What a month! Of course, Bob got to take off and land, this time in Utah. Then, our friends Haruka and Jason landed in Raleigh for a week in North Carolina, which was super fun. It’s been wet, so we have an atypically-green garden—a tangle of robust life, really—and we went for some great walks and found stuff to eat in the woods. When you boil it down, life is all about eating, hanging with friends, and walking around. Okay, there’s work, too. And beauty.
IOWA
Bob and Brent at the ethanol plant on the tail end of Bob’s July audit.
FIRST FIGS
The figs came on just in time for Jason and Haruka’s visit, and the carrots are also doing well.
THE POTATOES ARE ALL IN
We harvested the last of the potatoes and are eating them every which way: mashed, baked, hash browned, and French fried. More garden pics at: Our August Garden
OH?
We love our garden, don’t get us wrong. And it’s a great excuse to get outside. But sometimes it’s nice to wander around in places we have no responsibility. For more on this story, please check out: Recreational Walking.
But what about the Oh? Okay, that’s one of our dumb jokes, the kind of jokes old people specialize in. You hold up something round, like a big washer, and say, “Oh?”
WILD THINGS
Baby bunnies on the porch, and chanterelles in the woods, our world is packed with wild encounters.
SPEAKING OF WILD ENCOUNTERS
Our homies returned after two and a half years away! Lots of fun photos at: Jason and Haruka’s Visit
BOB’S UTAH AUDIT
It really is a shame that Bob has to work, especially now that Camille is officially retired. Some flights involve loud children who enjoy kicking the back of Bob’s seat, which is why he invested in super duper noise cancelling headphones. But then there are perks, such as getting to stare down grease traps. Learn more at: Utah Trip
IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
We never thought those pesky varmints would develop a taste for AstroTurf, but it happened, and taught us a lesson: don’t take anything for granted.
SERENDIPITOUS CARPET
The day after we were blindsided by senseless vandalism, Camille took the recycling in and spied a large carpet at the Swap Shop. For those of you who do not know what a swap shop is, it is a shed at the recycling center for stuff that people can’t bring themselves to throw out. Camille dragged the carpet across the asphalt and got help folding it into the back of Oliver and was happy to find that it fit on the back porch like it was made for it. “It doesn’t even smell like cat pee,” Bob said after coming out for a look. While we thought we would miss our threadbare, paint-spill-laden turf, we don’t.
SCAVENGE MAGIC
Amy dyed these shirts using black walnut and dock seeds, in effect merging her two loves: fashion and nature. She calls her collection Scavenge Magic.
ROSE REVIVAL
We won’t lie – this year’s roses weren’t much to write home about. But towards the end of August they got their second wind and are producing blooms to die for.
HABITAT FOR BUTTERFLIES AND BLUEBIRDS
The butterfly bush, the canna lily, and the new bluebird house that Bob put up are all designed to keep us surrounded by beauty. A rich quality of life is not expensive.
THE OREGON KID
Nolan helped celebrate his Aunt Amy celebrate her birthday in Cheshire with his mother, his Nana, and his other aunt. Lucky boy to have so many loving women in his life.
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THIS MONTH’S QUOTES:
“This is not our world with trees in it. It’s a world of trees, where humans have just arrived.” – Richard Powers, The Overstory
“This kind of selective immigration is nothing new! It’s like the plaque on the Statue of Liberty says, ‘Give us your tired, your poor, mostly Christians, and maybe one or two Indian guys with engineering degrees.’” – Stephen Colbert
“It’s objectifying and commodifying nature that has led us to this precipice of the unimaginable. We need to institute legally enforceable Rights for Nature.” – Kenny Ausubel, Co-Founder and CEO of Bioneers
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