Floating Into Fall

As usual, at this time of year, I find myself astonished and dismayed that the summer is almost over and I'm being catapulted into autumn, much against my will! I'm trying to maintain a positive attitude, reminding myself that autumn has its own beauty. The problem is that its loveliness only lasts for a short time and then there is a long winter ahead!

But first, we must celebrate. Hardy, my spouse, is turning 85 on September 6th! 

We have been together for 54 years and have had many adventures! A favorite time since retirement has been our annual one-week cottage holiday with our children and grandchildren. When the grandchildren were little it was mostly the grandparents and our Manitoba grandchildren. The cottage holiday gave the parents a break and us some quality time with the kids. The parents came on the weekends. 

In 2019, the year before COVID, we rented a larger cottage and our Ontario family joined us. By that time, the older grandchildren were teenagers and everyone had such a good time that we decided to make it an annual event. We were all looking forward to the following summer's get-together, but alas, our separation lasted two years! Sadly, COVID kept us apart. 

Finally, this summer we could have our cottage holiday with everyone there.  

 

Although we decided to keep things simple, I did some baking ahead -- granola for breakfasts and chocolate chip banana muffins for snacking. ( As you can see, I had to do some sampling to make sure everything turned out right!) I prepared a "Rollkuchen" (deep-fried fritters) dough ahead of time and kept it in the fridge.  These delicious morsels are traditionally eaten with watermelon and everyone enjoys them.    

Below is the much used recipe from the Mennonite Treasury of Recipes cookbook. Note that my mom improved it by adding whipping cream instead of milk. I had to double the recipe for our cottage crowd. I will make them again for Hardy's birthday, with a  pot of Borscht to have a bit of a healthier meal!

At the cottage, Lena Kate and Sasha helped with the cutting and frying of the Rollkuchen. They designed a page in our ongoing cottage diary.

I always enjoy the butterfly garden at the cottage but did not see much activity there this summer. The butterfly population seemed to have diminished, but the flowers were beautiful. They were already taking on an autumnal appearance.

I debated about whether or not to join kids and grandkids on a tubing adventure down the river and decided to do it. It was quite relaxing and enjoyable! I spotted other grandparents with children and grandchildren.

We were looking forward to some additional fun days at the cottage and then another week with our Ontario family in Winnipeg, but on Thursday morning there was evidence that all was not well. Several people had coughs and runny noses. We tested, and sure enough, COVID was not done with us yet! Almost everyone tested positive and our holiday came to an abrupt end. We were sad to have to say farewell before we were ready to do so. Just like I'm not ready to say farewell to summer and hello to autumn!

My sister, Hertha, has taken on all kinds of crafty projects since her retirement from her medical practice. She made a quilt for each of her four sisters. Above is the lovely quilt she made for me. Its bright and cheerful colors will see us through another winter!