Time Goes By!

Mercy, how quickly the days go by!  It's been fall, fall, fall here for the last few weeks and I'm loving it so much.  If the leaves were turning and falling I would swear it was late October instead of September.  Of course  a few have, but mostly all are still green so the actual fall colors are still to come.  

Bruder Bear and Karen were here for a few days last week and we had such a good visit.  They'd been on a round robin of visits with family and were glad to land here for a few lazy days.  We enjoyed dinner out at our favorite Mexican restaurant one night and I made a huge pot of Taco Soup the day they arrived so we got our Tex-Mex fill!  (Yes, there are a lot of cans in this soup but I did use my own pressure cooked pinto beans (1 1/2 cups drained and frozen equal one 16 ounce can), and I use lower sodium cans of the other beans and corn along with a low sodium or homemade taco seasoning.)  When you're feeding a crowd, this recipe rocks.  

I finished the yellow and blue baby quilt and I'm so in love with it that it's graced the top of the love seat for days.  It's just a happy quilt!

I was really feeling fallish yesterday and decided it was a good soup and bread day so I made the Swedish limpa rye bread from Foodie with Family and the wild rice chicken soup from Pressure Cooking Today.  I first discovered this tasty combination when Bruder Bear came up last fall and it's a winner.  Needless to say we're having repeats tonight and the second loaf is in the freezer for some other day(s).  

This morning Dan helped out with a community service day the boys' school was having and took his chain saws to help clear out overgrown shrubs and trees in a local park.  I think I mentioned that daughter Ann is teaching there and her estimation was that the school had saved the town at least $15,000 in labor costs.  Dan said it was amazing how hard those kids worked, even the tiniest ones.  ♥

The Last Official Night of Summer

No, the calendar doesn't list this date as that, but in my mind, summer officially ends with Labor Day.  I was just down the hall, opening windows to let the cool evening air in after a warmish (over 75) day and as I did, I heard the sprinklers in the front yard making their sounds as the day grew dark.  Such a timeless sound.  And then I thought, summer's over.  School is back in session, the days are noticeably shorter.  My favorite time of the year is here.  Fall through the holidays.  Yes!!

I tried to take a picture or two, but I guess I'm finally going to have to read the instructions to our camera. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to turn the flash off! I wanted one of the dusky evening and the cursed flash kept making everything too bright.  I hate to read instructions...  So no pictures for this post.  Just thoughts.

I hear crickets chirping, and there's the sliver of the moon in the southwestern sky.  This has been the most lovely summer I can remember in a long time.  Almost perfect weather, quiet days, some good books (and a number of rereads which is always like visiting with old and dear friends), and time with family.  

Yesterday was a busy day, for a Sunday.  Our youth pastor, dearly loved by all of us, is leaving and moving with his wife and little daughter to southern California to become an associate pastor in a start-up church in the LA complex.  He is a giant of a man, a Tongan, with a giant-sized heart and he has done so much for the young people in our church.  We had a farewell potluck and send-off last night and it was hard.  But when the Lord leads, we must follow.

Cameron had no problem with jet lag (oh to be nineteen!) and started his first day of college just forty some hours after he landed.  We've gotten to see him several times and he's obligingly allowed his Grammy to hug him each time.  So good to have him back!!  

The baby quilt is loaded on my long-arm and hopefully tomorrow I'll get started on the actual quilting.  It shouldn't take too long.  

And that's it for the last official day of summer, 2019.  ♥