Some short videos from the U.K. trip

It will take awhile to get photos sorted and posted, but in the meantime I put a few on Facebook and thought I'd send the links (embedded) for those. I have another of the swans I might include here directly.

The Sissinghurst one got messed up by the camera dial getting disturbed. It's in time lapse with no sound. When I replayed it I could see a little bit of the general view of Sissinghurst. We were in a "hot" section of the garden at the time it was taken. If you blink, you might miss the whole thing!

Hope these work for those that are interested. :-)

Kathy/Mom


Vistas from the top of Stirling Castle - Scotland:



Actors at Shakespeare's birthplace:



Swans on the Avon River - Stratford-upon-Avon:



Swans with Angie - Avon River at Stratford-upon-Avon:


View of Avebury Stone Circle - Wiltshire, England:



Sissinghurst "short" (stupid time lapse thing):

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Baby Booth is born!

I'm way behind in posting to the blog and much has happened since the last one. Before diving into UK trip photos, I wanted to post a few of the new little grandson. Robert Alexander Booth was born on September 25th! He weighed in at 8# 5 oz. and was 20 inches long. He looks a lot like Alex... or more like Alex's brother and youngest sister right now. He's a heftier baby than his dad was, however... more like Kristine when she was born. He seems to be doing well and mom is extremely sleep deprived. I hope that will get better for her in the next month. He should start sleeping longer at night by then.

We'd visited Kristine the week before I left on the trip and I'd hoped the baby would make an appearance a week earlier than her due date... but he came 5 days after, when he was ready. While walking back to our Edinburgh hotel at the end of our first full day there, one of the gals in the group commented that maybe my daughter had had her baby and I'd honestly not had a moment to think about it until then. They had us up EARLY after a long day before and on a rigid schedule... visiting Holyrood Palace, the Edinburgh Castle, Rosslyn Chapel (used for some of The DaVinci Code movie) and walking about the city in the evening after eating. We were dizzy with tiredness and jet lagged. I decided it would be good to take time to check on the lobby computer, so fed in a pound and managed to navigate to her blog, despite the funky keyboard (they were a slightly different layout than here). First thing to load up was the picture above. =:D I blurted out, "She had the baby!!!" and a couple minutes later, after I'd read the whole post, an American gal approached from behind (she'd been waiting) to offer her congratulations. :-) She could relate, having grandchildren of her own.

Here are a few more photos Kristine has taken in the last two weeks... (in order):

This last one was taken yesterday morning. He has such an expressive little face. :-) We're leaving on Sunday for a short trip to Utah and Idaho... and will get to meet the little guy in person, as well as seeing Diane, Karen and Niklas in Rexburg.

Meanwhile... the jet lag is still wearing off and there has been lots to do this week before leaving again. I'll post pictures from the trip as there is time to go through and pick out the better ones. There are about 3,000 to deal with, but many are terrible shots taken from a moving coach (bus). ;-)

Hope all are well... more later...

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My goodness... it's been almost 2 months!

Well... it's been a long dry spell as far as updating the blog goes. I can't believe our summer is almost over, but honestly, it really feels like September already. We had a MAJOR heat wave this past month. It was over 100 degrees for a couple of days and the amount of measurable rainfall in the past couple of months has been pretty much... unmeasurable. :-/ I took advantage of the city water from the front hose bib and have the bill to prove it! Yet... the plants LIVE. Boy... poor flowers cooked before their time... but that's how it goes some years. It has proven to be a great year for cherries and the tree bore more than the birds could destroy. So... we were forced to harvest and bottle some of them before the rest went south. We couldn't reach the best ones, but as the birds knocked them off, the deer made numerous daily visits to glean for grounders. Some of the deer visitors were wee folk with no mothers in sight... so we're not sure if they were orphaned or not. Diane thinks the two sets of fawns we saw were not the same ones. You'll see those photos later.

Ron has been busy working on the house when the weather would allow. He's covering the eaves. We have squirrels living over the living room (no attic... cathedral ceiling there) and I'm not sure if he'll try to trap those or drive them out before finally sealing up the overhead. There is concern they'll try to chew their way back in... quite possible. We've had cats going up there also. I heard a loud thump around dusk one evening and turned on the deck light to investigate. Staring back at me was a stupified kitty cat... one I'd never seen before. I think he leaped up in his usual manner and ran into an unexpected barrier. He stared at me for quite awhile... almost as if he expected me to supply some sort of explanation.

I've been trying to make soap and get the autumn stocks built up before the trip in September. The hot weather kind of sidelined the soapmaking. It seemed like I was constantly babysitting the watering chores. I've also been doing shopping via internet and in general. I'm sure I won't even take most of the new things on the trip... but the wardrobe needed a facelift (casual clothes especially). There will be a meeting a week from tomorrow at the Binetti's home. We'll get to meet everyone going on the trip, see her garden and be debriefed on whatever we need to know in advance... probably ask questions, etc. I think I'm going to like my roommate... it will be nice to meet her in person. We talked briefly on the phone and have had a couple of emails.

Oh, yeah... that's what else I've been up to... avoiding emails... then trying to catch up! I probably spent about 6 hours in the past few days doing email backlog. With the heat and distractions of shopping, kids, whatever... I was not wanting to sit any longer at the computer than necessary. But... I don't like to ignore people either so finally got almost caught up yesterday. I'm noticing more soap emails from other countries. This last batch included a gal from Quebec, another from New South Wales, Australia, a soapmaker in Wales, a young woman in China who wants to make soap, a soap customer from Russia (that's another story... finally got his package off today to Pittsburgh, where he's currently staying). Another fellow wrote, hoping that soapmaking might be a viable way to support his wife and four children. He was laid off from his job. I had to tell him I didn't think it would be enough for his needs... but maybe some supplemental income. Anyway, I enjoy communicating with people, so don't want that to go away. Just sometimes... I need a vacation.

Kristine is feeling very pregnant these days and just went in two weeks ago (is it that long?) and had a 3-D ultrasound done. Her curiosity was getting the best of her and it was almost too late to get a decent image. Below are two of the best photos for seeing Baby Booth's face (his name will come later... that's another saga). I see a lot of Alex's mom's side of the family in his nostrils and around the mouth. It looks like he'll have his dad's mouth and chin. I'm sure Kristine will be in there too... it will be fun to see him when he emerges. You have to use a little imagination with photos like these... but what a miracle they can even get them! I never had a single ultrasound with my six, so just having the normal type seems amazing to me.

Are there heavy thoughts going on in there?

Kristine and Alex have moved from the home they were watching for a year and a half and are now in married housing at BYU. The building is old but very stout and rather quiet. They still have some organizing to do in the second bedroom (baby's room) but are making some headway on that this weekend. She's starting to have some nagging feelings she should be ready sooner and not wait until the last. What if she had him early? I know she'll feel better if she's prepared and can then just relax a bit more and see what develops.

Karen has recently decided to go for her master's degree and is going to do that via an online program. She's already registered and her financial stuff okayed... so she's going to start that up in a couple of weeks. August will be busy for them. Karen has been training for a half marathon that takes place on the 29th. Her friend and old running partner (old, meaning "former!"), Susan Bohls, is doing this with her. I think this will be her last distance goal. It's been hard to train for it while working. Add school to that and there won't be as much time for the amount of exercise it takes. I hope that goes okay for her when the time comes. Sure sounds like a HOT time for a marathon!

Diane continues to work at the bakery. I can't believe it's only a month before she heads out for school... her last year. The old house will be kind of quiet again, although she isn't a noisy person. It's just different to have all of the kids gone. Lynda stayed over last night and is spending this weekend with one of her old friends here. She's still working hard to find a decent job since she graduated. Such a terrible time to get dumped into the job market, but forecasters say this too shall pass... with more time. If nothing solid comes along soon up here, she may go to L.A. to pursue work. Tom's parents live there and told the kids they could live with them while they seek employment. It's all up in the air and she's hating not knowing which is the best route to take. Some kind of decision will likely be made in the next month. There are some situations pending.

It's getting late fast, so I'd best get on with the huge backlog of photos from this past month+. The first one was taken by Amber's cousin when I was talking with the kids while holding Edward. Kam takes really nice photos and did a session for their family, with our yard as the backdrop (before the horrible heat wave). Edward's little expressions crack me up.

Flowers, of course...

Lynda and Tom came this direction (late June?) and spent the weekend. Diane brought out a new Pirate game for them to play.

More flowers... daylilies and some lilies (with the trumpets of Phygelius tossed in)...

Here's some of Ron's progress over the porch.

The week we were harvesting/canning cherries, Robert dropped by on his way home from a scout camp activity. He's still dressed for the part. :-) It was nice to see him, if only for a couple of hours.

Back to more daylilies... this is the time of year for them. :-) Oh... and a couple of young cherry lovers.

Ron's progress on the deck side of the house...

The next photos are more recent... the lavenders in back (pathetic, prairie section of the garden!) are in full bloom. I love how they are in constant motion from bumblebees and skippers.

Edward making the pathetic face... hoping someone will take him for a spin on Michael's golf cart.

A string of beautiful sunsets... we've had a lot this month. One upside of the hot, sunny weather.

I love this little slip of a moon.

Right now it's blueberry season and with Diane's help, we have 9 bags in the freezer. I think the neighbor's cat has been patrolling the area and it's allowed us to actually have fruit RIPEN. Today, Lynda spotted a Western Tanager near the front porch and there was a family of them getting into the berries. I've only occasionally seen those birds, despite them being native to the area. They are considered a rather "shy" species. (I'll find a Google image to drop in below.) Last week we had two spotted blueberry lovers also. After taking photos, I had to shoo them away.

With the hot weather, squirrels have decided this bird bath is for them... or maybe it was the suggestion by having a cement squirrel perched on top. ;-) I've more frequently seen the real life version this past week.

Robert's family dealt with the extreme heat by decamping to their back yard. The kids thought it was great and it appears Rachel made quite a comfy environment in the tent (I assume she did that... she took these photos for her blog). Robert set up his computer in the yard too... complete with cooling fan. ;-) He works from home a couple of days a week.

This is what it looks like at the end of two days of ridiculous heat (for us, anyway). Those aren't rain clouds... they're evaporated moisture from a scorched earth. =:o

This photo is a little fuzzy... but I loved the haziness of it... and seeing the different hill formations in front of the mountains.

I'd best be getting to bed. Ron has already crawled in. He's giving a talk in church tomorrow and it's been weighing on him. I'm sure he'll do a fine job. He gets nervous about talking the way I do about sight reading at the piano with people singing along. I know he'll be ecstatic when it's over. Normal life can resume. :-)

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Around the home and garden

[If you click on this image, it will come up in a desktop size.]

First of all... many of you sent condolences when Ron's mother passed and I didn't have adequate time to respond and thank you all. :-) Each was forwarded to Ron's email address so he could read them. He's using and uses a different computer. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. While we believe it's a blessing in the bigger picture, it's strange to have Bessie gone. Her children had their mother for such a long time and she was quite sharp until just a couple years ago. Ron hasn't had a meaningful conversation with her since last year, so it was feeling like she was gone before it became official.

Before heading outside to make another dent somewhere, I thought I'd post some of the garden photos that have been accumulating since May. Some of you enjoy these and for others it's probably a big snooze. ;-) We are having a DROUGHT already this season and if no rain shows today, we'll have tied a record set in 1982 (the year Diane was born and we had our house fire)... 29 days with no precipitation. I can hear Jane in Australia being unimpressed with that number... I know they've had much longer stretches there over the past decade. To have a dry spell in spring is rather unusual here, however. We usually get them around July to September. I'm hoping to get rain SOON ... record or not! Having to water the whole yard in May and June is ridiculous for Western Washington.

Ron has been picking away at some outside chores when he's not on the computer researching places for a possible family reunion. He also brought home a book his mother wrote in for some of her life story and he's been typing up some family history. He finally picked up deer fencing stuff yesterday so hopefully that will keep the critters out of the garden space. It's a heavy duty nylon and I'm not sure how many years that will hold up. I was hoping for regular fencing, which I'm sure would have cost more at the outset. The deer think they live here and a couple of them have favorite bedding down spots right behind the garden. I've been pruning a lot of the old rhodies this season and they look pretty dumb at the moment. The ones I started cutting back two seasons ago are mostly shaping up and are nice dense little bushes. I'm happy about those. I threatened one near the walkway and was actually looking forward to pulling it out and it spited me by finally putting out some basal growth. If this winter is not terribly harsh... they should come back well. It's kind of difficult to prune them heavily because they are still blooming when the new growth shoots emerge. To really spare the plant expending so much energy on shoots that are slated for removal, I whacked many of them back while in full flower. I figured it would only hurt once. ;-) The outcome was actually kind of pretty when I stood back and surveyed the limbs stacked on the wheelbarrow (in the pictures below).

Weeding never stops but stamina does. I know I'll need to get in to see a doctor about my right arm. Each year when I'm working excessively in the garden or too much computer or both... the pain and numbness kicks in down the arm. It seems to settle in the elbow and hand and there are spots that are semi-numb on the arm. It's been going on and off for the past decade... but each season the fingers that go numb seem to change. It's gone from thumb and is heading toward the little finger with each season. I don't want to pursue that now with the trip coming up in three months, but it needs to happen. It's easy sometimes to put off the health appointments until one is forced... especially when it's seasonal for the most part.

Speaking of health... so far Ron has been holding on his tests. He just had another done last week so well see what the numbers are when that comes in the mail. His numbers could still come up, but that will show up by small increments and if they see anything, he'll commence radiation treatment. Meanwhile, life goes on and he's still working with anticipation that he'll retire next year.

I've been trying to get some new clothes... something I've not done for a long time. I've been ecstatic about finding some jeans that actually FIT and much of the lower back pain has eased. What a concept, eh? ;-) There's still a problem there, but it's not constantly being aggravated. I also got things that I thought might be needed for the trip this fall. There are still a few items on the list... then the task later of trying to pack light! If these jeans are the most comfy thing I own, there WILL be space made to take some... despite their being other types of clothing that work better for living out of a suitcase. If they don't fit... their practicality is a moot point. I've always had trouble with jeans, etc. but in my youth didn't suffer so much for it.

I found out Marianne Binetti assigned a different roommate for me. She knew the lady I'd been given at first was a slow walker (she's in her early 80's) and she thought it would be better to pair her with someone else who had a slow pace. So... they gave me someone different. I think I'll enjoy this gal. She's in her early 60's and a Master Gardener. She was born in England, so is staying over after the trip to visit family. We'll all get to meet one another in August.

Joe Binetti wants to take in a ghost tour while in the U.K. and they emailed, looking for interested parties. I told them I was game if it was a serious, historical approach... not too ghoulish or a silly affair with people in costume jumping out at you. I heard they are going to try for something more historical and serious... but I'll see how it feels when we get there. Unless they buy tickets in advance... it's not obligatory. It might be fascinating and I have enjoyed watching the investigations on Ghost Hunters.

Has anyone had the shock of finding their credit limit was drastically reduced? I'm sure they (GEICO) must have mentioned this in their statements somewhere... or in a mailing? I don't recall seeing it and after having the card refused at a couple of online stores, I checked out my online statement and saw they'd given me an overage fee. They dropped the credit limit by $4,000 in March! If I'd known that, I'd have had the travel agency put the airline tickets on a different card. Oh, well... live and learn. When I was Googling to find the website for the credit card, what came up on the list were blog rants from other customers about this very topic.

I don't think I'll ever catch up on emails. I'm sometimes in rebellion and want to just ignore the computer and work outside or do other things. The problem is being torn because I also enjoy it on many levels. Sometimes people email you hoping for help that is way beyond your experience. I've had some back and forth from a fellow in Sri Lanka who was first trying to figure out a recipe his friend had used to make clear glycerin soap. I guess he was involved in some kind of business venture and the associate dropped out... but had the recipe. Then, once he figured that out, he was asking for feedback on packaging and marketing. Once I sent back some corrections on mispelled words (their label)... there was not much to offer. What occurs at times is that even the smallest observation from someone inside a country might be useful to someone who doesn't live there... so you do the best you can. He seems to have a big head of steam, so I'm sure he'll figure out how to break into exporting to the U.S. without much help. What he probably most needed was the belief it was possible.

I was musing on this after the last email to him. So often, the people who have the most relevant knowledge are the ones that are too busy to reply to an inquiry... or they want to be paid for their input. I'm wondering if the people who have the most influence in the world at large, are ones that are most available and willing to share what information they have ... not necessarily the ones most knowledgable? This guy should have been talking to a serious business type... not a housewife with a hobby business and a site on soapmaking. I'm pretty certain if he did email those people for input... he'd get nothing. He'd be seen as competition.

On the family front, the kids are doing fine. Lynda would certainly like to find a job, so that is a worry to her. I hope by summer's end she'll have something breaking on the horizon... but it's a difficult time to find work for anyone. Michael just got some good news from work that he is being promoted to a GS-12. So... that's a good thing for him/them. Robert has been toiling on his chicken coop for a few months on and off and finally moved "the girls" in there on Sunday. I'll drop in a couple of his photos from that project. He called it the chicken "condo." It's not done yet, but looks pretty nice to me.

Well... sorry there are no profound thoughts here. I'm sure I've had some on occasion, but they are gone at the moment. I just wanted to touch base and let people know we're still alive and well. While the funeral last month was sad, it was also nice to have so much family gather together and remember Bessie, in her more vital days. She had such a large, loving family. Many of her great grandchildren are at the point of leaving home and getting married. I hope all are well. It would be great to hear from some of you. :-)

Love, Kathy/Mom

I was tempted by some Lemon-head candy while shopping at Walgreen's on Monday. Just opened it up and they have the candy in a little big inside a LARGE box. When you open the bag and dump it back into the box (which was mostly full in years past) ... the box is only filled to the halfway point! I knew they'd downsized candy bars to keep from changing their prices, but this was the first time I'd noticed this. I don't usually buy these.

First two photos are from Robert... with one of his "girls" in the new coop.

Some photos from earlier in May... before we left for Idaho.

After we returned home, I had Diane pose with her Mario quilt, which she made for Karen. They were going to be coming up on the weekend so she pushed to get it done before their visit. It's fashioned from the original game where he was just a conglomeration of a few pixels.

When we attended church a week after our return, one of the gals I visit teach caught me in the hall and presented me with a lei she brought back from Hawaii! I've never had that happen before. She'd had it in her fridge for two weeks since we were out of town after they got home. (I kept it at least that long before finally relegating it to the compost pile... amazing how long they keep. I felt bad just having it in the fridge... but how many places around here can you wear a lei?) I wore it for the rest of church after she put it on me and had a few people who've lived in Hawaii come up and tell me how special it was... so I had to go back and thank her again, with appropriate appreciation for the gift. :-) She's going through the teenage/early twenties years with her children and she said some of things I said to her "saved her" when she made the visit. I remember a few people sharing their hard earned experience with me at a similar time. Kids can really turn you inside out if you let it happen. So often we care more than we have power to change anything. One of those parental challenges, I guess... harder for some of us than others.

If you click on the photo below, it's in desktop size... (close-up of Pt. Defiance rhody)

This is not so colorful, but the fragrance on this Daphne is delicious.

Michael's truck over here so he has room at home for some bulldozing. He rented a dozer this month to use around his home.

What a lovely wheelbarrow!

There's a little crab spider hanging at the top of the bloom on the left (below).

Michael working on a truck that belongs to Amber's cousin.

The petunias below are also in desktop size if you click on this image.

Diane was making faces for Edward before they headed out.

Working on weed removal from the back lawn. The spot he replanted is coming along very nicely now. We'll see if the lawn curse hits again by fall... so far so good. :-)

Volunteer Foxglove... beautiful but very poisonous if eaten (Digitalis).


Some oriental poppies on the edge of chaos... also in desktop size if you click on this smaller image.
Some of the pruned branches from a very tall rhody near the orchard. It seems stubborn about breaking new shoots from the base... so maybe it will just have to stay tall!

After taking the above photo, I turned to see something green near the screen door. I thought at first it was a leaf, but when it began hopping. I had to take a second look. He'd been hiding in the rhody branches/bucket. I managed to catch a picture before he crawled to a hiding place in a nearby planter box. I love tree frogs. :-)

The rhody in question... still blooming in mid-June. I'd hate to lose it so will let it have its way with how tall it wants to be.

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