Summer's End

The boys started back to school this week.  It's been such as adjustment for them, trying to get back on a schedule.  Ranger faced a huge challenge in leaving elementary school and heading to middle school.  It's overwhelming, scary, and nerve wracking.  But he's hanging in there.  Like many boys his age, he loves video games.  I told him to tackle middle school like he does a new game that's hard to play.  Just keep at it and don't give up.

First day of school

Summer is coming to an end.  If you watch closely you'll see the days are getting shorter.  The humidity isn't as high as it has been.  

No balls are bouncing.

The pool is empty.

The tire swing stands alone.

And the yard is lonely and empty since the boys went back to school.

On another note- I had an abundance of tomatoes a few days ago and decided to see what all the hoopla was about with oven roasted tomatoes.  After a quick wash they were sliced in half, drizzled with a little oil and sprinkled with oregano and basil.  I roasted for 5 hours at 200 degrees.

They definitely took on a completely different taste than I expected.  It was sweet and caramelized.  After I nibbled on a few, I took some of the others and tucked into the freezer and then a few more that I chopped up and mixed into a pot of angel hair pasta with grated Parmesan.  I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious!  

Today while the boys were at school, I snapped a few pictures.

I'm not sure what kind of bloom this is.  But I thought I was very lucky to capture this picture with the skipper and the bee.

This is a mammoth sunflower.  The head is nearly a foot in diameter.  It's so heavy it's leaning.

Peach colored zinnia.  I LOVE this shot.

Same bloom bee was on above.

Fuchsia bloom 

This sunflower is over 10 feet tall!

These stand several feet above the little barn.

You can see the mammoth sunflower in front leaning and how tall the ones in back are.

Wasp in pink cockscomb.

Bright yellow!

Zinnia bud.  I LOVE this shot, too!