End of August

The end of August means the end of summer for me. Sure it is still hot. But the heat has lost something.... It's hard to explain, but I am sure you know what I mean. It might happen earlier or later in your area, but summer is winding down. It makes me kind of sad in some ways, but the promise of those perfect fall days that are right around the corner lift me up in other ways.

The kids are going back to school on Monday, and the local pool will shut down on Sept. 10 for the year. We ate the last watermelon (besides the one the crows got because the kids forgot to shut the greenhouse door... grrrr) at the beach, and tomorrow is the last summer BBQ. Of course then we will have autumn BBQs. So that is not such a big deal. So here is just a post full of pictures of what was a really awesome summer. Too awesome to spend much time writing blog posts- sorry about that.

My secondhand greenhouse- tomatoes on the left, watermelon, zucchini, and a papaya in the middle, eggplant, peppers, passionfruit on the right

The volunteer fireman's BBQ party

Our new garage (made of recycled wood) and mini-van. 

His head really isn't that big. It is just the camera angle.

The house before re-staining

And the house after 24 liters of Xyladecor exterior wood stain.
The roof peak was a bit scary on just a ladder. Glad I won't have to do that again for a few years.

And the eldest pwning a watermelon at the beach.

The Good Side of June

Well, I don't want you to think that only bad things are happening.
There is a lot of beauty in this very cool spring and early summer.

This year's garlic looking great!

Organic roses smell heavenly

Everyone loves daisies

Japanese plums 

Everbearing strawberries pumping out three or four a day

Rice paddy looks better than last year

Cherokee Purple Tomato

Hollyhocks are so beautiful

Goumi fruits starting to ripen

Red Currants

Satsuma setting fruit.

Always look on the bright side of life!

Summer's End is Near

Passiflora incarnata, a.k.a. Maypop

Well, it was a great summer. Dry but great. 45 days dry to be more exact. But finally a typhoon hooked over Japan from the sea of Japan side and brought some blessed relief- 24 hours of light drizzle, and the temperature dropped from the high 30s (Celsius of course) to the middle 20s. Whew!

Sports Day!

Our Daughter's school held it's annual "Sports Day" on Sept. 5th.
What a great day! It was a bit hot, a bit bright, but so much fun!
Relays, tug-o-wars, and just a lot of crazy fun stuff as well that the kids designed. Like the parent's "Love Love Partners" race, where we got to switch husbands and wives, hold their hand, and run around with a balloon between our cheeks. I guess I should have shaved a bit closer, that was a mighty loud pop when the balloon hit my cheek.

Go Team White Hat!

The traditional unicycle show. Every year they do a bunch of stunts. All the students in the school are shown in that picture by the way....

Holy cow, look at that boy run! What form! Too bad the "race" was only 10 meters! It was the "Cute Guests" fun run for the new students for the next few years. Of course, he is going to be the only student entering the first grade next year, where he will study in the same classroom as "The Second Grader." (Note the definitive article- she was the only first grader this year!)

He came back complaining- It was so short, I didn't even feel like I ran!"

Everybody's gone surfing!

Well, here it is at the tail end of summer again. Where did it go? Why did it go so fast? The girl will be back in school tomorrow!
This past Sunday we went to the beach. It was quite possibly the most beautiful day to go to the beach in history. It was sunny and hot, but you could somehow sense the end of summer in the day. I don't know exactly what it was, but everyone noticed. A kind of sadness, but somehow it made the day more special- we had the best last weekend of summer vacation that anyone has ever experienced. What a great day.

Another beautiful day at the beach. 

Leif doing his hulk face.

 

Our daughter's little classmate and her dad- who is teaching (or trying to at least) us to surf!

The Daughter having some watermelon.

What a beach!

Surfing Sensei gives us the thumbs up!

Summer images

 

Dragonflies and chestnuts

 

Day at the Beach

On Sunday we took a little trip to the beach.
Man, I love summer!