August Adventures

 Oh friends, summer is over! Never mind it was 100 degrees today, school started, and with it ends our summer freedom. Summer in Mapleton is wonderful. I told someone recently that Mapleton is like Mayberry, if everyone in Mayberry had gone to college. 

Nature gets up close and personal around here. We ran into this stag party on our way to the library one day. I have seen them all over town --this fraternity of trouble makers.. 

 I actually feel kind of guilty that I didn't do more things with my kids this summer, but at least the library happened every two weeks, if not sooner.

 I took one morning (when Jeff was home) for myself, and went to the Springville MOA for the quilt show. (My kids weren't interested.) I wasn't planning on taking any pictures until I saw this stunner. 

 I took a picture of this one, just because I loved the colors so much.

This one was special, because it was made by elementary students for their retiring teacher.

 Up close, it still looks pretty professional! I'm wondering if this was ACTUALLY a mom quilt.

 Once again, a red and white was a favorite of mine.

 As was this blue and white. I love these fabrics!

 We did take one outing up Big cottonwood canyon for my mom's family's reunion dinner. I had a fabulous time talking to my smart and talented cousins, but my kids were a little bored.

 I told them to bring books. 

Jeff  didn't make it. He was finishing up the Ultimate challenge bike race. 110 miles, with 13,000 (not 1,300 mind you!) feet elevation gain, it's billed as the toughest one day cycling adventure. It was grueling, but he finished. I was amazed and proud of him. 

 Last week, the last chance we had to GO SOMEWHERE and DO SOMETHING (oh the guilt they gave me all summer!) we decided to go up to Salt Lake, visit Tony Caputo's (yes the deli is a tourist attraction for us, it's amazing!) and maybe the Tracy aviary. This happened to be the day there was a big accident on I-15 north, right in the construction zone. We were speeding along at 65-70 mph, then were suddenly completely stopped. 

 It lasted almost two full hours. Tia could text, 

 Ari read,

Kai watched an entire movie. I finished 4 Italian lessons, one Spanish lesson, caught up on all of the blogs I follow, and all of my facebook and instagram feeds. Then at 16% battery left on my phone I started to get a little crazy. I was especially bugged by the dummies walking up the freeway away from their cars. Indeed when traffic started moving, a motorcycle cop drove up and down yelling at them to get back in their cars right away. Two teenage girls passed us running back just as we started rolling. 

 Meanwhile, back at the homestead, Blackberries were popping out all over for blackberry crisp, salads, and snacks. I kept thinking we would be able to freeze buckets of them this year, but we kept eating them too fast. 

 Corn, cucumbers, golden and chiogga beets, and of course tomatoes, are going crazy right now. We've also eaten our weight in eggplants and peppers. Almost canning time! Holy Moses, I'm actually not...looking forward to that part...

 The flowers are a different kid of pretty compared to early summer's pastels. August is when the fire comes out and everything is intense and rich. 

 I wish there was a way to preserve them permanently like this. I guess that's why I love fresh flowers so much --their fleetingness (is that a word?). You can't keep them forever. Eventually the season passes completely, they ripen fully, and are gone.

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