Another One Bites the Dust

Tuesday morning as I was getting ready to leave for work, I heard a cracking noise in the back yard.

This tree branch broke off and fell to the ground in slow motion.

I'm Not Ready for Fall!

Not only are the leaves on the trees in our backyard starting to change colors, but tonight we saw a flock of geese flying south and pumpkins that are ready for carving.

Sunrise -- Sunset

The first couple of miles of my drive to work is usually spent trying to shield my eyes from the sun. This morning it was a bit hazy and the sunrise was pretty fantastic.



This evening, we had dinner with Judy & Lynn and Rick & Renee up at Pete's @ Simonton Lake. Monday night they serve all-you-can-eat frog legs.


After dinner, we stopped at Rick & Renee's place to visit their devil dog, Rupert. I took about 20 photos of him and this is the only one that wasn't a blur of brown fuzz.




As I was chasing the little terror around the yard, I noticed that this evening's sunset was just about as incredible as this morning's sunrise.

Sunday Lunch with Grandma @ Bent Oak Golf Club

The Bent Oak Golf Club is open to the public for lunch and dinner. And, it's one of Grandma's favorite lunch spots.

The original plan was to cook corned beef and cabbage, using the last head from our garden, but neither Bruce nor I was anxious to cook so we opted for lunch out instead.

After lunch, we all watched the NASCAR race on TV (mostly napping). Then, it was time for an easy dinner of hamburgers on the George Foreman with tomatoes and cukes from the garden.

Saturday in the Garden

We started the day with the intention of going to the Corn & Sausage Roast at the American Legion and then on to the Hog Roast at Tim & Joanie's place. So, we baked five dozen cookies to take as our carry in dish.

But, after installing the new range hood and working a bit in the garden in the 90-degree heat, we decided just to hang out in our air conditioned house and surf the web all day (while eating cookies).

Here's a photo of the obedient plants -- being quite obedient. When these plants came up in the early spring, I couldn't remember if they were weeds or flowers. Luckily, I decided to let them grow. This photo will help me remember not to pull them up as weeds next year.

Beutter Park in Mishawaka

Beutter Park is on the former Ball Band/Uniroyal site, just west of the Main Street bridge along the river. The main focus of the seven-acre park is the St. Joseph river. Beutter Park includes a river race with elliptical shaped overlook weirs and fiber-optic underwater lighting, two connecting bridges across the race to the park, the Mishawaka Riverwalk, the "Shards" sculpture, and an 800 foot perennial garden. The park is named in honor of Robert C. Beutter, who served our city for 20 years as Mayor - from 1984-2003.

Music @ Beutter Park in Mishawaka

Tonight was the last WVPE "Meet Me" event of the season.


We enjoyed music by the Elwood Splinters Blues Band at Beutter Park in Mishawaka with friends Tim and Lula.
















We even had an opportunity to chat it up with Mishawaka Mayor Jeff Rea.











Not sure what was more enjoyable... friends, music, beautiful park or rooting for the baby ducks as they swam for their lives to keep from getting sucked down the waterfall.