Last week was a mix of sad and happy, beginnings and endings at our house. School is out for the summer. Hannah graduated. And our little dog Pancho finally died late Friday night.
When school lets out for the summer it’s always exciting. I remember well the feelings I had as a child as those long warm days of summer freedom seemed to stretch out endlessly before me. I was never one of those children who got bored during the summer. There was usually something going on in our house to keep me entertained. And if nothing much was happening, there were a thousand books to keep me happy. Living where we do now, my children have grown up with plenty to do during the summer too. There are always chores to do, lawns to cut, gardens to weed, food to can, and all those other projects we set aside for the free days of summer. There’s plenty of leisure time too – time for reading, watching movies, swimming, quilting, and playing games.
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| The front yard on a June morning. |
Friday was high school graduation. Hannah is done with high school now. She gave the welcome speech at the commencement ceremony. Because she went to district chorus earlier in the year and was also given the Outstanding Chorus Student award, she was asked to sing a solo. She sang the song “Homeward Bound” and she did a great job. The ceremony was long. There were a lot of awards given and scholarships announced. Hannah’s class of 2014 received more scholarship money than any class has in the school’s history. Hannah has a full ride scholarship to the nursing program at Alfred State University. We are so pleased. But graduation is always tinged with sadness for me. As I looked at Hannah and at her friends, all of them so young and full of hope, I thought how they will now drift apart. Most of them will never see each other again. It always makes me a little sad to see them grow up and go away.
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| Hannah in her new graduation dress. |
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| At graduation. |
There was a pall of sadness hanging over our house all week as our dog Pancho continued to decline all week. He grew weaker and weaker as the days went on and we had to care for him more and more, carry him, try to coax to him to eat and drink. Every time I picked him up, I shed tears. Poor Hannah, who loved him the most, cried and cried all week as she tried to care for him. He finally died late Friday night after we got home from graduation. It was relief to see his suffering end. He was a good dog, a fun dog full of personality. He was a big part of our family for fourteen years. After he died, Stacey sewed him into a little shroud. Saturday morning Josiah and I dug a grave for him and we buried him out in a sunny spot in the meadow. We set some big flat stones on his grave. We will miss him so much.
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| Pancho. |
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| Pancho's grave in the meadow. |
There are happy things in store for us in these days of June. In two weeks we are going to a family reunion and we are excited about that. Rachel and Hazel will be coming home from the reunion with us to spend a few weeks with us here and we will love that. And there are all things I love to do that keep me busy – gardens to tend, signs to paint, books to read, time to spend with my family. And to make all of that even better, there is the beauty of just living here. This is the most beautiful season of the year here. The trees are full and green. The farmers have taken the first cut of hay now and the scent of mown hay fills the air. The world is lush with grass and the cattle in the pasture next to us look serene as they graze. The garden is growing. We’re done cutting asparagus now, but there will soon be peas and lettuce, and after that strawberries, and then the whole summer stretches out before us with the promise of warmth and plenty.
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| The orchard and vegetable beds. |
Josiah and I spent five hours on the first day of his summer vacation cleaning the woodshed. We took everything out and laid it on the lawn then we sorted it all into three categories – things to throw away, things to give to give away, and things to keep. When we were done putting everything where it belonged – the dump, the thrift store, or back into the woodshed – we felt like we had accomplished a great feat. I don’t remember when the woodshed last looked so tidy.
There are other big projects ahead. We never did much in the way of spring cleaning, but it’s still spring technically and I’m determined to do it. I plan to paint both bathrooms, clean and reorganize the kitchen shelves and cabinets, and clean each room and closet in the house one by one. I want to un-encumber us from the clutter that has accumulated and bring order to what ever is left. Josiah is planning to paint his bedroom while Rachel is here. Last year Rachel helped Hannah paint her room and this time it’s Josiah’s turn. We have new chicks arriving in three weeks and we need to prepare the barn for them. And sometime soon we should have turkeys hatching.
In addition to graduating from high school, Hannah also graduated from Seminary. Seminary graduation is up in Palmyra tonight, but we aren’t going. We acknowledged her accomplishment in church today. Hannah also received her Young Women’s medallion in church today. That is quite an accomplishment too involving many hours of service projects, goal setting, and scripture study.
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| Hannah wearing her Young Women's medallion. |
So we’re home from church now. We’ve eaten lunch. Our afternoon treat, buttermilk chocolate chip cake, is in the oven. The thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon and tonight look like they are on their way. The sky is getting dark and the wind has picked up. I think it is a perfect time to take a Sabbath nap.
