The Busy Summer Days

Thanks to all of you who came over to celebrate my fifth blogging anniversary. You loyal friends make it all worthwhile to hang in and keep writing. And visiting you as well. It was rather like a family reunion, hearing from so many at once. Some I haven't seen in a long while. Many mentioned trying to write more often. That would be wonderful.

The one really great thing about Facebook is finding out what everyone's doing in real time - especially the weather. And I feel so bad for those of you who are suffering with such overpowering heat. And flooding. And tornadoes. Ant drought. And possibly upcoming hurricanes. At the moment, we seem to be living in a bubble - it's been 91 once or twice, and it's supposed to heat up later this week, but so far we haven't suffered at all. Oops, maybe I shouldn't say that!

We've always had a resident squirrel for the summer in our trees, but this year there is a pair who is having the best time running up and down, chasing each other through the trees, on the fence, in the bushes. It's fun to watch. The other day, when I went to pick up Kristen and the girls for some reason, everyone in her neighborhood was standing looking up. Made me wonder if we'd all missed the Second Coming! But there, up in her neighbor's huge spruce tree, was this baby visitor from the mountains.



It was in the newspaper the next morning, but never a story on when it came down or what they did with it. I really needed "the rest of the story!"

The summer is flying by - soon it will the the 4th, and that is when it slides downhill for me. The big girls have been going to Bible school whenever we can find one that fits the schedule. They'll both be going to camp in the next two weeks. The littles get to go to our church's VBS, so they're looking forward to that. It's at night, though, and doesn't help the daytime "boredom." They love to get someone to take them swimming whenever they can.

And - swimming lessons. Hayley is an amazing little swimmer - we need to get her into Swim Club so that she can advance more quickly - I see a swimming scholarship to college in her future!




Miss Livi overcame a lot of her fears this year and had a wonderful time in the water - mostly proving that she could put her head totally under the water -- I hope we can get them into another session yet this summer.




The twins were sitting on the bleachers watching their sisters and saying, "I want to go swimming." We checked, and were able to get them into the preschool lessons, but not until Wednesday. They actually only had room for one more in the class, but made an exception because that wouldn't have worked out very well with one in and one on the sidelines! Oh, my goodness, they were excited to get into their "swimming soups" and get in with the big girls. They literally grinned every minute of every day. Such a joy to watch.



Emma, especially, is such a little peanut that the two foot level just left her little head above the water.





One day Kristen had some business at the courthouse in the county seat, so the girls and I spent the time outside waiting for her - little knowing that they have a wonderful set of fountains spewing out of the patio area in the courtyard - what fun! It didn't matter that they were fully clothed - they took off their shoes and commenced the joy. Many folks walked by and wished they could join in - it was one of the really warm days we've had.

Warming up on the rock

It turned out that Miss Katie enjoyed climbing the rocks, barefooted, like a little mountain goat more than running through the water.








Well, I have a lot more to catch up on, but will cut it off here so it doesn't get outrageously long and boring. I have a bit of a rant to share with you, and some pictures of the "Dwight Carlson Park," otherwise known as our back yard. Talk to you later!

It was a retro kind of week . . .

A couple of weeks ago I discovered a new television station on our cable system, from a small town in Eastern Colorado. Somehow this station has gained access to some of my all time favorite drama shows from the past four decades. I have been recording way too many of them for future watching. Way too many! Dragnet, Emergency, Magnum P.I., Quincy, Ironside, Rockford Files, Simon and Simon, Macmillan and Wife. It is fun to watch the acting from so long ago, especially Dragnet. It is amazing to see the change in technology in the last 20 years. It's been fun, but I have to get control!









Because of our schedule, Kristen and I have switched off days taking the big girls to swimming lessons. Why is this in a retro post? Because this is the very same place where I took Kristen and Kevin for swimming lessons for many summers when they were kids. I also took them back to the same pool many afternoons each summer where they spent the time playing in the water and I spent the hours sitting in the shade with a good book. (So what's new, eh??) I have good memories of those days.

Care Bear has turned into a little fish . . .







. . . while Feisty, in her first set of lessons, is having trouble getting her nose wet (like her grandma there). But she's having fun, and that's what it's all about at this point.

The littles are having fun, too - it won't be long before they're in the pool, too.

Thank you for coming over to my 4th anniversary of blogging. My second post was about how much music plays a role in my life. It was written when we got home from the Walker Hymn Sing, which we attended again last night.



It was the 7th annual gathering last night and this one had perfect weather, if somewhat hot in the pure sunshine. There were over 1100 people there. Another retro part of this story is what I wore. I was playing the organ this year, so I wanted to dress not too casually, but with slacks, since I was up on a high platform with an open organ between myself and the audience. I chose to wear a polyester pant suit that I haven't been able to wear for several years. I had forgotten that wearing polyester is tantamount to dressing in Saran Wrap. I was thankful to get up on that elevated platform, where a breeze and shade cooled me off. I can't imagine why this type of material was ever popular for summer clothes.

So - I'm down to 3 pounds from my goal. These last 3 pounds are hanging on for dear life. I have to ramp up the exercise or something - I have to reach my goal. Many people tell me to be satisfied, that I look fine. That may be, but I have to reach my goal. Understand? This picture is one that I chose to represent a time in my life when I was happy with my weight - to be used as an incentive. I'm holding my grand nephew, who was born 4 months before Care Bear - he must be a couple of months old here.

Yesterday I dug into a drawer and found that, sure enough, the shorts were still laying in the bottom, under a pile of clothes that should have probably been sent to Good Will or ARC a long time ago. Hope Springs Eternal!! Eight years later, I put the shorts on, (and the same t-shirt, believe it or not), posed with a prop for the baby, and asked DC to take my picture. What a great feeling!!

Well, hopefully soon I'll be able to report that I've reached that goal - in the meantime, have a wonderful week!