I went to get the mail the other day expecting the usual... junk mail and bills.  As I shuffled through the pile there it was... Ski Magazine.   I excitedly found a comfy spot on the couch and flipped through the pages.  With the weather getting chilly, the 5 hour commute to Seattle and back to finish up my master's at the UW, and with Ski Magazine decorating our coffee table, there is no denying that fall is here.  Nick has been busy with work, just back from a week long class in Wisconsin, though I'm not sure if he recieved more education in his class or on his favorite beverage that he seemed to have explored each night while he was there.  He returned late Friday night, or rather extreemly early Saturday morning to catch a few zzzzzz's then return to work a few hours later.  Nick is finding himself busy at the end of September and into the begining of October with working overtime and into the night.  We hope perhaps with all his hard work we will find ourselves vacationing when I have completed school in March, if we can resist a ski vacation any sooner. 

     The summer couldn't have started much better.  We were off on a road trip, with Luna in the back, we traveled to CDA, joined Nick's parents, and were off to ND to help Nick's brother Mike, and his wife, Beth move into their new place.  After a few days we all traveled back to Montana, a favorite state for many of us and spent some time camping and hiking.  We then called Bozeman home for a few days and attended Trevor's and Liz's wedding, which was elegant and great time, perfect with Montana as the backdrop.     
      

  Nick, Luna, and I then came back home to Silverdale and celebrated Nick's 26th Birthday with all of our friends here.  Barb hosted dinner, and of course we brought dessert, cake.  Nick requested carrot cake, but I went untraditional on the frosted carrot top, and went with something I felt would suit Nick a little better.  I was happy with the way it turned out and Nick was thrilled. 

        We also traveled to the Oregon coast, Tilimok, to celebrate in Angie and Kevin's wedding.  Most of us from the Wednesday Night Group rented a house which was a short walk from the beach.  We occupied our extra time with beach combing, flying kites, being total tourists and going to the cheese factory and the not to forget the jerkey factory (just the store).   We then attended the wedding in  a beautiful chapel surrounded with sand and the smell of ocean that was only a quick sprint to the door of the chapel.  The reception was in an amazing spot, a blimp hanger.  The old war airplane's propellers were adorned with white lights, and drift wood and candles decorated the tables.  The cake table was amazing with every kind of cake you could imagine.   

 

       I may always remember this summer as the summer of the garden.  I have enjoyed this, more than I ever could have imagined.  As the veggies grew in our garden, so do my desire to cook and appreciate food.  I have been exploring recipes to make from what our garden yields, and it has seemed to have cured my sweet tooth, desiring more often fresh, healthy food.  I hope to keep updating our blog with new recipes.  
        To think that it all began with Nick and the rented rototiller, soon there was a cedar picket fence, seeds, then soon sprouts.  As first timers we planted what was familiar to us; carrots, peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, lettuce, arugula, potatoes, and cucumbers.  The only thing that did not work were the onions... who knows why... they were a little late getting into the ground, in fact really late, because everything else was already late getting into the ground. 

      For first timers in the garden, I don't think we did too bad, except for planting so much there is hardly room to walk.  Our tomatoe plants grew into monsters, towering over our 7 foot fence.  Zucchinis have yielded non stop food all summer.... though I think that is pretty typical.  Though we had our doubts, the cucumbers came and they did not hesitate to take over what ground wasn't really left.  I built a pyramid structure out of cut down branches and supported the cucumbers to grow up it, good thing!  The carrots were crazy fun, coming out in all sorts of colors and one with an exotic shape (see picture below)!  The sunflowers grew and grew, they even passed up the edge of our roof. 

Sand, appoxy, squeegy, appoxy, appoxy, sand....  and so it goes.  From flimsy wood boards, to a sturdy bottom and a top it looks like we are almost there.  But, we still have a ways to go.  We pushed hard through September, with just a few nights off, our goal is to be finished by the end of October.... we may need to push that to November.  We have spent our evenings in the garage with the door open to the house and music playing.  We started with portable heaters to warm up the garage and wer were still working on the Kayak when it was 10:00pm and still hot outside.  The seasons have passed, the warmest weather to be out on the water, gone, but we are confident that we have the right clothing to allow us to get our boat out on the water when it is complete... even if it is in the cold rain. 

With the bottom of the boat finished, we now need to wire the top to the bottom, fiberglass, appoxy, and sand.  Somplace in there we need to fill in the seams with wood appoxy and put our inlays on the top.  But we will still not be finished.  We will then need to cut the 2 hatches in the kayak, and put the combing around the cockpit.... yet when that is done I am sure there will still be more to do. 

TO BE CONTINUED....