summer.

The summer season seems to be crashing to an end around here.

Oh – the calendar still says August.  The days are still sticky and hot.

But the summer schedule is winding down.

Camp ends this week.

The School of Keigley will be back in session shortly.

A beach trip is calling to us.  (The countdown of days is written on the chalkboard.)

I always have liked to cram things in at the last minute.

I used to study for major college exams the night before.

Too many papers were written hours before turning them in to the professor.

Birthday cakes are often baked very late on the birthday eve.

It’s just how I roll.

So why would summer be any different?

Beth and her beautiful girls are visiting this week to get in one more hang out session before school begins.

And we have been busy.

Picking tomatoes at a local farm.

A farm at which the employees were less than friendly, less than pleased to direct us to their product of which we wanted to pay them money to purchase.

A tomato field that was slimy and smelled of animal fertilizer.  (And, trust me, I remember that smell.  It is just so unforgettable really.)

And a crop of tomatoes that seemed mostly green or rotten.

Mosely was deemed Queen Tomato Picker.

We ended up buying far more in the already-picked-for-us section.

And tonight we have concocted our own spaghetti sauce, mixed from a recipe from Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book and a few of my own ideas.

Tomorrow will be the real test when we serve it up to eight discriminating children.

(But even it tastes kind of off, I tell you, I feel pretty empowered knowing I made spaghetti sauce with my own two hands.  Who needs Ragu anyway?)

We bought gobs of corn.

And everyone shucked their share.

But again, it was Mosely who earned the title Queen Shucker.

(Just so you know, we never actually crown our kids Queen.  It’s just so time-consuming to treat them like royalty, you know.)

And tonight for dinner we had fresh corn on the cob and then I stashed ten bags in the freezer for a future taste of summer.

(What is it about stocking up food that makes one feel so accomplished and prepared?)

And, unless you think it has been all work and no play,

we’ve been swimming and kayaking too.

Raven and London showed off their jumping skills to one another.

Barbies have surfaced.

Stuffed animals have been dragged out and stacked up.

Games have been played, crayons have been sprawled across the art table and self-portraits have been created.

And we still have days left to go.

Let’s see – next up?

Our favorite apple orchard opens tomorrow.

I think the kids need to pick their top candies from the wooden barrels at Mast General Store.

We have to sample that spaghetti sauce.

The lake will still be calling our names.

The streets of Hendersonville need to feel our feet upon them.

And maybe that splash area downtown needs to cool us down again.

(This time I’ll be sure Hawkeye wears appropriate swimwear!)