MOM reports:  A quick list of recent activities of note:

- trying Tae Kwon Do, all 6 of us, for the first time last week, one hour session taught by another staff member, the kids loved it and I’ve been sore ever since

- helping to press apples for cider, very sticky, includes LOTS of bumblebees, made great hot cider for the bonfire that night for all staff and residents

Pressing Cider the HARD way

- touring the Canterbury Shaker Village, approx. 40 min. away, one location where famous Shaker furniture was manufactured, went on a hay ride and formal tour of chapel, wash house and school house

Meeting House where they did their "Shaking"

- hiking Mt. Monadnock (actually 2 wks. ago now), only 1.5 miles total, but extremely rocky (which we’re not used to in Pacific Northwest) and high elevation, but the view from the lookout point was awesome

Looking down from Mt. Monadnock

- eating Whoopie Pies (also 2 wks. ago), a dessert, chocolate cake and sweet filling, a regional treat I think?

Whoopie Pie - mmmm!

- discovering Chinese veggies in our gardens, napa and bok choy, the kids chow both down like they’re starving animals

Napa cabbage

-  mini invasion of Japanese beetles in the house, they look just like ladybugs, but more orange than red, and they’ve appeared w/ the cooler weather change?!

- stoking our own heater/boiler for the house, I still need to learn how to do it, the weather remains quite mild (no hard frosts yet), so there have been only 10 days or so where we needed the stove to be stoked round the clock (read: it’s mighty cold when the fire completely dies out), I no longer take automatic heat for granted!!

That’s all for now.  Happy autumn to all!

Mom says:  

Here’s a tip I got once from my brother, W.  We often look at trees from around them, a few steps back, on the horizon, or plain straight on, but usually not from under them.  I mean look up while standing under the branches, the same view you’d get from lying on your back, and be ready to be amazed.  Look at how the light filters through the leaves and branches, creating patterns and shadows you miss when you’re on the outside looking in.  My brother, W. particularly enjoys doing this in the spring under a cherry tree next door to our (still unsold) former home.  The blooms are simply fantastic from this point of view.  Needless to say the valleys all around us in New Hampshire are literally flaming colors, changing hour to hour as the sun moves in the sky and I wish you could see the under-side view of the woods here.  Incredible…

Through the leaves