Our Japanese student Masayo arrived in September and has been a perfect addition to our family. She has fun with the kids, loves to eat (ice cream) and has a great sense of humor. Her English is very good. We’re really enjoying having her around, and will miss her when she goes home!
September: it’s all about new beginnings (who doesn’t love those?). It’s also about observing the beginning of the end of the life that Spring gave birth to. I love both seasons for different reasons, but there’s something mellow and beautiful about September… I just can’t get enough of being outside! Know what I mean?
We ended the summer off on a high note by visiting our friends in Westbank. As usual, our time was fun-filled, refreshing, and too short! If only there weren’t quite so many miles between us…
playing at the beach
eating perfect peaches
witnessing a baptism
playing in the yard
Thank you, guys, for a most enjoyable weekend!
Sadly, summer is long gone, and I’m so far behind with my posting! Never mind; the memories are warm and sunny, and the perfect remedy to a cool and dreary Autumn day. Let’s see if I can recap the second half of summer in a single post… here goes!
…blueberry muffins
…meeting our newest family member, Sabin
…Andreas’ birthday
…daydreaming at Swan Lake
…catching butterflies
…swimming lessons
…beach days
How do we love thee, Summer? These are just a few of the ways…
This was the summer that Anika mastered her 2-wheeler (and Andreas probably lost 10 pounds from all that running behind her)! Here she is looking proud as punch riding in front of our house for the first time solo:
Benjamin too got caught up in all the excitement and decided there was no reason that he couldn’t learn to ride as well. So in September off came the training wheels, and off he went! (Poor Daddy sweated another 10 lbs away… but my is he looking good!) Here’s Benjamin practicing his skills in the parking lot up the road:
(Boys and their antics… this particular crash was staged!)
Our garden didn’t flourish as well this summer as in years past; we were busier than we’d expected and didn’t make yard work a high priority. Add to that the fact that the summer was hotter and dryer than it’s been in a long time and… well, things weren’t what they could have been!
Nevertheless, we did enjoy some lovely cut flowers, some tomatoes and green beans, a little rhubarb and zucchini and quite a few raspberries. Our peach tree loved the heat and produced about 4 dozen peaches, and we had a pretty good crop of figs (all but a few eaten by Benjamin!).
We also reaped a harvest that required nothing of us but the taking of it (yes, exactly like the salvation offered us by God!). Heaps and heaps of blackberries abound in our neck of the woods, and Andreas and the kids have discovered all the best “secret” spots to find them. Thanks to his vertical prowess, Andreas can reach the juiciest, plumpest berries that few others can, and the eager collectors below wait with open buckets and hands (and mouths) for the sweet deposits. Dre and the kids spent hours picking berries this year, and our freezer now contains no fewer than 25 pounds of them!
We also discovered a trio of large wild plum trees that grow on public property near us, and no one seems to pick them! A neighbor said that in the past he’s seen hundreds of the little green gems lying forsken on the ground. Not this year though, because we carted wagonfuls of them home and turned them into jam. A pantry full of it!
Isn’t it wonderful to reap a harvest?
Oh! mark the great, the liberal hand,
That scatters blessings on the land;
And to the God of nature raise
The grateful song, the hymn of praise.
from “Harvest Hymn” byFelicia Hemans, 1835.
…make lemonade! During the recent heatwave we decided to make lemonade “from scratch” using real lemons. The kids had fun juicing the lemons and mixing the ingredients together. I was surprised how much better it tasted than the stuff from concentrate! Ahhhh, it hit the spot.
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.
from “the Ocean” by Lord Byron
Our love affair with Mayne Island continues… We spent a perfect, if too-short week there in July and in spirit, we haven’t left it yet.
Campbell Point
Kadonaga Bay
Campbell Bay
Japanese Gardens & Dinner Bay
Piggot Bay
In one of the caves behind our cabin, Anika and Benjamin happened to stumble across an old treasure map. Though shrouded in mystery, the ‘X’ seemed to indicate a spot on the shores of Piggot Bay. Sure enough, after much (frenzied!) exploring, the kids discovered a “pirate” flag and unearthed a bucketful of real buried treasure! Arghhhhh!
As it turns out, low tide at Piggot Bay reveals treasures galore…
a morning at Meadowmist Farm
Miner’s Bay
Oyster Bay
around the cabin
Mayne Island Market
heading home
At the end of the school year, grades K-3 participate in a special sports day which is filled with games, relays, freezies and lots of fun. Grandpa, Grandma and Aunty Sylvia came to cheer Anika on. I volunteered to help run one of the water games – with Benjamin as my helper. By the end of the first hour, I was hoarse! We all had a great time (perhaps best of all, in my opinion, was that that kids were ready for bed by 6:30!). Here are some pictures to prove it.
