More Harvest

 Almost Ready

Some of the rose hips are now in a honey-vinegar concoction, to which will be added ginger, for a winter tonic after it sits for some weeks. 

Drops

 After the Rain

Pretty Find

 Under the Leaves

This beauty has been growing behind the big leaves spilling out of a raised bed. We don’t know where that seed came from, but we like it. 

Hello, October

 Time for Fall Decor

Harvest Time

 Autumn Produce

Our Mirabelle tree finally produced this year. It was a good crop on a small tree. It likes being by the south masonry wall of the house. Besides being eaten fresh, they got frozen or added to canned mixed fruits. 

This is a sampling. There were many more.

The squash and pumpkins are still ripening  - all over the place. Tomatoes are daily ripening. Potatoes will be dug soon. We have been enjoying corn. Pears are done. Apple harvest will be a bit later. And we had a few grapes from our small new vines that replaced our big, beautiful old vine. 

Goodbye, sumner. Hello, fall. 

In the Park

 Venue for Baptism

The new little one in the family was baptized yesterday in an outdoor setting among close family. A grill followed on a lovely early fall day. 

Another blessing.

Blooms

 End of Season

And still beautiful.

More Deidesheim

 Family Reunion

I don’t post people pictures here, but we did have some gathering times. This is the town’s Catholic Church, in which grandparents were baptized, married, and where they worshipped.

Down this street is the chapel in which we had our family church service on Sunday morning. 

This is a very old ruined monastery, which has a restaurant, where we had a formal family dinner with relatives. 

On Sunday morning, we came here for our worship service.

While it was much too hot, the weekend went well, and we had a lovely reunion. 

Deidesheim

 Family Reunion

It has not happened for a long time that the whole family has been together, but this summer everyone made it happen. From Friday evening to Sunday afternoon we spent time together. We met in the town of the maternal grandmother‘s family. We got a tour from an old Aunt, seeing sites associated  with family history. We spent time with family members there. On Saturday evening we all met for a formal dinner under the sky in a roofless ruined cloister. The setting was historic. The food was excellent. And we concluded with a lovely church service on Sunday morning in an old chapel we rented. It had an organ, stained glass windows, wood carvings, and very straight-backed pews, that wouldn’t let you fall asleep if you wanted to. The heat was close to unbearable every day. But it had been so for most of the summer. 

We all stayed in this odd shaped house. It did actually fit us, but this corner was quite sharp, and the building had no right angles on its corners. 

In our town tour we started at this fountain. There is a very old tradition that a neighboring town must bring a buck goat to this town every year. It has a big story, and gets celebrated every year. 

Summer gardens and flowers abounded. 

The town is so old, it has few trees left. 

Deidesheim was having its annual Wine Festival. It is historically a notable wine growing area. The residents proudly let visitors know that in the festivities for the opening of the Suez Canal, wine from Deidesheim was served. Many houses have grapevines growing on them. 

To be continued….