Global Warming, Yay!

So this never made it into Al Gore's documentary. Here it is, the first weekend in October and we WENT SWIMMING in Lake Michigan! We met up with Beth and Tyler to take the kids to the Harvest Festival. Jonathan allowed the face painter to paint a purple ghost on him. But he was a little too timid to allow his face or hand to be painted. Instead, he offered up his shin. It was a nice canvas, but after it was done, he was so enthralled, he spent much of the morning walking doubled over so he could see it. He did manage to look up to see the little ponies and goats. He transferred over most of a bale of hay, one handful at a time through the fence. The pony got bored long before he did.

It was so hot we were choosing the shady side of the street as we walked, so we reconvened at Silver Beach after lunch and a trip home for swimsuits. It was so strange to be walking out to our car, beach towels over our shoulders, while the leaves blew around our ankles! Lots of other people had the same idea and the beach was crowded. We wove our way through the snow fences and found a spot of sand. Chris set up the umbrella to keep the babies in the shade and Jonathan jumped right into the water. It was a little cold, but it was mostly the psychological effect of swimming in October that kept me wading for twenty minutes or so. I finally ducked under and it felt just fine.

The next morning it was still eighty degrees, but we felt compelled to do something fall-related. So we took the boys apple picking. The Nye's farm is enormous and has many, many varieties of apple. The trees were still pretty full, although a lot of the lower hanging fruit was gone. Chris set up a ladder and picked, handing down the apples one at a time. I had Alex in one arm but could take the apples and pass them on to Jonathan, who carefully laid them in the basket. We got a whole bushel of Ida Reds, Winesaps and Golden Delicious varieties. I've already made a big pot of very tasty applesauce, and Chris has an apple pie on his horizon. I also stocked the freezer with quarts of tomato sauce, since ten pounds of tomatoes are currently selling for eight dollars. The sauce is flecked through with fistfuls of fresh herbs from our garden - the basil plant was taller than Jonathan before we started picking. We are really enjoying this time in the Fruit Basket of the Midwest. In a couple of years we'll be able to harvest avocados!