Monday, July 13, 2009

SUMMER 2009 / FARM UPDATE #2

I've noticed several of my blogging friends have written fewer posts during the summer, so I'm not feeling all that guilty. With gardens to tend, yards to mow, books to read, scarves to knit, trips to make, funerals to attend, moves to make, and visits with friends, time flies by...really flies by...

So, here's what's been happening here at The Farm...

1. Rufus and Joe and getting ready to move in and set up shop at The Farm. Rufus (seen below) just completed his 6th week on the planet and has already traveled across the country in Joe's truck as they made their move from Utah back to Marietta. In these photos, the farm basset hound seems a bit lethargic, but he was on the tail-end of getting his second parvo shot, and I think the medication made him a bit sore and sleepy.



2. The Shook / Michael family reunion took place on July 4th, and it was a huge success. Approximately 175 people came, and some folks saw each other for the first time in 50 years or more. It was an afternoon of good home cookin', warm embraces, and wonderful memories. All who attended voted to get together again in two years. (photos and a post devoted to the reunion will be up soon....)
3. A couple of dear friends have lost loved ones this past week. Diane Bosley's grandmother, Gracie, passed to the spirit world last Friday, and the celebration of her life brought back the love, family closeness, and sadness of Grandma Ruth's leaving the earthly plane. Stories from the funerals were quite similar, all centering around the love of family, the family dinner tradition, and spunky women who had seen the world change enormously over more than decades. Sweet, elegant, dignified, and salt of the earth women, Gracie and Ruth, will forever live in our lives and hearts.
4. Eliza has finished three weeks of an intensive Chinese class. Wan-nu-dze, as she became known to her teachers and peers, learned a heck of a lot and was the star of the class. It's not cool to show enthusiasm about learning Chinese, but I know she had a good time....I heard her telling someone it was "really neat."
5. Weeds abound...Dahlias are beginning to bloom...The tomatoes look puny....Volunteer dill's overtaking the garden...The roses are fragrant...Lilies are waning...Sunflowers are huge and happy. Collards, spinach, kale, lettuce and broccoli have been overrun with cabbage butterflies.
6. Skunk fragrance seems to be the vernal perfume of choice for the aging corgis...Chipmunks and mice fill feline bellies, except for the little gross parts the cats pass on and leave for me to step on outside the doors.
7. Samuel moves to DC in a couple of weeks. WOW...it's really happening...!
8. I'm not yet totally relaxed into summer, but I'm making headway....
Stay tuned....

1 comment:

Very Mary said...

I'd love to share some dill and rodent innards.