sos/9

this was one of the most amazing skies i have ever seen. one evening in mid-july, the sun was setting at the same time that billowing storm clouds were rolling through, yet you could still see the hint of blue sky behind the clouds. the camera really could not even capture it.

sos/8

there have been many happy moments this summer, but some sad ones as well. a few months ago, matt's grandpa vander woude was diagnosed with cancer, and just six weeks later he died. he had been quite a healthy man in his upper 80's who was still reupholstering furniture and making jewelry in his final year of life (all my cool dangly earrings come handmade from him :) ). before retiring, he spent his life as a reformed church pastor. matt travelled with the rest of his family to minnesota for the funeral, and came home with a stack of his old, hand-written or typed sermons dating back to the early 40's. he will be missed.

(this photo was taken about nine years ago.)

sos/7

this is miriam's wildflower notebook that she has been keeping throughout the summer. it has actually been more of a joint effort between her and i, since i get into it just as much if not more than she does. i take the pictures, we look them up in our field guide to identify them, and then miriam sticks the picture into her notebook and copies the name underneath. i believe we have identified 21 wildflowers so far, and though we could keep going, we are wrapping it up for the time being. the book has also grown to contain a handful of insects, butterflies, and one green frog. :)

sos/6

last fall we got a digital camera, so this is the first summer i have been able to use it. it is amazing how digital can expand your horizons in the area of photography. as i have said before on this blog, i have really been enjoying getting out more to try my hand at nature photography over these past months. imagine my delight the day flopsy and mopsy decided to stop for a pose!

sos/5

stopped by grand haven beach yesterday evening on the way home from a family reunion.

sos/4

i just have to chuckle at my attempts at "container gardening" this year. check out this pot next to our front stoop. looks plentiful, right? the funny part is that most of what's growing i did not plant -- and the unplanted and untended plants are doing better than the ones i have been nurturing since their tiny beginnings. this pot was supposed to hold basil, which we started from seeds this spring and have been able to harvest a small crop from. (garden fresh pesto is SO good -- thanks for the recipe, charity!) when i repotted the basil seedlings into this pot, i added some soil from our compost bin. before i had a chance to weed it, our neighbors pointed out to us that we had pumpkins growing! i also noticed what looked to be a couple tomato plants sprouting up. i decided to just let them all grow, and this is how it looks today. (i hesitate to point out how this compares to the two tomato plants behind the pot that i actually planted...) we'll see if the untended pumpkins and tomatoes have a chance to bear much fruit, since they were started late in the season, but it's been fun to watch.

so, anybody have any advice on using composted soil in the future??

sos/3

miriam is officially 6 1/2 today. exciting for her, a bit scary for me, as 7 just sounds so much older than 6. yikes, do they grow up fast.

although a bit out of focus, this is one of my favorite pics of miriam from this summer on one of our nature walks. this one was taken at vanraalte farm. our sunday morning nature walks as a family became somewhat of a tradition this spring/summer.