This summer was excellent in every respect, though bloody hot! The garden on the south of the house grew like a wildfire, and Josef helped himself to many a tomato plucked fresh from the vine. It’s hard to describe the joy I feel watching Josef tottering among the plants, plucking off the fruits that appeal to him, and having his fill of such nourishing and flavorful delights. It seems like the birthright of every child to know that experience, and yet I recognize how lucky he is to have it available to him. We were also blessed with many cucumbers and plenty of lettuce, so fresh salads were a fixture at every dinner. I didn’t have much luck with the peppers, but I have some plans for next year to address the pepper-lack! We planted a few other things for fun–corn, beans, squash, pumpkin–but they were not in as favorable a location so they didn’t amount to much. Again, next year! I can certainly see why people take to gardening: it is very fulfilling to cultivate life, and the consumption of it is all the more satisfying for the effort expended.
After a substantial hiatus, I returned to school in June to complete my bachelor’s degree. I would have loved to attend OSU, but it just wasn’t practical with my work schedule, so I enrolled in Eastern Oregon University’s online program. I am studying accounting through the College of Business, and will hopefully be finished in Summer 2016. It’s exciting to be back in a school environment, and while I would much prefer to be in an actual classroom setting, it’s hard to beat the flexibility of the online courses. I still have to clean up some general ed requirements which is a bit of a chore, but I am very much looking forward to the accounting classes, as that is an area of great interest for me.
Between school and work I found my free time to be substantially reduced, but looking back we made a pretty good summer out of it! We managed to see quite a bit of live music outdoors, which was really nice for me since that was such a big part of my life when I was a childless Angeleno. By my count I saw about 7 different shows, so I consider my summer a success on that basis alone! On early mornings or free afternoons Josef and I made good use of the bike, and would often ride to a playground or park, or sometimes down to the covered bridge. As it was quite hot this summer, those bodies of water were a great way to spend the peak heat of the day. Sarah and JD hosted many a BBQ at their home just down the street, and we tried to have as many meals in our backyard as we could, however the yellow jackets were quite a nuisance.
We had wonderful visits from Oma und Opa, as well as Josef’s cousin Maddie and her family. Of course the big camping trip in June was another opportunity to see some of our best friends, including Josef’s bestie Grammanette! She stayed with the Monroes the whole doggone summer and we couldn’t have been happier. There were no afternoon fishing trips with Grandpa Steve this summer, but we did go camping with him, and again with Gramheart and Cousin Bev. Though at the time it didn’t seem like I was making the most of my summer, looking back I feel like it was pretty darn great.
Here are a heap of photos from the summer, in no particular order. Given how backlogged I am with these posts, you’ll forgive my omission of pithy captions in favor of a quicker turnaround on the next update.
