Some of Summer's Last Adventures

This last week of summer holidays, we took another crack at Burrows Lake; this time with the kids. We pulled the kids behind the canoe in a dinghy. We didn't paddle all that far, so it worked out all right. We stopped the lake's biggest island for a picnic and a swim.

(Also we ended up taking away an extra garbage bag full of refuse left by less considerate visitors to the island. Mostly beer cans, but also other trash... and even an old pair of socks. Humans, it seems, are the animals whose leavings can be sharp and nasty and do not decompose in a timely manner.)

You can see all the pics (of this week, so far) here.

Near the beginning of the summer, Emeth, for reasons yet inexplicable, announced that he wanted his summer project to be to make his own soap. Okaaaaay? We somehow haven't managed that, yet. But this week we did manage to hook up with a small town soap maker we'd met years before at a farmer's market, and she graciously volunteered to let us come and see her soap making process with the kids. The kids got to pick out a bar of soap for themselves each. Emeth got pumpkin pie soap. Istra went for Blueberry soap. Mommy couldn't leave without about a half dozen assorted bars, naturally.

And, once again, we hit the Uhthoff (rail) Trail, scavenging for semi-wild apples. Last year was tough, most of the trees did not produce apples. This year, the apples are back! But, most of the trees were not ripe yet. We did find a couple of trees with ripe-enough fruit to snag a grocery bag full without much effort, however. I sense a giant apple crisp hovering over us in the near future....

So that's what we've been up to this week so far. There's still a few days left. Who knows what's still in store...