Time Passages

Perceiv'st thou not the process of the year,
How the four seasons in four forms appear,
Resembling human life in ev'ry shape they wear?
Spring, first, like infancy, shoots out her head,
With milky juice requiring to be fed: ...
Proceeding onward whence the year began,
The Summer grows adult, and ripens into man....
Autumn succeeds, a sober, tepid age,
Not froze with fear, nor boiling into rage; ...
Last, Winter creeps along with tardy pace,
Sour is his front, and furrowed is his face. ~ Dryden

It has been rudely brought to my attention that Summer is quickly passing us by.  The leaves are changing from the chartreuse of the Spring buds to dark green, olive and even shades of red, yellow and orange are popping up.  The temperature hit a high of 75 yesterday and this morning it was 49.  Daylight is getting shorter.  Most of the school shopping is done for the kids to start on Sept. 7.  I sold off more than half my sheep.  We took our chickens to the butcher.  The pigs and turkeys are plumping up and will be leaving soon.  They hay is ordered and just needs picking up.  And canning is at a high pace.

It is funny how we process time.  We realize it is passing but to think that 1982 (when I graduated from high school) was 29 years ago astounds me!  I have four kids ranging in age from soon to be 28 to 15 and a grandson...but 29 years ago!!!!  Inconceivable!!!  It seems like yesterday but then again so long ago.  And in 29 years I will be 76 years old.  That seems so far in the future but it too will pass quickly.

They years run too short and the days too fast ~ from the song Time Passages

So what has happen in the passage of time since I last wrote….I had my niece and her family visit for a week.  It rained a lot of the time she was here.  We did get some hiking in along the falls but didn't get to attend the fair with her. 

Due to several recent storms some of the trails were impassable and others clearly told you what to do...

Several days after she left we went to the fair and managed to see everything in between some showers.  I keep saying I am going to enter something but then I never do...procrastination at it's best.  While there all I could think of was  Charlottes Web when trying to convince Templeton to go to the fair they sing  "A fair is a veritable smorgasbord" 

We had our blooming onion and left the other stuff alone.  The kids of  course consumed their way through the fair.  Thankfully no one got sick on any of the rides...or more importantly...the ride home!

Sir T, #1 and Baby O came for a visit and will be back again on the 2nd.  He is getting soooo big.  They came up to look at some houses so they can move home.  They went to the one house to await the Realtor but she never showed up.  The tenant said no showing had been scheduled.  They called about the second house and no showing was scheduled there either.  They called the Realtor they were dealing with and she said " I have to be perfectly honest...I just forgot"! They took time to drive three hours to meet her for nothing.  Thankfully they didn't have to pay for a hotel like someone else might have.  Needless to say she is no longer their Realtor   

My SIL bought my brother, the man and I concert tickets for our birthday.  So Friday found us at Bethel Woods, site of Woodstock, 

listening to the Doobie Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  

I don't drink often but her friend made some kick  @ss jello shots which we quickly consumed before entering the gates.  Stopping at the beer stand before we took our seats, the guy said they would make over $10,000 on beer alone that night.  At $10 a can I can believe it.  We got home about 1:30.  The man had to go to work Saturday so we were up at 6 which made for a long day....but it was worth it.

The garden has suddenly decided to grow!  I picked my first green beans of the season two days ago but it is now covered in small beans and blossoms.  The tomatoes are finally ripening.  However, I have a rabbit inside the garden fence.  As the garden is almost 1/4 acres he keeps eluding me but I find his half eaten tomatoes and cabbage.

Not much fiber work has been done. I downloaded all the classic books  on the Nook and I have been working my way through Tom Sawyer, Little Women, Little Men, Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Heidi, Lorna Doone etc.  My morning cup of coffee on the deck has been noisier than usual as the Tennessee Pipeline if adding another line  about a mile away and the sound travels right down the river valley.  

And now that more time has passed I have to get back into the kitchen and finish canning or time will find me with rotten tomatoes!