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Our niece Alicia Ruth is being married this coming Sunday - she is the youngest of the nine grandchildren on my side of the family and will forever be Little Alicia Ruth in my book.  She was the sweetest baby, a talkative preschooler, had the longest golden-colored hair (I loved fixing it with lots of ponytails and barettes), the biggest innocent eyes and the most charming laugh.  My favorite image of her was captured in a photograph at about age five - she is jumping off the dock at my parent's cottage, into an inner tube in the lake below, her long braids flying out from her head.  The pure joy shown in that photo expresses the essence of Alicia Ruth perfectly!  She will be a wonderful wife to Matt, and when the time comes, a loving mother.  May God bless this young couple with a long and joyful marriage!!

 

Continuing with the abundance of September birthdays, we celebrated Melissa's on Saturday!  (Also the birthday of my good friend Barb)  We gave her a reconditioned bike that she was so happy to recieve - now she and the girls can take rides together around their neighborhood.   Yesterday at church Delaney took Communion for the first time and the ceremony was very nice.  She had attended an Early Communion class a month ago, along with another girl her age and they both were so very serious and excited to be doing this.  We gave Delaney an angel figurine and a book of devotions for girls. 

A very nice weekend!

Thinking back to 2001 today...

I love September, it is a quiet and lovely transition into autumn.  The days are still summerlike and warm.  The evenings are cool and open-window worthy for sleeping.  The flower beds and plantings have begun to wane a bit, but soon I will be adding mums.  Not just yet though, because when I do that it always seems like I have thrown in the towel on summer!

We had a nice Labor Day weekend with visits from Delaney and Ella.  Yesterday we had a nice indoor picnic (bothersome yellowjackets outside - dangerous for Steve) with everyone.  Mesquite smoked turkey on the grill, fresh cucumber (from Mr. Riffle) salad, deviled eggs (farms eggs from Minnesota), Old Dutch chips, Indiana State Fair Corn (from Matthew and Davie) and a delicious frozen Oreo dessert (made by Melissa).  We were entertained with a puppet show by the girls  before dessert time.  Oh my it was a good meal and a nice visit with our family! 

Yesterday was great - we had the Bischoff's with us.  They are our dear friends from our Minneapolis days - we can pick right up and gab and laugh as if no time has passed between visits.  Gerald had business appointments all day, so Deb and I went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art to stroll the grounds, stop at the greenhouses and then view the collections in the galleries.  In the evening we all were downtown and had the best dinnner at St. Elmo's Steakhouse!  Wow - I had forgotten how good the food was there as I hadn't eaten there since the first time down here to interview at Lilly 30 years ago!  (The restaurant has been in business since 1902 so I guess that says alot!)   It was a perfect day.

These odd looking creatures have been visiting our yard alot this summer.  There are two large red squirrels and two small ground squirrels with these fancy white tails and I haven't been able to find out exactly why they all appeared at the same time.  From what I read on the internet white tails are due to a mutation ~ it just seems odd that these four squirrels would show up at the same time.  Must be global warming..... {grin}

About the only person I know who is happy about it being July (already!) is the Birthday Girl-to-be, Ella Dawn.  She will turn 6 on the 23rd and absolutely cannot wait. 

Everyone else, on the other hand, is lamenting the end of June - that magical beginning of the summer months.  June is light and airy, full of the promise of "this year being better than last" for all the flower and vegetable growers.  It is green and lush, has cool mornings and evenings and overall makes one feel young and carefree again - like those first days when school was out for the summer. 

So, here comes July.  Independence Day is always quite wonderful but it seems like the very next day comes the harsher part of summer.  Hotter and more humid mornings and evenings.  Plantings that are beginning to wilt or succumb to diseases.  But probably most of all, I always begin to feel that summer has hit her high spot and from now on it's downhill all the way toward autumn.   Thankfully I do not have these July thoughts every day, in fact most days are still every bit as enjoyable as June's.  

Throughout June, July and August it helps to think of these wise words:

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.  ~Henry James

Last Sunday Delaney and Ella were in the the children's musical at church.  Jailhouse Rock was  wonderful - lots of bouncy songs and great lyrics.  Delaney had a couple of lines to speak, and a duet to sing.  Ella had a front row spot - she is quite a performer!!  She also had a special singing part and did a great job.  Afterwards we had all of our bunch over here for brunch, featuring one of Grandma C's gorgeous rose-shaped coffee cakes. 

Other recent activities with the girls have included swimming at the YMCA's outdoor pool last Saturday, overnight visits, going to Grandpa's presentation at Poetry Plus on Tuesday night, and several trips with their mom to a new splash pad park in Fishers.  All of this in only a few days of summer vacation!

And next Tuesday, Delaney and I will tag along with Steve when he attends the annual UPA meeting in Portland, Oregon.  Can't wait! 

Thanks to webguy for getting me back in business.  I will be posting again probably by tonight or for sure sometime tomorrow.  For now, I am enjoyng this beautiful 70 degree sunny Sunday!!

We are getting pretty excited for the guy's percussion concert on Sunday.  They haven't performed on the same stage for probably 9 or 10 years now.  The marimba piece they did at church on Sunday brought applause when they finished, so hopefully this little "preview" will convince more people to attend the concert.  As a pleasant surprise, my folks are driving down to attend ~ they haven't been here in over four years, and we are so thrilled!!