If June is the best month of the year, July is by far the best month of Summer. There are certain things I expect in July: a bit of heat and humidity, some good thunderstorms, swimming, guests, at least one perfect watermelon, fireworks, and a lot of flowers. Last week July met all my expectations. The flower gardens are bright with colors – larkspur, poppies, daylilies, lilies, sundrops, and hollyhocks.
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| An opium poppy. |
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| Poppies. |
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| Poppies at their peak. |
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| Hollyhocks. |
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| The long border. |
After I sent out the Journal last Sunday, we continued our Independence Day celebration into the afternoon and evening. We had excellent food, great company, and dazzling fireworks. It was a great day. On Monday our guests began to dwindle as Sarah and Tosh left that morning and Tabor left later in the afternoon. We were sad to see them go so soon. But the rest of us moved on with all the activities and fun planned for the rest of the week.
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| Independence Day in the evening. |
Every day the grandchildren worked on filling the Activity Chart with stickers. Each day they got a sticker for completing each task. They had to make their beds, get dressed, do a house chore, a garden chore, perform an act of kindness, read for an hour, eat a popsicle, do a dinner assignment, and brush their teeth. Some days they did better than others, but by and large, they did a good job.
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| Reading time with Grandma and Henry. |
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| Ellie and Hazel during reading time. |
On Monday afternoon we went on a nature walk. We decided to walk the old railroad grade from the Allegheny River headwaters down to the bottom of Seven Bridges Hill. We’ve hiked that path before, but it had been years since the last time. I thought the trail was about a mile long. It turned out to be three miles. Toward the end it was bit arduous for some of the younger children (and some of the older adults), but we all made it and had a good time. The trail winds gradually downhill through a long wooded ravine following the course of the Allegheny River, which at that point is really just a creek. We identified plants and birds as we walked. There were some very muddy stretches and most of us got pretty dirty. At the end, Tabor and the children washed off all the mud in the river.
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| On our nature walk. |
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| Playing in the Allegheny stream. |
Monday evening we had a special treat. Stacey’s employer owns the movie theater in Coudersport. Right now the theater is only open on the weekends, but Stacey made a special arrangement for just our family to watch a movie there on Monday evening. It was fun having the theater all to ourselves.
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| At the movies. |
On Tuesday Geoffrey and Joni and their children went up to visit Niagara Falls and the Church History Sites in Palmyra. They were gone all day. The Shillig crew went up to Olean, New York, to hike through Rock City Park, which has enormous and spectacular rock formations. They took Hazel with them. That left just me, Miriam, Rachel, June, Mabel, and Florence at home (Stacey and Hannah were at work). We had a pretty quiet day until later that afternoon when a big, but brief, thunderstorm blew through. I had just finished mowing the lawn and I saw it approach. The wind roared in from the west then shifted to come from the north, then it switched back to the west again. The rain fell in sheets for fifteen minutes. There was lightning and thunder. Then the rain tapered off and an hour later and it was sunny again. But the storm took a toll. The wind broke off a large branch of Kurt’s cherry tree. His tree was heavy with fruit this year and the shifting wind was too much for it. Rachel, June, Mabel, and I picked off all the ripe cherries from the fallen branch that we could. The next day everyone joined in and picked the rest. Kurt made jam from them. We have been rejoicing for weeks over the abundance of fruit this year. I suppose this was Nature’s way (there I go personifying her) of reminding us of who is in charge.
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| The Utah Howe family at Niagara Falls. |
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| At the Sacred Grove. |
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| Kurt's poor cherry tree. |
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| Cherries for jam! |
She pulled the same trick on me last week too. While we were on a stroll through the garden, I commented that we hadn’t seen any Japanese beetles yet and how happy that made me. The very next day they appeared in their hundreds. They are a little late. They usually show up in time to destroy the roses while they are in full bloom, but the roses are done already. But the beetles are here in time to attack the linden tree as it starts to flower, which is a shame. I look forward to that tree blooming all year. It gives off one of the most wonderful aromas in all the plant world and the Japanese beetles eat most of the flowers before they can open. Now I’m back to carrying a bowl of soapy water with me as I work in the yard so I can collect and drown as many beetles as I can. I try not to feel too boastful about things in the garden and orchard. It seems if I do that, something always happens to put me back in my place. So I’m not going to mention the fact that my apple trees have more fruit on them than ever before. Oh no, did I just mention that?
Wednesday was a Big Day. Stacey and Hannah took the day off to stay home for the Big Event – the Great Pirate Treasure Hunt. Miriam planned all of this out weeks ago. She made clues and a treasure map and created a treasure chest and filled it with treasure. She buried the clues in various places – one in the Shillig’s yard, one at the old Gold Church, one in Raymond Cemetery, one on the old railroad grade, one in the Genesee Cemetery, and one at the Jones’ house in Genesee. She began the quest under the pretense of teaching the children about metal detecting. While doing a routine scan of Shillig’s yard, they uncovered the first clue – and away they went. The children were so excited and the excitement grew as they followed each clue. The last clue led us back to our yard, where the treasure chest was buried. Miriam did a great job and it was a complete success with the children.
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| A clue! |
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| Finding a clue at Raymond Cemetery. |
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| Another clue at Genesee Cemetery. |
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| The treasure hunters. |
Wednesday evening was supposed to be the outdoor movie night. The plan was to set up a screen on the barn next door and project the movie onto it with the children sitting on the lawn to watch. The plan had to be altered because another thunderstorm interfered. The whole operation was moved to the front porch instead. The movie was Treasure Planet, of course.
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| Movie on the front porch. |
Another Big Event of a different sort took place on Wednesday. Geoffrey took Joni out do some errands and show her around the area and when they came back, they brought a new toilet for the downstairs bathroom. The old toilet was in bad shape. It was old and leaked water. And it used a lot water – 5 gallons with each flush. Geoffrey installed the new fixture and it is great! No more water leaking from the tank. And it only uses a gallon and a half per flush! It’s like a new era has begun. Geoffrey also installed pneumatic door closers on the screen doors on the front and back doors to keep them from slamming. And he fixed the light switch at the top of the stairs. So many great home improvements! I love it that my children are handy with things like that (I am not).
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| Out with the old (this was a joke, it ended up at the dump). |
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| In with the new! |
Thursday morning we had brunch at the Shillig’s house. It was a warm and muggy day, so later on we went swimming at the Rigas’s. That afternoon Rachel hosted a fun project. We tie-dyed tee-shirts. She had a kit with lots of brightly colored dyes and a shirt for everyone. Later that evening, we had a fire in the fire pit and roasted marshmallows for s’mores.
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| Swimming at Rigas's. |
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| Tie-dying. |
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| S'mores at the firepit. |
Friday morning we had our final meal together, a brunch with waffles, pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, watermelon, cantaloupe, and orange juice. After that, we untied the tee-shirts we’d dyed the day before. They all turned out to be so colorful. Then we had an awards ceremony for the cooking contest held last week. And then it was time for departures. Rachel and her girls and Geoffrey and Joni and their children loaded up and drove away. They drove back to Rachel’s house and Saturday morning, early, the Utah Howe family flew home. With their departure, the house immediately became sepulchrally quiet. The echoes of those happy days together faded away. It was wonderful having them all here. I love having the Fosters and the Thayns close by enough to see each other often. I’m sad that we don’t get to see Geoffrey’s family or Daniel and Raven as often. I hope that Ellie, Gwen, and Henry made some indelible memories of happy days spent at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. I think they should come and visit every summer (actually, I think their family should move here, but at least yearly summer visits would be nice).
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| Final brunch together. |
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| Unveiling the tie-dye shirts. |
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| The Cooking Contest award winners. |
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| Sad good-bye to the Utah Howe family. |
Saturday morning the Georgia Shillig family left for home and things got even quieter. Now Kale and Roman and their children are the only guests that remain, but they are staying next door and they are pretty quiet.
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| Sad good-bye to the Georgia Shillig family. |
Now with our much-anticipated gathering past, summer seems to be aging rapidly. We have new guests arriving this week, our friend Otilia and her son Eric. That will help to liven things up again, but summer is passing too quickly. We have still another Big Event ahead, our Family Reunion in North Carolina, and, although I’m looking forward to it, it happens in August and August is too close to summer’s end and I’m not ready to look that far ahead yet even so.
Today was our Branch Conference which meant that our Stake leaders traveled down to meet with us. We live in the Palmyra, New York Stake, so most of the Stake people had to drive more than two hours to be with us. We had great meetings and afterward, the Stake provided lunch for us. It was good to be with them. Being in a very small branch in the remotest part of the Stake, we sometimes feel a bit removed from things. While at church, two of my favorite garden enthusiasts brought me plants from their gardens. Nancy Jones who lives in our branch, whose beautiful gardens are just north of us in Genesee, brought me phlox and rudbeckia, and rose campion plants. And Rob Mayo a member of our new Stake Presidency, who lives up in Pittsford, New York, brought me lady’s mantle, feverfew, caryopteris, and ligularia from his amazing garden. I love adding plants to my gardens. If I could, I’d make my yard into a botanical garden with every kind of plant I could possibly grow.
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| Evening sky on Thursday. |
It is overcast and drizzly this afternoon. It’s time to go down to the barn to do the afternoon chores. The chickens are lined up at the fence waiting for me. I like having an enthusiastic welcoming committee to greet me every day. After that, the rest of the day is free for me to relax, maybe make some music with my family, have a little treat later on – restful things fit for a Sabbath afternoon.
