A bit of this and (a bit of) that

Parks and back to school

When we left off the last exciting narrative, we had just returned from Utah with Ian on August 29. When we got back to Benicia, Fiona was excited about her soccer playing and showed off her shin guards. Later in the afternoon, Evan ran some errands while I "sat" with Ian and Fiona at a park. Ian showed off his budding surfing expertise, while Fiona did a one-handed traverse on the tram. Not to be outdone, Ian also did a one-hander.

The next morning was Fiona's first day of school. Here brother and sister pose for a parting to go their separate ways to school. Shortly thereafter, if was time for Ian to go (back) to school (back, because his school started the week before). I walked him down to his school. He looked in the window of his classroom, and said "Oh goody, time to go to the playground!". Whereupon he threw his bag down in front of the door and took off for the playground. That afternoon, we rode to Napa with Laura to pick up Fiona. When we went to have lunch, we saw this mural and an excuse for one more picture of Fiona.

Around the yard

Not too much exciting around the yard, but a bit. Here are my tomato plants in their 5 foot high trellises, with zucchini below. Here's a shot of what we thought was snowberry, but apparently, it is not snowberry. We'll figure it out and correct it (or maybe someone will tell me, and I'll correct it). Our five-leaved hibiscus is blooming. Not sure what its name is, but I sometimes call it our mary jane hibiscus.

Visitors and such

On September 7, our friends Mike and Barb Sovereign stopped by on their way back to Monterey, and that evening the Dart took us for a ride. Hailey and Tate came up for a few days last week. Tate is not afraid of being called a lap dog.

On Saturday I was honored (OK, maybe I was just asked, was all) to lead the Talent City Council and the Mayor in the Talent Harvest Festival parade. So, joined by Hailey and Tate, the Dart and I served to separate the Council and Mayor from the marching band. Tate helped me a lot, at least for a while, but then he became somewhat complacent. After the parade, the Model T and these young ladies parked behind us.