They’re not necessarily my favorite flowers, but the orange and yellow marigolds around the front of our house really popped this year. So did the garden out back, which featured five kinds of tomatoes, three kinds of peppers, two kinds of green beans, carrots, onions, basil, and radishes. I still need to work on plant spacing next year, but we were thrilled with the yield. (I think I’ve had more homemade bruschetta this year than all my previous years combined!) We were able to give hundreds of tomatoes away to our friends and neighbors.

The biggest surprise was the pole bean, which we planted to round out the row after running out of the regular beans. Having grown up in the city, I had never seen these fascinating vines before, and I was astonished at how they kept growing toward something to “grab.” It went from its own string trellis to the neighboring pepper cage, and then the next, and then the next. I was worried that it might take over my next-door neighbor’s garage. I think I understand the whole Jack-and-the-Beanstalk thing a little better now.

Anyway, as we move deeper into the stunning season of fall, the present plants are starting to come to the end of their lifecycle. Next year we’re planning to install decking on the patio and get new outdoor furniture. It’s a pleasant place to relax, hang out, and make ’Smores, which our munchkins love to do. But for now, I just wanted to enjoy the marigolds in the sunset. The pictures below don’t do them justice, so you’ll just have to stop by sometime and see them in person. 🙂

When I get a chance, I’ll have to pull together some pictures from OBX. Samuel and Levi both had a blast at the beach. (And I had a blast watching them have a blast.) I also need to post some pictures from a great time we had with the boys at my nephew’s “America Night” that he coordinated for a recent Hamburg Hawks football game. Let’s just say there were firetrucks, police cars, and helicopters involved–a dream come true for little boys.