I finally have yellow roses again! Like I probably said before, I had one that bloomed profusely two years ago, but last summer it did not seem to be alive. When I finally decided to replace it midsummer, I was told everywhere I checked that they were sold out. College Gardens said I should call the next Spring on May 15 when they first come in. Well, I was in Florida on May 15, but I called anyway and was told they would still have some when we returned home the next week. But they didn't! They put me on a call list for the next ones that would come in. So meanwhile I got one that looked almost dead at Walmart - for $5.00. And then the next week I did get one at College Gardens, the one pictured above. Its name is Julia Child! Of all things, the one that hadn't seemed to survive last summer is now growing again! How crazy is that? We've also gotten a few red and pink ones, but they aren't blooming yet. The knockout rose and the paprika rose bush from Sam are both blooming.
Our first lily bloomed this week. One that was in a bucket of stalks Dick had thinned out but we had not yet found a home for them!
This has been a very cool June. I'm eager for hot summer weather. Sorry to those of you that hate it!
On Wednesday I took Elizer to Spring Creek Park after I picked him up from daycare. First time there for him and he loved it. Especially the sand.
It was a cool, cloudy day, and suddenly there was the sound of a bagpipe! We saw this woman all alone playing song after song. Here’s a bit of Amazing Grace.
A Father’s Day card from Sweden arrived in the mail. Miki knows her deer-hunting dad!
Our view of the sunset from the side porch Thursday evening.
Friday morning when I picked up Elizer and brought him to our house to get him dressed for daycare he could not resist the puddles from our rain. His rain boots are a Godsend!
We had rain several days this past week. Finally on Friday evening our grass was dry enough for Dick to mow. And of course Elizer needed his weekly tractor ride around the neighborhood!
Saturday was our church’s annual Strawberry Festival. It was a great success! All week there was a forecast of rain for Saturday, but we had just a few sprinkles! We had great food and lots of fun!
The best part of all was Pastor Jim dressed like a strawberry!
And now this is Sunday afternoon and we just picked up Sammy and Bianca for the week. Fun times ahead!
My life has gone to the pigs - and the horses! And the sheep and the cows!
Each day when I drive Elizer to or from daycare we are always looking for animals along the way. We go by several places where Penn State animals are kept, and it never ceases to be exciting! I've found little side roads that we can take to get a closer look. No one has chased me away yet, so I guess it's ok!
And now he's also interested in this purple house in State College near Dick's shop. I remember seeing it a few years ago when the husband and wife who lived there both passed away, but I couldn't remember on which street it was. One day last week I was cutting across some streets to go to the post office after I had dropped Elizer off at daycare and there it was! So I took Destiny and Elizer to see it a few days later, and now he wants to see it again, haha!
We finally had a chance on Friday evening to go for a walk on the trail behind Destiny's house. It had rained that day, so the trail was a bit yucky.
This was a mother-son stretching session on Saturday morning! Destiny had had a very rough week with a migraine that lasted four days! Thankfully by Saturday morning, with the help of some meds from the doctor, she was feeling much better.
That afternoon they left for Lancaster for the weekend. She took Elizer to his dad and she spent time with her mom and siblings.
Saturday afternoon Dick and I went to downtown State College for a Juneteenth block party. The weather was perfect and we had such a great time! The music was awesome, and we reconnected with lots of friends from Unity Church of Jesus Christ where Lori and Anthony met back in 2002.
Here are a couple of short clips of my favorite songs that day.
Hunter wanted to come home with us afterward, and that was fine with me! He and I had a good time together while Dick went over to their place to mow.
He read a book to me.
He also played the piano. I showed him the beginner book that Alaya had enjoyed a few weeks ago. But he wasn't interested in it. He much preferred to play what he felt, haha!
We also had fun with a bubble gun!
Meanwhile, look what Dick saw at Anthony and Lori's! He was sitting in his truck after having finished mowing and checking his trail cams, and when he looked up, there was this beautiful deer!
The mountain laurel was in full bloom in the woods when he was checking his trail cams.
Sunday was Father's Day. Here's the collage I came up with to honor Dick, a picture of him with each of our seven children. In the middle column are our three biological children, Lisa, Anthony, and Jeremy. Our four other children came to us as teenagers through foster care and adoption. On the left side are Miki and Sam. On the right side are Ray and Frank. Of course Dick has been "dad" to many other children through the years too.
At church on Sunday morning Pastor Jim "preached" his message through an interactive lesson with the children, demonstrating the effect, both good and bad, of what is put into a child's mind.
Dick and I went out to brunch with friends from church. Then we came home and did some very necessary work in our flowerbeds. Lori gave us these plants, so we got a new planter to put them in.
In the evening we went over to Anthony and Lori's for a delightful dinner on their screened-in porch, take out from the best Mexican restaurant in State College. The weather was perfect, and we had the greatest time!
Most of the time our lives and theirs are so involved with work and responsibilities that even though our paths intersect we seldom have time to just sit and talk. I cherished the chance to do that!
Look at Lori's container garden on the deck!
I had a great time at the pond with Austin as he tried to catch frogs. He caught two, then released them. He was trying to catch the same big one he had caught the evening before, but no luck.
Here's Anthony's video of that big one. Did you know that frogs can scream?? We had no idea!
And one more video - these boys!!
On Monday I got caught up on some things around the house and made plans for next Sunday's music at church, a rare weekday with less responsibility. Destiny and Elizer came back home that night, but I didn't see them till I picked up Elizer early Tuesday morning. He had gotten a summer haircut! This picture was taken by the daycare teacher on the bus ride to the park on Tuesday.
After I picked him up from daycare we stopped at airport park so he could practice riding his bicycle again. Dick stopped in too on his way home from work. Then we came home and Dick grilled some hamburgers on the grill he recently got from Anthony and Lori. (They are totally charcoal people now. Anthony makes his own charcoal.) We ate on the side porch for the first time this season.
This morning I saw this outside my kitchen window!
I went over to Destiny's to get Elizer and when we got here he wanted to sit on the porch before we went inside.
We had fun watching this Eastern Bluebird going in and out of the bird house.
Later I took him to daycare and now I'm trying to cross things off my never-ending list. Soon I can cross off "Blog." That's all for this time!
We have been having a good bit of cool weather this past week. When I get up in the morning I look at the temp to see if I'll wear long pants or capris, and quite often the early morning temp has been in the 40's and the high in the 60's. I'm not a fan!!
Last Thursday our air quality was really unsafe due to the forest fires in Canada. So after I picked Elizer up from daycare we went to Rural King to see the baby chicks since it wasn't a good idea to do anything outside.
We also stopped to watch the Penn State pigs for a while. We are so hoping to see baby pigs sometime.
It was a Thursday, but no choir practice. (We are singing just twice a month over summer.) Dick mowed our lawn and then took Elizer on his weekly ride through the neighborhood, this time with a mask on.
At Rural King I saw a camping chair his size, and I got it for him. It even has a cup holder!
On Friday morning I went to church to help prep fresh strawberries for our upcoming annual Strawberry Festival. We cleaned and sliced them, then put them into freezer bags. Lots of fun working together.
That evening I got this funny video of Dick and Elizer. If you love to hear giggles, this is one to watch!
When Destiny got here after work she had a surprise for Elizer!! She had gotten a bike with training wheels off Facebook Marketplace!
I helped him learn to ride it. Good grief!!! I'd forgotten how many things there are to learn! Like how to pedal without going back and putting the brakes on. How to hold the handle bars so you don't keep going sideways. I was a tired grandma after half an hour!!
On Saturday morning Dick and I hit the road to Manheim. It was our great grandson Charlie's birthday party!
When we arrived he was right at the door and I got this video of him walking. He had just started the day before!!
Björn, Jess, and Charlie. I love these three so much!
Charlie was getting a bit tired of the picture-taking by the time it was our turn!
Gift opening was fun! I missed getting a picture of him with his cake.
Is he not a BEAUTIFUL boy????
When we got back home that evening we picked up Elizer and took him to airport park so he could ride his bike. He's doing pretty well!
Look at him go!
On Sunday after church we hit the road to Manheim again!! It's a two-and-a-half hour drive. It would have been nice to stay at my sister Mary Ellen's overnight, but we have responsibilities at church that make it difficult to take off too often. Besides, Destiny and Elizer were going with us this time, and we stopped in Duncannon on our way to pick up Sammy and Bianca.
The event on this day was a Stauffer family gathering at the home place! Does it look familiar? This was Grandpa and Arlene's house until it was sold at their auction in January 2020. Our nephew Josh Stauffer and his wife Jill bought it.
It was so fun to have a family gathering there!!
It was finally a really warm day, and they were prepared for it! Look at Charlie getting right in on the action!!
This gathering took the place of our annual camping weekend at Camp Hebron. The past two years we had just a one-day gathering at Camp Hebron. And this year we decided to keep our gathering in Manheim so that Grandma Arlene could be with us.
We had one of our traditional camping meals - Mexican Pile-up. We sat in the lower part of the lawn, a place that brings us so many memories of hot dog roasts at Grandpa Stauffers.
This swing set is an old original. Our kids had lots of fun on it years ago, and now the next two generations are enjoying it! Grandpa Stauffer built it back in the 1970's.
Sammy loved it! Look at him go!
Josh and Jill have done a great job of updating the place. Here are some before and afters.
Of course the people in the "before" shots are nostalgic. We were mostly outside this time.
Around 6:30 we hit the road for home. I sat in the back seat with these two - always a fun, crazy time! We met Sam and Steph at a Sheetz gas station in Duncannon to give them back. I hope to have them here for a week this summer.
On Monday we got RAIN!!! A really nice, beneficial rain. How we needed it!
That evening Destiny and Elizer had the best time with LEGOS. It was so cute to watch them. She made him a helicopter, and he was so tickled with it!
This is Wednesday, and we have had more rain this morning. It's so nice to not need to water all our flowers each day. And now I need to run!
