For dinner tonight we had meatballs, again. While sitting at the table Katherine announced that she would like some more spaghetti. Matthew quickly responded with “aye yuh” as he grabbed a meatball with his bare hand and deposited it on Katherine’s plate. I roared with laughter before moving the other food from his contaminating reach.

Our trip home from New York was uneventful. It was sad to be leaving Patty but nice to be home and able to do laundry without driving into a scary city or even scarier village. Our house was still standing and seems to have enjoyed it’s vacation from us. We did receive several concerned warnings about a strange car that was sitting in our driveway while we were gone. It turns out that Gary, one of our neighbors had his driveway resurfaced while we were gone and it was his car parked here.

One thing waiting for me was a copy of the movie The Secret. It was a life-changing movie and everyone must watch it. We have already put some things into action and it is great fun watching them manifest. Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? Go here to purchase a DVD. www.thesecret.tv

Patty reminded me that I neglected to mention our wildlife encounters while at her cabin. I also neglected to tell you about how I ran over Katherine with the golf cart (not my fault) and how I somehow knocked the tire right off the golf cart (also not my fault) and how I ran the golf cart into a tree (a little but my fault! Okay, it was my fault but I had never had to turn left down that path before!) I digress, the wildlife. Gary and Matthew disappeared for a while when Patty and I were once again absorbed in gossip and not paying much attention to the world. When we finally realized that they were missing and not responding to our calls we wondered if we should go after them in the car. We decided they were just off enjoying a nice little walk and went back to out gabbing. Some time later they walked in a little flustered and out of breath. It turns out that the had a nice little stroll down the mountain when they noticed a black bear now above them on a tree next to the road. They politely asked Mr. Bear to move along further into the woods but he wasn’t interested in what they had to say. So they very quietly waited, then panicked, then waited some more before the bear finally decided that the view might be better someplace else, allowing them to quickly walk up the mountain and into the safety of the cabin. The morning that we arrived a black bear had walked right past Patty in the front of the cabin. One of her friends emailed asking if she called the police. On the bear. Bahahaha!

The last day that we were there Gary expressed a desire to see a deer. He somehow had missed the ones that were just feet from the boys days earlier and the deer that had meandered through the back more than once. He was quite happy to look out and see one out back behind the deck. Wildlife abounds!

Patty had many great toys and games for the kids but one thing that captured everyone’s attention was a metal detector that made a horrendous screech that Matthew couldn’t get enough of. When Noah finally got a turn he used it to locate a headless owl in the bush. Mr. Owl at one time had a head and was employed as a bird watcher, or more accurately bird bouncer. Noah was quite excited at his find and immediately made plans to fashion a new head for Mr. Owl using paper mache. He then asked Joshua if he might be able to wire the paper mache head with lights for eyes. Together they worked out a plan and Noah asked Patty if he could please bring the owl home with him. She readily agreed and mentioned that his head was most likely in the bush near where his body was found so off they went to search and TA DA! Returned with a head! Mr. Owl has been named Cheerio and in enjoying having his head back on. Noah tried to acclimate him to our garden to see if he would like to be employed as our bird bouncer but it seems he is much happier in Noah’s room amongst some stuffed animal cousins. It is unfortunate for us because something has been enjoying our tomatoes when we aren’t looking and we could sure use an owl to keep watch! Never the less we are still enjoying green beans, loads of tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, and basil. The celery, potatoes and peppers are still growing and not ready to harvest. The mint has over-grown the small plot that it is in and is calling to me to please make it into jam. I have been holding off until I get some jelly jars that are the right size. I really should have bought some today but I was so sure that I was over budget on my groceries. I will have to pick some up soon. Does anyone have a great recipe that they want to share?