Days crawl; years fly

Look what Brian dug out and started sleeping with again – his first teddy bear! I can't think of a more poignant reminder of the struggle going on within our man-child. It is sometimes hard to remember that internal struggle when he's challenging us, a young buck determined to gain dominance over the old guard.

It was so good to have my dear friend and her daughter stay with us for a week and a half (not that they were here much during the day). The presence of another parent/child unit gave me perspective, ideas, and encouragement; time with a "sister" fed my soul. I took them to the airport at o'dark thirty this morning; they are headed to Virginia for the next big chapter in their life. They will be back for Christmases and summers; I am hoping we can visit them sometime in VA as well. (Rick has attended continuing education seminars in that region.) I've imagined moving to Thistle Cove Farm (oh, that lovely house and property!) since Sandra disclosed her intent to sell it; being in the same state with one of my best friends makes that impossible dream even more attractive. ;-)

I finished my Karlchen beanie, although not without a couple of hiccups. First, I decided I had started the ribbing too soon. Rather than ripping back, I spent one row dropping every purl stitch and then picking it back up to shorten the ribbed section by three rows. Then I ran out of yarn after binding off more than three-quarters of the hat, and had to rip back all that I had bound off plus one more row in order to be able to finish the job.

But all's well that ends well, and I couldn't be happier with how this ended – or started, for that matter! Having another holiday gift in the can is a good feeling, too. ;-)

When I started watering the garden this morning, I noticed a couple yellow summer squash ready to harvest. As I reached for them, though, the buzzing stopped me – every blossom had a bumblebee or two in it!

There are lots of blooms on the two eggplants,

and I found three little winter squash; yay!

I'm still watering the bush beans and carrots in hopes that we will get something from them. Keeping the cucumbers in protective custody (the white plastic barrel) has allowed them to recover and even bloom, but at some point they are going to need more room. Do I dare remove the barrel? Will the ground squirrels win in the end?

That's it for now from . . .