Late Summer Reflections

~One of the sunflowers from our front yard~

It's been a while since I've posted. I haven't meant to go silent, those who know me will attest to that being a seemingly impossible thing actually. But, it's been almost a month since I've written anything.
This has been a strange year. I'm seeing the seasons in new lights. Seasons aren't measured by calendar dates anymore, but by the animals we find inside our house. Fall & Winter we had mice. Spring brought the spider crickets. Then Summer arrived and so did the flies ~ and the spiders followed into mid-summer. It is now late summer, and here are the crickets. I can hear them singing to me even now, through the open kitchen window. They are more prolific out front, where there are no hungry chickens gobbling them up.
Kids who attend public school started back this week around here. It seems odd. Too early. Still August. Still Summer. I am glad we are homeschooling. We sent in our first NOI. Lots of anxiety went into that, so it was a grand laugh when we got the letter back from the school board, only to see that they had goofed it all up (names). We're fine and good to go. We're unschooling right now - mainly just letting the kids be kids and learn as they go. We read, Shannon has a pen pal he writes letters to, we explore the world around us. Hands-on learning, letting them have their time to be children, in every aspect that means.
The "chicken issue" is still very much alive. This is probably a prime reason for my silence - not wanting to say things until I've properly sorted them all out in my own head. I have a small meeting with the Mayor and Councilwoman Garst this week. It's been a time of high stress, lots of emotions. I'm trying to remained focused though those though, and even though there are things I want to right now (I think the backspace button on this keyboard is getting worn out!), I will wait until ..... until after the meeting? Until after I can attempt to put all of that in perspective? I'm not sure. So, just Until.

The house falls silent for a moment, and the chirping of the crickets fills the air again. A signal for a change of direction here.
Tristan turned 3 this past Friday. For his birthday Justin took the day off and we drove up to the West Virginia State Fair. Our first time there. We spent four hours walking around, seeing all the animals, milking a cow, riding a pony, watching a very impressive juggler, seeing the exhibits, and finally riding a couple rides. It was a long and hot day, but very fun. The way fairs are meant to be I suppose.
We've decided that instead of giving the boys toys or something like that for their birthdays, we're instead going to take small trips. I think this will make for better memories.
We did still have a party for him on Saturday though. Quite a success too, since the weather was nice and we had the kiddie pool set-up along with a slip & slide. Everyone played outdoors, the adults watching from the front porch, some of the parents helping the younger kids manage their way down the slip & slide. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun, and that was the point. Tristan got his homemade carrot cake that I had told him I would make for him. He's been inquiring about it every few days for the past month or so.

I will post the harvest tallies for July & August at the end of this month. It has been an amazing month so far, seeing things come in, and actually taking the time to weigh them out to see HOW MUCH is coming in. Impressive. Amazing how prolific little plots can be.