Perseverance

Fact: I have all but entirely neglected my garden for the past three weeks. We totally lost our zucchini/squash plants, which was a major deterrent, plus things started getting really busy with soccer/school. And in the back of my mind, I kind of figured that even the plants that survived the heat of July would not yield very much produce, not making it worth my time to prioritize gardening.

Well, apparently my plants had another thought in mind. I won't exactly say that production has been outstanding by any counts, but I suppose something is always better than nothing. Like this fairly decent sized bowl of broccoli:

Or this nice robust carrot:

I was even surprised by the number of tomatoes that were starting to come in--none of them are close to being ripe (they're like a month behind where they were last year), but there were still quite a few out there!

Now if I could just figure out how to keep my zucchini plants alive for longer than two months... Darn bugs.

Sing You Home

As I was preparing to write my review for this book, I realized that this is the first Jodi Picoult book that I've reviewed on my blog. Clearly, at some point I've neglected to blog a book (or two or three) that I've read, because this is certainly not the first book of hers that I've read in the past two years. And while I don't remember the exact titles of the other books of hers that I've read (although I'm sure I could take the time to look online to refresh my memory), I can pretty easily sum up all the reviews in one fell swoop--the books are great. I have been absolutely captivated by every Jodi Picoult novel that I've read, and even in spite of my incessant efforts to try to predict the ending, Picoult always manages to throw some final twist in there to catch me off guard.

I also love that her books deal with "hot topic" issues in a generally unbiased way. I have found that as I get older I most enjoy books that deal with real issues (as opposed to say, talking animals), and it's always a relief to not feel like the author is trying to push his or her own personal agenda onto me. Sadly enough, I get enough of that from media sites and even places like Facebook, so it's nice to just be able to read something (even if it is literature) that presents information from both sides of the issue without condemning you for having a belief one way or the other.

Sing Me Home, in particular, deals with homosexuality and, to some degree, scientific advancements in procreation. In just the first few chapters there's a failed pregnancy, a failed marriage, and failed sobriety. But, as the book progresses, the former spouses are able to piece their lives back together, even as the journey takes them places they never thought they would go, including into a courtroom in an unprecedented legal battle.

Despite my general praise for Jodi Picoult novels, I do have one complaint with the ending of this book. There is a final chapter that serves more or less as an epilogue, although I found that it raised more questions than it answered. I'm not opposed to books that don't have nice, clean, totally wrapped up endings, but if there is going to be some ambiguity in the ending I prefer not to be limited in how I imagine the next six months/years of book will play out. However, I found that the information included in the "epilogue", short though it was, gave so many partial details that I was actually more confused how the book got from the ending to the epilogue than I would have been if the book had just ended without the epilogue. But, that's just my opinion; I'm sure many people appreciated the extra details/wrap-up that the final chapter contained.

Overall, it should come as no surprise that I would recommend not only this book but any novel by Jodi Picoult!

Family Fun

So, I know it's almost this weekend, but I'm finally going to get around to posting pictures from last weekend. Sometimes, that's just how things roll. As I mentioned, we were out in Mitchell last Saturday to celebrate the wedding of my dear cousin, as well as "unofficially" say goodbye to my grandpa. I don't know all the details, but he has basically decided to forgo continued treatment for the issues he's been having because he doesn't like being in the hospital and doesn't like how they make him feel. So it's pretty well understood that he'll pass more or less naturally in the next few weeks. While it is certainly a sad time, my grandpa has celebrated over ninety birthdays, sixty-five wedding anniversaries, and has raised a family of six--which has gone on to give him countless grandchildren and great-grandchildren--so it's sufficient to say he's lived a full life. And, I will daresay that he is ready to pass. He was in better spirits than I've seen him in months at the wedding reception; his only disappointment was that he and my grandma were wheelchair bound and couldn't be out dancing. But, they didn't let that stop them from having a good time, and we were finally able to get them to leave after 11:00. Apparently their late-night antics were quite the talk at the nursing home when they got back.

Anyway, enough rambling and time for some pictures (because I know that is what you all really enjoy)

My grandparents holding hands while watching the newlyweds dance. Absolutely adore this picture

So these little cuties had been ignoring my attempts to play with them all night, then all of the sudden as Darrell and I were about to dance they ran up behind me and grab my hands so I could dance with them. It was pretty cute

Family shot taken at the nursing home the following morning--my grandparents look pretty good for being quite the party animals the night before!

It's My Birfday!

And lucky me--it's also the first day of school! Aren't you jealous? I complained to Darrell that this is the first year ever--in all my years of schooling and teaching--that I've been in school on my birthday. Of course, Darrell reminded me that he's had to work on his birthday every year since he started working after college, so apparently that means I don't have any room to complain.

And really, I suppose I don't. Because there are probably far worse ways I could be spending my birthday. Not to mention I have co-workers that are making my day pretty awesome.

I'm pretty sure the head coach is behind all this candy that the soccer girls keep bringing me... But I won't complain. I'll be stocked well enough to make it through at least the first few weeks of school.

Darrell has also made quite the effort to make sure I have a good birthday, despite spending it at school. He got up early this morning to make me a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and hash browns, plus he gave me some gifts last night...

I heart my new apron. Isn't it so super cute? And I also got some other nice baking stuff from him--and before you go and accuse him of buying me gifts that require me to "work" in order to use them, I should clarify that I wanted all of the things he got (especially a new apron) and certainly don't consider it "work" to bake. Now, if he had bought me a vacuum cleaner that would be a different story....

Construction Woes

One of the disadvantages to living in a state that has four pretty distinct seasons is that the season most people consider "summer" is often synonymous with "construction". And lots of it. Because when there are only three or four months a year where the weather is likely to be conducive to doing road work, it will inevitably pile up, no matter how diligent the city planner may be.

Knowing this, I try not to complain too much about construction season. But this summer, by nature of where we live, has been a little brutal. Allow me to demonstrate.

The purple dot represents our house (ish--in reality we're probably five or six miles south of where the dot is), and the red represents areas that are under construction (either completely closed or reduced to one or two lanes). Pretty much everything we go into Sioux Falls for (including Darrell's office) is north of this map. And the one "major" north/south road that is free of any red markings turns to gravel at the southernmost point of this map. Needless to say, navigating into and back from town can be a bit of a pain. Of course, in a few short months we'll likely be complaining of snow hindering our drive into town--so I suppose this is the lesser of two evils?

First Weekend Under our Belts

Well, between varsity and junior varsity we played four games this weekend, and managed to come home with three wins. Not too bad of a weekend--on paper at least. As a coaching staff, there were definitely quite a few things we were not too pleased with, like giving up two goals in the first five minutes (not surprisingly, that ended up being the game we lost). But, we've got a whole week before our next game to tune-up some of the issues, and will hopefully come away with victories for both teams after our games on Saturday.

I should mention that I can't critique Saturday's games too much since I wasn't there; my cousin was getting married in Mitchell that evening, and since my grandpa (mom's dad) will likely be passing in the next few weeks, a lot of out-of-state relatives made an effort to come back for the event and there were lots of family pictures to be had. So, while I'm sad to have missed our second set of games, it was a blessing to get to spend that time with family. But more on that later once Darrell gets the pictures uploaded :)

It's Go Time

Eek! We've got our first soccer games this weekend--I'm not so sure that I'm entirely ready for this. Getting the jitters as a player is one thing, but those are pretty easy to run out in the opening minutes. I'm not sure what happens when one gets the jitters as a coach--I feel like they'll probably stick around for the whole game. And considering I get anxious sometimes just watching my brother play baseball, I can't imagine how I'll respond when it's my team and my players on the line.

Fingers crossed for a successful first weekend!