
Where's the pic?
Oh yeah...Best First Day of School Ever was...
NO SCHOOL on the first day of school!
Say what??!!
Yep.
Storm knocked the school's power out last night.
Got the call at 5:30a.m.
Rumor has it power came back on 15 minutes after that call.
I guess there's no "take backs" once you make the "cancelled" call.
What a luck out!
Oh...since we're here...anyone remember saying someone was a "luck out?" I grew up saying that in the 70's. Now that I've typed it I have no idea what that even really means, what's with the "out" part of "luck out?" Time to go ask my good friend Google...just a sec...
Well...not a lot of help, everyone just changes it to "lucked out," which I get. Still...what's with the "out?"
luckout, to have an instance or run of exceptionallygoodluck:
He luckedoutwhen he made a hole in oneduringthetournament. Or...let's say...had their first day of school cancelled
Origin of luck
1400_50;lateMiddleEnglishluk < MiddleDutchluc,apheticform of high middle German, gelucke;cognatewith G. Glück; lateOldNorselukka,lykka
Our much-loved lakes are tucked down the hills from this corn field.
Liv and I darted out for one more quick swim and jump at 7:40p.m. tonight. Truth be told, this is our regular departure/arrival time at the lake. Not many days we're out there in the full afternoon sun...by choice.
Couldn't motivate today with the stifling humidity and sporadic thunderstorms to have a rip-roaring Labor Day today. Had some good fun and pool swimming with friends yesterday though. The great thing is my brother J just moved onto a little lake so we get to extend our jumps, fishing and kayaking a little later into September, YAY!
Jump #1
Our last tip of a sunset behind some threatening clouds that were approaching.
A pano of Liv heading over for jump #2.
Jump #2
Still a bit o' pink peaking out.
We then swam out to the middle of the lake with floaty noodles, tried standing on the noodles and...flash...saw some lightening off to the west past the tree line...time to go. )-:
The Biggest Tree
It extends quite a bit past the borders of this pic.
Liv was exclaiming how HUGE it was as we walked back up the hill.
So we stopped for a pic. Don't think we have any pics of this grand tree.
Often, big parties of people will locate under this tree for their gatherings.
We haven't ever as its a bit away from the lake and we just bring a screen tent if we're having a big group with us.
Up the hill at the parking lot.
Last pic of the year.
Looking north from the first lake, the tree line is the road outside the private farm that houses this private lake club.
