Summer break?

     It seems that life has encroached on my blogging, or else perhaps, it felt a bit like the blog was getting mundane.  Posts have been considered, then rejected for various reasons, too routine, too repetitive, too boring.
     Actually, the past month has been quite busy, we have had our eldest grandson visiting us so his Mom could work and his Dad could take an intensive language school in Mexico, and selfishly because we miss our weekly overnight visits we had on weekends when he lived only a dozen miles from us.  We have travelled to Florida, with him for twelve days, visiting our daughter and her family and all going to Disney World together.  We have added a second puppy to the household, and quite an energetic little gal she is.  Our youngest son and his family visited for an evening.  And our eldest son, upon returning from Mexico has arrived to visit and early this week return to his home with his son.
     In the midst of all of this, we were in the path of the derocho storm, though fortunately suffering little to no visible damage.  We haven't walked the woods to see if we lost any trees yet.  The garden and lawn needed intense care after 12 days of neglect in the hot season while we were away.  The newly finished basement floor buckled and has required twice daily care of the dehumidifier running to try to keep it from getting worse until the contractor can resolve how to deal with it.
     In the 6 years we have lived here, we have never had a summer this hot, between the heat and the humidity threat to the floor, we have run our A/C for the first time and much to my surprise, the house has been dustier than when the windows were open all spring, summer, and fall.  This I don't understand and must attribute it to having two dogs in the house now and having a 7  year old that runs in and out of doors constantly.  This has increased the housework that must be done. 
     The season of garden plenty is upon us and food is being put away for the coming winter months.  This takes an hour or two most days to harvest, clean and prepare for storage by curing, blanching and freezing, pickling, or making into jam.  We await the blackberry harvest for a double batch of jam.
     I expected all of this to generate more photos and more text for the blog, instead it seems to have become less important to take the time on the tablet to compose and prepare.  So I will leave you with my apologies for being a slacker, maybe to your relief and add a few photos of the missed blogging time.