Category: General News

This summer, our back yard was taken over by squash.  Orange, globe-like gourds.  Andrew brought home a pie pumpkin seedling from preschool last fall.  Its growth (as of late August) is shown below.

This behemoth, on the other hand, is a jack-o-lantern variety that I brought home from the farmer’s market in June.  At the same time, I brought home a watermelon seedling and a zucchini seedling.  We got nothing from the watermelon.  The zucchini produced one respectable fruit.  But the Pumpkin?  the Pumpkin???

It took over the yard in three directions.  While we blithely ignored it, the monster plant produced nine good-sized pumpkins.

Last week, Bryan harvested most of them.  The first two were already decorating our front stoop.

We’ve given some away and still have several to share.

Now our yard is no longer a pumpkin patch.  Andrew cannot wait until it’s time to carve these bad boys.  Our pie pumpkins are still producing, and I’m hoping to get a few more oranged up before the end of the season!  Viva la pumpkin!

I really, really, really thought I wrote a post about our apple orchard outings.  But I guess that must have been on Facebook, because I see nothing that looks like an apple post here on my blog.

Well, friends, weather or not I am losing my mind, the truth remains that it is high apple season here in Wisconsin.  Our favorite orchard is Door Creek Orchard, just to the east of Madison.  We’ve been to the orchard several times, and while I’ve avoided making tempting baked goods from their bounty, we’ve had lots of apple sauce.  And if the saying holds true, we shouldn’t be seeing a doctor for quite some time.

Here are some pictures from a couple of our outings.

The mosquitoes have been incredibly bad this late summer, and unfortunately, they were still really thick at the orchard.  We would venture in to pick and then run (sometimes screaming) into the safety of the apple barn.

Here’s Jessica and Eli with some cider to take home.

Reading apple literature to the young ones.

One book: four kids

After purchasing our apples and cider, we trooped across the highway to the sheep pens.

These sheep are a perennial favorite of the kids.  It’s a lot of fun to feed them grass!

Then the farmer came over and let the kids throw rotten apples to the sheep.  What fun!!

Hello, you happy Black Welsh Mountain Sheep!

There’s our crew!

Back to the orchard!

Mmmm, does that cider taste gooooood!

Sylv gives it a thumb’s up.

* * * *

Going back in time, here’s some pics of our trip to the orchard a week earlier.

Bryan and his kids

Andrew contemplates his apple variety taste comparison.  Or is he just two-fisting it?

My goodness, these kids can be hams.  Where did Sylvie learn how to pose like that??

Goofy grapes one and two.

Sylvie gets a boost from Dad.

A happy day at the orchard.

Apple picking season is about half way through, but there’s a good month to go.  So if you haven’t gone to your local orchard yet, I recommend it!

What beautiful fall weather we’ve had these last few weeks!  This weekend, Bryan is canoeing on the Kickapoo River with some friends.  It’s awfully chilly out tonight, and I’m really hoping that he’s staying warm.  For me at home, my laptop and cat are keeping me nice and toasty.

The kids and I had a nice day today.  We bummed around the house all morning (nothing of any value was accomplished), and then we went downtown and had lunch with Terry.  He just returned home from a month-long vacation to Kentucky.  He drove something like 6,000 miles while he was gone, covering every stretch of road in the fine state…or very nearly close:)

After gorging ourselves at Flavor of India on Mifflin Street (probably our favorite place to eat!), the kids and I drove over to Bubba and Lisa’s for a little visit.  Lisa played with Sylvie, Andrew played with Michael’s iPad, Michael mowed the lawn, and I took a nap.  It was a nice break:)  After a while, we all drove over to Middleton to check out a corn maze. I haven’t wandered through a corn maze in many, many years, and it was a lot of fun!  The weather was a bit chilly, and my dear, hot-blooded girl who was wearing a skirt, her cowgirl boots, a Halloween shirt and (adamantly) no jacket, was pretty chilly.  Before beginning the maze, we had fun in the craft tent cutting and pasting and running around and around (the kids, that is).  I painted Andrew and Sylvia’s faces, and they had a lot of fun!  Photos to follow.

Here are the kids diligently cutting and pasting…

Fall is here!  The milkweeds are sending off their dancing seeds.

Happy, face-painted kids.  They sure do love each other.

Here we are trying to answer some Halloween-related trivia.  When he got an answer right, Andrew would leap about, proclaiming, “I’m a genius!”

There’s my little Sylv.  She’s a delight, that girl!

Which way now??

It was Andrew’s first corn maze.  I think he had a great time!

The proceeds from this corn maze go to the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund.  It’s located on the far west side in the Old Sauk Trails Park.  I recommend it for an active fall outing!

My boy is having minor surgery on his herniated belly button tomorrow morning.   I’ve tried not to think a lot about his operation recently.  Writing out “minor” and “surgery” together seems a little oxymoronic when you’re talking about a wee 5-year-old cub.

Andrew’s surgeon is going to be Dr. Dennis Lund at the UW Children’s Hospital. We’re scheduled to check in at the hospital at 8:30 on Wednesday morning.  His surgery is scheduled at 10:05am.  I think they said that the surgery was scheduled to last around 45 minutes.

We’ve read lots of “…goes to the hospital books” include Curious George and Franklin.  We’ve talked about the sleeping medicine that will help him go to sleep for the operation, and Andrew has expressed considerable relief  that he won’t have any shots or the IV put in until he is asleep.  That said, he’s nervous and brave.

Andrew’s not supposed to eat solid foods after midnight, so I’m hoping that we can get up and out of the house tomorrow morning before he gets too worried about wanting breakfast.  Sylvia will be at Donna’s daycare all day on Wednesday, so that will leave Bryan and me free to focus on Andrew.

We get to be with our little guy in the operating room until he’s asleep, and then we’ll be with him again before he wakes up.  I’m anticipating that post-operation nausea might be an issue, but hopefully they’ll be able to help him with that.

The doctor said that he’ll have a bandage over his belly button for something like a couple weeks.  He’ll be out of school on Thursday, and then we can see how he’s feeling on Friday.

I’ll plan to post tomorrow if the hospital has internet.  Thanks for sending warm wishes our way.

And for those of your who are interested in the hospital we’ll be at, the video below is a promotional piece from the UW Children’s Hospital.  The doctor narrating is Andrew’s surgeon.

I just got back from a three-and-a-half mile run.  I should put an exclamation point at the end of that statement since I can’t remember the last time I ran that far.  It’s been pre-kids for sure:)

For the last nine weeks I’ve been attending Dustin Maher’s 5:30am boot camps.  And I loooove them.  Which feels like a little bit of an odd thing to love.  I think of myself as a person who loves good books.  I love delicious food.  I love to be outdoors.  But working out? HARD?  At 5:30am?  That seems to be a little weird thing to love.  Perhaps, then, I am a little odd, but I do indeed thrive on my early morning workouts.

It works really well for me to set my alarm and just get up and go without having to think or giving myself the opportunity to come up with excuses.  Just get up, get dressed, and go.  By the time I fully come-to, I’m at the park, visiting with my friends, and ready to follow the trainer’s instructions.  I’ve met some really great friends through Boot Camp.  Several of us joined for a 21-day challenge back in mid-July, and my favorite part of going is getting to see them.

I like the way Dustin’s workouts often leave me heaving and panting and sometimes nearly unable to drag my body back to the car.  They also leave me happy and positive and empowered.  When I get home at 6:30, I feel like I’ve accomplished something really substantial.  I feel strong (or sore) and good in my body.

I’ve been going to Bootcamp 5-6 days a week.  I’m also (mildly) training to run a couple 5Ks this fall (that’s about 3 miles).  As I’ve gone running in the evenings, I’ve been really happy with how easy it feels to run.  It’s clear that all the cardiovascular working out in the mornings is making running a much easier endeavor.

I’ve been mostly running 1.5 to 2.5 miles, but tonight I tried 3.5.  Yay!  The Vilas Zoo 5K run on Sept. 26 shouldn’t be a problem:)

My whole schedule is going to change this week, though.  My bootcamp membership ends on Wednesday (sniff!).  As much as I enjoy it, I can’t balance early morning workouts with my photography work in the evening.  Going to bed at 9am isn’t really compatible with running a business after the kids are in bed!

Fortunately, Dustin has an alternative fitness group – MamaTone.  They meet in mid-morning, and I’m going to try it out.  Childcare for Sylvia, a daytime workout for me…seems like it might make life a little more manageable!

I’ll be sad to be leaving my park-based workouts when in wake up with the stars and watch the sun rise.  But I’m glad to have found some fun and engaging ways to incorporate exercise into my life.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

While reading a fellow-photographer’s blog the other day, I learned about a school of thought called Humanism.  She was saying that she wasn’t religious but that her beliefs could most closely be summarized by the Humanist Manifesto.  After reading it, I would kinda say the same thing about myself.  I especially liked this sentence,

“We aim for our fullest possible development and animate our lives with a deep sense of purpose, finding wonder and awe in the joys and beauties of human existence, its challenges and tragedies, and even in the inevitability and finality of death.”

I generally loathe to define my views  as those of a group.  I won’t (probably ever) commit to a political party because I staunchly think of myself as an independent.  I like to think what I think and not subscribe to a group where there’s a platform of ideas that one subscribes to.  Also, as a disclaimer, I’ve done almost no reading on humanism, and I’m sure there are aspects of it that I wouldn’t like.  But in my reading of the “manifesto” below, I thought it was pretty nice.  And without further ado, here it is:

Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.

The lifestance of Humanism—guided by reason, inspired by compassion, and informed by experience—encourages us to live life well and fully. It evolved through the ages and continues to develop through the efforts of thoughtful people who recognize that values and ideals, however carefully wrought, are subject to change as our knowledge and understandings advance.

This document is part of an ongoing effort to manifest in clear and positive terms the conceptual boundaries of Humanism, not what we must believe but a consensus of what we do believe. It is in this sense that we affirm the following:

Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis. Humanists find that science is the best method for determining this knowledge as well as for solving problems and developing beneficial technologies. We also recognize the value of new departures in thought, the arts, and inner experience—each subject to analysis by critical intelligence.

Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change. Humanists recognize nature as self-existing. We accept our life as all and enough, distinguishing things as they are from things as we might wish or imagine them to be. We welcome the challenges of the future, and are drawn to and undaunted by the yet to be known.

Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience. Humanists ground values in human welfare shaped by human circumstances, interests, and concerns and extended to the global ecosystem and beyond. We are committed to treating each person as having inherent worth and dignity, and to making informed choices in a context of freedom consonant with responsibility.

Life’s fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals. We aim for our fullest possible development and animate our lives with a deep sense of purpose, finding wonder and awe in the joys and beauties of human existence, its challenges and tragedies, and even in the inevitability and finality of death. Humanists rely on the rich heritage of human culture and the lifestance of Humanism to provide comfort in times of want and encouragement in times of plenty.

Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships. Humanists long for and strive toward a world of mutual care and concern, free of cruelty and its consequences, where differences are resolved cooperatively without resorting to violence. The joining of individuality with interdependence enriches our lives, encourages us to enrich the lives of others, and inspires hope of attaining peace, justice, and opportunity for all.

Working to benefit society maximizes individual happiness. Progressive cultures have worked to free humanity from the brutalities of mere survival and to reduce suffering, improve society, and develop global community. We seek to minimize the inequities of circumstance and ability, and we support a just distribution of nature’s resources and the fruits of human effort so that as many as possible can enjoy a good life.

Humanists are concerned for the well being of all, are committed to diversity, and respect those of differing yet humane views. We work to uphold the equal enjoyment of human rights and civil liberties in an open, secular society and maintain it is a civic duty to participate in the democratic process and a planetary duty to protect nature’s integrity, diversity, and beauty in a secure, sustainable manner.

Thus engaged in the flow of life, we aspire to this vision with the informed conviction that humanity has the ability to progress toward its highest ideals. The responsibility for our lives and the kind of world in which we live is ours and ours alone.

Each weekday morning for the last month-and-a-half, I’ve been driving through the dark streets of Madison at 5:15am on my way to my morning fitness boot camp.  There are many, many reasons that I’ve loved going to boot camp, but one of them is the time in the car listening to NPR.  My kids, you see, are not fans of NPR.  They do not like to have their ears assaulted with the sound of news or people who are not singing kids songs.  So on a normal basis, I do not get to listen to NPR, which, my friends, makes me a little sad.

However, at 5:15am, I am the only one in the car, and I get to listen to my station for 15 minutes each way.  That’s 30 minutes!!!  Oh the rapture:)

Sometimes, I even feel like I kinda know what’s going on in the world these days.

One of my favorite segments is a special series called “The Human Edge.”  Each day they explore a different aspect of human evolution that gave us an evolutionary edge and allowed us to be as a species as dominant and “successful” as we have become.  Shows have discussed our hands (allows us to hold and make tools), our feet (allows us to stand upright, live on the ground, run), cooking our food, crying, and telling stories.  Each segment is about 10 minutes long, and I’ve found each one to be really interesting.

You can read more (and listen online at) NPR.org or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.