What I learned in September

Here just as I was ready to link up with Emily Freeman and her "What We Learned" feature, I discover she is changing it from monthly to quarterly.  So, linkless I am, but here are


7 Things I Learned in September


1.  Firemen's poles really do exist.  

Our homeschool group took a field trip to one of the larger local fire stations on the first of the month.  It was heavily attended by 4-year-old boys.  The highlights included viewing the fire truck, practicing climbing out a window in case of fire (They've been practicing at home since.  Thanks a lot, fire guys.), seeing a fireman dress up in his gear, and--best of all--seeing a fireman slide down the firemen's pole.


2.  A luthier is someone who makes stringed instruments.

...one of which Jeddy and I visited on our next field trip.  He makes guitars by hand and showed us how it's done.


3.  Picking apples is a lot easier than picking strawberries.

It turns out that you don't have to bend over to pick apples, and they're a lot bigger than strawberries so your bag fills up satisfyingly fast.


4.  People really appreciate being invited over to their neighbor's house.

After living here almost a year and a half, I finally plucked up my courage, delivered a flyer to each neighbor's mailbox, and invited them to our backyard for a potluck picnic.


Although we only had five people, representing three houses, come over, we had a lovely time getting to know them and they repeatedly thanked us for organizing it.  Several other neighbors, as well, profusely thanked us and seemed to genuinely regret that they couldn't make it.


5.  I can can!

Not that I can can-can, but I can can--although I was so excited to learn that I can can that I nearly did a can-can.


I've never in my life canned before, but we picked apples (see #3) and I wanted to preserve applesauce and apple butter.  And I did it!  And they sealed! with little affirming pops.  Lining them up on my pantry shelves transports me to my childhood with the racks in the utility room holding rows and rows of identical applesauce quarts.  Plus now I can pretend that I'm a homesteader.


6.  I can't stop and then restart podcasts in the park.

...at least when I'm streaming them (streaming? is that the right word? whatever you do if you didn't download it first).


Podcasts in general are a new concept for me and I'm just learning their potential place in my life.  One useful place for them is in my earbuds when I exercise in the park.  I find that I'd rather listen to talking than music, strange though that seems.  I've listened to podcasts from R. C. Sproul, Mortification of Spin, and the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, as well as the audio Bible, while I walk.  Sometimes I just want some silence to clear my head after a hectic morning, but it's nice to have this option.


7.  Jason can play guitar!

I have known this man for approximately 13 years, 7 months, 5 days, and 1.5 hours, and never, NEVER did I see him pick up a guitar.


Then he comes home from work, having stopped at his mom's and picked up his old guitar which has been in storage all this time, and sits on the couch and proceeds to play.


??!


Clearly, I was an easy enough catch when we were dating that he didn't even need to pull out all of his attractive qualities.


Sadly, I have not held back any surprising admirable qualities to pull out of my back pocket after a decade-plus of marriage.


What did you learn in September?

{All photos in this post are stock from Unsplash.  I've been under the weather since Friday and haven't lifted my camera.  But I hate to publish a post with all words and nothing pretty to look at.}