Chamomile Caterpillar

I couldn't figure out why my chamomile was blooming and then dropping it's petals so quickly. Today I found out why. It's a tiny little caterpillar that has adapted itself to look like a flower or maybe it covers itself in chamomile petals to camouflage itself or to store them for later. Either way, it's hard to be mad at such a smart little thing! The last pic shows it on the yellow part of the flower (I'm sure there's a fancy name for it but it's escaping me right now).

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes

I've been meaning to post this and then saw that SouleMama, who has a great crafting blog, had posted about her tomato canning. She inspired me to get my pictures up. The tomatoes we so beautiful!

My friend Deborah moved this year and gave me all of her canning supplies before she left. What a great gift. I went to a canning party earlier in the month and we canned apples, tomatoes, and blackberries. Then it was the 30 pounds heirloom tomatoes I brought home from the farmer's market, and the peaches for peach jam and apples for apple butter. Such a satisfying thing to be saving this food that's ripe and in season. I just want to avoid eating that tasteless produce the grocery store sells year round.

The kids had a great time with the tomato canning. They cleaned (and threw) and weighed the tomatoes and handed them to Jevon and me to process.

Lots of work but well worth it.

VOTE

This is such an important election. I personally have never cared about politics until the last 8 years and this election, especially, has me reading the news constantly.

It's our right to vote. I hope all of you out there are registered! There's no reason why you shouldn't be:
http://www.voteforchange.com/

I find this such an important issue that I've even been volunteering for this election, bringing the kids along and all.

I've had this song in my head for days now. It's Power to the People by John Lennon. I've got the cover version of it by the Black Eyed Peas on the Instant Karma Save Darfur album. Here's the original--a great video from You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wos-dDxpJlQ

I get chills when I hear it. Makes me sad that this video was made 37 years ago and people were fighting for the same things we are now. Change has to be coming, doesn't it?

This campaign is giving me hope that the world will really be different and that the visions of people like Martin Luther King and John Lennon will come true.

The Haunted House Halloween by Kai

Gigi [grandma Debbie] sent us some stuff. I got a skeleton, some springs, some Halloween clothes, some socks. Then I put up a skeleton in my haunted house room. That's all I wanted to write.

Kai

Happy First Day of Autumn!!

We're heading out soon with a picnic and a blanket in search of a pile of leaves! Have a great first day of autumn!