Fall Fun!

This weekend was our regular trip to Cox Farm. They have the best pumpkin patch around... and slides and music and food too. Adrianna just adores it. Trying to get her to leave is an effort in futility. So this year Sergio went early while I had a scrapbooking class... then we did the switcheroo so that he could play soccer and I could take over. So the lucky girl spent pretty much the entire day running and sliding and more. Once you get her into the car it's only a couple of minutes down the road and she is out!


I can't believe that my okra is still producing in the garden. Not as much as before, and the pods are short and fat... and a bit lumpy. Many of the leaves are brown, and ants are eating up the rest... and yet it's still putting out flowers and chugging along. I have 3 bags in the freezer (one blanched and two breaded) to hold me over. Sergio and Adrianna didn't go for the gumbo, but the plain fried stuff goes down quick. Darn, I was hoping to eat all of it myself! :)



Here is Adrianna's imitation of the Cosmos flower (the actual flower is just over her head):

The flower behind her was a seedling she brought home for Mother's Day from school. It struggled a bit, got attacked by various aphid-y looking bugs and we did our best to nurse it back to health... 'cause you know you can't just toss a bug-infested plant when it was her special Mother's Day gift to you... well you could, but then you will get the cold shoulder for an extended period of time. So I carefully sprayed insect killer on it and used a toothpick to remove the offensive intruders. We put it out in the flower bed and hoped for the best. It just kind of sat there doing nothing... then in August it got really tall and gangly... and then on Sunday... voila! a bloom! And it was really hard to get the closeup photo... since it's actually above eye level. I guess all that extra love and attention with the bug removal gave it a big heart. Plus... it was planted with great love, after all!

much love,

erin