August Autumn Preview

Ten degrees of separation from the beastly HOT---I'll take it.  The only thing missing in the neighborhood this morning was the yellow school bus coming down the road.  

Not that I'm trying to hurry that image, but we definitely received a taste of fall this morning. Cool, brisk yet sunny.  Love it!

I could feel a spring to my step on this fall-like morning as I left the house, put the horses out, watered and took my morning walk.

At the manure-pile garden, the cukes indicated that they sure have been loving the heat cuz many are twice as large as yesterday, and that pumpkin:  there's no window through the prickly vines to see its full dimension.  I'm guessing it's about 6 inches tall by now.

Two nearly red tomatoes on the vines next to the cukes---yum!  I read about Paul Turner's love of fresh garden tomatoes this morning in his Spokesman column "The Slice," and I wanted to jump up, race to the kitchen, pull out that Mennonite bread I bought last week at the Bread Basket Bakery, slather it with Miracle Whip, fry up some bacon, go harvest a tomato, build a BLT and bite in to the best of all combinations. 

The BLT will have to wait cuz those tomatoes need maybe one more day of ripening.

With marigolds coming on strong in the gardens and with goldenrod and tansey decorating the roadsides, and with little Miss Percheron quickly turning into big Miss Percheron in Gary's pasture AND with tonight marking the first NFL match-up for the Seattle Seahawks, I'm thinking all fall. 

But wait!

Much has to happen before those school buses roll!

 In fact, we've been looking ahead to the next 12 days and feeling a bit weary:  big weekend events ahead, including POAC's Arts and Crafts Festival, THE Festival, Celebrate Life, a daughter flying off once again to Europe tomorrow for work followed by vacation in such places as Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest and Prague, one sister coming home from a yearbook clinic at Gonzaga right after another leaves for a weekend dressage show in Spokane, my interview judging gig at the fairgrounds next Tuesday, Willie and Debbie's 13th anniversary Monday, a GIANT ARENA aka garage sale late next week at the beautiful, spruced_up Tibbs Arabian Ranch (gosh, that new vinyl fence looks fantastic! Walkingtons are amazing!), a one or two-day break after the family arena sale, then "Swiss Miss" arrives.

Yup, Willie and Debbie will be hosting a young lady from Switzerland for a semester, and she's arriving on the 19th to be smothered with attention from an excited extended family.  

She's in Malaysia now where her dad works and is headed home to Switzerland tomorrow before coming to America.  

Wonder if she and Annie will pass each other in Amsterdam Airport.  Stranger things have happened ya know. Whatever the case, we're keeping fingers crossed tightly for safe travels for both young ladies. 

And, speaking of Swiss Miss aka "Laura" who told Debbie she's never had a nickname, when Annie is in Europe, she may add Luxembourg to her travel itinerary because of another European visitor we hosted 20 years ago. 

We were able to contact our French friend, Romain, (now a Luxembourg heart specialist) who stayed with us for a month apiece over three summers in the 1990s.  He has sent us photos of his adorable family, and he and Annie are trying to work out a way to connect. 

I must remember to tell Annie to pack some Hostess Twinkies into her suitcase.  Romain loved his Twinkies and his individual Schwan's pizzas. 

Yup, there's still a lot of summer and many good times ahead before the yellow school buses start their nine months of duties, but I'm quite happy to take these days with a hint of fall in the air.

They offer a great relief from the intense heat we've endured for longer than usual this summer.  

One more item:  I learned from two friends that it was good we moved to Selle, as a tree fell on our Great Northern Road home and several others are down around the house.  

Sad to learn.  The good news is I don't think anyone is living in the house now.  Bad news is it's just one of hundreds of other similar situations.  

With that news, here's hoping everyone has a happy Thursday.