June Review

Yep it’s July and you know what that means?  Blog about June!  June blew right by me…we were very busy.  I asked Wally what he remembers about June while I was writing this and he had the same response…it went and it went fast and we kind of can’t recall a lot!  As work goes, the new board was meeting and  new committees were organized and met for the first time , and summer projects got underway.  There was also a lot on the social calendar for Polo Club North.  What that means for me is a lot of cleaning!   Thankfully for all those moments I want to remember, I have a camera! 

Early in June my good friend Kathy visited Colorado with her girls and sister. Her visit was bittersweet…bitter because that old enemy death had visited her family recently.  Joe, her husband was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer in January and in April,  Joe was in the presence of the Lord.  The sweet part is knowing Joe trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior and death only became a temporary separation from us here one earth, we will see him again.  The other part of sweet was just getting to hug my friend and see that she is okay…grieving with the help of the Lord’s comfort.  You can’t be around Kathy for very long before she shares with you something about the Lord!  We went downtown for dinner at Racine’s. 

Melissa, Heather and Kathy

My Mom’s church had a ladies luncheon.  Robin and I attended with Mom along with Mrs. Loyd. 

Mom and her long time friend Dee Loyd

This is George and Kathy Abbas.  They gave us a mini concert and then Kathy spoke.

Many years ago they sang at my high school graduation banquet that the church had.  They have a Christmas concert every year that my folks and Robin and Terry often attend.  I’ve always blown it off but maybe this year I’ll twist Wally’s arm and go! Not only was the music encouraging, (like being at a good old Singspiration!) but Kathy’s talk was just what I needed to hear.  Actually Mom, Robin, and I walked away with encouragement from the Lord as members of our were experiencing some difficult things.  Kathy spoke on trials from James 1.  It was just really good reminders of familiar truths that we needed to hear.Things like, “my anchor is an unshakeable faith in an unchanging God!” 

After the luncheon we stopped by my parents.  We were sitting on the patio having a little chat when the sky opened up with rain and thunder and lighting and then…hail!

That looks like snow, but it is a lot harder!   It was hard enough that the new windshield on our truck cracked right down the middle and left some pretty good dents all over the hood!  And Mom and Dad will need a new roof!

On Father’s Day we got together for the traditional steak BBQ.  Here’s my Dad…he doesn’t really need to be sweetened up but isn’t this candy bar bouquet great?  Robin made it for him.

Here’s the Dad’s of the Day- Scott, Dad, Terry & Wally

This is the Colorado kids with Dad and Mom

I enjoyed watching Aaron and Wesley spend time together.  Nathan came by later in the afternoon but I did not get a photo of him. 

The week after our get together Robin went in for her follow up scan since the chemo has ended.  She received the report back that there is no cancer in her body!  Praise the Lord!

I got my little flower bed planted.  It also survived a big hail storm.  But the rabbits have not been so kind!

Our church is near the foothills and Wally likes to ride the motorcycle to our Sunday night service.  One evening we rode on up into the foothills after church.   We were heading home just about dusk and there were lots of deer out.  We passed one meadow and there was a young buck and a couple of does grazing.  Then I  saw a little fawn nursing.  I made Wally turn around and go back for a better look.  We saw another doe come out of the bushes and she had twins!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen babies young enough to still have their spots!!

June always has a good ending…June 30 is Nolan’s Birthday!  I just love face time…it helps when we are so far apart.  So do pictures.  Andrea took these, can you see how old Nolan is?

                 

I can’t believe how tall he has grown!  He has changed quite a bit !  We’re looking forward to their visit later this month…the very best kind of face time!

The Merry Little Month of May!

If I am reading the calendar correctly, we launch into summer this week.  So if I want to share spring I better get this post finished up.

Duckling Display- Around the Polo Club North, spring is the duckling exhibit time.  This Mama had nine she was showing off the day I took the picture.  I believe our resident hawk dwindled her family down to three.  Sunday Wally rescued five babies from the storm drain and another three were rescued yesterday by some window washers.  We had two residents report to us that there is a new brood of fifteen floating about.  I’m not sure why I always think I need to take pictures of them, but they are very cute!

Easter…I know, I know… that’s April, but I’m squeezing a couple in here since I neglected to do so in April.  Here’s Wally and I with our traditional picture in front of church.

We went to Robin’s house for dinner…we have not done that in a l-o-ng time!  It was a nice brunch and family time.  Well, for those of us who stayed awake!

Bible Study Fellowship- May began with an ending.  Our last night of class was May 5.  It was our Share Night and filled with wonderful testimonies of lessons learned and hearts changed from our study in the book of Matthew.  This year  BSF adjusted our lessons from 32 weeks to 30 weeks.  I did not know how they could get the material covered but  they did and it is quite nice to end class early in May!  I cannot believe it but I forgot to take any pictures this year!  Arghh!

Opera- We went to the opera!  One of our resident’s phoned the office to offer us the tickets…Wally was very good to ask me if I wanted to go when he probably would have passed.  We saw Carmen.  It was called a “bare-back” opera, meaning there were no big fancy back drops.  The orchestra was up on stage and the actors sang and moved around the orchestra.  The orchestra was beautiful.  Reading the “closed captions” to keep up with Italian singing got a bit weary .  I confess I was dosing off a bit when a man yelled out “Bravo, Bravo!”.  It did startle me!!

Bees- Wally added a second bee hive and replaced the queen in our existing hive.  We also marked the new queen before adding her.  Talk about learning through trial and error…we actually lost the queen!  After several moments of panicked searching and then asking, “Well, what do we do now?”, Wally began to close the hive up.  We could not believe it, but there on his arm, in the crease of his jacket was the queen!  We knew it was her, because she had our mark! 

And if you be wondering how it is that you mark a bee, it’s with a sharpie paint pen!  She is in that syringe type tool with a screen on the end.  We just pushed her down to the screen and marked her with the paint pen through the screen!  I wonder who thought that one up?  

Mother’s Day- We had a nice Mother’s Day dinner together.  We nearly forgot to get a picture together until Mom was heading out the door. And of course, Terry, my brother-in-law likes to play tricks, so unbeknownst to us, he is in the “Mom” picture!

I got a creative bug going and made some gifts for Mother’s Day.  This is a little album I did for my Mom.  It is in a plastic case and it pulls out.  These cases are sold by Stampin UP for their stamp storage.  But there’s a ton of crafty ideas for making them into something more fun!

This is  a different size case and it makes nice notepad holder.  I made one for Wally’s Mom, for Robin, and for Andrea.

Here’s a couple of the cards I made~

Wesley’s Birthday-The baby of the family turned 25!  So hard to believe!

What he wanted for his Birthday was for Dad to smoke him a rack of ribs…seven racks actually!  I think his freezer is nice and full of the leftovers!

The Birthday guests were our good friends Jack and Jana Pine, almost all of their kids my parents, and two girls who are two more good friends.

Trail Ridge Road- Wally wanted to take a ride to Trail Ridge Road while there was still snow.  He wants me to compare the photos of our first ride together…quite a few years ago…for our anniversary this August.  You’ll have to check back then to get the full scoop. This ride wasalso to break me in for our planned trip to Utah at the end of May.  It was a chilly ride, I wore Wally’s heated coat liner.  Going home we rode over Berthoud Pass and it rained pretty good on us, the temps dropped to 42*.  Then on Sunday, Trail Ridge got more snow and it was closed again!

Thirty-five-ish years ago we rode to Trail Ridge Road and we could not get all the way across it because of the snow.  I don’t really recall how beautiful it was way back then, (must have had my mind on something else) but it must have been as stunning then as it was now! 

Polo Club North-May 24 was our Annual Board Meeting.  It’s kind of a big deal with lots of extra work.  This year I inherited the job of putting together the phone directory. I could not have done it without Andrea’s help.  She created a spreadsheet for me to input all the info and she merged all my existing info into the directory.  I really like the way it came out.  It’s a big improvement from what had been used for quite a few years before.  Thanks Andrea!

Sadie- Now what does May have to do with Sadie?  Nothing really except that she gets cuter everyday!

Vacation!-The morning after the Annual Meeting, we set out for Utah on the motorcycle. My first long ride.  We saw some gorgeous country…and I might have taken a picture or two. 

Florida Finale!

Finally, here’s an end to my Florida posts!  For someone who is pretty content to stay at home, I really enjoyed our time in the tropics!  These last few pics are just a bit of the beauty that we enjoyed everywhere we went.  The palm trees were gorgeous!  We even saw several Palm tree farms.  This palm was in the keys, and I thought it was unique…it looks like a pineapple!

And there were so many different varieties of palm fronds…

The flowers were gorgeous.  I kept thinking this was crepe myrtle, but my Mother-in law was pretty sure it was not.  I knew I had seen it before and could not place it.  Then just the other day, here in Colorado I saw the plant being sold!  It is bougainvillea.  I’m pretty sure it will only be a summer annual here.  But it was stunning all over Florida!

This is  pretty hibiscus.

And this is just a beautiful flowering tree!

Ben and Andrea left us on Thursday and we had one full day left with Kenny and Becky.  Wesley wanted more sun so we went to another beach.  I think it was Hollywood Beach and it was actually a state park.  It was very clean and and very vacant.  Nice.

It was also another perfect kite day.  We just tied it to a stick in the sand.  Then Kenny and Wesley did some snorkling and Wally and I took a long walk.  It was a nice last day.

We had a great time in Florida, being with family and sunshine!  Becky and Kenny were more than great hosts!! Becky frequently shares beautiful  pictures of sunsets on facebook that she takes from their back yard.  I got to witness one myself before we left!  It makes for a great Florida finale!

From the rising of the sun to its going down The Lord’s name is to be praised.

Psalm 113:3