Did I miss a month?

September has come and gone with a blur.  I seriously haven't a clue where the last 30 days have gone.  Was it not just September the 4th - the first say of school?

The children have settled into public school life after 7 years of home school and I'm slowly adjusting to the new parenting schedule.  The mornings and evenings are quite "full" (which I'm not used to).  Homeschooling meant that my days were full but my mornings and evenings were slower. 

I'm taking a Master Organic Gardener course which is keeping me quite busy during my quiet daytime hours. Combined with regular chores, cooking and garden work, my days are just as full as before, but in a different way.   From 4pm on, snacks, home work support, chores, activities, supper preparations/eating, lunch making and evening routines are all crammed into an intense 4 hour time window that feels like ONE hour.  My grandiose idea that I'd have hours of time to tackle long neglected weeding, steam cleaning and painting were utterly off base.  My project time is thin at best, so once again, I'm working in fragments...  30 minutes here, an hour there... sometimes a few, if I'm lucky.  This season of life is oh so full...

The weather has been glorious and I've been taking full advantage of it, line drying clothes and getting outside in the garden.  There is still much to harvest in the next week or so.  My ever present garden partner, Kitty (pictured below) gets into all sorts of mischief when I'm outdoors... climbing 6' fences to get into the garden and hen run, chasing chickens (for fun, not to eat), rolling in my garden, picking fights with our garage/outdoor cat, sneaking into the greenhouse for a nap and chewing my plants (to name just a few).  We'll keep him in spite of all this because he's tough as nails and he chases fox off the property on a VERY regular basis (I've seen it and I'm not kidding).  He is a SPECTACULARLY skilled hunter.

We had my parents out for a week long visit recently (which added another dimension of busy to an already busy month), and we sure enjoyed seeing them.  We deeply appreciate the time and energy that they invest in coming to visit our family on a regular basis. Thanks Mom and Dad XO  

In other news, in a month or so, I'll be a Grandma!  Kelsey is due November 1st, and is feeling well and healthy.  They don't know the gender of the baby, so it will be a lovely surprise for us all on delivery day.  I can't really guess on the gender, and of course, it surely doesn't matter :)  I'm busy planning a baby shower for her which will happen in late November when her Mom and sister are in town to meet the baby. I haven't hosted a baby shower for over 18 years ~ it's going to be such a good time getting together to celebrate a new little life :)

In crafty news, I MUST carve some time out to work on the baby's quilt... it's so exciting to create something for my first wee Grandchild, but I have to finish harvesting before the frost that is due to arrive very soon. As well, Kelsey has asked me to help her make a seat cushion for a lovely old wooden rocker that they bought at a garage sale.  It's beautiful and I'm honoured to help her with that.  What a lucky Mother in Law I am to have such a beautiful Daughter In Love (both inside and out).

XO