The Talens' Tales

While wandering the dessert, the Israelites were struck plague of poisonous snakes. Moses created a serpent on a pole and any Israelite that was bitten could look at the snake and be healed. This snake was thought to be destroyed centuries ago, but it was actually hidden. And now many people are fighting to have it and the extraordinary powers it holds. Jack Hawthorne is an archeologists on a mission to find this object. But, little does he know, there are several other people after the snake and his life own life as well. When Jack doesn’t return from his trip, his girl friend and her brother set out to find him. They quickly find themselves in the middle of a situation much bigger than themselves and one that could cost them their very lives. This was a high paced, action packed book. I enjoyed it for the entertainment value, but the story is pretty far out there. It is interesting to think about if some of these ancient Biblical artifacts do still exist somewhere. Would ...

A little video to give you a taste of the air show and Joash enjoying the tractor. Enjoy!

So last week was pretty exciting around out place. We live very close to the airport and we often have planes flying over head. But this past weekend there was an air show on the Island. The Blue Angels, Royal Canadian Air Force Snow Birds, CF-18 Demonstration team and all sorts of other fighter jets were flying around over head. Joash enjoyed watching them from our yard and my husband dashed outside any time he heard one coming. So, we decided it might be fun to go the Air Show and acutally see the planes' entire show. Joash enjoyed sitting in his stroller. He liked looking at the planes...  And the people...  But what he like most of all was this... There were a few tractors on display and Joash just loved sitting in this one. He declared it was "Joash's tractor" and happily sat it while the Snow Birds did their show in the air above us. And then he cried when we had to leave and leave the tractor behind.

 M(om): Hi Joash. We have had a busy day today and we will tell everyone about it later. But right now, it is time for your monthly interview because you are 22 months old today! J(oash): I will smile nicely for the picture, Mom, now that I know to say "cheese." I still really like cheese. Can I have some cheese to eat? M: Not right now. First can you tell us about how things are going? J: Well, I am getting some more teeth, so that is throwing off my appetite and my sleeping a little bit. I really don't want to eat supper any more, though I will sometime lick something if it looks good. That is what dogs do with their tongues when they eat. I also like to copy you and dad quite a bit. Like when dad stretches, I like to stretch too. And I like to repeat that last words you and Dad say. M: I know that Joash. That means we need to make sure we are teaching you good stuff. What do you like to play with lately?  J: I love my tractors, especially when they are ho...

I was very excited about the amount of blackberries I picked from the bush in our tree line today. Mysteriously, half the my harvest had disappeared by the time I got to the house. We have a blackberry monster on our hands!

One of the big summer events in Charlottetown is Old Home Week. For those of you not from here, think State Fair + Big Horse Race+Parade and you get the idea. Last year we all went to the parade and then check out the Exhibition (Fair) grounds. It was neat to see, but crazy busy. This year we went to the parade again and we were excited to take Joash because we thought he would like the tractors and the bands. Well, excited does not even begin to describe how Joash felt about the parade. There were so many TRACTORS and TRUCKS and all of them were HOOKED UP! We heard those three words about a millions times during the parade along with HAY, which most of the floats had on them. It was a "Farm in the City" theme this year, so Joash felt right at home. Joash did not know quite what to make of the bands. They were a bit loud for him. He stared at them with opened mouth wonder. We have a lot of Pipe and Drum bands out here, which is sort of cool. You don't get to hear go...

I don't know if Joash is hitting a "train phase," or if it is being a first born coming through. Maybe it is just his wish to have some implements to hook up to his tractors. Whatever the case, Joash loves putting things in lines. It seems every day if he not asking for something to be "hooked up" he lines something up in a nice row. He has done coasters...  Megablocks...  And almost all of his trucks, tractors and cars. (and these he moved from the toy room to the living room, one or two at a time.) They are quite neat. So it looks like he has a good mix of his mother's oganizational skills and his father's need for symmetry.

Well, with the busy summer, it has been a bit of a challenge to get into the garden, but it apparently doesn't need much help from me. It is looking great. We have hand beans, potatoes, green onion and today we had the first tomato from the garden. Everything is so yummy. I certainly have an abundance of beans, so I have frozen some already and will probably freeze more. The pumpkins are doing well in the back corner. I cut the vines back a bit today because I don't want them to take over where the sweet potatoes are. I am the most excited about the sweet potatoes. I can't wait to see how they are doing. Things are looking good above ground, so I hope there is lots of growing happening under the ground too. Joash is quite good in the garden once again (now that the plants are big enough that he can't step on them). He can name most of the plants in the garden, though he has tasted very little that has come from the garden. He likes to help pick beans. I pick a han...

Abuse is a terrible thing. For those looking from the outside in, it can be hard to comprehend how such terrible things can happen. But it does and by the grace of God, people can break free and find grace and forgiveness. Cruel Harvest is a story of abuse and grace. Fran Elizabeth Grubb had a horrible childhood. Her family was constantly on the move working for different farmers following the harvest all over the United States. Her father abused all of the members of the family in so many ways. Eventually he is arrested and jailed for his abusive nature, but things do not improve for Frances. Her mother moves her children to her sister’s home. While Aunt Tessie never lays a hand on the children, she neglects them, starves them and emotionally abuses the children. Frances, her mother and siblings eventually get a home of their own, but Frances’s mother is unable to care for them and the children are split up. Frances and her sister find themselves at an orphanage where they fe...

On our way out to New Jersey for the wedding, we made a quick stop in Boston to visit Derek and Christina. Derek and Wilbert have been good friends for a long time and Derek and his wife currently live in Boston while Derek is doing some post-doctorate research at M.I.T. They nicely let us spend the night at their place and gave us a quick tour of the Harvard area of Boston. This made Wilbert really excited because he got to see this...  the Law office of Dewey, Cheetham and Howe, where Wilbert's favorite radio program Car Talk happens. (You can see the office sign on the third story window where the lights are on.) We also got a quick tour of Harvard which was very nice to see.  The statue of John Harvard, or the statue of three lies . Not the greatest family pictures, but it proves we were there. We do wish we would have had a bit more time to spend in Boston, but enjoyed the time we did get to spend there. Thanks for being great hosts Derek and Christina!

Well, I have made it to yet another decade. And to celebrate, there were fireworks this year! In case you can't tell, that is Wilbert and I standing with our arms around each other watching the fire works.   Well, really the fireworks were for this... but I can pretend they were for me. Since the wedding was on the same day, it was a different birthday from most. My in-laws left a balloon for me outside our hotel room door. I didn't get to see a lot of my husband throughout the day, but I stayed in the air conditioning for a long as possible (which was a great gift in the New Jersey head and humidity). Joash took a nice nap, so I got to read my book and watch the Olympics. And then it was time for the wedding. I had the most people ever sing "Happy Birthday" to me, which was very well done. And another great thing was that Karisa's family had some baby sitters lined up, so I could bring Joash to the farm house with the baby sitters and then head back to...

Since Joash did not have a job at this wedding, he had lots of free time to do many things. Joash loved that we spent a lot of our time at a farm. The reception was held at Karisa's family farm. When we first pulled up and got Joash out of the car, he looked around and acted his usual bashful self. But, soon he spotted some cows, shouted out the word cows, and got down and went to give them some hay. He spend a lot of time taking hay from bales that were being used as seating and bringing it to the cows. He also tried to feed the farm dog hay and liked to show us all what the dog does with her tongue.  When we had a bit of down time, the front desk at our hotel told us about this great park in the area, so we went to check it out. It was great! The park was split into two sections, one for older kids and one for kids about Joash's age. He loved it! He drove a truck with dad...  And played with all sort of fun things in this big sandbox they had.  ...

Once again this summer, we had a wedding. This time it was Wilbert's big-little brother, Emil. Once again, I took no pictures for pretty much the whole weekend. Joash didn't have a job at this wedding which was fine, but it meant he was with mom all of the time. It was another lovely wedding. We were welcomed back to the hot, humid weather of the States. That is what summer really should feel like, if you ask me. But, I certainly do not mind returning to  the more temperate land of PEI. It is just one of the perks of living here, I guess.  The wedding had a fun, country style feel to it with lots of wood, burlap and sunflowers. Very pretty and very fun. Here are a few pictures for you:  The bride seeing her groom for the first time.  The men They are married! More stories to come!