Fall Activities

Fall has gotten serious this weekend, in 40s and rain yesterday (brrr), and warmer (70) today with strong winds and it gets almost to freezing at night. I went out yesterday afternoon and picked all the ripe and ready tomatoes, squash, peppers, and tomatillas and then covered the plants with old blankets and afghans because I was afraid it would frost; but it didn't. It probably will tonight, so I left the covers on (forecast says 40s again the next two days). It will warm up again in a few days and I can still have veggies for a while until a killing freeze occurs.

Since I have so much zucchini, I picked up several aluminum foil loaf pans and tonight I made 2 loaves of zucchini bread. I planned to make a lot at one time, but found I didn't have enough eggs, so I'll do the big batch later. I can give some away and freeze some for later. I have enough Tomatillas to try making a big batch of Green Salsa, if there is enough I will can some. Can Salsa be frozen, does anyone know?

I also picked up a batch of this year's Jonathon Apples (my favorite) and will make a pie for us and one for Amber's family. The only time I make pie is during the short Jonathon season each fall. I love being able to buy apples that were grown by one of my distant neighbors. I see that the Corn Maze and Punkin Field is open again this year, but the girl that is earning her college tuition, so I hope we can go and enjoy again before Halloween.

Amber and her 13 year old sister, Makayla, spent Thursday night with us, while their parents attended parent/teacher conferences and had dinner out by themselves. Makayla was excited to tell me that she helped tie a quilt at school that day. She watched me sewing on baby Brendan's crib quilt and asked if she could learn to do that. So she picked out some pretty 5 inch squares of rose designs and coordinated fabrics and learned to sew a nine-patch, which we stuffed and made into a pillow for her. She did quite well sewing on the machine for the first time. The white shawl on the back of the chair is one I crocheted several years ago. She was talking longingly about Amber's black shawl, so I pulled this one out of the closet and gave it to her. I think she liked it because she wore it the rest of the evening and the next day until I returned her to her mom.

Last Saturday night was the Homecoming Dance at Florence High School. Amber and her friends didn't want to pair up, so they decided to go as a group and dance and visit with each other. She bought a new dress with her Burger King paycheck and Joe and I took her and her friends, Bre and Brendan out for dinner and then dropped them off at the school to meet the rest of the gang. Luckily, we were not the ones that had to pick them up and take them home after the dance. Amber is on the right, she won't smile because she doesn't want her braces shown on a photo. She really is having a good time and they are laughing all the time when the camera is not aimed at her.

I love having the young people around, whether birth or adopted grandchildren. Without them I would be completely out of touch with what is going on in the culture these days; they teach me about cell phone usage, music, and current slang. I try to pass on a little knowledge about the history I've seen or read, and the music, movies and books that I think they need to know about. I try to give them a foundation and they try to keep me young.