wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

The last beach day in Ocean City. Both Owen and Hallie loved playing in the ocean. The bigger the wave, the bigger the smiles.

One last photo of the Cleveland crew before they headed to Somerset, PA to spend the night. With the weekend beach traffic, their drive took two hours longer than planned. 

It took us a while to reach the Bay Bridge, too. As we approached Annapolis, Todd said, "Let's stop somewhere for lunch." Yes! We ended up at McGarvey's in the Colonial Historic District and I couldn't leave Maryland without having one of McGarvey's jumbo-lump Chesapeake crab cakes. It was all crab meat and seasoning. So fresh and tasty. The real deal. Midwestern crab cakes have too much filling.

As we drove into the Historic District, we drove past the Naval Academy and saw a lot of young men and women in white uniforms with their parents. We found out that it was Plebe Parents' Weekend. The Naval Academy Plebes had been in their six-week indoctrination period and were now allowed off campus before the academic year begins.

We took a stroll around the neighborhood. The historic homes have been beautifully maintained. This is a place we would like to visit again. The East Coast is so full of history. It's where our country began.

Back home for a pumpkin update. Four nice-sized pumpkins are in my yard. These vines are on their way out, the pumpkins are ready to be picked, and a few new vines are showing up. Unexpected fun!

With my empty, clean refrigerator my first trip for filling it was out to the farm. In the week that we were away, the sunflower field burst into bloom. The first planting is on its way out and the second planting is filled with tall blooms reaching to the sky. 

Monarch butterflies are beginning their migration. The sunflower and zinnia gardens are the perfect place for them to find some nourishment and take a rest.

Severe storms are moving through Ohio and the Miami Valley this week. Yesterday Dayton received 2.07 inches of rain. According to the National Weather Service, this rainfall set a new daily record for the date, breaking the previous record of 1.86 inches set back in 1915. We're going to have a lot of rain all week long.