Happy Thanksgiving! (Belated)

Hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday. We did. We enjoyed a wonderful meal with family and friends. I cooked turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans and rolls and took it all over to a family friends' house that don't have cats. We shared a meal with 18 people. A smaller group than we've had some years but we were in a smaller house.

We played some games, talked and enjoyed one another's company. It has been a very good month with an exciting finish to Rachel's swim season. She participated in 3 relay races and the 50 freestyle. She qualified on Thursday for the Saturday finals in each race and the 200 freestyle relay was one place away from the state meet. They were very excited about the results and hope to do better next year.

We have had a very good week with Stephen. He wasn't feeling well and Jeff was in Duluth at the end of last week so instead of coming straight home from Duluth he came home via Morris and brought Stephen home a few days early. After the summer without him, it was terrific to have a few extra days to play, talk and just be with him. We will treasure these days for years to come.

While Stephen was here, he heard that he had moved beyond the first cuts in a summer internship with the NSA. While nervous and having a hard time remaining hopeful, he would really like to receive a job like that this coming summer. So we are doubtful he will be coming home again for an extended period. It makes us focus on the time we have and enjoy the moment.

Have a blessed advent season. May you use the season to prepare your hearts and minds for the coming of our Lord.
Love,
Diane

Fall 2009 with the Adams family

I was going to try and be more regular about posting on this blog this fall but time seemed to get away from me as it seems to do most every fall. There are only three of us living at our house now, but that doesn't seem to make it any less busy.

I think there are several things that contribute to the busyness. At the library, fall activities and the planning for the rest of the year keep me busy. Then for the third year, I was in charge of the concessions for the girls swim team home meets. We have to adjust back to the school year routine. Rachel and I getting up and ready for the day and out of the house by about 7:45 (and 7:25 two mornings a week). Jeff switching from a focus of writing for the upcoming theater season to rehearsing, performing and putting together the shows (and all the logistics involved in working everyone's schedules together to put a show together). We also have three birthdays between Oct. 2 and Nov. 2. Then this year we added a trip to Colorado Springs to visit my Oma (grandmother) one last time before she died on Oct. 26th.

And the Lord has blessed us with a new teenage daughter. Sarah has been placed in our lives and we are thankful for her presence in our lives. She spent a good part of the summer with us before heading off for her first year of college. Since then she has been home to visit twice, always bringing her bright smile and sense of fun.

But, I think things are beginning to slow. Birthdays are past, swim season is wrapping up and we are looking forward to the holidays and the arrival of snow and the chance to get out and start skiing.

So I thank you for your patience if you've been looking for news from us and don't give up. I hope to be more regular at posting.

Diane

WOW! It is the middle of September

Time is flying! I can't believe we've already had two home swim meets. School has started and we're finally harvesting a few red tomatoes. Yum! All the fall scheduling is in full swing and we've begun planning a sweet sixteen party. It is hard to imagine that Rachel will be sixteen in less than three weeks. We are throwing a chocolate and games party on Sunday afternoon, October 4th. The one thing she really wanted was a chocolate fountain. So we'll be celebrating in style.

We are enjoying the weather which has decided to be summery at last. I've put up beans and carrots and have ordered some apples to make sauce and pies to put in the freezer for this winter. Of course we'll also eat and bake with many of them.

Stephen is working and playing hard during his second year of school. The University of Minnesota Morris has been a really good fit for him. He is president of the Assoc. of Computing Machines chapter at UMM this year and will be helping plan computing contests.

Jeff has been very busy getting ready for the next podcast season of Icebox Radio Theater. And the theater has their own office and recording space this year and he has been working on creating the perfect sound space.

Have a wonderful fall and let us know what you are doing.
Love,
Diane

Fall and Back to School

Stephen was returned to Morris last Sunday and Jeff and I made the round trip. We spent about 30 minutes in Morris. We unloaded the car and said our good-byes. Stephen was settling in very quickly. We were no longer needed and I think he is the only one of his apt. mates without a car so they arrived on their own.

Rachel and I went clothes shopping last week. She is such a thrifty, bargain hunter. We had fun spending her money and finding some great deals. Here are a couple of her new outfits.




Official swim practice has begun and she'll have her first meet of the season this coming Thursday. Both of our cats are attracted to the smell of chlorine and Tucker decided to use her swim bag as a sleeping bag this past week. It was a strange sight.



The weather is definitely feeling as if it has shifted to a more fall pattern. The leaves are beginning to change and we are harvesting beans, lots of beans. I have lots of green tomatoes and hope that we can have enough sun and non-freezing weather to get at least a few of them to turn red. (We've had a couple of very nice cherry tomatoes but that is all so far.) Hopefully we'll also have a few potatoes. I planted some yukon gold for the first time and am excited to see what grew. That is a project yet for tonight.

I'm currently making peach butter with part of the box of beautiful peaches we bought last week. We've had peach crisp, peach blueberry pie and lots of fresh peaches this week. Yum!

Enjoy the closing days of summer (at least if you are a student) and let us know if you ever get within 5 hours of us and we'll see if we can't arrange to meet you somewhere.

Diane

Weekend in Morris

At 12:30 on Friday, Jeff, Rachel and I left International Falls and drove down to Morris Minnesota to spend the weekend with Stephen. We arrived at his house at 6:15 pm and took him to dinner at Jose's burritos. It was a place he'd talked about as having really good Mexican food. It was delicious and Jose took a liking to Rachel and felt sorry that he couldn't make her the item she requested because he was out, so he said he'd surprise her. He made her a chicken dish that she thoroughly enjoyed.

We enjoyed a walk around town and then relaxed and talk back at his house. We had decided to just sleep on the floor at the house he is renting this summer, both to save money and to be able to play board games with him. Saturday morning I got up and fixed pancakes for breakfast. We then played Catan Germany, Ticket to Ride and Arkham Horror. All told we spent about 8 hours playing board games on Saturday. I made zucchini egg foo yung with rice for dinner.

Sunday morning we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast about 10am. I made eggs in a nest. Rachel wanted to continue playing Portal on Stephen's x-box so the rest of us went for a walk through his neighborhood (including seeing his bosses house, one of the oldest in town). It is a very interesting neighborhood with lots of fascinating architecture and variety.

We had planned on bbqing before we left to come home, but after the late breakfast we weren't hungry and Jeff was beginning to get antsy to head home. He had a rehearsal at 7 for the show this week. So we left to come home about 12:30 and arrived home in time for Jeff to prepare for rehearsal and me to work on laundry (which by the way is very difficult to get dry without a dryer when it is raining every day).

I took a few pictures and will work on loading them soon. Overall, a great weekend and I think we were able to take Stephen's mind off of his fretting for a few hours anyway.

Diane

Oregon adventures

Here are a few of the pictures from the 50th anniversary party for Laurel and Janet Adams (Jeff's parents) at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.

Then I included a couple from the beach. One includes para-kiters out on the ocean in 50 mile per hour winds and high waves. Looked like the kind of thing I wouldn't enjoy.

Rachel and Jeff went toe dipping in the waves.


Check out my Facebook page for more images.
Diane

Spring in International Falls

It has been a wild couple of months. We have been colder than normal and I think most residents of International Falls are ready for some nice warm weather. I know I am and my garden is as well. The second summer we lived here we bought two apple trees. They bloomed that first year and haven't since. This spring both trees developed a few blooms, they were just beginning to come out when we've had three nights of frost warnings. I didn't want the blooms to freeze before they had a chance to become pollinated so we cut small plastic bags and attached them to the trees around the blooms. They didn't freeze so I am hopeful we will get a few apples this year.

I have also covered my tomato plants each night this week. We are supposed to only drop to 40 tonight so I'm not covering stuff. Here are a few pictures of the apple blooms.







I am home alone tonight and enjoying the house to myself. I'm doing some catch up work and enjoying some peace and quiet. Jeff is at a guys night in movie at Steve Sinclair's over in Fr. Frances and Rachel is helping at a friends dance recital in Ft. Frances.

Hope everyone is enjoying life and making the most of each moment.
Diane