A sad farewell

Sorry I haven't written for a bit all.  There have been many developments in wee Maegwin's life and some knitting but we've also had a huge loss.  Arguably this blog's most devoted fan, our beloved Nana, passed away and I just haven't felt like writing anything.  Many times I had no wish to blog but knowing how much joy it brought to her I would force myself to take the time to write and format a post or upload pictures or videos.  We hated being so far away from her, especially in these last few years when she was so ill.  We're happy she at least got to meet Maegwin in person last year and that we could keep her up to date with all the goings on through the blog and frequent phone calls.  We all loved her dearly and she will be sorely missed.

I'll try to blog some this weekend.  There is news and it involves a potty and one very determined little girl who is quite advanced.

Art and catching up

Maegwin continues to amaze us.  She is now making sentences of sorts!  She says things like "Daddy hold me" and "Daddy go work".  She also can tell us if she needs a diaper, knows all her body parts, and lots of animal sounds.  She is starting to be able to repeat back parts of stories.  One of her favorites is Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.  She will ask for it and talk through what the monkeys are doing.  So cute!  She also loves pretty much any kind of art.  Often we'll find her with her crayons coloring on pages.  We also do art time in the morning on Sunday after breakfast.  It gives me a much needed break and a chance to do some dishes and cleaning.  I caught some of the action a few weekends ago.



I love how she is so deliberate and has to dip her brush between each color.



Not much paint actually gets on the paper. A lot of time is spent just moistening the paint.


I also got out to take some pictures of the garden. The groundhog is mainly eating the broccoli which is apparently their favorite food according to the Ohio Wildlife person we had come out to assess our garden. I'm happy to let him eat that if he leaves our other stuff alone. Next year we might plant some broccoli outside the fence as a sort of trap plant to keep them away altogether. I know this works for deer.  We learned that groundhogs climb trees-just in case any of you were unaware.  Our brilliant plan to save on stakes by incorporating trees at the corners of the fence apparently gave him nice easy access to our buffet.  Oh well, live and learn.
Here's an overall shot of the garden.

This is the onion bed in the back, the nibbled broccoli and carrots in the middle, and salad greens in the front.

Those are our tomatoes in the back. This is the biggest we have ever grown any and they have green tomatoes on them. We are so excited! The middle bed is green beans, some spent peas, and edamame. The front bed is red cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrots, and broccoli.

In this one the back is red romaine lettuce and garlic. The middle bed is potatoes, which are doing great. The front bed is black beans and corn. We are trying to grow them together to see how they do. The beans are growing faster than the corn currently though. Hopefully it will catch up soon so the beans have something to vine on.

We also have melons, butternut and delicata squash, and cucumbers and summer squash but I didn't get a very good picture of them. They are all at record size for us as well. We are really hoping for a good harvest this year.

Some special messages

Oh hi everyone!  Maegwin here!  I just wanted to send some wishes to my favorite Nana to help her feel better. Smooches!