Sunday, September 27, 2020

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2003. Mattie was about a year and a half old. I found all sorts of things to keep Mattie busy during the day. He most definitely needed constant stimulation, as he had a very active mind.  We even did computer time together. Back then, I knew all the educational children's links to visit. We would play games to learn words, numbers, and colors. Mattie loved the sites that played music, and we used to sing away to some of the songs we found along the way. Peter and I heard these songs so often, that we probably could still sing some of them today.

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• number of people diagnosed with the virus: 7,105,604
• number of people who died from the virus: 204,738

Yesterday Peter undertook a project for Sunny. To build a staircase up to our bed. When we first got Sunny, he would jump on our bed every morning. Now that he is older, he stays away from the bed, since it is so high off the ground. 

After Peter constructed the staircase, we introduced it to Sunny. He was not sure about it at first, but eventually went up!

He found his way!

Meanwhile, last night, guess who was sleeping on the newly built stairs? That's right Miss Indie! The beauty of a cat. 

This morning, our neighbor dropped off a Paw Paw fruit! I honestly never heard of such a thing. But he encouraged us to try it, as he bought it at the local farmer's market. 

Pawpaws grow from the Great Lakes down to portions of the Florida Panhandle. They easily bruise, so they have a short shelf life and therefore aren't a good business model of big agriculture. Pawpaw trees are considered the largest edible fruit trees native to North America. They produce greenish-blackish fruit, usually three to six inches long. The flesh is pale to bright yellow and contains a network of glossy, dark brown seeds. A pawpaw's flavor is tropical: a combination of mango-banana-citrus. It is also said that they have a subtle kick of a yeasty, floral aftertaste a bit like unfiltered wheat beer. However, the texture of the fruit reminded me of an avocado. 

The seeds are HUGE! To me it looked like a kidney bean. But the Pawpaw seeds taken in high doses can be toxic, the seeds and bark of the plant reportedly have medicinal properties that make a powerful anti-cancer drug, as well as a natural pesticide. The seeds of the pawpaw contain several biologically active compounds called acetogenins.

The cut fruit! I tasted maybe a pinky nail sized piece of fruit and that was enough for me. I disliked it and spit it right out. Perhaps it is an acquired taste, but I can see why this fruit never became popular. 

We went out for a second long walk with Sunny today, and our neighbor has all these wonderful flowers. Starting with my favorite, the sunflower. 

She has a field of cone flowers!

How about this coleus? A color only found in nature! Like a cranberry, but vibrant and seems to be telling me Fall is here.