If it's September, there must be sunflowers

This picture is about a week old, but I've been busy. Chuck always picks sunflowers for me in September, and thanks to my mom for the blue salvia, I have a nice arrangement on my table.

Here is the required picture of Luke, just for fun.

Things have been pretty busy around here, with tomatoes, peaches, soccer, baby fun, church work, and more. I keep thinking that if I just finish _______ things will get easier, but that is a dream. I will actually have to stop doing something that I currently do for things to get easier. So I have to decide if I really want things easier bad enough to give up something, or if I'd rather just gripe while I keep on doing the same things. Or maybe I could be grateful that I like doing these things enough that it's worth it to me to be too busy.

The peaches are certainly worth it. Tasting a bit of heaven every day can make up for a lot of stuff I don't really like that much. We have had so many sliced peaches on ice cream. We've made peach butter, peach cobbler, peach smoothies. These are locally grown peaches that are incredibly sweet and do not darken. I sliced some Friday for supper and today they still are not dark. We will finish the leftovers tonight, either on ice cream or in smoothies. Mmmmm.

Other foods I've been enjoying in the last month are...
Chinese long beans stir fried with peanuts and served in a sauce made of soy sauce and red wine vinegar and garlic thickened with cornstarch

Rainbow chard made the same way

Chard in an Italian flavored soup made with chicken, potatoes, onion, parsley, simmered in turkey broth from the freezer and served with Parmesan cheese

Potatoes almost any way at all, fresh and wonderful from my parents' garden

Other things I've been enjoying are...
Playing with Luke on the days he comes over

visiting with other soccer parents at the games

hearing from other nurses what a great job my daughter is doing in her new job

hanging out with my kids last night at Ben and Andrea's house

looking through old pictures in preparation for Chuck's 35th high school reunion

attending church in the basement during the renovation---it gives a new perspective to be in a different place

OK, Chuck wants the computer to put together his bio for the reunion, and I've run out of stuff to say anyway, so that's it for today.