Flowers, shutters, and Hunter

I love summer!  I love the long days, the flowers, even the heat - because I can usually stay in air-conditioning if I need to.  So many times I find myself just whispering, "Oh God, I just LOVE summer!"  I'm saying all that this week, because I know that once we hit August I start to feel just a tiny bit sad.  It must be an old learned reaction to the dread of the busyness of an oncoming school year.  

Speaking of flowers, here are some pictures I took this week of some of mine.

We finally have our first hydrangea bloom!

The strangest thing happened this week.  Dick was washing the back of our house with a long-handled brush and a product called Simple Green.  Washing our siding is a long overdue project, and he started with the back.  Well.  He came inside and told me I had to come outside.  He discovered as he was scrubbing the shutters with his brush that it seemed as if he was washing a layer of light beige paint right off them and underneath was a darker shade!!  What???  Look at this.  (I took this later in the evening, so it's not good lighting.)

It has always bugged me that our siding and shutters had so little contrast in color.  I considered painting the shutters burgundy, but have never yet found the time for such a huge project.  And now I won't need to bother, because eventually Dick will get around to washing each side of the house and all my shutters will be that nice tan contrasting color!  Apparently the lady who owned the house before we did had gotten the shutters painted the lighter shade.  I had no idea there was a darker color underneath!  Here's a picture of one side of the house where the shutters are still the lighter shade.

Now, back to last weekend.  Lori had to do a presentation at a conference in DC on Sunday, so she decided to go a day early and take Austin with her for some special time and museum visits.  

Hunter stayed home and we were delighted to have some babysitting time each afternoon.   It truly seems as if his personality has suddenly gone into high gear since he learned to walk at the beginning of summer.  He was always this laid-back, rather mild child.  He still can be that, but most of the time he is a bundle of energy, curiosity, noise, and humor!  

He was checking out all the kitchen cabinets and trying to open the doors to the outside!

He had the greatest time playing with Grandpa.

After a long nap here on Saturday afternoon we took him to Chick Fil A before taking him home to Anthony.  Here are the pictures I took there.

Do you think we were just a little bit proud to be his grandparents?

Anthony brought him here for his nap again on Sunday afternoon.  This time he was finished napping by 2:00.  It was hot outside, so we took him to the mall to walk around.  What a hoot!  He had no interest in holding our hands.

Every electrical outlet cover had to be stepped upon.

In Shoe Department the sales assistant told him that seeing him turned her thunderstorm to sunshine!

At Macy's he liked walking on the black line.  We remembered that Austin used to do that too.

We ladies look at our hair in the rest room.  Hunter looks at his tongue!

Here's a fun video of him walking, almost running, making noises that echoed, and being fascinated by the squares on the floor.  I realized after looking at this, that I think he was taking off for another square when I stopped the video.

An update on Martha.  Her daughter is there in Portland with her this week while both guys are away on work trips.  She's still in the hospital.  Hospice is now involved.  Last night there was a bad scare, so very difficult any time, but especially so when distance is involved.  My heart is crying for all of them.  It feels like we were just there having that fun day at the Oregon coast, eating our ice cream cones together.  (Feel free to comment here on my blog, but not on Facebook.  Thanks!)  

On a lighter note, here's a picture of the beautiful sunset as I was coming home from my walk earlier this week.

Have a great weekend!

People's Choice, evening walks, 92nd birthday, grandchildren fun

Last Saturday after our camping-in-the-yard adventure we spent the evening at People's Choice Festival in Boalsburg.  It was a perfect evening, warm with enough cloud cover to keep it from being too hot.  I missed having my camera (it was at Sam and Jenn's where I had forgotten it the weekend before).  So it was back to cell phone pics.

As we strolled past booth after booth, Austin just had to stop at the one where the vendor had a Rubik's cube he'd been playing with.   Austin offered to solve it for him.  He stood there like this for at least 15 minutes!!  The vendor understood his obsession - he himself had already solved it four times that day!

And he did it!!

Hunter was most fascinated with the pinwheels.

So many choices of food!!

We sat at a table in a tent for a long time eating and listening to the band in the next tent - the Original Drifters.  Look them up!  They were the real thing and they were SO GOOD!!!

Hunter did "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" with Grandpa.

And examined his own hands for a while!

I got a plaque for my dining room wall at one of the booths.  Isn't it great?

On Sunday afternoon Dick and I went for a drive to check out some campgrounds.  We were surprised when we got to an area about half an hour from here that had one Amish farm after the next.

On Sunday evening we babysat the boys over at Anthony and Lori's.  After the boys were in bed I sat on their screened-in porch for a long time and watched the sun set and listened to the fountain in the pond below and the birds and frogs.  Truly a slice of heaven on earth.

This was a slower week for me.  No Wednesday church because of VBS, so less music prep.  I actually walked three evenings this week.  I enjoy walking through our community so much, so I don't know why I don't do it more regularly, other than not being able to fit it into my schedule.  Hopefully I got myself jump started this week.

On Thursday I had a rare day of no obligations or appointments, so I decided to take a trip to Losers Music in Lebanon to pick up my choir Christmas music order.  I used to always order my choir festival music from them when I taught, and I like the discount they offer for ordering in the summer, so I still order from them since it's close to Sam and Jenn's.

After I picked up the music I went to see Dick's parents.  It was his dad's 92nd birthday!

Doesn't he look amazing!  Still has the twinkle in his eye!  So on his 92nd birthday he had worked in the morning!  He and Arlene volunteer at a thrift store each Thursday morning, and 92nd birthdays are no reason to take off, in his opinion!

We sat and ate watermelon and cherries and laughed and talked for over an hour.  I showed them the video of my siblings singing the other Sunday, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Dick called his dad to wish him a happy birthday.  I wish he could have been there too.

He still has a beautiful vegetable garden!  What a guy!!

Then I went to Sam and Jenn's for the evening and night.   Sam and Jenn went grocery shopping while I played with the kids.  Sammy has gotten interested in magnets and motors, so he showed me some of his things.  

He also played a game with me that he had made.  He had a whole bunch of pictures he had drawn and with each picture he had a question for me - all of them about himself.  Like "Do I like sports?"  "Do I like chocolate?"  If I got the right answer he would making a "ding" noise.  If I got it wrong he would make a "buzzer" noise.  Isn't he something?

Bianca has a tomato plant and was proud to show me her first two ripe tomatoes.

How I love this precious face!  Gotta love the sweetness for the short minute it lasts, because there's a whole lot of sass behind it, haha!

Sammy was also having fun with a flashlight.

After I had read them a bunch of books and Sam and Jenn had returned home, he wanted to do a color show for me.  So I took a video.  You gotta see this!  Right in the middle of his show Bianca came running from her bedroom to say goodnight.  She hugged and kissed Sammy's back, then hugged and kissed my belly, announced that she was going to bed, and off she went.  She just cracks me up.  No time for fluff in her life.

Sammy, on the other hand, needs a bit more fluff. (-:

This morning I left their place at 9:00.  I cooked at Anthony and Lori's this afternoon and stayed till they were all home.  Keeping up with Hunter is a whole new adventure the past couple of weeks.  He is into EVERYTHING!!  Even trying to open doors, trying to turn the washer and dishwasher on, he has figured out how to turn the volume of the TV up, WAY up!  Of course with his endearing smile all the time. 

My heart has been heavy all day as the news from Portland is difficult.  After finding a place in a good skilled nursing facility, as I mentioned last Saturday, Martha needed to be taken back to the hospital by mid week.  Both Jeremy and Mike have important work travel, so Mike's sister is there for now.  

And again, wanting to end on a happier note, here is a video I took the other Sunday morning.  I finally got it uploaded to YouTube after I got my camera back.  This set was over 13 minutes long.  The trio sang two songs, "If That Isn't Love" and "He Giveth More Grace."  All the siblings sang the choral version of "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name" and "While the Ages Roll."  We also introduced ourselves. 

I had my camera sitting on the front bench and I started the video right before we walked up, so you get to watch us parade up and down, haha!  Enjoy!

Check out a new blog!

This post is not much about me or mine, but about my lifelong friend Elaine Nissley.  Do you remember when she came to visit me in May?

She came so that I could help her get started blogging.  She told me her big plans to take an RV trip to Alaska.

Well, I should have shared her blog weeks ago, because it is AMAZING!!!!  Elaine and two other ladies (sadly, all three have lost their husbands) and Elaine's disabled son Steve have traveled across the US and Canada to Alaska in an RV.  Elaine has been posting the pictures and stories from every day on the trip so far.  Her pictures are just spectacular!!  Following her blog is like taking a geography class, sometimes a history class, and sometimes a science class.  And of course, some funny things happen along the way too.  

So here's the link:  www.graceenough4graceelaine.blogspot.com for her blog called Awesome Wander.  Enjoy!!

Grandchildren, hard work, pop-up camper

As I said at the end of my sibling weekend post, I left our gathering Sunday evening and spent Sunday night at Sam and Jenn's.  The flowers at the front of their house were so beautiful.  I have no idea why I did not take more pictures.

Maybe because Sammy wanted my camera.  So I posed!

The kids had just had their showers and it was ice cream time right after I got there.

Then it was show time.  These kids are hilarious!  They were born for the stage!  The other week Jenn posted a video of a "Broadway Musical" that Sammy had created!

In the morning when I woke up Ray was sitting in the living room!  I don't think I ever mentioned that in May he started a new job at ES3 LLC near York, PA, a HUMONGOUS warehouse/logistics service through which all the groceries on the east coast go.  It is his dream job after having studied robotics engineering in college.  Thyda is leaving the US Navy in August and they will be moving to PA.  Meanwhile Ray has been staying at Sam and Jenn's and going to VA when he can to see Thyda and help pack.  It's a HUGE transition time for them, one they have looked forward to, but difficult nonetheless.  Moving is never easy, but even harder when needing to downsize, leave a familiar lifestyle and friends and military family, and many miles between.  Pray for them when they come to mind.

I chatted with Ray for a bit, then had to be on my way.  I realized after I left that my camera was still on their table, so I've been back to iPhone photography this week.  

I went straight to the State College YMCA to help Lori set up and serve the outdoor free lunch that her department offers to that community.  Her regular people had off that day.  It was actually fun meeting the families that came. 

From there I went right to Anthony and Lori's place to make their dinner, and from there I went to my piano students' home for their lessons, and then I finally went home!  One of my sisters commented that my day sounded like some of those in our mother's letters we had been reading Sunday afternoon.  I said no, there are two differences.  I get paid for most of the things I do, and I have no children at home.  A lot different from all that our mom was doing as a pastor's wife and working mother in the 70's.  

On Wednesday evening after our worship service at Mt. Nittany we met up with Anthony and Lori at Meyers dairy for ice cream.  They had had a boy through the Fresh Air program the past week and this was his last evening with them.  He had been with them two years ago and is Austin's age.  Aren't they cute together?  Austin got his summer haircut last week!

I snapped a succession of pictures here just so I would be sure to get a good one.  I did not realize till after I saw them later that apparently Hunter had drooled onto Anthony's face!

The boys were having fun catching lightning bugs.  Remember doing that?

The sunset on the drive home was spectacular.  How I wished I had my camera!  I could not capture the deep orange with my phone, so I edited the picture.  But in the process the blue got much darker than it really was. 

Dick got mulch delivered last week and has been hard at work mulching all around the house.  That is hot and exhausting after a day's work of physical labor like he does.  But wow, it is looking so nice around here.  And with all the rain we've had, everything is growing like crazy.

Our impatiens are finally starting to take off after a slow start in June. 

Now I have to tell you a story.  When we arrived home from our Portland trip on June 21st our neighbor across the street had a pop-up camper for sale.  We would be leaving for Stauffer camping in two days.  I said to Dick, "Look at that!  Maybe we could take that to Camp Hebron.  Go over and ask him how much he's asking.  I'd give $500 for it."  Well, of course, Dick found out that the neighbor was asking much more than that.  And he had many interested potential buyers.  Occasionally the thought crossed my mind that maybe Anthony and Lori would be interested, but I really was too busy to think much about it.  That Friday i saw the neighbor making a deal with someone and he put the camper down afterward.  

At camp that Saturday I mentioned it and Lori said,  "Why didn't you call us??  We would have gone together with you to buy it!"  So for whatever reason the camper continued to sit in our neighbor's driveway waiting for the new buyer to pick it up.  I am almost embarrassed to tell you that many, many times I would look at it and flippantly say, "God, I really want that camper.  I claim it in the name of Jesus."  

WELL.  Last Friday as I was hurrying to get ready to leave for my sibling weekend, my doorbell rang.  It was the neighbor man.  He said, "JEAN!  I just had a phone call and my buyer backed out of the deal!  I can't believe it!  So I know Dick said you and your son might be interested in it.  I won't advertise it till you let me know if you want it or not."  Wow, I felt almost responsible for his buyer backing out, but of course, I didn't tell him that, LOL!  

So last evening the transfer was made at AAA, Dick brought it across the street with his pickup truck, pulled it into our side yard, and set it up.  We invited Austin to join us for our trial run.  Anthony is in Nashville for the NAMM convention, so Lori and the boys came to check it out. 

Going up.

Our poor man's retirement home, hahahahaha!!

We celebrated with mini whoopie pies. 

Austin stayed for the night and had to take all his fidget spinners and emoticon cuddle toys along to bed.  And a flashlight.  I finally had to threaten to take his fidget spinners away from him because he was shaking the whole camper!

We slept pretty well.  The foam mattresses aren't very thick, so we might have to do something about that.  Probably get some memory foam toppers.  Austin was wide awake at 6:15 AM, typical for him. And Dick had to go to work.  Besides the sun was bright by that time.  And believe it or not, we were actually a bit chilly.  I'm sure we'll have many more fun times in it in the years to come. 

This morning Austin and I are hanging out here at home.  He saw my contact case and said, "Is this a two-sided spinner?"  

Earlier this summer I bought a wooden Labyrinth game at a yard sale thinking he would enjoy the challenge.  I made the mistake of showing him a YouTube video of the world record.  So now he thinks it should be all about speed and doesn't have much patience to work at accuracy.  

This is the weekend of Arts Fest in State College and People's Choice festival in Boalsburg.  We'll probably be going to People's Choice later today.  We have always enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere of music, craft vendors, and great food. 

And now, one more thing that's been going on.  Remember that when we were in Portland, Mike's mom Martha was there with them?  She is a 5-year cancer survivor, but in the past week or two her health has taken a severe downturn.  She has been in the hospital for the past week.  Today she'll be moved to a skilled care facility.  Because of upcoming work travel schedules for both Jeremy and Mike and the fact that Martha is not allowed or able to fly to her daughter Linda's home in southern California as was planned, this has been a very hard time for all of them.  Please pray for them too when they come to mind.  

I don't want to end on such a sad note, so I'll show you this picture I found in one of my sister Janet's albums last Saturday.  I made this maxi dress with the pattern of my bridesmaids' dresses.  After we were married we found a matching flowery shirt for Dick and PURPLE corduroy button-fly pants, hahaha!!  We were the coolest hippy Mennonite couple ever!!

Have a great weekend!