We've been watching a monarch egg grow into a caterpillar, feeding it leaves to keep it growing. As we kept our eye on it we knew to watch for the J shape thanks to this beautiful post. So when I saw the J yesterday I got very excited. It changed overnight so we missed the whole transformation. But what a beautiful thing all wrapped up in green. I'm happy to continue watching the changes that will take place and look forward to the results.

Perhaps I'm just too busy.

In truth, this summer has been full. We have spent hours at the Lions Pool while the kidlets swam length after length for the swim team or learned new skills during lessons. They were so tired out from those activities that we rarely used our family pass for open swims. Since July started we have done little else in fact. While I watched the swimming from my lawn chair on the hill under the one shade tree I was able to visit with other moms also crammed in under the one shade tree. It's been a hot summer. Last year I had the same routine except that I remember it being peaceful and here's why: it was a cool summer last year and I did not sit under the one shade tree but down the hill a little on a blanket so as to be in the little bit of sun that there was. However, the moms (none of whom I knew) preferred to sit on the flat in their chairs at the top of the hill. I got lots of reading done last year. It was lovely. This year has been lovely in a different way. I know many of the moms and have been able to visit and strengthen relationships.

But I think the real reason for not posting much is that the routine has been so very different from school time. I have not wanted to spend as much time at a computer. The rhythm has been different. Now swimming is finished and for the next two weeks until school starts we will take a breather from the programmed while I continue to prepare for teaching.

Is busyness bad? I don't think it has to be. When it is a type of fullness and richness instead of overwhelming. When all the extra space is pushed out and I am squeezed to the edges--that is unhealthy. That is what I try to avoid. Sometimes I am successful and sometimes less so for a season. There is just so much out there that I want to enjoy...

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A thought for today

"One of my correspondents asked where one is to draw the line...I am unsure where the line ought to be drawn, or how to draw it. But it is an intelligent question, worth losing some sleep over....

...if we are ever again to have a world fit and pleasant for little children, we are surely going to have to draw the line where it is not easily drawn. We are going to have to learn to give up things that we have learned (in only a few years, after all) to "need." I am not an optimist; I am afraid that I won't live long enough to escape my bondage to the machines. Nevertheless, on every day left to me I will search my mind and circumstances for the means of escape. And I am not without hope. I knew a man who, in the age of chainsaws, went right on cutting his wood with a handsaw and an axe. He was a healthier and a saner man than I am . I shall let his memory trouble my thoughts."

~Wendell Berry

Comments?

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Picking Potatoes from the Pumpkin Patch

First tomatoes

Fresh picked squash blossoms. I have known that they are edible and as far as I can tell these are prime candidates for cooking. Since nobody else is home for me to offend I decide it's a good night to indulge my sense of adventure.

I looked up cooking options in my cookbooks of which I have a large selection. Stuff. Deep fry (tempura?) or sautee. Sauteeing seems easiest but I suspect that the tempura method would taste nicer. Stuffing I don't even consider.

I find a recipe for tempura. Decide that it's a large recipe for five blossoms even if I did halve or quarter it. And besides there's the oil to heat up and the amount of oil used doesn't change for five blossoms or fifty. Sautee it is.

Here they are sauteeing. Olive oil.

I made a soy/ginger sauce. Eating this was an enjoyable experience. The small one tasted best. It was eaten before I took the picture since it cooked fastest. As soon as they hit the plate they flattened and I immediately saw the benefits of stuffing. There are more growing in the garden. I could sample pumpkin and squash of various kinds. But I'm really not sure there's much point. Perhaps for a special meal where I want to impress. But I try not to do those kinds of meals anymore--the try to impress kind. I'd rather have friends who just enjoy getting together. Even if our meals end up impressive at times, I'd rather that not be the focus.

(Why is this next picture off to the side? Sorry.)

I followed up my "meal" with dessert: mango fried in butter, sprinkled with salt and drizzled with maple syrup. A gorgeous way to finish. I would have added blueberries but I didn't get around to it. Besides, they would have stained the rich yellow colour.

This was a fun experiment. I've posted more photos at our nature site.

And then there are the best laid plans.

We were on our way home Sunday evening. We were making good time, I was alert and ready for the next three hours of driving and a bonus visit with my sister since we could drive that far in one day leaving a mere three hours Monday morning to home.

And then the lights started flashing. CHECK ENGINE, CHECK ENGINE. Off and on, off and on with the temperature gauge suddenly at hot and hotter and just past an exit ramp. Next exit 7 miles. Unsure if it was better to drive as fast as we could those 7 miles or to slow the engine I struck a middle range and prayed hard. Those few minutes seemed interminable. I still don't know how long they took but the exit arrived and we drove off the highway aiming for the first parking spot in the first gas station. I made a mental note of relief as we passed the cluster of bikers thinking they might know something that would help. But first I went inside and asked the cashier if she knew of a mechanic....it's Sunday evening. Nobody will be open. To my surprise she made a number of logical and informed suggestions for me to check and then asked if I wanted her to help. Uh, yes please. As we're waving the steam and smoke away from my engine the two remaining bikers walked over yelling diagnoses and a third man strolled over giving the helpful directions to the hotel nearly next door where he was manager where he'd hold a room for me with a discounted price. Whew. The cashier sent me off with her mechanic's name and number, we grabbed our overnight bag and rain jackets and spent an unexpected evening in an adequate hotel with not much rest on my part. The kids slept of course. Morning couldn't come soon enough for me. By 7 am I was in touch with Pieman who had been working the night before, then spoke with CAA.

We decided I'd call the local mechanic. What a good decision!

Although in the end the news wasn't good--head gasket, water pump, timing belt replacement since it was overdue and the engine was in pieces anyway, a few other items--we were treated with every respect and kindness and generosity all day. The morning was spent at the mechanic's drinking his fresh coffee brewed just for me while we waited for the diagnosis and cost so as to decide if we should have him do the work or tow the car back to Canada or even to sell it to him and rent a car home. We decided he'd do the work and we'd come back to get the car next week. The sister I missed out on a sleepover with offered to drive the two hours to pick us up so we could still get in a sleepover and Pieman would pick us up the next morning (Tuesday and a three hour plus return drive for him). The afternoon found us walking to Subway and Walmart for lunch and some shopping, to Staples so the kids could play on their computers and then back 'home' to the mechanic's where Robin bought us ice cream and fudge and assured us our day would get better. Robin lives in the area and we chatted a little while she waited for her car to be worked on. She commented on how patient the kids were. I agreed and said they deserved a medal or some ice cream. Just before she left she said she had an odd question for us: what kind of ice cream do we like? She wouldn't even let me pay for it! I nearly cried at her caring of us.

So by the time we arrived home Tuesday afternoon I had left my car in a strange town in the care of strangers who were happy to look after it (for a small price of course--actually half what it would have cost us here in Canada), had enjoyed a lovely visit with my sister and her family and was very happy to be home even if the temperature change was drastic.

Pieman never looked so good.

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