Update Part 1

  After these pictures were ready to post, I found lots more of reunions and family stuff. So this will be a two part posting.
We made memories. Nice memories of Mom and Dad being here. They faithfully walked the dog every day needing their own daily constitutional.
   We were their last stop in a series of visits and reunions so they came to us ready for rest and walks and just visiting. So we did that. 

 For a couple of days that week our family was posting pictures of our yards and gardens just for fun. Mom especially enjoyed this and urged me to take a few pictures and post them. So thank you everyone who played Show and Tell with us for those few days on family Facebook. 
 Here's Amy. She is working a steady four or five days at Miller's Market again this summer. She has gained a few more good friends though her work. It's fun to have her friends in and out here at the stonehouse.
    The lawns are lush. The gardens are just really only up so far. July will be a better time to take garden pictures.

  

 One of our walks when Josh and Francis and Anne were here. Francis and I thought we were walking to the lake, but we were wrong. It would have been too far for carrying Anne anyway.
   Speaking of Anne. She and I are good friends now-a-days. Of course, she has to go home with Francis and Josh, so I propose they move to Wisconsin.
   The bottom fell out only a for a few hours when they left. Keeping busy helps, too. 

 The blackberry briars are covered in white. The rain was good for something, I guess. Now if only one would have time to wander along the roadways to pick them when they are ripe in a few weeks. The sun will be warm and bright. Bumble bees will be sleepily droning and buzzing among the purple jewels of fat, juicy berries. My bucket will fill easily in an hour. The sand underfoot will be cool while pesky mosquitoes will lurk in the shady places. Blackberry pie and ice cream and iced tea on the patio. I'll just make time!
   Back to reality.
      
Brad came home for his graduation. On Friday evening, we invited our "four friends", and had a cookout meal and volleyball, again, between rains. Everyone said it was a success.  Mom and Dad stayed an extra day for it. Thanks to all of you who came and made it a real party for us.
    Brad is back in Nebraska now working in the shop for the Crosses. He seems to like it and we miss him.
   Anne loves her "Da-da" very much and asks for him even when he is gone for the day. 
    Josh headed up the roofing job on Lance's house. Between rains the men tore the old shingles off on Saturday. The new roof was complete by Tuesday noon. 
  
    

  

 Other things that happened while they were here was to condemn the old couch because I spotted a replacement at the Salvation Army store. The only trailer available was Joshes car trailer, so we hooked that up to his pickup and brought the couch home on that.
    It's quite an epoch in our lives to have a "new" couch. We used to always have two couches, remember that? Today, Amy cleaned the living room and turned the rug to a diagonal position and now it all fits like it should. When I came home from work to a clean house I had time to blog some before prayer meeting.
  Since Josh hauled my broken car home; I can drive it to work and back. Soon though, we will replace the "head" and drive it for a couple more years, we hope. 
    

 Elv took the boys over the park Sunday evening. They posed here nicely for me. I will have a frame of this one!
     While I was swinging Asher came running along the side of the pavilion yelling cheerfully, "I'm gonna run in all those puddles."
    He did pretty well hitting every one of them. Unfortunately, when he hit the last one it was deeper and he slid on his bottom and back right through the middle of an inch or two of slimy rain water. He came up howling and wet. That was the end of my swinging for the moment. I took his hand and he howled all the way to the house. Wow!

Sunday evening we decided to have a fire outside. When the fire was just about right for s'mores it began to rain. End of outdoor party.
Finally today, Wednesday, is the first day in several that it hasn't rained at all.

Part 2 of this odyssey will have taken place first.  I hope you won't find this too confusing.

It seems to me that we did our regular summer reunions and activities and parties all at the end of May. Now! We shall have a long leisurely summer of barefoot days fishing on Windigo and canoeing the lakes and lounging in the hammock and hosting patio parties! Humph!