Well life is moving along so fast. So much happens that there's less time to blog. Grandkids and cider and sunrises and apples and beautiful moons and harvest and sewing projects and sunsets and broken refrigerators 😑
So here are a few px and
that's that!
This morning's sunrise taught me that when it's cloudy, the sunrise is the most beautiful...bc the sun reflects off the clouds.
Isn't that like our lives? Although we'd all like sunshine and blue skies every day, it's the clouds that give us opportunity to reflect more beauty for Jesus. When we have no clouds... the beauty is there... but it isn't as evident. Whether your day is sunny or cloudy, may your life reflect His beauty💕
I had to look back at my last contribution to see what is new since then... and there's really not much new, except....Last week, Jacob & Natalie became first-time parents with the arrival of Rafe Daniel. He's a good little guy so far and is very loved by many. And he is adorable. We are grateful.
That's really about it for major news since the last Connection; everything else is pretty muchly status quo. Home kids are continuing on in school and work. There are always bumps along the way; but so far so good. Sarah didn't have class yesterday because of the midterm schedule which means this semester is half over. Which seems amazing.
At the end of August Tim & I and our kids did a getaway to a beautiful lodge in Missouri for a few days. We really had a nice time and made precious memories. Tim & I have done a couple of getaways also. As empty as our nest is, with just Sarah, Jewel, and Josh at home (and even they're not home all that much), we find that if we're here there is always something to do. We're trying to change that somewhat though. Tim's been doing some improvements to the bovine operation which have made it more efficient; and as of right now, Josh has the sprinkler on a lovely new patch of grass... which happens to be right where the garden used to be. Yes, you read that right. I am now officially garden-less. There is an old horse trough out back that I might want to fill with dirt and plant a few tomato plants in next spring.... but then again, I might not. Tremont and Morton both have farmer's markets that I just might have to check out next year... time will tell. Our apple trees have produced like crazy this year. To date we've done about 27 bushels into cider and shared about 36 bushels with various family and friends. We're down to about four trees left; and of those, two are Fuji which will keep for a month or so on the tree yet and then will store for awhile longer in a cold garage. We're going through them quickly though - they're just so good! Our garage usually has apples in it that are waiting to be eaten, cidered, or distributed; the garage smells amazing. Pictured is part of the tree that was kind of hard to pick because it was so pretty... it's a Red Delicious. And btw, if you've never had an orchard RD, give one a try from your local orchard. They don't taste anything like a store RD. I don't know why, but they just don't. So these apples were falling and bruising and we don't love that; so we had to pick the tree clean and it's not so pretty anymore. But we do have a deliciously aromatic garage now, so there's that…
Don't know if I ever mentioned that we now have three horses. A friend gave Kaitlyn a horse (Zip) which we were going to keep for the summer and then this winter he would move to Jason & Kaitlyn's place somewhere... but when it came right down to it, Kaitlyn works full time, and Zip gets ridden quite a bit here with Diamond and Skeet. Sarah is giving riding lessons to a little girl (Marty & Karla Rollins' granddaughter Rayna), and Jewel has been asked to give a few lessons as well... not sure how that's all going to shake out yet though. At any rate, the horses are never lacking for attention and we are glad Zip gets to stay awhile yet.
One more thing. Our cat population is about out of control. If anyone wants a good healthy barn cat, please let me know. We love to share.
And that's about all I know and it's time to keep moving here. I always enjoy hearing from y'all.
Wednesday 10.2
Another beautiful morning.
Who knew that October is National Apple Month? Well I didn't until recently. And now y'all know too.
Anyway. Wednesday 10.1 started out pretty normal. Beautiful morning.
