Grandkids

A good friend is helping a family of African refugees. How to keep the kids entertained while the mom deals with lots of court visits? The girl, a sweetheart, is Tessa's age and the little boy, Allie's age

We took them to the sprinkler park near me  They enjoyed it

Daniel emerged from a 6 week premature infant to this 9 year old this weekend. He seems to be fascinated with maps so a globe seemed fitting. This one lights up at night to show the constellations

His parent were gone on his actual birthday though he had celebrations before and after. But this one is at grandma's

Jacuzzis are fun

I think they snuck some more bath foam into the water. Our soft water seems to make plenty of bubbles. Ginger blossoms smell so good

our house is the transfer point between shifts of custody

It is early in the morning. Normally I would be out with my flashers running or biking but I draw the line at thunderstorms which I hear outside . I am hoping for some lightning free time later in the day though I do have an elliptical trainer in our basement. But we need the rain so I shouldn't complain.

Summer is winding down, which makes me sad as I hate the cold winter months so much. I do enjoy relaxing outside in the early morning with my coffee. Days are getting shorter but my headlamp lights up the road just fine while I am biking in the dark. I was able to come back early enough the other morning before the eastern sun blinded the cars and me and in time to make buttermilk pancakes before the kids woke up.

I was running down a dirt road the other morning which was deserted as it is at all hours. A truck stopped besides me. I panicked as again, deserted road and what did this man have in mind but he said something about how he could see me really well (or maybe he couldn't see me...hard to say, I did have a neon light blinking) I wanted to ask him why he felt he needed to blind me with his brights but didn't want to annoy him.

A few weeks ago, I ordered something online from a Chinese company which very soon sent me an email to say my item was shipped. Haven't received it. Could I track it? If only I had purchased a tracking number in advance, which I didn't know was an option. I have since read reviews about this company. Seems like I will be lucky to get this. Should read reviews ahead of time, lesson learned.

How does my garden grow?  Well lots of spaghetti squash now and my butternut squash will be ready very soon. All of my many tomato plants seemed to have disappeared. I had harvested lots of tomatoes a few weeks ago but now the plants are gone. Some virus? Zucchini still is producing but the yellow squash seem to rot while they are maturing. My cauliflower is hard to get at and now most of it is overgrown. I thought they were brussels sprouts plants which I put in the middle where I wouldn't need to get to them until everything else was dead.