Summer Harvest

Here is a picture of the crops I harvested this morning. I learned several things about gardening this summer that I apparently forgot since my last garden.
Four tomato plants grow a lot of tomatoes.
I need to plant more carrots.
Four broccoli plants worked, but I needed to pick more often.
Weeds are incredible. They grow so fast, and there are so many different kinds of them.
I did not mark my garden well enough. I thought I would remember where I planted everything.
Next year I want to plant lettuce. I see lots of nice crops of lettuce in other people's gardens. I might try beets, too.
I enjoyed the garden, and will definitely sign up for another next year.

Some quotations I remember

This is a list of things I've heard or said myself during my lifetime. I am probably paraphrasing most of them, so I'm not giving much credit and only a little bit of explanation here and there. They definitely are not in chronological order.

"Eat that hot dog."
"Off I go to tell her."
"It's a good thing to spend money on quality art."
"Ruffled potato chips make your mouth bleed."
"Tweet. Haven't heard that one for a while."
"Be nice to your sisters. Someday you will live far away from each other."
"Carry an extra comb. Loan that one out if someone needs it."
"That person doesn't have a full set of dishes."
"Judas Priest." (This is what my father said when he got mad. I guess it was his form of swearing, but I've never heard anyone else say this.)
"Want a cracker?"
"Don't answer that. They want money."
"No one can ever take your education away from you." (Rockwell Stewart. He made sure his five daughters and one son went to college in the early part of the 20th century.)
"Start with what you do believe in."
"You can't use someone else's religion. Find your own.
"Let's have these two fat girls have a race." (Spoken by someone my father talked to on the street in Ashtabula. I've often wondered if the other girl was as offended as I.
Okay. I was fat. But it still was a mean thing to say.)
"You get the watch. She gets the ring because she has pretty hands."
"Pick out one of these fur coats. It's yours." (I was the first to choose and got the only pretty one. I still have it, but can't bring myself to wear former animals.)
"Look at that bug on the broccoli."
"Your brother just ran over my saxophone."
"This is the hand." (I chased my brother for years after I accidentally stuck my hand in dog do.)
"Your front teeth look like mine." (Spoken by a poor excuse for an Easter bunny)
"I'm going to buy you a new pair of patent leather shoes."
"Sure you can stay home from school today to paint a picture."
"Comb your hair and tie it back"
"Welcome to the Mongoose Beauty Salon."

Day at the Zoo, etc.

We celebrated our anniversary with a day at the Cleveland Zoo. The last time we went Elizabeth was in a stroller, so it has been a few years. We had a great time. The first picture I took was on the shuttle. Why? It is a family with five children. Since they knew the people behind us, we soon realized these children are quintuplets. Wow. They will soon be entering the third grade.
We both decided we enjoyed the aquarium the most, but the overly active amadillo was a close second.
Our GPS took us to Legacy Village, our shopping center of choice - mostly for browsing. We had lunch at a Smoothie Cafe and spent some time at the Apple Store. Our next stop was the Pottery Barn across the street from Legacy. We are close to getting new living room furniture. Obviously, we don't rush things as we have not had any for a couple years.
We stopped for coffee at Trader Joe's. Samples of the day included root beer floats and Kona coffee. Yum. We ate dinner in Macedonia at the Outback, returned home and watched Wall.E.

Summer of 09

It's been a great summer, and it isn't even over yet. Family company is gone though, but they leave many wonderful memories. I am including a few pictures, not necessarily in chronological order. The Taylors came first on June 26th and stayed through the parade. The Dillows arrived in time for the parade, also. How they worked it in along with a move to Wyoming is a miracle, but everyone is glad they were here to share the day. Elizabeth has fantastic pictures on her blog featuring July 4th in Stow and Kent.
The Persheys arrived before the Dillows left, so they were able to visit. Ben, Katherine and Juliette traveled to Pennsylvania in order to spend some time with the Taylors. We ate plenty of ice cream when friends came over. A few highlights include "hoofing" to Echo Hills School to play on the equipment, jumping on a trampoline, an ice cream social at church, zumba, two trips to the Akron Zoo, a picnic at Hale Farm, watching Grandpa perform in downtown Kent, shopping in Hudson and swimming at the Nat. Marie and I had a one day trip to Chautauqua as she reunited with her church choir from the Falls. Somehow I managed to work in lunch with a few old friends from Jefferson.
We also walked to the Stow UMC church on a beautiful Sunday morning.