Hi, everyone!
Labor Day weekend was late this year, because September started on a Tuesday. So we’ve already seen a lot of signs of fall!
The Friday of Labor Day weekend, Grandma and Grandpa took me to see sunset at the Point. There were clouds at the horizon, but I could tell the sun was going down farther south — almost over land, instead of Lake Ontario.
Saturday morning, Grandma took me on a kayak adventure! This year, the Rose Lummis is docked right across the bay from us at Oak Park Marina. We paddled over to take a look. When we got there, a tour group was getting on! The docks to the north were empty, except for seagulls!
By the time we got to Clark Creek outlet, the Rose Lummis cruise had started. We could hear the guide talking about the bay and how to take care of it. There weren’t as many wildflowers in bloom along the creek as on our last paddle there.
When we got to the breach in the beaver dam, the opening looked wider to me! There were late summer wildflowers growing on the sides of the dam, but some of them looked like they had already gone to seed.
The channel gets narrower upstream from the beaver dam! There was only one water lily still blooming. The arrowleaf blossoms were going to seed, too. There’s a downed tree that blocks the channel. We usually turn around in the wide spot in front of it, but there was a submerged log in it. Grandma had to paddle backwards to find a spot to turn around! That gave me a really good view of some of the seed pods!
On our way back downstream, we saw a big tree that had fallen into the water. I don’t remember seeing it there before, and the leaves were still green. Grandma said it probably fell down when we’d had a big storm a few days earlier. Then we saw some maple leaves that were already turning fall colors. Summer is really over! When we got back from the paddle, there was a new friend waiting on our picnic table. I think it’s a cicada. There have been lots of noisy insects in the evening!
School is starting for James and Thomas again, so it was time to make Back to School party mix! Uncle Steven brought over all the empty containers from their birthday batches and Grandma bought lots of cereal. I checked to make sure we put the right cereals in each batch!
Grandma uses some lemon juice in addition to the standard recipe. I helped stir the seasonings together, then I helped stir the cereal into the seasonings. We make our party mix in the microwave, and it gets stirred twice during its microwave time.
We made six batches of party mix! We put out three baking sheets for batches to cool, one each for James, Thomas and Uncle Steven. Then I helped Grandma package them all up. Uncle Steven came to pick them up, so James and Thomas would have them for the first day of school.
We’ve been providing snacks for some others, too! When it’s dark, deer show up in our front yard to eat the apples falling off our trees. One night, we saw a doe and two fawns having a snack. Grandma doesn’t mind the deer cleaning up our fallen apples, but last night they added another snack. When I got up this morning, most of the impatiens blossoms in the window box were missing! I wish they’d stick to apples and leave the flowers alone!
Love,
Lion-san
Nice cicada photo.