Farewell, Summer

And good riddance.
It wasn't awful, but I don't think any of us will have many fond memories of this summer. A few lovely bits, and a whole lot of unwellness. Katie's allergies and asthma, my internal woes, etc. Finny has been well, anyway, and Livy, after an anxious trip to the vet and a round of antibiotics, recovered from her respiratory thing. And the fall looks to be promising -- new classes for the kids, books to read.

Now for a look at the good things we'll want to remember!
Early on there was my trip to Maine to see my parents (thoroughly documented in an earlier post!), as well as a trip to a comics convention -- "Supercon"-- for Ed and the kids while I was away (badly marred for Katie by Harry's death the same day, but Travis enjoyed it!).

And our darling Finny turned two years old! His birthday was actually while I was in Maine, but he sweetly waited on his gifts until I got back home.

Here he is with his Favorite present!

Okay, Kali wasn't actually a present for Finn. But we are all delighted to have her in the family!

Even Livy has taken to her, though it took her longer than Finn.

Kali came from a rescue group in Winston. She was orphaned and bottlefed, and is sweet and affectionate. Also very clever. We have had to install child safety locks on the kitchen cabinets to keep her out of the garbage, and now are careful to keep the pantry shut. But aside from her truly voracious appetite she really is a joy.

As I think I mentioned before, Travis is doing his freshman year of college at the community college. So far he seems to be enjoying his classes, especially physics. But here I have a picture of his book for his British Literature class, which delighted me because it's the same text I had my freshman year, back in 1983.

  The Norton Anthology is now in its 9th edition, and even fatter than in its 4th edition form!

Here Finny is looking a bit disconcerted at having accidentally sat on Kali.

Fortunately Kali is quite forgiving.

And the eclipse!!!!! My wonderful old college roommate, Darcy, sent us eclipse glasses, so we were really able to enjoy the opportunity.

Kali is sure that cats like lemonade. In fact, Kali is sure that cats should get to eat Everything. She is Not a picky eater.

(I'm still perfecting my "selfie" technique. Resting the telephone on the floor helps.)

And yesterday we finally DID a family activity. All of us. Other summers we've managed something a bit more, but this summer, what with health and expenses and so forth it didn't seem likely, but then clever Ed found discounted tickets to Carowinds so we had our Grand Day Out.

Starting with breakfast for those of us with hardy digestions! Travis had a McGriddle, which, as he showed me, has syrup injected inside the bun! Weird, but fascinating.

(Notice the dinosaur in the background!)

Travis found an enormous corn dog. Two dogs inside one corn wrapping. The mind boggles!

Travis and Katie are roller coaster aficionados. Ed and I excel at waiting cheerfully and enjoying the fact that we are not riding roller coasters.

THIS is what I love about a family day out. Watching my often quarrelsome lambies get along nicely.

 And a day out with my sweet Ed, of course, is always nice.

So. In retrospect the summer had some very nice bits. And tomorrow Katie starts her sophomore year at the high school, and she's excited about her classes, and I'm excited for her. Both the kids are taking Spanish this year, which seems like a good idea, and both are taking literature classes that have interesting (to me!) reading lists. We've gotten the needed school supplies, so I think we're all set for what I hope will be a great new school year.