Winding down? Or is it?

It’s August. For us a normal August means a trip to the State Fair, at least one more time at the aquatic center, letting the kids have friends over one more time before school starts, our friends Dot and Scott coming to Iowa and staying with us, and preparing for school. This summer it also means a vacation to Minnesota. Which of course means spending some time with my uncle Hoop and aunt Caroline. What a treat that will be. I am so looking forword to it. We are also going to stay in a cabin on a lake while we are there. It comes with a boat and the boys plan on fishing 24/7. Sounds fine to me. I can fish or read a book on the boat. Just being on the water will be great.

What else has been going on…hummmm. Today Kinzie and I went outside for a while and sat on the swing set and just swang. We watched the cats while they played, sharpened their nails on a log and talked about that and talked about what a nice day it was.
As I was sitting there on the swing beside her I wondered if I ever did that kind of thing with my own kids. Just sat on the swing and enjoyed the moment with them. Or was I to busy always thinking about the things I should have been doing instead of enjoying the time together.
Maybe that is why they say that being a grandparent is so great. You are seasoned enough to know that those things that you said had to be done will always be there. You will do the dishes and there will be more in a matter of hours. Your laundry will always be there. For some reason people feel like they need to change clothes all the time. So you give yourself permission to enjoy the moment and not feel quilty about it.

I have really enjoyed working in the yard this summer. My tomatoe plants are beautiful. Big, lush and full. I am beginning to pick tomatoes. Enough for us to eat and probably by the time I get back from vacation I will be able to start cannning. I am going to make some homeade tomatoe soup this year. It is so good I can smell it cooking allready. I have planted a new crop of zucchini. I did not get any in earlier this summer. I love it and thought it was worth a try, there should be plenty of summer left to get some still. I also put in a second crop of beans but so far the bugs have just devoured the leaves and not too much is left. I was thinking that maybe I would redo that section and put in some broccoli or some other cold weather crop. Maybe some lettuce and not tell Kinzie since she planted the last batch and every time I tried to pick it she would tell me to put it back.

More soon
“B”