October 2014 – Page 2 – Karla's Cottage

Autumn in Kansas, with two free pumpkin patches to visit

By Karla Nathan / October 6, 2014

Dewdrop and I had a day out together and visited the two pumpkin patches here in Lawrence.

One has a butterfly sanctuary. You are given a flyer with info and pictures of the different species living there, and instructions on using a "one finger touch" when approaching the little flutter-ers.

Then, the hunt begins.

Of course, it doesn't take long to spot the butterflies, they are everywhere.

Dewdrop tried holding very, very still, hoping one would land on her.

And decided that the butterflies on the pink flowers were ideal for one finger petting.

But the best part was watching them fly away after the petting.

The butterfly sanctuary was the highlight of her day.

While both pumpkin patches are free and have lots of things for kids to do, Pendleton's Country Market was the only one that had a batch of kittens to hold.

She much preferred the kittens and butterflies to the pumpkins. The gourds aren't nearly as cuddly. This one had a crack and she felt very sad about that.

I love the vastness of the fields, and the open views off into the horizon.

Yet, if you turn and look the other direction, there is Kansas University off in the distance, up on the hill.

Schaake's Pumpkin Patch has a lot of cute, kiddie elements like the hay bale minion in the previous picture and this witch on the silo.

There is also a hay bale maze, multiple play grounds, and cows to watch. Pendleton's is also a garden center, both are working farms. Pendleton's also has a lot for kids to do, a tricycle track, a corn bin filled with dried kernels to play in, and a scenic tower to climb. There is also a pretty bonfire pit for cooler days.

Both have free hay rack rides and nice stores. I left with 4 big mums, a bag of sweet potatoes, a jar of pumpkin butter, a bag of gourds, a large green pumpkin, a large white pumpkin, 3 smaller white pumpkins, 2 mini orange pumpkins, and a couple of bottles of water for the two of us, FOR ONLY $45!

You really can't beat Kansas for free fun.

Of course, with Dewdrop around, any where we go is fun!

Garden Love

Food and Drink, Garden, Nathan Family Fairy Food Forest

By Karla Nathan / October 4, 2014

I'm ready to fill the house with pumpkins from the local patch, the grand fairies and I love to hang out there and spend our time picking the world's best pumpkin out. I like the white or gray ones, Sugarwings likes the small orange ones, and Dewdrop always goes for the very first one she sees.

This little orange one is a drawing I did with the finger painting app on my iPad. I hope to do a few more paintings with the app on vacation soon with my sisses. Sitting on a balcony and watching the waves is a perfect time for sketching.

Our garden produced some winners recently. This heirloom tomato was a perfect heart. Which we thought was about as special as can be. Sugarwings isn't a big tomato fan, but she couldn't get enough heart shaped slices.

Then, what do you know, here comes an orange heart shaped tomato the next day!

Then, we find this. Our garden loves us as much as we love it.

Sugarwings helped me harvest the potatoes. But only one was heart shaped. After all of the special ones we'd found, we were spoiled and slightly disapointed with normal taters.

How can you go back to eating plain old garden produce after you've been treated to this?

So, Sugarwings asked me to cut out french fries with cookie cutter shapes. I was slightly busy that day and almost said no, then remembered that I'd been so busy that morning that I had accidentally sent a thermos of hot water in her school lunch instead of the roasted chicken I was warming up for her.

I always fill the thermos with hot water, swish it around and heat up the container while I wait for the food to get hot and then I am SUPPOSED to switch hot water for hot food. But this day, it slipped my mind.

So, I made time to fix her a special dinner with all of her favorite things to make up for it. (and her daddy delivered a replacement meal for her that morning, she didn't go hungry)

And really, those french fries didn't take much more time than cutting up regular fries, and were as she said, "The cutest french fries in the whole world."

Sports

family

By Karla Nathan / October 2, 2014

My husband has always been a sports fan, and has been disapointed that my sons and I detest sports don't follow his teams with him.

But now, he has the girls, and Dewdrop will watch anything on TV if it means she gets to snuggle, so he has a baseball buddy on some evenings. And Sugarwings is a cheerleader fan. She has gone to a couple of KU football games to watch the cheering.

She doesn't care about the game itself, but he is happy to have someone to go with him anyway.

She is pretty good company. She likes to hang out and help me around the house too. And I hate housework about as much as I detest sports. don't enjoy following teams with my husband, so appreciate anything that makes it go by more quickly.