Photography – Page 77 – M. Sullivan Photography

September 21, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Flowers, Garden, Photos, Weather

Signs Of Autumn

Although not quite officially fall, the signs are evident that it is close at hand.

The final garden flowers.

We picked the grapes from our Concord grape vine earlier this month. We had enough juice to make three batches of grape jelly (12 pints). My brother generously offered the grapes from his vine and even picked them for me and delivered them to our house. In total, I made six batches (24 pints) of jelly, froze 10 cups of juice (equivalent to 8 more pints of jelly) and made a quart of grape juice that we drank. I’m quite certain that I don’t want to look at another grape for a very long time. We are stocked with grape jelly for the entire school year of lunch boxes filled with PB&J’s.

Sophia’s school had a “Harvest Festival” this week. Students were asked to bring in something from their garden to show during the festival. We still have carrots, peppers, tomatoes and apples, but Sophia decided a bouquet is what she wanted to share with her fellow schoolmates.

She won 1st prize for her bouquet.

We were fortunate that the festival was early in the week. We had a hail storm come through on Wednesday which shredded the leaves on our few remaining garden plants, our grape vine and took many leaves and small branches off the trees. A few hours after the storm had passed, this was what still remaining on the top of our rain barrel.

The decks were littered with pieces of foliage and sticks.

We are planning to get outside tomorrow to take care of sweeping the decks and cleaning up the yard. A little bit of nice weather would be nice so that we can also enjoy my nephew’s soccer game Saturday and Sebastian’s last day of baseball camp on Sunday.

September 17, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Daphne, Photos

Happy Monday!

I ran home during my lunch break to check on Daphne, let her out and give her a little exercise. I think she had been busy basking in the warm fall sunshine coming through our front window. She wasn’t very enthusiastic about playing fetch. Maybe she feels like our whole household did this morning – tired and not quite ready for a long, busy week. Happy Monday!

September 16, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Baseball, Family, Photos, School

Middle School, Baseball And A Milestone

Sebastian started middle school this past Monday. It’s hard to believe he is in 6th grade already. It doesn’t seem that long ago that he stepped on the school bus for the first time and began kindergarten. He was quiet and shy and struggled with his new routine for the first month. He didn’t know anyone in his class but made friends quickly. Now as a 6th grader, he was a little apprehensive after the open house, but is confident and enjoys his new-found independence after the first week of middle school.

I predicted that he wouldn’t be overly photogenic on the first day of school. I was correct. I did snap a couple of pictures before he headed off to the bus.

Sebastian finished the third week of a four-week UMD baseball camp today. The first week was spent practicing and evaluating players. After evaluations, the kids were divided into four teams and now are spending Sundays through September 23 practicing and playing games. The games are six innings and each inning is pitched by a different player. Sebastian’s inning was completed in just 11 pitches – he struck out the side. He also did a nice job at bat. He was 2 for 3 and had one walk.

One final item about Sebastian. We have been using the back of a bedroom door to measure the height of both kids since they were able to stand. At just shy of 12 years old, Sebastian has hit the mark of five feet. He grew two inches in the past year. I don’t have much time left before he will surpass me in height. My days are numbered.