Late Summer, almost Fall. Snapshots of our days.

Summer is slowly slipping out the door here and Fall is just peeking in. Thinking about coming all the way in! Things get pretty busy when all the fruit trees ripen their fruit in quick succession of one another! For the first time, our pears are actually edible, and delicious! Prior to this year, they were beautiful - but if you took a bite, you swiftly spit it right back out. They were, in a word, if it is a word, yucky! But not this year! There's nothing so delicious, I think, as a sweet, fresh, ripe, chemical-free, homegrown pear. We feel pretty lucky to have all this fruit! So, Captain is building a pantry to house all the canning jars filled with our fruit in its various forms. Yay! Word from all the family, near & far, is that everyone is doing just fine. Summer has been kind. And Fred is getting at least a little bit "mature". Maturer, anyway. Teeny Tiny Bird Ben is over a month old now! That was fast! He is big fella too, over 10 pounds now! I will get to see him again in just a couple weeks. And his Big Sister too. Itty Bitty Bird is coming from North Carolina next month for her very first ever Balloon Fiesta! We can hardly wait to see her face light up when she sees the hot air balloons! We already have dozens of balloons in the sky most weekend mornings as folks get ready for the big event! We love sitting on the front porch in our pj's, with our coffee - watching in comfort. The roses are having their last hurrah - spectacularly! The sunflowers and zinnias are brilliant and plentiful. Captain's Pumpkin Patch is doing....ok. Some sort of blossom drop or poor pollination is causing us some grief out there; not as many "pumms" as there should be! And a couple of squirrels are taking bites out of several. (Did I hear Captain correctly? Pellet gun??) Anyway....here are some snapshots of some of our goings on here of late. Life truly is GOOD. For this we are grateful!

The Curandera Sculpture at The Bio Park. I love it!

A butterfly in the Butterfly House. Up close and personal.

Fred's first trip to the cabin. He LOVED rock-hopping and running, running, running!

Watermelon party under the portal with Miles & Gavi & Fred.

Some of the "fruits" of our labor. Work is such FUN!