Flying stand-by can be a blessing and a curse. We've given Gerald and Frances standby passes, to be used for the rest of the year. They spent several weeks trying to fly from Taipei to the US but there were no open seats. Finally, in desperation, we bought them tickets. So, I'm happy to say, they are here!
It is always good to have them here with the kids. There is less for us to do, but the real blessing is that they are all together. Frances, as usual, has shopped for almost endless amounts of food so she can cook for us. She is a fabulous cook so it is a joy. I worry about the delicate balance between encouraging her with our thanks and making her feel obligated to cook. Hum. I'm working on that. In the meantime we are eating like kings and I've gained a couple of pounds as a result.
Audrey joined our enlarged household last weekend. That is always a joy to me. She is easy to be around as she does not want to do anything special; just be here with us and visit. I so like that. We get along very well and I've come to look forward to her regular visits. Here she is, busy at work on a Zentangle. She has a passion for it and has designed some beautiful drawings.
This past week I've been especially obliged to work on the English curriculum for our Refugee students. Classes begin September 3rd and I'm the only one working on curriculum. It does weigh on me even though I enjoy working it out. I suppose you could call it a mixed blessing. As I read and think about it, I can feel my mind sparking. It likes this kind of thing. But the "natural woman" would so like to just veg for awhile. The battle wages daily it seems--major effort vs. relaxing. It isn't hard to know which is best.
I spent last Thursday being especially productive. It was mostly about the English program but I filled in with some other productive stuff too. I felt pretty happy about the day as I measure my pleasure by how productive I've managed to be. I suppose that isn't an especially good trait, but it seems to persist anyhow. Thursday night we had dinner with friends and stayed pretty late visiting. So by the time we got home we were pretty tired. I'm telling you this because granddaughter Rayne and her husband, Dominic, were due to arrive at our house sometime in the middle of the night. I fixed up their room and gave them the code to the garage so they could come in that way. But we both forgot to leave the door from the garage to the house unlocked!
I heard nothing in the night to indicate their arrival. But I awoke like a shot about 4 AM with the sudden thought that the door was locked. So I walked outside to find them. There was Dom's truck in the driveway. I approached and opened the front door. There they were, sleeping on the truck seats. Ohh, did I feel badly. I awoke them and lead them inside to the room I organized for them, filled with memory remorse. Not a good way to welcome them.
But things picked up after that. We had a fun catching up visit with them on Friday and planned to go to a special showing of hot air balloons complete with a light show that night. Balloons were said to be on display at one of the Boise parks, with plans to put on a sky show with them all lit up once it was dark. So we all drove into Boise to see. What we found were masses of people and cars, with no place to park and no balloons in sight. It was a disappointment. The only good thing about the evening was ice cream at our favorite shop, Reed's.
I took Rayne, Frances and Angelica farmer's market shopping on Saturday morning. We went to two local ones and found a plethora of craft displays and a decided lack of farmer's products. Hum. Not what we were hoping for. So we contented ourselves with smoothie bowls at a local place. Another disappointment. But Dominic's enthusiasm for fun was not to be doused. He went online to look for a fun river to go tubing. We filled our tubes with air, packed his truck and all headed out for the location he found on the Payette River. We followed the truck in the jeep as Dom drove on and on, past where we thought a good spot along the river would be. An hour and a half later we found the drop off spot and everyone except Layne, Frances and me took off on tubes down the river, with instructions as to where we were to meet them 2 and a half hours later.
Rayne had the pick up spot located on her phone, which she left with me. The problem was, her phone turned itself off and I didn't have her password. So now we are in the dark as to the pick up spot. Since we had 2 1/2 hours to figure it out we were pretty confident that we could. So off we went looking for a good spot. We finally found a pullout that was next to the river and parked. Layne was sure we could hail them from the cliff above. Hum. I was sure it would not work. What if the pick up was before our location? I could picture them waiting in vain there while we were waiting in vain where we were. So Frances and I decided to drive back and find someone to ask. Layne waited by his cliff. We found a very nice young man who knew just where we needed to go. He gave us clear instructions and, sure enough, it came earlier than Layne's chosen waiting spot. Ha. Vindicated!
We drove back to Layne's spot and led him to the right pickup place which happened to be directly across from a rodeo show. Frances loved snapping pictures of their various events and we enjoyed the general activity. It made the waiting much more pleasant. Just about the time we thought maybe they had some trouble and were delayed in arriving, we spotted them. Happy to meet up at last, we loaded their wet selves and tubes up and headed for home at last. Stopping for huckleberry ice cream on the way, of course.
Frances cooked up a tasty Chinese meal and we ate dinner at last. It was about 9:30 by the time the first bite was taken. So, after some misfires, our day ended on a contented note, with full bellies.
Sunday we took lots of pictures. Here's one of them: Frances, Angelica, Rayne and Dominic in the front row; Gerald, Layne and Seth behind them.
Rayne and Dominic left for home on Monday afternoon. Having them with us is always a pleasure. I'm grateful that they are willing to come to us on occasion. We love it.
This past week has been busy but nice. Our English classes have gone well so far. Our microwave, on the other hand, hasn't. It quit. Why do these things happen when we have company? We are working on a different configuration for a new microwave. In the meantime, the kitchen is stacked up with stuff from our pantry, as that is where we want to put a new one. Will it work? I guess we will soon find out.
We celebrated Reed's birthday; he turned 47 on Friday. Gerald, Frances and the kids are gone this weekend so we are back to two. It is relaxing. But, you know, I miss them.
