Michelmas

 

In our continuing effort to live the Liturgical Year more fully in our home, today we celebrated the feast of St. Michael the Archangel.  Given the state of the world these days, I feel like a little protection from the guy who ousted the devil from Heaven is certainly in order.

We're all about food 'round here, so here's what the feast entailed....

Dragon bread.  Because in the book of Revelation, Satan is depicted as a dragon.

 

Carrot and cucumber "swords" to slay the above dragon....

Deviled eggs

And Angel Food cake topped with blackberry sauce for dessert.  There's an old English legend that says that when St. Michael cast him out of heaven, the ol' devil landed in a blackberry bush.  So there you have it. 

Yes, we had a main course (beef) but it was just something easy I could stick in the crock pot while we went canoeing.  Nothing of significant meaning.  Traditionally, I guess, roast goose is the menu item of choice (because of the white wings?  I really don't know), and that just really wasn't an option for us on multiple levels.  I suppose chicken would've sufficed, but the hubs requested beef, and we went with it.

 

The meal was accompanied by a truly GREAT discussion about St. Michael, and angels, and the devil, and protection, and then morphed into world affairs, the dangers of the occult, and the internet, and drugs,  and and and.... it might all have been a bit  heavy for young psyches.  But they dutifully listened because there was angel food cake at the end. 

 

St. Michael, defend us from evil!

A Canoe Ride Up the Sturgeon

Still nice out, still have to squeeze every last ounce of Vitamin D out of that sunlight, before it disappears for the next 8 months.  The forecast calls for rain and a 40 degree temperature drop on the 'morrow.  Today, we live the dream, for tomorrow we freeze.

OH.  And my sunflowers make me happy.

Cramming Summer

So, we had a dismal summer; rainy, cold.  Disappointing.  The last week, however - now that summer is officially "over" - has been beautiful.  Unfortunately, work and school has gotten in the way of our warm-weather enjoyment, which means we've had to pack a heck of a lot of summer into a single weekend.  LOTS of summer.  Of which I took LOTS of pictures, because that's what I do when the weather is nice.

After Reagan's soccer game, we did lunch, and then the kids and I headed for tour of a picturesque covered road.   Awesome.  Such an idyllic drive. Poor dad had to work much of the day, but at least construction is outside where he could enjoy the warmth.      

 

 

 

So, then we headed to Lake Superior at the North Entry break-wall.  I took even more pictures because it was so pretty.   The kids climbed that break wall like nobody's business, and scared their mama by climbing under the ginormous rocks to swim in the lake.  In the "caves", they swore the water was so ice-cold it took their breath away.  Good thing they came back up afterwards, because there's really no way I could squeeze this body between those rocks to go get them if something happened. 

 

 

Wait!  There's MORE!  We're still not done!  When Dad got off work, we decided to head out in the boat to White City and enjoy the evening out there.  I took, you guessed it, even more pictures.  I'm not apologizing.  There will be a dearth of pictures in the dreary months ahead, and I feel justified in going overboard today.

 

Skipping Rocks - the moment captured.

Swimming in Lake Superior on September 27th, with the leaves all orange in the background.  That just does. not. happen. in these parts.