Is there anything that compares to that

first shower when you return from a road trip?

 

 

I want to give Naphtali

the chance to show off the new place

so there won't be any more pictures

and I will only say that they

have a charming house in what seems

like a friendly neighborhood.

 

I arrived on 2nd Street Friday morning

 and found things well in hand.

 

Thanks to the help of Mr. Rogers

and his family

(dear friends from way back)

soooo much was already done,

and the work that was left

was finished with good-humored camaraderie.

Hard to believe, but by suppertime,

she was done with 2nd Street.

 

We enjoyed the perfect window

of perfect weather

in a week characterized by rain

 and more rain.

 

Everyone worked

and worked well together.

 

When I left, this afternoon,

all the boxes had been

 emptied,

distributed to friends who are moving,

or

broken down and recycled.

 

Sure, there will be some fine-tuning

but they live there.

It doesn't have the feeling of a new place.

It feels like their home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Milestones

Just a few quick observations to go with today's

 100th (100th!!) haiku.

 

Recent conversations with my sister

and a local friend

have reminded me how fortunate

 I am to be where I am,

involved with

family

and friends,

to have work I enjoy,

time to call my own,

to be healthy,

happy,

content.

 

Here's hoping the same for you...

Monday morning

It's finished!

The Annex is officially open

and nearly full!

Isn't Tim good? 

 You'd never know this wasn't an original part of the house!
He removed the siding from that section of the garage wall and pieced it back
together to cover the shed.
Shelves and hooks help organize the stuff we moved in from the garage.
And there is still some room available!

We both parked in the garage last night.

And  yes - our grass is that green.  

Brown and crunchy all summer and look at it now!

Here's a look at another Sunday project:

Larry and Mary have left the state - headed for retirement in Arizona. - we wish them well.

Larry came down last weekend for a quick goodbye and dropped 

off a huge plant and the large crock.

I took advantage of several crocks already on hand and cleaned up
 the stock of fireplace supplies.

In a serendipitous turn - earlier this week, at JoAnn Fabrics, no less, I found

a package of *clips* for brick surfaces and was finally able to

hang the match holder from my dad's place.

The following is my contribution to the always surprising *small world* category.

Friday I helped serve Thanksgiving dinner at Kennybrook - around

350 people - who were split in 3 different dining halls

and served in 2 shifts.  A fun time.

Afterwords I ran into friends from long ago,

Tom and Laila Messerly, who were there as guests of one the residents.

As we were chatting,  Selma - now a resident -

who used to live in Harvey ND and got to know Tom and Laila 

after she moved to the Des Moines area, joined us.

Growing up in Harvey, she had know Tewkesburys forever 

and, of course, Box T, where I volunteered as a cook for several years.

Probably 5 - 10 minutes of friendly chitchat 

but it touched off a landslide of good memories including this 

breakfast staple from camp:

I'd never had it and couldn't imagine that it would go over well 

but the girls loved it!

  maybe it was just the combination of fresh air and hard work.

Any way, I bought a box during our grocery run on Saturday morning.

Bon Appetit!

Triggers

On a recent trip to Minneapolis I stumbled upon a cache of summertime memories tucked 

amid the travel and trial size bins at Walmart.
 This is what good marketing is all about!

The fragrance of this once familiar but long forgotten product 

is associated with two (2) distinct images:

Large purple rollers 

and 

the cabin at Okoboji.

Feel free to play along - once you've visualized the rollers and the cabin the memories just keep rolling... 

google images

I've been using it daily - have even replaced my travel-sized impulse with a full size jar!

My skin looks and feels better than it has in a long time.

The simple act of opening the jar to release the fragrance brings

 a smile to my face.

Surely we used it all year 'round but for some reason it speaks to me of summer.

Birthday greetings

I know it's unusual to see a second post on the same day but this one was prompted by the events of the day.
Read on:










In January, 1988, our oldest daughter, Naomi, died.  

She was 11. 

 We were heartbroken.

April of that same year saw us moving to Pennsylvania.

We found heart's ease and good friends.

We learned how to function as a family of four.

We experimented with small cars.  There were impromptu picnics.  The night of the fireflies.

And laughter.  Much laughter.

November of that first year rolled around and hoping to avoid some unwanted attention - thinking it was no big deal - I had opted not to add my name to the "Birthday Calendar" that hung in the entry of our church.  Big mistake.

Rob Smith was song leader that day.  Even in those few short months, Rob and his family were already our solid friends and I knew of his well-earned reputation for practical jokes.  It's tempting to call him "larger than life."  He was - and is - a brash, loud, outdoorsy, self-confident ham.  He's also a generous, helpful, multi-talented, kind man.  The grand kids call him Pap.
He is a friend.  And we share a birthday.

  He is a year older, and already much grayer, than me.

So that day he launches into a hilarious routine about twins  - his twin - separated at birth but still sharing personality traits, looks, sense of humor and so on, and on and on and everyone, everyone, knows there will be a punch line. So people are already chuckling and some are looking around to 

figure out who is about to be punched.

We are sitting in our customary back row and I am dying.  Dying. 

I know it only took a few minutes but from my vantage point it was an eternity before he wrapped it up with "Let's sing Happy Birthday to Ilona!" 

The whole place erupted!  

I don't know how he got through it with a straight face!

I had an email from him this morning - with birthday greetings, which I am happy to return.

Happy Birthday Pap.