The beginning of summer, and already we worry about its end. The days are getting shorter, but ever so imperceptibly (now that's a big word; too much reading Melville). The days are certainly getting hotter, and we have moved down into the basement for our cool sleeping quarters. We call it our summer palace, a la Dr. Zhivago.
Still, there's a lot to report. Where to start?
The garden. It's the year of the strawberry. And the rose. But not the asparagus. We've had some lettuce harvests and radishes. It could also be the year of the deer. We have seen a doe and two small fawns in the yard, and a young buck, with just the beginnings of antlers. Did you send them up here, Peter? Have they finished eating everything down in NJ? You can have them back, as they have started eating the peach tree, the apple tree, the blueberries, the hastas, etc. Go back! So, there's a run on netting at the hardware store that seems to be slowing down the devastation.
We had our first visitor in a while. Genuine visitor. And we did visitor-type things with our friend Monette from DC. The Clark, the Red Lion Inn, dinner on the lake, hiking and turtle sitting. That's right. We are taking care of Harris the box turtle over at the Locherys while their owners are away for a few weeks. It's good material for some laughs, like taking Harris for a walk. I actually don't remember holding, or even seeing, a box turtle for years. Mary thinks Harris likes her. No kidding.
Big news in DC – Simon is taking steps. Pretty soon, he'll be going to the Olympic tryouts. With his mother who has delighted her mother by starting to swim again. Over in Asheville, Annie had taken an art workshop over the weekend. She and Sankar have decided, or their workplaces decided for them, that they will be heading back to California, by summer's end, at least for a while.
Down in Brazil, the whole gang, along with Leonor's parents, had a weekend at a nearby resort with a water park. The pictures showed long, fun days, followed by exhausted boys collapsed in their beds. And, tomorrow is Leonor's birthday! (Same day as Gramps – Grandma's father.) Feliz aniversario! We're looking forward to their visit back to the U.S., before the next weekly letter.
Some items off Facebook, include pictures of Johanna with tatoos! Did you get your parents' permission? How can I not post that photo? And, we say pictures of Donald on a bike and in a kayak!
A bit of sad news down in DC is that Jeff and Melodie had to put down their cat. It's been a bad string of loss of pets in the family. So sorry.
Out west, Andrew and Lur are up in Green Lake, as of this writing. They missed out last year, but they're back. We understand Claire will join them for a few days. They will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this coming week. How's that for timing – within the space of a year David and Paula had their 50th, Andrew and Lur their 30th, and Mary and I had our 40th.
More good news. My box of saved weekly letters is all digitized. But there's bad news in that when I started saving the letters, I was saving the stamps, not the missives, so I have many empty envelopes from the early years. I also realized that I never saved letters when I was physically at home. Pop would leave them on the kitchen table, next to a job list, and whoever was home would share reading that copy. The end result – I'm missing many letters, but I understand some guy out in Illinois has binders full of letters.
Anyway, here's one entry from one of the earliest letters I found (1971) –
"Dear Wonderful Workers,
I'm only kidding, as you know, for you really didn't work during your visits home, except to saw wood, creosote, trees, steam wallpaper, rake leaves, wash dishes, iron sheets, clean ponds, move logs, etc. But it was simply great to hear your laughter, wild music, late snoring and all those other great sounds of a busy home."
And with that, see you all in the Poconos. (Next year.) Love from up here.
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