Keeping Busy

It has been almost three weeks since I last sat down to write. Baseball tournaments, frantic afternoons of home schooling paperwork, book ordering, jam making, and "last minute" visits and BBQ's before the new school year blended into what seemed to be one week. Now the girls are both gone to school, and there is a palpable hole in the family.

The boys and I have kept ourselves very busy the last two days so as not to dwell on the girls' departure. Yesterday, I cleaned up the last few things in the girls' room and vacuumed thoroughly, then cleaned out the bathroom of girlish miscellany that was left out and about, making space under the sink for "manly" soap and t.p. A space was made in the medicine cabinet for future shaving needs. All of this greatly pleased the boys who promised vociferously to keep "their" bathroom neat and clean.

I weeded out the lettuce, picked raspberries, cut dill heads for seed, and cut gladiolas. Later the boys helped me pick yellow beans - this time there was enough for supper - and some sad looking tomatoes that were attempting to ripen on blighted vines. (More on the blight in another post.) We feasted on Quiche Lorraine, wax beans, and ice cream/sherbet for dessert.

Today was another beautiful day - autumn-like in flavor and a delight in which to garden. I managed to weed out the asparagus seedlings and the area between the parsley and fence. The garden is beginning to look like a garden again which pleases me very much. I picked more peppermint to dry for tea and flavoring, and then dug up the rogue fingerling potatoes that had wintered over in the blackberry patch. I also trimmed the garlic and cleaned it for storage. William helped me chop up some areas of new poison ivy, Joey put together a soccer net, and Edmund single handedly dragged down small tree limbs that Papa had cut up top. (Of this feat, Edmund was exceptionally proud, and he gave me a full account of how he used a rope to drag down the branches, and how the biggest one took the greatest effort to move the last ten feet.)

Supper consisted of beef stew made with the newly dug potatoes and freshly picked green beans. White flour biscuits - a special request from William - delighted the boys who have difficulty accepting whole wheat flour in their breads.

I think everyone is looking forward to a good night's rest.