Smile

What's better than peanut butter on apple slices?  Peanut butter and mini-marshmallow apple smiles.  :)  The four year olds just want to eat them; the five year olds want to put on the "teeth" for themselves.  

The West Gate

I'm pretty sure this will be taken as a sign that I've read too much Tolkien, but my first thought when I saw this small arch shaped rock formation?  "That looks like Durin's door, the west gate of Khazad-dûm."  (Translation: a magically-sealed arched-rock door into a long abandoned underground city built by dwarfs, one of whom was named Durin.) 

I was tempted to wait for moonlight to see if the special mithral inscription would show up.

What I Did This Summer

Off and on all summer I have been working on this pair of box-weave knit socks in a soft alpaca yarn.  Somehow the first one was so much fun to knit but the second one took FOREVER to finish.  They are finally done now and just in time for the toasting of toes in these cooler nights.

These apples are from a pick your own orchard I found a few hours drive from me.  Why are they not my own apples?  Well, remember that groundhog?  She turned into three groundhogs.

I set the trap and caught one; it now lives in a nice meadow in the uninhabited realms of national forest.  Then I set the trap again. 

The trap caught another animal almost right away.  Thing is, groundhogs aren't black and white striped!  I had caught a skunk.  I dressed in my oldest grubbies, covered myself with a trash bag, tied my hair inside a grocery bag, and armed myself with a wire coat hanger so I could hook the latch open without getting too close.  There will NEVER be photos of that moment. 

I managed to release the skunk without getting sprayed but I haven't dared to set the trap again.  Thus the groundhogs have had free reign in the garden and orchard this summer.  The conveniently short dwarf apple trees have been completely relieved of harvest by the giant groundhog who stands on her hind legs and bends even the higher branches down to eat the fruit.

I also made a lot of cookies over the summer for various functions.  These I took a picture of because they were bunny shaped cookies, whereas most of the cookies I make are simply that round lumpy predictable cookie shape.  Very edible and not necessarily un-photogenic, but somehow the bunnies just seemed more photo-worthy.

... And We're Back

Summer is drawing to a close and morning comes with veils of fog.

Sorry about the lack of posts this summer, turns out dropping my laptop was not the best thing for it; but let me just say I love being able to use a coupon on top of a discount to a reduced price (plus a store credit) to purchase my spiffy new computer for less than half price -- even though it meant waiting a couple months for the new laptop.