1. The garden: What a crazy weather summer we've been having here. We go from drought-like conditions with scorching heat, setting records, to torrential downpours the end of this previous week. So, that added to my dig a hole, put the plant in, water, approach to gardening again this year (I occasionally have used some organic methods of pest control)....my zucchinis have yet to produce anything besides beautiful, gigantic flowers. The leaves are not much bigger than when I planted them. I have never seen a zucchini plant do that! Weird. As for the pickling cukes, I bought a different brand this year and they are producing but the 4 plants are not producing as many as my 1 plant did last year! And they got pelted with the rain are are looking very sad right now. This brings me to my cherry tomatoes which are doing great! I had such good luck last year with them I wanted to try again. At least that makes me happy :) The plants are gigantic and the majority of tomatoes are golf ball size!
The garden about a month ago.
2. The vacation: It was awesome! We went camping in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula of Michigan). We went with my parents and stayed right on the Tahquamenon River. We did a lot of sightseeing and a bit of kayaking as we all have kayaks. Here are a few pictures:
Heading to the U.P. via the Mackinaw Bridge, looking at Mackinaw Island.
(The big white blob is the famous Grand Hotel.)
The Mighty Mac
The view out our back window!
Sunset over the river, at our campsite.
On the shore of Whitefish Point. 17 miles from where the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in 1975.
(That is Canada off in the distance.)
Behind our campsite.
The Lower Tahquamenon Falls
The Upper Tahquamenon Falls
Me and my best friend ;-)
At the black bear farm we visited.
Adorable cub. 7 months old.
Me and dh taking a break from kayaking out into Whitefish Bay.
I love history. And I love the story behind this area. Literally it has become "beauty from ashes" (you may need to click on the picture to enlarge it so you can read what I mean).
Me and my mom on our "Tour of Paradise". We did our own sightseeing one afternoon. Fun times :-)
One of our favorite camp dinners. Hamburger/Veggies/Montreal Steak Seasoning in a foil packet, cooked over the fire.
The sun setting on the last night there.
3. The changes: There are some big changes happening right now (not children related) that are stretching us. Bittersweet changes I will share more about in the coming days. I often find myself asking why can't things JUST "just happen" for us, just once! Why can't we just be "normal"? To which dh will remind me by asking, "What's normal?". Good question!
But as we forge ahead, I am so thankful for such a great vacation behind us, and I am trying ever so hard to remind myself that God has an infinite storehouse to supply all our needs in the days to come, even when we aren't sure how it is going to happen sometimes. Just seeing the waterfalls up close on our vacation and feeling the power of them, and basking in the beauty of God's creation, it reminds me that we serve a very mighty God. He is powerful. And we have Him on our side as we face the many challenges in the coming days and months ahead. “Some people think that going through the losses or crises of life are
the exceptional times,” says Dr. H. Norman Wright. “I see it differently. I see the times of
calm as the exceptions. Life is really going through one loss after
another, one crisis after another.” And that is something I am beginning to think might not be so far off from the truth!
(A sign of Fall that we saw on our vacation! Our favorite season!)
