Link Roundup - Papa Airplane! Edition

We took Goose to breakfast at a fly-in this morning. (A fly-in is when a bunch of pilots fly to a designated airport and show off their planes, basically. Sometimes the bigger ones might have an air show or some such, but this one was quite low-key.) Goose ate her pancake, and eyed the kitties running around the building. When she was done, I thought she might want to go pet them, but she was ready to look at planes! Or so I thought. Turns out, I think, she was ready to go flying! Unfortunately Papa didn't bring his airplane . . . I'm thinking the two of them are going to need to take to the sky before long!

Lots of great links this week -

MAKE
I'm a big whiny weenie when it comes to heat, which is why I've been so cheerful lately with the cooler temps. What, haven't you noticed? :>) I'm making note of this post on DIY Neck Coolers at Salihan Crafts - I've seen these here and there but this one jumped out at me and said "why don't you make one?!?" Need to find those crystals first . . .

Not sure that I'm quite ready to make the step, but Katie at Kitchen Stewardship posted on Effective Homemade Deodorant that is very intriguing.

Hopefully no one ever needs to know this, but I really liked this post on How to Make a Designer Hospital Gown. I bet these are real day brighteners!

As you know, I'm a geek for bubbles, and I love this Bigger Better Bubbles Homemade Wand at The Adventure of Motherhood.

EAT (I must have been hungry while surfing this week - lots of recipes to try!)
Amy at Finer Things posted on Blueberry Overnight Coffee Cake and a recipe from Crystal (of Biblical Womanhood and Money Saving Mom fame) for Lazy Granola.

Sarah at Sarah's Musings posted on Calabacitas and Whole Wheat Graham Crackers. (In Spanish, calabaza is squash or pumpkin . . . and I'm reminded of a silly little rhyme we used to say when I was studying in Mexico. It isn't very funny when translated, but thanks, Sarah, for the reminder of that little memory!)

Skip to My Lou has a post on Making Strawberry Fruit Leather with a link to an apricot version.

That reminds me that Laura at Heavenly Homemakers posted last year on Homemade Fruit Leather - also not in a dehydrator! She made apple and peach. MMMM!

Similarly, Tipnut has a post on Drying Apples without a dehydrator, no less. I think I'd need a cooler day, but wouldn't that smell amazing?!?

LEARN
I was intrigued by this post on How to Make a Decision Like Ben Franklin at The Art of Manliness (with a heads up from Trent at the Simple Dollar). As a math geek and lover of all things complicated, I've actually done something similar a few times.

Amy at Finer Things wrote a great post on being The Entertainer (or not) as part of her "Mommy, Come Home" series. I'm pleased to say that Goose spends most of her time playing by herself, though I would like to pull together more of the activities that I post about here :>) for us to do together.

Lori at A Frugally Old Fashioned Homemaker posted on putting up corn, and in response to my question, she then posted on the brush she uses to Silk Corn. We have been just accepting those wayward pieces of silk in our corn . . . perhaps next year will be silk-free! Thanks, Lori!

I really enjoyed this post at Conversion Diary on "I Want To Homeschool But I'm Afraid", and the best part is the comments and links there. I'm really excited to give honest-to-goodness homeschooling a try in a few years.

DO
Along those lines, I enjoyed these posts on back-to-school traditions - Plum Pudding did a scavenger hunt and Once Upon A Holiday made a Schultute, which is actually a first-year-of-school thing. Hubs and I both have some German in our ancestry, so this works in well!

WATCH
Here is a YouTube video on Pope John Paul II that shows his extraordinary connection with children. I cried while watching it and I realized again how much a person can love someone they've never met . . . and I miss him so much. Sounds odd, I suppose, considering I never met him. He was a truly great man.