the unlikely orange

so, i haven't written about football for a long time.  i used to write about the best team in the national football league (the pittsburgh steelers, duh) all the time, but in recent years, it's been somewhat harder for me to be an 'all-in' football fan (at least publically).  there are a number of reasons for this, paramount among them, i think, is my own maturing, and recognizing the terrible weight of things beyond this silly game.  on a somewhat related note, there was all the news about the terrible brain damage inflicted on players who play this game.  additionally, i have been as busy in these last few years as i have ever been in my life, and while i still have plenty of time to follow this team, it has been in a more limited, somewhat less intense way.  and then there is one more thing: the team i love, the steelers, have had more drama than an episode of the real housewives of wherever.  i've actually never seen those shows, but i can only imagine.  i

what a summer! i wrote in june about our annual tradition of making a summer bucket list of things we'd like to accomplish in the fleeting months of summer each year, and i must say that we did pretty good this year!  we had ice cream for dinner.  we played frisbee golf. we went to vbs and music camp. we celebrated quin's birthday with an epic harry potter party. we went to ocean city (twice!). we went to wesley forest for summer camp (well, three of us did). we made a sand sculpture (several, actually). we made orange julius-es.  we did cousin week (again, some of us did...the rest of us were preparing for the aforementioned epic party) we picked fruit (blueberries). we ate at hofbrau pizza. we made a movie. we made donuts. we built a fort. we made a summer cd. we went to seven springs (champion, pa, actually) we hiked the alan seeger trail (along with many other trails!) we watched avengers: infinity war. we went to the flight 93 memorial national