A quick list of some things I've been thankful for in the last few weeks:

- a birthday
- a big family dinner
- hard frosts
- frozen ponds
- handknit hats and mittens
- tomatoes ripening
- a little sweater nearing completion
- watching Maisie try to crawl (not quite there yet)
- the look of triumph when she finally manages to grab the cat toy she's been after
- produce from the garden
- a little basket of toys and some sewing time
- tiny toes and a Jolly Jumper
- watching Maisie enjoy new foods
- her expression as she tries to get sticky rice off her fingers
- hot tea
- Abby with a new stuffy (or two)

September is a time of change any year but this year it's so much more noticeable for me. Last week Maisie was curious about food and watching us eat; this week she is chewing on pieces of carrot and banana. She's getting bigger and will outgrow some more of her pajamas soon. She's also getting really good at doing crunches and grabbing onto things on purpose. She celebrated turning six months old on Sunday by rolling onto her tummy and being happy there for a full ten minutes. I celebrated by waking up with a sore throat and developing a fever which wasn't nearly as fun and meant I had to put off some plans to met up with a friend and her son today.

We're still seeing some grackles at the feeder but now it is mostly just our squirrel. He comes to the feeder for a peanut and then runs off to hide it. I'm curious how many peanut are hidden in my garden pots. I know for sure he's also burying them in the potato box. Abby and Ollie and Maisie have a great time watching him run back and forth across the deck. Every so often he changes his route and runs down the side of the house instead of the back steps and there is much scurrying to get to the appropriate window in time to see him go by.

September makes me want to make. I made biscuits inspired by welsh cakes (which just means I added currents and nutmeg) for my lunch one day last week and had the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. I made a slight variation on fairy bread with a spare hot dog bun on evening just for fun (by the way I love hot dog buns - they're so soft and sweet and just so good). A friend in my knitting group is recently back from a year in New Zealand and was telling us about some of the different foods they make there. There has been a little more knitting. My Ravelry notebook shows 18 works-in-progress! I really need to work more on getting things finished and less on getting them started. Especially before the yarn for Maisie's winter sweater arrives. I made a little pair of pants for Maisie. I used Rae's basic newborn pants pattern. She says they have a lot of ease so I figured I could make them up as is and see where I need to adjust things to make them Maisie sized. It looks like they mostly just need a bit of length in the leg and maybe a smidge in the rise. Maisie was pretty thrilled about them when I tried them on  her - lots of wiggles and smiles.

My mum came over this afternoon and went for a walk with us. I took the big camera along and got her to take a picture of me, Maisie and Abby the way we usually look when we're out for a walk. We'll have to do it again in the winter. I managed to take a picture of the fireweed along part of the path. I've been admiring it all summer through its different phases. I think I might like the fall colours the best.

My mum came over on Thursday afternoon so I could pickle beans. I know my mother-in-law has some jars of pickles for us, and I'm pretty sure beans are among them, but I figure we are likely to be using different recipes so I could still give this one a try. It's from Food In Jars*** and I've been waiting since I got the book last year to make it. The recipe makes just four jars (and one of those is going to Mum as a thank-you). Canning recipes are often so big; it's a relief to be able to try something new without wondering what you're going to do with the other seven jars if you don't like the first one.

Some random notes:

1. I had more beans ripe than it turned out I needed. Even though I used more that the recipe called for for my four jars.

2. It started raining while I was outside picking beans and began to pour while I washed them off in the kitchen.

3. Abby gets very jealous of anyone paying more attention to Maisie than to her.

4. This was the prettiest bulb of garlic. My photographs completely fails to capture the beautiful purl tints on those cloves.

5. Pickling fluid looks boring in a photograph.

6. Pickling spices and veggies look much prettier.

7. No matter what I make there is always one jar that does not seal when everything comes out of the canner. It goes directly into the fridge and becomes the first jar we eat.

8. We have to wait two weeks before we can eat these pickles. I know they will be better then but they look so good right now.

9. There are more beans coming on my plants.