Camping, Cabin, and Bonfire - oh my!

It was a very busy but wonderful fall break.  First, we had the family reunion camping trip with Nathaniel's side of the family. 

Then the kids and I headed to the lake for a quick visit to my parents' cabin:

Then we headed back to my parents' house and had fun with family.  Nathaniel rejoined us for the weekend, which was busy but fun.

Holy Land of Kentucky

I went with Elijah on his confirmation field trip yesterday.  We visited the "Holy Land of Kentucky."  Did you know that Bardstown, Kentucky is one of the very oldest dioceses in the U.S.?  It was a great field trip, and we visited 3 places.  First up was the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.

They have a beautiful church.  

The grounds have many small statues, as well as gardens and a rock labyrinth.  I wished we had more time to walk around.

This is one of the two side altars in the church.  They were elaborately carved from Carrera marble.

We also visited the Abbey of Gethsemene, where we joined the monks for 12:15 prayers.  Joined is a rather loose term.  They are cloistered, but we were in the general public area during their prayers.  Then we toured the gift shop and watched a video on their daily life.  Suffice to say, Elijah does not feel called to this vocation, but he was more than happy to buy some of their fudge.

Lastly, we went to St. Thomas church.  That was a fascinating place. 

This is the first Catholic church built in Kentucky.  I think it was finished in 1812.  

Here is Elijah posing with the baptismal fount.  It was handcarved out of walnut by a seminarian in the early 1800s.

The altar.  The baptismal font is to the left (out of photo).  This church has been in continual use since it was built over 200 years ago.

Next, we went to the log house next door.  It is set up as a little museum.  This little room shows how the seminarians had an adoration chapel:

Elijah on the stairs.

The lady explained that until 1803, the U.S. only had one diocese, Baltimore (CA, FL, etc weren't part of the U.S. yet).  The diocese of New Orleans was added with the Louisiana Purchase.  Then, in 1808, the Pope carved out some new dioceses for the U.S.: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Bardstown.  The Bardstown area had a large number of Catholics who had moved from Maryland in the 1790s.  

The log cabin (which is next to the church)

Pumpkin Patch

Gyunay's school held their annual pumpkin patch field trip yesterday, and it was a hit.

We went to a farm that we had never visited before, and it had a great playground.

It also boasts a free corn maze and soybean maze, so we plan on returning with all of the kids to pick pumpkins soon.  Gyunay will love showing them around "his" farm.  It isn't often that he gets to be the expert on a place for his siblings, and he is looking forward to showing them everything.

Pink Elephants

It's a rainy day here, so I decided to make Lydia a new skirt.  She happily chose this pink elephant fabric that I got on clearance a while back, and we paired it with the green stripe for a really cute look:

I made it from the tutorial here: https://www.scatteredthoughtsofacraftymom.com/free-flat-front-skirt-tutorial-pattern/2/

Lydia generally likes her shirts untucked, but this skirt looks good when it's tucked in, too.

Can you tell that she enjoyed our little photo shoot?

Gyunay wanted in the pictures, too.

Here she's trying to hold him out of the photo, so I took one just of him also:

September Harvest Totals

September is always a big month for gardeners, and for good reason.  It's also the end of summer gardening here, and I'm moving into planting for fall/winter now.  I've still got some crops producing, and I haven't dug up most of the orange sweet potatoes yet. 

Arugula - 1 c
Beans, calypso - 2/3c dried beans
Beans, golden crescent - 1 1/2 c fresh beans
Cabbage, green - 1
Eggs- 168
Herbs - basil, mint, oregano, dill, parsley, thyme, cilantro
Onions, candy - 8
Onions, green - 4
Peppers, Bulgarian - 2
Potatoes - 1/2 lb
Swiss Chard - 1 bunch
Squash, butternut - 4
Sweet Potatoes, orange- 1 lb
Sweet Potatoes, purple - 14.5 lbs
Tomatillos- 1 1/2 lbs
Tomatoes, Black Vernissage - 13
Tomatoes, Golden Jubilee - 14
Tomatoes, St. Pierre - 40
Tomatoes, Woodle Orange - 4
Watermelon, sugar baby - 2 small

also, cherry tomatoes, which I never count/weigh, a bit of kale, and several cups of sunberries

The Cinderella Pumpkins were beautiful, but the vines died before they were fully ripe, so I didn't get to enjoy harvesting those.  They were relegated to the chicken yard. 

Regular potatoes were mostly a failure this year.  Back to the drawing board on growing those.  Also a failure for the second year in a row: eggplant.  Next year, I'm not going to bother with trying to grow them.  I can buy organic ones pretty cheaply at our farmer's market.  And I finally got the sunberries to produce well, but now the kids really aren't eating them, so I don't know if I'll bother with those, either. 

I did just buy some onion sets for fall, and my seedlings that I planted a couple of weeks ago indoors look great.  Nathaniel is going to get my fall/winter bed ready soon, and then I'll plant them out.  Also on the agenda for October is planting next year's garlic crop.  And I took some of my birthday money and ordered a Russet Apple Tree for planting next spring!  I'm pretty excited about that one, even though it will take a couple of years to get apples.

Book Review - Deadly Proof by Rachel Dylan

I recently finished Deadly Proof, by Rachel Dylan.  It's been a while since I've read a legal thriller, and this was a good one.  I enjoyed the main characters, although I did want to know more and get deeper into Landon's character.  The author explains legal jargon without weighing down the story, and the case itself appears to be quite realistic.  There are several twists in the story, which made the plot more interesting.  I also enjoyed the subtle but growing chemistry between main characters Kate and Landon.  Overall, this is a very enjoyable read, and I recommend it.

I received this book from the publisher, Bethany House, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.