Falling Asleep With a Good Book........

Happy Michaelmas!!!!

Catching Up a Bit.....

Once again, I am asking myself where the summer went!

 This week the weather took a distinctly autumn turn; sunny, and a bit blustery, with a nip in the air, and nights as well as mornings that are downright chilly.

My favorite weather really. :)

Seeing as how it has been so long since I posted, let's back up a month or so, shall we?

And yes, you see it right, Boots is now the proud owner of a trombone (~he had been telling us how he would love to learn to play one since last year) and this is how it happened:

Back in July, before Big Brother left for summer camp, the mouth piece of his trumpet had become jammed in the instrument. (Some little person who we will allow to remain nameless had dropped it on the floor.) Since he really wanted it in proper working order before he left, as he was planning to play taps for the camp each night, my Knight took it to work to show to a guy who used to play the trumpet, and see if he had any tips for the best method of extraction. A fellow in the next cubicle or so over, heard them talking about trumpets, and asked if either of them would like a trombone! Apparently he had one in his trunk that he was planning to take to the Goodwill. So, yes, he gave it to My Knight right then and there.....for free! And the other guy who was the former trumpet player insisted on taking it home and gave it a thorough cleaning in his bathtub, bringing it back to work the next morning. All we had to do was order a new mouthpiece.

(I know!!!!!! So awesome, right??!!!!!!)

So now we have battles of the brass.

And while there are times that it can be a bit spine stiffening...

....I do love it.

On to other things....

I did manage to make some pie this summer.

Blueberry pie.

Mmmmmm.

My Knight and I left two days early to go pick Big Brother up from his summer camp, so that we could explore a bit of Wisconsin's beautiful Door County.

It had been a while since just the two of us had gone off anywhere, and we has such a wonderful time. Our first night, we spent in Sturgeon Bay, at a charming Bed and Breakfast called The Sawyer House.

For dinner, we walked down the street to a pub called Kitty O' Reilly's.

The food was so good! 

I was a bit sad to leave The Sawyer House the next morning, 

(See, I  brought my knitting basket along?)

but we really did have to get back on the road. Especially since we wanted to make it all the way up one side of the peninsula to its tip, and then back down the other before making our way back down to a hotel in Waupaca.

We stopped at Sister Bay for an early dinner, at a Swedish restaurant called Al Johnson's.

~They actually put goats out to graze on their sod roof!!!!

The food was very good ~I loved the pewter dishes!!!

It was the first time either of us had ever tasted (let alone heard of ) lingonberries.

We tried lingonberry jam, lemonade (for him) , tea (for me), and vinaigrette. 

Mmmm, were they tasty! 

We also had Wisconsin cheese curds and I ordered Swedish meatballs.

My Knight had to help me finish off my plate! 

Too much good food!

The lake was absolutely gorgeous,

looking as soft and smooth as velvet.

And while this isn't really as pretty, I had to take this shot of the big city (trying desperately to remember if it was Milwaukee or Chicago) on our way home. Doesn't the sky look ominous?

It was a bit surreal to be driving through with it looking like that.... 

Well, that has to be all for now, as my little girls are up, and demanding attention.

But I will try to be back soon. 

:)

Painting.....

Ham and Blueberry Jam......

This kind of ham. Ham radio. We hosted Field Day for the second year in a row at our house a few weekends ago. Lots of fun as always. Especially once we had the big antenna up (whew, they were really making me nervous ~just two guys to that big unwieldy thing!! Of course I didn't let them know til after it was safely in place;)

We even had some people camp out over the weekend! And an old member of the club flew by in the neatest old-fashioned looking plane (It's obvious I am not a plane buff, right?;), circled round us several times and then came over really low right above our heads. The kids were absolutely ecstatic!

Last weekend we picked about thirty-three pounds of blueberries!

So this is what I have been up to most of the week.

In between getting the oldest ready to leave for summer camp this weekend.

And going through old clothes. 

The boys are all done, but not the girls.

And then there is my end of the master bedroom closet.....

One thing at a time, Kate, one thing at a time.

On Love

It's odd, but this time what I went through was a double thing, two strands twisted together of black and gold. There was the bad thing, fear and darkness pressing in, and there was the glad singing of love, the "Yes I will" that is my song. I had not known before that love is obedience. You want to love, and you can't, and all the time love is not some marvelous thing that you feel but some hard thing that you do. And this way is easier because with God's help you can command your will when you can't command your feelings. With us, feelings seem to be important, but He doesn't appear to agree with us. 

~from The Scent of Water,

by Elizabeth Goudge

Delphinium by the Kitchen Sink

Poor Miss Posy was quite devastated when a spike of her delphinium was snapped off in the high winds. But as I told her, we have been able to enjoy it even more than we did when it was outside. Right here by the kitchen sink.