Our revels now are ended . . .

Gwen and June in tears.

 Our revels now are ended . . . well, almost. Another wonderful week has passed. Our house was full of family and fun. With everyone here – twenty people (and often twenty-one when Julie was here with us) – everything was a big and sometimes chaotic production. We had to set up two extra tables for meals. We had to take three cars anywhere we went. It was great.

We did some fun things during the week. On Tuesday we went up to the Library in Wellsville. They have a great children’s section and the grandchildren loved it. On our way back home we stopped at the farm of our friend Nancy Jones. She has a pig that has ten piglets. We also toured her beautiful gardens. 

Ten little pigs.

Tosh and a large sow.

Nancy Jones's flower gardens.

After that we drove up to the North Bingham Cemetery where Geoffrey, Rachel, Sarah, Miriam, Daniel, and Hannah reenacted a photo from seventeen years ago. It turned out great. 

2000 & 2017.

One of the highlights of the week was swimming at the pool at the house where Stacey works on Wednesday. It’s a beautiful pool with water at a perfect 80° and it was a perfect, sunny, summer day. Everyone had a great time.

June at the pool.

Henry at the pool.

Far too soon people began to scatter back to their homes. On Monday, Tabor left to go back to Tennessee. He had to get back to work. He flew out of Buffalo. He left Rachel and the girls here to spend more time with us. I’m so glad for that. On Wednesday, Sarah and Tosh went home. On Thursday, Geoffrey and Joni and their children and Emma flew back to Utah. On Friday my parents and Daniel left. The good-byes were hard. They always are. Our revels were drawing to an end. Rachel and her girls will be here until Friday. That will be good. Daniel will be back this week. Miriam is staying here for the time being and Hannah is here until she returns to school in January. So the house will be fuller than it’s been. That makes me happy.

Farewell to the Fosters.

Farewell to Emma.

Farewell to the Utah Howe family.

Farewell to my parents.

On Thursday, the Day Geoffrey’s family had to leave, we all drove up to Palmyra to see the Church History sites. We didn’t have a lot of time. We had to have the Utah Howe family and Emma at the Buffalo Airport in time to catch a 5:00 flight. We stopped at Taco Bell for lunch on our way to Palmyra. We went to the Hill Cumorah, and the Smith Farm. Geoffrey’s group had to leave from there for the airport. We were worried because it didn’t look like they would make it in time. We said a prayer for them. They got there in time and made it home without any trouble.

Lunch at the Taco Bell!

At the Hill Cumorah Visitors' Center.

At the Smith Farm.

Way back at the beginning of summer I wrote a list of projects I wanted to tackle on the chalkboard in the kitchen. I say way back, but it doesn’t seem very long ago. Until last week, I had only accomplished one item on the list, painting the back porch. The children decided to work on some of the big projects for me while they were here – finishing the upstairs bathroom and the upstairs hall and stairway. Several years ago we started working on the upstairs bathroom in an attempt to solve the problem of the bathtub leaking water down through the dining room ceiling. We pulled up the old flooring and put in a temporary floor and moisture barrier covered with a cobbled together piece of vinyl flooring held together with duct tape. It stayed in that condition until last week when Geoffrey and Daniel pulled up the temporary floor and started putting in a new and permanent one. The children also bought us a new insulated toilet. Because our well water is so cold and it is often humid here, a lot of water condenses on the toilets and drips onto and into the floor. The insulated toilet will stop that. The project isn’t done yet. We’re still waiting for the new toilet to arrive. It will be nice when it is all done. I have great children.

Rachel, Miriam, and Hannah started working on the hall and stairway on Friday. The stairway is another of those projects we started years ago when the plaster in the walls began to crumble. We took out all the lath and plaster and put up wall board that has remained unfinished until now. I love it that my children have the skills and are willing to do such things.

I hope the rest of my projects will be finished too by summer’s end. While Daniel is here, we will undertake building the greenhouse. I’m still not sure what form it will take. It will be a new adventure in construction for us. Our Amish friend Ervin Gingerich has agreed to do the barn alterations for me.

A few years ago, a friend gave me a cutting of night-blooming cereus (Epiphyllum oxypetalum), an orchid cactus that blooms once a year and for only one night. I put it in the upstairs bay window where it has grown quite large, but never bloomed. Two weeks ago, just as we were leaving for our reunion down state, it developed three buds. Two of the buds fell off, but one stayed and grew quickly. I was excited but disappointed because I thought it would bloom while we were gone. It waited until we returned. On Monday night it opened. It was gorgeous and fragrant and I was completely enchanted by it. I can hardly wait for it to bloom again next year.

My night-blooming cereus.

Last night the temperature fell to 40°. I saw this morning, when I checked the forecast, that this was due to an unusual weather pattern, a dip in the jet stream that brought cold air deep into the south. It was disconcerting to feel that kind of cold at the end of July. These are supposed to be the hottest days of the year. It felt like fall and I’m not ready for that. The garden is not ready for that. Things are just starting to produce. We ate our first cucumbers and zucchini last week. We’ve been eating the big, sweet Walla Walla onions for a week now. We picked, blanched, and froze four heads of cauliflower yesterday. I pulled up the garlic and have it curing on the back porch. My tomato and grape vines are loaded with green fruit that needs sunshine and warmth to ripen. It’s too soon for cold weather. That jet stream better undip itself and go north again.

Hazel with cauliflowers.

The garlic.

The flower garden is entering its high summer phase now. The poppies and larkspur are fading fast. With their demise they leave large empty spaces in the flower beds. But now the dahlias, gladiolus, marigolds, and zinnias are in bloom. Their flamboyant flowers distract the eye from the bare patches in the garden.

My lilies.

Squash blossom.

Orange dahlia.

Giant marigold.

August is upon us and the week ahead looks to be warmer and full of activities. Every day there is something planned in addition to all the work, chores, and daily routine. Monday afternoon is yoga. Tuesday evening is Family History Center. Wednesday is a trip to the Potter County Fair. Thursday is the Potter County Historical Society. On Friday Rachel and her girls leave. Then we start the quick slide through the last days of summer. Too soon. Far too soon.