Productivity and Play

Audrey and Cliff spent the weekend with us, picked up their sons Chase (the soon-to-be-married son) and our Isaiah.  Phyllis was here as well, with her dogs.  So it has been another full house.  But everyone left on Monday morning.  The rest of the week opened up vast amounts of undemanding time.  What possibilities lie within such empty gifts of time.  I always get excited about this, and plot all sorts of accomplishments, in my mind.  Sometimes I actually do them.  Tuesday was one of those "doing" days.  Now that we have bookcases, I unpacked every single book box and arranged them all carefully between our four bookshelves.  I arranged them by subject and labeled each shelf.  It took all day!  But by the end of the day I felt so good.  This kind of a day is energizing.  I was hoping the rest of the week would be equally productive but it wasn't.  I can't say why.  I had it all set up in my mind.  But, for some reason, my body just couldn't get into it.

Audrey and Isaiah, packed up and ready to head for home.

Now that I'm an older woman, I'm thinking more about having open time and investing in a little fun.  Watching the sun set and running through the sprinklers has become a regular source of pleasure on these hot days.  Layne keeps the expanse of grass surrounding our home green and lush.  It is a joy to walk on.  He spends lots of time each day outside, making the yard and garden lovely and productive.  Idaho provides lots of cloudy skies, making for magical sunsets.  I've decided that there is lots to love here.

Speaking of Layne, I talked to him again about my desire for closer communication with him.  I seem to go this round on a somewhat regular basis.  He doesn't have the same need for verbal bonding that I do.  I guess it is a guy thing.  But, to make me happy, we stayed in bed on Saturday morning and talked for over an hour.  It was a delicious time.  I think he even liked it.  Maybe we are onto something!

A full moon greeted me on my morning walk this week.

Sprinkler plus grass plus heat makes a grass run joyful.

Layne's garden.  Corn and tomatoes are coming.  Squash and
beets have arrived.  Lots and lots of squash.  Want some?

Isaiah for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Isaiah (daughter Audrey's youngest child), who is 15 years old, joined us on our drive home from California.  He has been here with us for a week now.  There are people who drain and people who fill and I am happy to say that Isaiah is a filler.  Like his father, he likes to be busy.  He looks for things to do that are helpful.  And so this past week with Isaiah has been a productive one.  We have filled our days with projects and our evenings with mysteries and other coasting activities.  It has been fun.

Other guests have shown up as well.  My friend Phyllis came back, with dogs, for a few days.  This time the neighbors complained about her barking dogs, so she left a day early, which was today.  It looks like this Arizona girl will be moving here.  She has found a home in Star that she is trying to buy. If successful and all goes well, she will be here for good in August.

Audrey and Cliff came for a few days as well. They are on their way to BYUI to pick up their soon-to-be-married son, Chase.  He will go home with them for a few weeks, then return to change his life forever by marrying his love, Morgan.  I found it very enjoyable to have Audrey and Cliff around again.  I have missed them.  After so many years sharing a household, it seems strange to think that they live far from us now.  They will return, with Chase, on Wednesday for a quick overnight.  Then they, and their two sons, will head for their California home.

There is much to be said for one-on-one time.  I feel like we have gotten closer to Isaiah and enjoy him so much more for his time here with us.  It is precious to have this time with him.

A thunder storm moving in.  Imagine...rain in the summer!
This is a sight a California girl never sees, there.

Isaiah, in a goofy moment.

Isaiah at work.  He loved this job.  "It's hard
not to go fast," he says of this fun, but productive  experience.

Layne loves it here.  He keeps telling me so just about every day.  I suppose I am happy here as well, in  spite of missing so many people.  I wonder, now that everyone in the family has visited and now knows our situation, if they will want to visit regularly.  I wonder if they will come to like it here.  I wonder if any of them will develop a desire to move here at some future time.  I wonder.

Family Reunion

It seems to me that the greatest challenge in all the world is getting along with people, especially big groups of people.  We are all so different and see the world in a variety of ways.  Coming to a meeting of minds is often quite challenging, even within a family.  And so it was for our first official family reunion.  For the first time this year, our children were in charge; Audrey and Cliff specifically.  They had in mind a simple, inexpensive beach event with everyone finding their own place to stay.  Ben's Jessica felt that staying together would be much more fun so she found a place to rent in Santa Cruz.  We out-of-towners all went in together to finance it.  So we spent three days together in a lovely house in Capitola, home of the beach of my childhood.

Audrey and Cliff's idea of leaving the days open to our choice of activities and Jessica's idea of all staying together came together in a most delightful way.  Our three days were filled with beaching (for some of us; Layne and Reed did not stick a toe in the sand), playing games, eating out, cooking in, walking, going to the park and the aquarium.  It was lots of fun being together; everyone got along well and enjoyed each other's company.  There were few photos, no formal ones, no special shirts or exchange of family histories; just being together having fun.  I think everyone left feeling like this was something worth repeating.

Everyone was there except Gerald, Frances and kids.  We missed them.  Perhaps next year we can say that everyone in the family was together for one happy week.  I hope that is how it will go.  Chris and Jessica will be in charge.  Jes says they are already making plans!

Our family, lining up to visit the "Mystery Spot."

Experiencing weird phenomena at the "Mystery Spot.

Getting to California is a priority for us now that we are here in Idaho pretty much alone as far as family goes.  Flying always seems to be the easiest way.  Layne made all the arrangements for our usual stand-by flight from Boise to San Francisco.  But all the flights filled up for both Monday and Tuesday.  Besides that, there was an airplane accident on one of the runways at San Francisco airport, causing it to close.  We settled on driving.  So we spent Monday getting there and Friday getting back, with Isaiah for company on the return trip.  He asked to come and spend the week with us.  So our boy is here, filling our home with his youthful spirit.  We love it.  Audrey and Cliff will arrive this weekend to pick up Chase, who is finishing his first year at BYUI.  He will have a short time home with his family before returning to Idaho to start one of his own.  He will marry his lovely Morgan in August.  Hum.  That puts us in the position of potentially becoming great-grandparents.  Somehow I never imagined that I would ever be old enough for that!

Digging a huge hole in the sand was a daily pursuit for the kids.
Here is Ben's William doing his part.

The water was cold, but boogie boarding was not to be missed.
Posed here are my Jessica's Gemma and Ben's Alexis, Jacqueline
and William in front

Our older grandkids:  Scott, Rayne and part of Allegra,
in the backyard of our rental.

The hot tub was the place for the tots:  Reed's Bruce, and foster
daughter Mari; Ben's Zachary and Abigail.

Some of the in between kids took to drawing.  Here is Gemma,
Alexis and Jacqueline.

More back yard activity as we take turns gathering around the
fire for some'mores.  William has his back to us, Gemma, Reed and
Allegra are in the foreground.

So our life continues to be filled with company.  It may be that people are our source of greatest joy or sorrow; our greatest challenge.  But I'm so glad for it.  I love having lots of people in my life.  

Reed and Dorothy

Finally, after some 70 years, I occasionally enjoy having stretches of time spent alone, or mostly alone.  But I still love having people in my space.  That is a good thing because this summer has been spent with just that.  We had most of the weekend to prepare for a visit from son Reed and his family.  They arrived Monday night.  We had 5 days filled with activity and bonding.  My dream was to have some private moments with Reed and Dorothy and those moments made some brief appearances.  With 6 children in tow, things were still pretty busy.

I had a dream of an Independence day celebration that would beat any we had in California, as my friend Pat Green filled me with celebratory ideas.  We began the day by going to Boise to watch a parade.  We arrived early to be sure to find a seat among the masses that surely were expected.  I had visions of marching bands and flag waving that would fill our heads and hearts with patriotic fever.  I cannot find the words to describe my disappointment at the actual parade.  No marching bands.  No music of any kind.  Just various groups of people walking down the middle of the road promoting their various interests, many of which had nothing to do with patriotism.  Our front row seats brought not one minute of euphoric spirit; just a wish for it all to end.  The crowd thinned well before the parade ended.  What a disappointment.

Our family all set up for the underwhelming Boise parade.

We then went to the Greens for a BBQ and various games.  That was fun but we left early to put the babies to bed.  The most fun came when we brought out the fireworks.  We gathered in our darkening back yard and light them up.  We all had a great time!  It reminded me of the fireworks celebrations we used to have in our Fremont home before they all became forbidden.  What a surprise to discover that fireworks shows were all around us.  From our yard we could see them in every direction, but they were especially close and beautiful when we faced the little town of Star.  Our own small country town put on a show that rivaled any we have seen anywhere.  Wow, we loved it!  So now we know how to celebrate Independence Day in Idaho!

Fireworks at home!  Our gang gathered around a sample.

Sparklers!  They are a little different than those we used to have.
The kids are using one to light up many.  These are red!

Of course included in our celebration was our annual viewing of the movie, 1776.  I'm happy to report that Reed and Dorothy are addicted to it as well as we are.  The more I see it the more I love it.  I have such tender and emotional feelings about this country and the men who sacrificed and took a big leap of faith in creating the groundwork for our freedom and way of life.  I am so grateful!

Reed, Dorothy and older boys went up in a hot air balloon on Friday.  That is getting to be a regular event for us, it seems.  We are out of balloon tickets now, so maybe we will move on to other activities.  Our time with the kids was nice.  There is a lot to be said for spending time with one family at a time.  We've not done that much in California because so many of us were there.  We tended to gather in bunches.  Reed prefers smaller gatherings for the intimacy it promotes. I can see what he means.  Maybe that is one of the blessings of being here.

Our R & D family.  Back:  Bruce, James, Reed, Scott.
Front:  Vincent, Dorothy holding foster daughter Mari, Timothy

But tomorrow we head out to California for the mother of family gatherings, the family reunion.  Audrey and Cliff are in charge.  It promises to be a week of beaching and, hopefully, bonding.  We'll soon see what this brings to the family dynamic.

Horses

Boise is heating up.  After weeks of perfect warm weather, we are now experiencing triple digits; today is supposed to reach 108 degrees!  Because of that I arose early this morning to fit in my daily walk.  It was warm even then.  As I proceeded to the front of our yard, the whole area was filled with litter.  Some creature of the night got into the neighbor's trash and had a feast, creating quite a mess.  I spent some of my walking time picking it all up, with the neighbor's help.

When I returned from my shortened walk I began trimming the roses while Layne worked in the yard.  As he looked up, he was greeted by 5 beautiful horses, comfortably munching on the weeds behind our house.  A closer look told us how they got there...across our lawn!  As they moved ever so slowly towards our vegetable garden, Layne called to me and we urged them back to the weeds.  Soon neighbors were out helping us and discussing what to do with 5 horses.  The sheriff showed up.  Then several more from the local equestrian center.  Soon a plan was hatched and the horses were led away.  Calm returned.  The adventure was over.

Reed and his family are due to arrive tonight.  Perhaps we can take them on an adventurous sit in the back yard tonight, to watch the sun set.

Layne, behind or house keeping a close eye on those horses.