Reopening

It is June and we are in the process of reopening after months of quarantining. Our spot in Idaho is in the process of trying to get back to normal.  Seth and Angelica are here for the summer for the first time.  Sadly, many of the usual summer opportunities are shut down.  But there is still plenty to do. Angelica is taking several dancing classes and Seth is immersed in Basketball and online classes.  There is plenty of socializing too.  But these are strange times.  The killing of a young, troubled black man by a police officer has set off protests that have spread throughout the country and even to other countries as Black Lives Matter broadcasts their racial offenses and demands that something be done about their grievances.  Subversive, anti-American groups have fanned that flame into extremes as groups demand that statues, flags and monuments that offend them be removed.  As warmer temperatures arrive, wild fires do also.  And so we have a mix of protests, pandemic, fires and chaos that is unsettling and makes us wonder where we will end up when things settle down.  Which hopefully they will.

Our little Star world however is peaceful for the most part.  For the past several weeks we've had almost no end of family company.  We had another wonderful visit from Rayne and Dom, and this time they brought Allegra.  She is full of creative ideas and this time she showed me how to make a quilt out of "jelly rolls" of quilting fabric.  It was such fun!  I made one for Jacqueline, for her birthday and graduation.  I was so proud that I was able to, for the first time, make an actual pieced quilt.  Here it is.

Allegra also helped me pick our abundantly producing strawberry patch and make freezer jam.  I just can't hold that girl down.  

A few days after they left, Jessica, Miles and Peyton arrived, on their way to Tucon, AZ, to check out Miles university, the U of Arizona.  They spent several days with us and set up a badminton net, introducing late night badminton marathons that most of us participated in.  Such fun!  It doesn't get dark until 10 PM or so, so the games went on and on until no speck of the birdie could be distinguished.  That made for fun-filled, late nights.  Believe it or not it was after 9 PM when this picture was taken.

Jess and kids left on Saturday, picked up Chris at the airport, and headed for Tucon. But before they left, Audrey and Cliff came for another visit.  Working remotely opens up lots of possibilities for traveling and I'm so grateful to be the happy recipient of it.  Cliff refinished our dining room table and it looks so good!  He loves a project and accomplished it with relish.  Here he is with Seth, Miles and Vincent, our boys that love munching best, next to badminton.

After Audrey and Cliff left, a couple days later Jessica returned with Chris and the kids, on their way home from Tucon.  It was blazing hot there, as you may imagine, so it was no fun to also experience some raging wildfires nearby.  They cooled off with our 90 degree days.  Badminton returned, as Reed and Dorothy and boys joined us for lots of family bonding.  Here's Vincent, Peyton, Seth, Angelica and Miles.

Here are Reed and Jessica with me, in the gazebo.

The Gendreau family left on Saturday.  Wow, what an amazing, family-filled June we have had.  In between and during these fun times, Seth was invited to the Prom.  Thanks to the Corona Virus all such activities have been cancelled.  But the local shopping "village" offered to host a summer prom for the local kids.  So Seth was invited to go by a cute gal named Julia.

The whole affair was a rather last minute deal.  We hurried to get Seth some suitable clothes to wear (he is growing so fast!) and order a corsage for Julia.  We were ready when, on the day of the prom, it was suddenly cancelled.  Hum.  Due to an increase in virus cases locally, there would now be no dance.  Suits and dresses are bought, tickets paid for,..what to do?  The kids themselves arranged for some substitute activities and the whole affair was on, beginning with pictures.  Here is a sample of Seth and Julia, Vincent and his date.

So, in all those lovely clothes, they ate fast food, played sports and went swimming.  Hum.  Not exactly what they had in mind in the beginning but they had fun, fancy clothes and all.

Another wonderful event has taken place this month.  Grandson Isaiah is engaged!  He met his special girl, Avery, in California just a few months ago and they clicked right from the start.  They will be married the end of August.  

So amidst the chaos of this time, there is reason to celebrate and feel grateful.  And we do.

Corona Virus

I've not written in this post since January.  I know. Bad.  But since I got my new computer I haven't been able to access my post page.  Until now.  Rayne, Dom and Allegra are here right now and Dom, after months of frustration on my part, figured out the problem.  So now it works; I can post.  So I am.

The blog format is different now.  And more frustrating.  It just erased my total catch-up entry!  No amount of "undoing" helps.  Sigh.  So now I begin again.  

These are unusual times.  Never-before times.  In March we, and the rest of the world, received a gift from China; the Corona Virus.  It spread quickly, inciting panic all over the world.  The almost universal response was to quarantine EVERYONE!  This has never happened before so no one knew quite how to respond.  Our state governments responded in various forms of pressure for everyone to stay home.  Businesses and schools closed.  Nothing was happening for several months.  Those who ventured out to shop for food wore masks.  In some places they were mandatory.  Life changed as people locked themselves away.  For about a month it seemed to work.  But as time went by people began to risk venturing out.  Many continued to wear masks.  Some businesses failed with the shut-down; many workers lost needed income.  The Government sent most of us money to compensate.  It is a crazy, new world!  How dangerous is this virus?  We don't really know, except to say that it prefers the elderly and those with compromised immunity.  These are not normally in the work force.  So why lock up our workers, who have a high resistance to the virus or who tend to quickly recover when they get it?

It is June now and after going through various stages of reopening the economy, things are almost all opening up.  How will this all turn out?  We have yet to know.  And so I proceed with our lives here, beginning in February.

February offered Seth and Angelica a chance to go to the High School's Sweetheart Ball.  They each had dates and planned it for weeks.  Seth ordered a special jacket for the event.  What do you think?

Angelica also looked lovely but I didn't get to take her picture.  Gerald and Frances were here for awhile.  We so enjoy them and it is good for the kids to have their folks nearby, parenting them in the flesh.  Frances is a wonderful cook and made meals for us most nights they were here.  She's also an enthusiastic photographer.  Here's a sample of one of her shots.

Gerald always get involved with all the kids' activities.  He is a gifted Dad and a blessing to have with us.  

Here's Gerald and Frances, in Taiwan.

We had other family visitors too.  Rayne and Dominic have visited several times.  Dominic loves Idaho so they come to take in the world of Idaho quite often.  In fact, they came just this past week, with Allegra.  Dom loves to bake so he made bread several times.  He also loves to set a fire in our fire pit. We enjoyed a marshmallow roast one night as we took in a beautiful sunset.

Before the lockdown my girls and Rayne came for a girls' weekend.  One of the things we did was paint to a youtube video, using acrylics.  So fun.  Here is the result, showing me, Jessica, Rayne and Audrey.

When the lockdown began, school was cancelled and the kids were home all of the time.  So I began home schooling.  After awhile the high school figured out how to offer classes online so the kids continued their studies that way, ending my homeschooling efforts.  In spite of no outside school, they keep busy.  They are keen on exercise and cooking as well as online school.  Here is Seth working one of his culinary creations.  He shares!

 

Seth is moving in on 6'5" tall now!  Angelica is way into dancing.  She's been working hard on doing the splits.  With lots of stretching, she has accomplished it.  Here she is working on it but not quite there yet.

The glam flavor was accomplished by one of her friends, eager to try her hand at creative photography.

Spring came under quarantine.  Blossoms sprouted all over the neighborhood.  It is hard to imagine a lovelier sight.

We are blessed by regular visits from family, even with the ever-present virus threat.  Thankfully, no one we know has been victimized by it.  Here is a taste of our family visits.

Audrey and Cliff came one weekend.

They were joined by son Chase, his wife Morgan and kids Hunter and, here, Hazel.  Chase just earned his Master's degree and is so excited to be done with school and on the brink of a new job in Utah.

Here is a close-up of Hazel, who we all agree, at one year old, is a feminine version of her Dad.

We had some fun adventures with family but mostly we just hang out together.  Here you can see some genuine bonding between Layne, Angelica, Rayne and Dom....or can we?

Reed and Dorothy live near us now. What a blessing that is.  Here we are immersed in a card game...that I lost soundly with every round.  You can see observer Reed, master players Dorothy and Morgan, winning hands of Audrey, sitting by the hands of Angelica.  I stopped losing long enough to take this shot.

This past week we have enjoyed a visit from Dominic, Rayne and Allegra.  Allegra's birthday is this month so I took her shopping one day and we planned a special dinner for her on Saturday.  She wanted homemade potstickers, and made them herself with the help of Angelica and Rayne.  

As of today, things here are opening up. We can go shopping now and do just about everything almost normally.  It is a new normal.  The death of a black man at the hands of a policeman has set off protest demonstrations all over the country as protestors cry foul, enraged by extremists who love to create chaos and destruction.  What will come of it?  I can't imagine any good thing.  But our life right here in this spot is peaceful and lovely.  I'm grateful for that and pray that peace, intelligence and goodness will be the forces to spread, and that we will be better for the struggles of the past few months.  Here's hoping.