Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon is a very nice fall blooming shrub. This particular variety is a double bloom and is a lovely pink purple shade.

Soccer!

Soccer season has begun!

Summer Bounty

We are getting to the end of our summer harvest. It has been quite dry the last few weeks and a lot of the vine crops have started with wither. We have a lot of tomatoes and corn still coming and our pumpkins are ripening nicely. Each year we try and do a little better with our garden and this summer's yield has been good.

Scavenger Hunt

The other day I did a scavenger hunt for the kids. I asked them to find various things from around the yard, ferns, moss, leaves, bark, I even threw in a dead insect and they were able to find a few. They had a lot of fun and I was pleased with their perseverance with finding things.

Moth

This little guy stopped and rested on my computer screen. He stayed there for quite a while. Thankfully he was towards the top of the screen. so I didn't have to bother him.

Reading Program

Our library has a summer reading program for children and for adults. Gabe participated in the kid's program. He had to read at least 20 minutes a day, 6 days a week and each week he could pick a prize out of the box.

For the adult program (high school and older), you list the books you read for a given time. For every three books you read, you put slip in this watering can listing the books and your name.

At the end of the summer, they hold an ice cream social for all participants and have a drawing for several prizes. The prizes have been good...Barnes and Noble gift cards, gift certificates to local merchants and nice gift baskets. Bessie and I have both won prizes over the last two years.

Tonight is the drawing and I can't wait to see if we've won anything or not! :-)

All Eyes

Bessie has been working on several dissections this week to finish up her biology book. Today she was doing a fish and she had quite the captive audience. The other kids were so interested in the whole thing. At one point Dan said, "Oh, wow!".

Harvest Time

We are seeing lots of tractors, combines and balers around our area. It is harvest time in the northeast. Some farmers, like our neighbors, chop their corn and use it for silage. Others, use combines and just harvest the ears of corn. Either way, the kids love watching the machinery doing their job.

Signs of the Season

Yikes! I am seeing more and more leaves tinged with red, orange or yellow. Fall is just around the corner. I am not ready for summer to be over.

Tomatoes

We are getting a lot of tomatoes from our garden. One of the wonderful sights of summer are all the red beauties lining our windows.

Logo from VBS

Local Reservoir

Trillium

Seed head from a Trillium

Thunder Showers

The skies finally let loose this aftenoon and we had some wonderful thunder and lightening and rain. The air cooled off a bit, but not too much. We needed the rain and I'm sure the plants are sighing from the refreshment.

Pink and Purple

Purple gay feather and pink bee balm

Golden Skies

Everyday seems to bring a different sunset. This golden sky seemed hot just like our weather.

Baby Pumpkin

We have several of these nice little pumpkins growing on the veins. We will have a nice crop of pumpkins by fall.

Water Lily Blooms

The water lily has these lovely pink blooms. My water garden is not very big, but it is one of my favorite parts of the garden.

Corn Silk

The corn across the road has started to show silk. This particular corn has a wonderful red color silk.

Daylily

The flowers in my perennial border seem especially nice this summer. I'm not sure if it the extra attention I have been giving them, the regular rain fall or something else, but they are lovely. This is a new daylily that I added this summer and I just love this red color.