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Landon found this little guy curled up in a corner of a friend’s barn. His stripe was brown rather than reddish, I was surprised to see. I took it home to take some pictures, but as it turns into a boring creamy white moth after hibernating all winter, I decided to let it go out in the back yard.
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I have the weeds to thank for these tomatoes. I know that sounds funny, but it is true. Last year gophers marauded my tomatoes and left none whole. This year, however, thick thistles and cockleburs that pierced even my thickest gardening gloves grew around the tomatoes. It seems that the gophers can’t reach them.
I also have some proof for this theory. I did have a few more tomatoes that were bigger than my two fists put together, but I foolishly removed the weeds a few days before they were orange enough to harvest. The very next day, they were demolished.
These tomatoes came from a volunteer tomato plant that I left surrounded by the weeds. Besides the tomatoes in the picture, I have harvested three more tomatoes that we have already eaten. Mom says that they are delicious tomatoes, packed full of flavor. I am not a tomato fan, but I can taste more flavor than store tomatoes as well. I even ate a thin slice on a chicken, lettuce, tomato, and mayo sandwich.
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Maria and I went to a painting class this morning, and I found it a very fun experience. My painting turned out pretty well, but I have to admit, I feel a little like a cheater because the horse outline was traced on. If it hadn’t been, the horse would have been terribly misshapen. However, I learned a lot of useful painting techniques like highlighting and shadowing. Here are pictures of out paintings
Mine.
Maria and her painting.
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My friend and I made two cute pillows together out of an old pair of jeans. This is mine. The ends of the pillow were hand sewn, the butterfly was fabric paint and micro-glitter, and the rest of the things were glued on.
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John Paul turned seven August 30th. This is the cake I made for him.
One of John’s gifts was a stuffed monkey. He made a jungle gym for it outside out of scraps of wood from things that Dad has built.
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I took my first ballet class for the season today. This year I am working on grade three, and I am planning on taking my exam in the springtime.
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There are fewer sweltering hot days now. The forecast for this week is in the low seventies to mid sixties. Dark falls earlier each night. School has started, monarchs have migrated and ballet has begun. Summer is dying, autumn is coming.
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It’s that time of the year again. Corn time is very welcome at our house, both by the eaters of corn, and the peelers of corn.
Joseph made himself very useful in peeling corn, as long as we could keep him from eating the corn after he peels it. :)
Joseph is working his best to get the last piece of corn husk off.
Alex loved this new game. He was very concerned that other people were peeling corn to fast and there wouldn’t be enough for him to peel.
Many hands make light work!
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Penelope has almost all of her flight feathers in, and she doesn’t mind using them. She likes to fly to up high places, and I usually have to make her step up onto a broom to get her down.
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In the wintertime, it is freezing cold in the ballet studio. So, when I found a pattern for leg warmers, I got knitting. I have been working on them for a long time, and now they are finished and ready for frigid weather.
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These are crimson belly conures.
White belly caique.
Black headed caique.
This is a sun conure
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Penelope’s flight feathers are in, and she likes to use them. She will fly to places that are up high for a good view, or she will fly to Clover’s cage to play with Clover’s toys and eat Clover’s food. Dad and I thought it would be fun to teach my bird to use her wings on command and fly to me. I am working on this with her, and Penelope is cooperating nicely. She will fly back and forth from Landon or Dad to me and back again. It is fun to train her to do tricks, and I am sure she benefits from the exercise. This picture is the closest Mom could get to Penelope in the air.
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It was dark outside because it was late at night. The little kids had left their bikes outside, so Landon and I went to put them away. When we were almost finished, I noticed something moving in the neighbors yard a few houses down the street.. I thought at first it was a cat, then I noticed the black and white stripes, bushy tail, and unmistakable waddling walk. I knew it was a skunk. I ran inside to get Mom and Dad to come see, on my way in telling Landon that I saw a skunk. Landon was scared out of his skin, and he ran in faster than me to get away from the skunk. When we got back with Mom and Dad, the skunk was nowhere to be seen. It probably wanted to get out of the open and headed for some bushes. Having seen one skunk in the neighborhood, I wonder how many other skunks patrol the streets at night.
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