Summer Celebrations

June and Hazel celebrating.

We had lots of happy events during the week. Kurt and Julie arrived home on Monday evening. It’s so nice to have neighbors again. In just few days their porches and flowerbeds are full of flowers again, and there are lights in their windows at night. Our isolated social circle has expanded to normal capacity again.

Thursday was Independence Day, but we did not celebrate that day. I did go on a long walk that morning - my own way of celebrating my love for this great and beautiful country. We had family coming for the weekend so we delayed our celebration until they were here. Sarah and her group arrived Thursday afternoon. The Thayn family got here on Friday afternoon. We held our celebration on Friday. We had good food. I made my Grandma Rathfon’s famous baked beans. They didn’t turn out as good as she used to make them – they never do, but they were good enough. We had hamburgers, hotdogs, and bratwurst. Julie brought one of her wonderful salads (we’ll have salads again now that she is home). Our celebration was cut a bit short by rain, but it was good. We had excellent food and it was great to sit and talk. The rain stopped in time for us to set off some fireworks at dusk.

Scenes from my 4th of July morning walk.

Grandma Rathfon's baked beans.

Miriam and Mable making brownies.

June and Julie.

Celebrating in the rain.

Fireworks on Friday.

 Sarah, Tosh, and our friend Chef Orlando Santos were here for the weekend. They came to cater the annual party held by Stacey’s employers, the Rigas family, that took place yesterday. They catered it last year and were invited back to do it again this year. It’s a big affair – food for fifty people. They spent some time on Friday morning preparing food and again on Saturday. They prepared a great menu that celebrated the Rigas’s Greek heritage that included things like spanikopita, hummus, tzatziki, meat and vegetable kabobs, Greek salad, poached basil salmon, and all sorts of desserts – ice cream, baklava, brownies, and fruit pies. There were several downpours during the day – so much rain fell that it made the Rigas’s swimming pool overflow – but the party went on and was a success. Those of us who weren’t there all day helping went down in the evening for the fireworks show.

The catering crew - Chef Orlando, Stacey, Rachel, Miriam, Deb, Sarah, Tosh.

Looking down the valley to Rigas's.

Fireworks.

As always, I loved having family and friends here. This house feels happy when it has guests. The noise, the energy, the games, the conversations, the food – it’s all good. The girls had fun playing at Kurt and Julie’s. We went on walks to look for Monarch caterpillars. We went on flower identification walks. Some of us went fishing. There was time to sit and talk and read. I loved it. Sarah, Tosh, and Orlando left this morning to go back to Michigan. The Thayns will leave for home later this afternoon. Then the house will be quiet again for a while.

Playing at Shillig's.

Swinging at Shillig's.

Looking for caterpillars.

On a flower walk.

The weather was warm all week, July as it should be, and I loved it. Poppy time is in full swing now. This is the most dazzling time in my summer garden. There are lots of other flowers now too. I was out walking the garden with my camera one morning and was impressed by the range of colors in the floral world. There are flower colors in a spectrum that goes from the purest white through various shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, and even colors so dark they look black. I love the variety of shape, form, and color of flowers.

Some of the poppies.

Floral spectrum in my garden.

So we’ve had a happy Sabbath. Church went well. We had delicious leftovers for lunch. We’ve had time to sit and talk and play games for a while. The day is winding down now and a new week stretches ahead of us. I’m thinking about all the things I plan to do. I looked at the weather forecast and it looks like I’ll be able to do them. I love summer.