Back in the saddle

It is Friday. Dad comes home tomorrow. (He is already on his way. I think he is sleeping in a hotel inside the Singapore airport where you can get rooms by the hour. ((Yeah, that sounds a little odd.)) He will take off for Dulles at 7:15 am Singapore time, whenever that is, and land here at 3:30 pm Saturday after changing planes in Japan.)
So this is my last summer Friday. I've done a bunch of picking up and running errands, etc., but it is time to practice a normal Friday afternoon--READ!!
The weather is perfect because it has been raining steadily for 8 hours--only 1 1/2 inches but good and soaking. I finished Steve Berry's Amber Room a couple of days ago, and I want to finish The Third Secret before Dad gets back. I had read The Romanov Prophecy on vacation, and Dad read it on this trip. He wants more of Berry so I have to get a few ahead. Soup for dinner, and popcorn to round off the night--wonderful!
See you all next week.

i love roses!!

I wish you could smell them! Mr. Lincoln (top, my Dad's favorite) is the most fragrant of the hybrids, and Mother of Pearl (bottom) is very delicate. In between them is JFK (white, Britt).

Roses from Jackson & Perkins are only shipped bare root in the spring, and so not all of the ones you told me about for last Christmas were available. Some have been backordered for next spring, but others need to be re-selected.

I am waiting for Wild Thing (Ed), April in Paris (Tom & Heather), and Peace (Grandma Hofmann). I just got Tropicana (orange, Grandma Munt) but it is not in the ground yet. I need choices from Bill, Dan (Tricia, I think you sent one, but I can't find the email), Lynn, and Julie.

Please recheck your selections and get them to me to add to the beds next spring.
I think Dad forgot to mention that I can only grow hybrid teas here--no climbers--so go to that section. If you have a different favorite grower, that's fine, just get me the details. I want to think of my "family of roses" whenever I sit on the patio.

before and after-math

There are 14 sets of sheets in the first picture, and towels from the 5 bathrooms. Because we are on the well, I had to space out washing loads to allow for refill time. After 2 days, the second picture shows everything ready to go back on beds, into closets, and onto racks ready for the next time any or all of you show up again. It was a task of love because I really like to fold stuff and put it away! Yeah, I'm weird.

Thanksgiving in August

Well, the last trip to the airport has been made.

The paper plates and cups and plastic forks, etc., are put away.

The leftovers are waving their foil covers in surrender.

I am feeling like we just had a huge Thanksgiving dinner, and I am too stuffed to move.

There have been a lot of hugs and a lot of pictures and a lot of laughter. There have been revelations and shared tears and reminders of our mortality and our immortality.

Thank you to all of you who came with varying levels of sacrifice. And a special thank you to Nana Bunnie for giving us this reason to gather for the first time in 9 years. Some of us saw little people we had not yet met, nieces and nephews who had grown up, and pictures we had forgotten (and even a few we wished had never been taken!).

We cheered the Olympic wonders and groaned at the blunders. And none of us got enough sleep.

Enough for now. We all need to digest this weekend and return to normalcy. Let's not forget the joy of family.

And, by the way, the socks, toys, onesies, controllers, and other stuff that was forgotten is being gathered and will be sent home as they are uncovered. Look for pictures of a few orphan items that I can't assign to families, i.d. yours, and it will all get where it belongs before too long.

I love you all so much. Thank you again.

Where did the last 3 months go???

Here it is -- August 7 -- and I am not sure where I have been. It sure hasn't been sitting here reading or writing blogs. I am so far behind, I might as well start over.

I guess that isn't right, either, but I only have time for a quick recap; and I will probably catch everyone up with pictures and stories next weekend. Can you believe this will be the first time everyone will be together since Christmas in San Ramon in 1999!!!

Last time I wrote, we were heading out to Hawaii. We had a very peaceful 2 weeks alone on Kauai. I read more than a dozen books, and we honestly did nothing except go from room to beach to ocean to pool to beach to room, over and over.

We were home just a week or so when we flew back to SFO to drive down to Carmel to celebrate our 40th anniversary at the same bed and breakfast, in the same room where we spent our honeymoon. Ed promised we would be back again in less than 40 years!

We were home again for just a couple of weeks and then we drove up to LeRoy for a spur of the moment exploration of genealogy stuff over 4th of July weekend. That was fantastic and really productive, too. We are definitely going back there soon! And a special cheer for green jello--more later.

Then Britt came out for a quick visit, and Austin and Kennan came up to stay for a week. They left on Sunday, after they got up at the crack of dawn (oops, no crack, still pitch black!!) to take me to the airport. I spent July 19 to Aug 1 in Provo helping Julie so she could spend every day on campus writing her thesis. Lynn came by one day from Huntsville, and Julie finished her 60 page first draft two days before I was scheduled to come home!! (Now it is just polishing that must be done.) We celebrated by going up to the U of U to see an amazing Monet to Picasso exhibit they were hosting. Julie will be encouraging her students to go see it for extra credit this fall.

I got home Friday night and Dad got in Saturday night. We have been catching the garden up and getting ready for the clan to gather.

Tomorrow at 3:30 am we go to BWI to catch a flight to Phoenix for Aidan's baptism on Saturday. Then we fly on to SLC to meet up with Julie and the little people to fly here on Sunday. Lynn et al arrive on Thursday, as do Bill and the kids and Ed and Jen and their young people. Tom and Heather come in Friday morning, Justin gets in Friday afternoon, and Nana Bunnie arrives a half hour later. Whew!! Dan and Tricia and the rest of the little people come Saturday, and the fun begins in earnest. Kennan's baptism is Saturday afternoon, with Misti and her family coming up. We'll all have dinner here afterwards.

Sunday church starts at 9 am and Julie is singing. After dinner that afternoon, she and her family go home so the kids can start school on Monday. The next morning the families of Bill (BWI to Chico), Tom (BWI to LA), Dad (IAD to Indonesia), and Nana Bunnie (BWI to Houston) all go home. I am not sure when Dan and Ed are leaving, but Lynn stays until Thursday.

I am so excited about this wonderful opportunity to be together. Let's pray for good health, good weather, and lots of hugs!! See you all very soon.