last day of summer

As far as I can tell, today is the last official day of summer.

Now, if you will recall, I did some planning going into this summer break.

I was hoping to enjoy my kids, teach them a few things, and

keep this blog online. Here's how it went:

One of the best parts of summer was the house sitting. It gave my kids a fresh

opportunity to play together with no other alternatives, gave us consolidated

nuclear family time, and created a nice ebb and flow of contact

with the other people in our community house. Another highlight was

our family playing together. We went swimming, made ice cream, read books out loud,

learned how to throw a frisbee, and played games on the Wii.

At the beginning of summer, Julie & I came up with a plan for

chores and housecleaning for the kids, and I like how that went.

The three children and one teenager pitched in both inside the house and out

and made the weekly houseclean a whole lot faster and more fun.

Reading up on parenting helped me to pre-think things

(and communicate in advance) instead of just reacting, and reminded me to work

in some positive incentives. I actually had such a good, relaxing time with my

kiddos that I was sad to see summer coming to a close.

As for the blog, posts became pretty few and far between by the end.

In fact, I only made it through 38 of my 75 sketching assignments.

I think I got hung up on the faces and on my attempt to work in grayscale.

I just love color! Also, maybe one of the reasons I do this whole thing is to catch my

life as it goes by; something that doesn't meld well with pre-assigned drawings,

even if they are of things in my own realm. Still, I may keep working my way through

these as the next season unfolds -- I would like to finish what I've started!

Anyway, I'm glad to be past the heat waves and heading into the temperate autumn

we see around here. And maybe, I hope, into a new daily rhythm blown in by the fall.