Plums, plums, EVERYWHERE!

We went to Iowa this weekend so I could be with my mommy, kiss my horsey, and enjoy the fabulous September weather - my all-time favorite. We also got to eat at all our favorite places: El Ranchero, Taste of China, and Pagliai's Pizza. The weather treated us well and all my mom's fruit trees were at their peak this weekend, which is the first time that's happened in a long time (her plum tree, my favorite, only mass-produces every seven years or so, and this was IT). I felt like a kid in a candy store and picked about a million plums. I even dragged out the stepladder and went crazy in the top branches. We also shook a few apple trees, then ran for our lives while the apples rained down on us (then filled up our sacks and ran for our lives again when the horses discovered what we had done and came looking for treats). We also acquired a few bags of asian pears, which are a staple every summer. Now our refrigerator is completely full and we are brainstorming ideas for adding them somehow to each meal we eat.

My husband's Animation Mentor class began this week after a (much needed) week and a half break - his first assignment is to animate a 'personality walk' so he's been dragging his feet around all night acting all dejected and upset, and videotaping himself doing it. It's a little weird, but I got used to these things last semester and I think I can handle it. Meanwhile I have to wash all my clothes from my Weekend In Iowa because somehow I ended each day all covered in mud with green slime all over my shirts (the green slime is from my horse, the mud I'm not sure about, especially since they're having a drought right now). Anyway now that I live in the city I'm not used to getting so dirty so it was a little disorienting soaking my stuff in the sink with laundry detergent and wringing it out, but I'm proud to say it all seems to be coming out no problem.

I also bathed my mom's 115 lb dog while I was in Iowa, cleaned my bird's cage (much to his chagrin), hauled some horse feed around, sat outside and drank tea, saw my brother just before he left for a fencing competition in Chicago (that's right he fences now), and had lunch with my stepdad. Now, I must bid you adeau (or however you spell it) because I'm off to BED.

Good night!