If Summer Must End...

Tomorrow, our kids start school. (well, except for Andy... we're still waiting for the Tacoma school district to stop proving their superior stupidity so he can start another year at Internet Academy.) It is so incredibly hard to believe that he and Ellysa are going into *gulp* 9th grade this year. HIGH SCHOOL!! Woah. Still odd, but not as hard to swallow, are Kaylee and Tyler, in 5th and 4th grades respectively. Naturally, we wish them all great success in this school year. Also naturally, we look forward to having some good solid routine back in our lives. Finally (and naturally), all the kids are excited to get back to school again, even though some show it less than others. Good to know they're all okay with it.

BUT...

I'm not ready for summer to end!! This has been such a weak summer weather-wise already, that it feels like we're still in early June, not early September. But as if in an effort to soothe my angst at the flittering away of the lack-of-summer, a few little gifts have popped up. I already mentioned the first gift, school starting again... (heehee!) But finally, some of the garden items I've been patiently waiting on are starting to reward me. Today I picked the first two tomatoes of the year - apparently they like SUN in order to ripen - and Cindy popped them in her mouth, so they must have been good. And the sunflowers that have been creeping taller and taller against the front of the house are finally starting to open up. Here are a few shots I took yesterday evening. Something about a nice sunflower provides a good, smooth transition from summer to fall.

(click the pics for the full size version)

Nice, huh? Just makes everything seem okay. But there was one more gift, hidden among the sunflowers. Many of you know that I've had issues with bees over the years. Well, a very industrious spider took the real estate mantra of "Location, Location, Location!" to heart, and built a web right across the face of a nice, big sunflower. That little spider is gonna be a big fat healthy spider with all the bees he's catching! Here's a pic of last night's haul...



Warm, sunny sunflowers and bees falling to spiders... I guess all really is right in the world!