Summer has been great. Great. We've had loosey-goosey routines (or no routines at all sometimes) and haven't kept up on all the goals we set ourselves back in early June, when summer seemed like a great expanse of time ahead of us. We didn't have the kids read every day and we didn't get all our storage space organized, and now, in the end, I can't think when I would have done those things anyway. Would I have cut out visiting with lots of friends, both here in Deadwood and during our various trips? No. Would I have cut out our afternoons at the creek? No. Would I have cut out some of the time the kids spent running wild in the garden? No.

We got back from a beautiful wedding on Sunday night and Ray picked up five boxes of peaches from a local grower on Monday. It is also time to pick the blackberries....and zucchinis....and cucumbers.....and figs....etc. Now it is Wednesday night and our counter is filled with 30 quarts of canned peaches, two gallons of pickles, fourteen jars of blackberry jam, and ten jars of peach preserves. Not bad, especially considering that we still managed to feed the kids and make sure that they weren't disappearing into the wilds. Thank goodness that Margie has delayed her departure to Alaska for a couple of weeks (sorry Krissy and Red :)), but all this would never have gotten done without her.

Here are a few pictures from summer. I didn't take that many this summer and now I'm regretting it, but I guess that was one of the things that got subsumed by some fun or other. As usual, I apologize for the quality of picture. Something's better than nothing, though.