What's been happening around here lately...

July

• We got this year's school books in July and started almost the next day.

• We interrupted school frequently to start harvesting the garden.
  

August

• We continued harvesting the garden and trying to do school, in spite of the fact that the neighbourhood children kept knocking on the door wanting to play and the tomatoes were rapidly ripening.

• Abby got some sort of infection on her face after swimming in the St. Lawrence River, on the US side. She was the only one to get it, and the only one to have touched a dead *thing* that had floated in to shore. The doctor said there was no connection, but I'm not so sure. She still has some scars under her eyes, making her look slightly sunburned.
  

September

• We continued processing the never-ending tomatoes, which really will taste nice this winter after I get over being sick of them.

• I had my first midwife appointment for Baby Number Ten, who is expected to show his/her face sometime in early April.
  

• Family vacation!!! The first in six years that did NOT include visiting relatives. We went tent camping in the Adirondacks, an unforgettable experience that deserves (and will get) a separate post.

October

• Josiah spent four days in the hospital, with pneumonia. He has not fully recovered yet. They said we got him in just in time--we might have lost him, but God is merciful. We are praying that there is no relapse. The rest of us are taking turns battling colds. I am taking my turn now.
  

• Sarah started her own blog.
  

• I determined to tackle my tote of unfinished quilts. I finished one yesterday that I started a year ago. It was for a friend who had bronchitis then. She was happy to get it, though, of course, she is quite healthy now. (Sorry, Mom. I forgot to take a picture.) Today I got a good second wind going on the next one.

• We got the first freeze for which there was evidence left after the sun came up. Hopefully it will not rain Monday, and we can finish the garden off once and for all.
  

I have all the while been working on my French, which is not improving as quickly as I would like. I still can't pronounce it well, especially words which contain the letter r. And I still don't hear it well. Les chiens courent sounds almost the same as Le chien court. There is just a subtle difference between Le and Les, which is hard for me to pick up when French is spoken at normal speed. And can someone who knows French please explain how Des filles sont assis sur la table translates into English if there are only two girls sitting on the table? As near as I can tell, des means some or more than one, but in English we would not normally say some girls when there are only two. I guess you can't always translate everything exactly.

The house is quiet now. All the children have had their baths/showers, and are tucked into bed. I will have to check on a couple of bookworms and remind them to turn off their lights. Then it will be time for me to turn in.

Good night!