R & R

Just a couple more days and we're off to Colorado for vacation time -- and it's a much-needed time away this year especially. It's been a year of a very heavy workload for Dick, so the time in the mountains with family and friends will be a timely refreshment. I can just smell those pine trees now!

Hello, Dolly!

July in Kansas has never been like this! We've actually had rain this month; we had 0.90" rain last night thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Dolly. The big story, though, is that just 3 - 10 miles away in Emporia, there are numerous reports of 3.00" to 5.00" rain overnight. Now that's a little much!

I do want to let you know, Jennifer, that this summer's humidity is the most we remember experiencing in the nearly 30 years we've been in Emporia. Even when the temperature has been quite comfortable overnight, we've kept our house closed up and the AC cranking due to the high humidity.

As Dolly moved through this past week, I just hope that all of you New Mexicans got a good share of that moisture to wet your whistles and soak the mountains!

One Foot in the Grave -- Not!!

Okay, Daughter! I expect you two sisters to behave yourselves when I'm dead and gone and you're sorting through my "stuff"! Here's the other quilt that Grandma Evelyn made, so all you'll need to do is draw straws. :-) Isn't it gorgeous?

Also, I wanted you to see how much Garen and Pat are shrinking -- or maybe it's that they're kids are getting really tall! Just thought this might sort of knock your socks off, Girls.

The Quilt

Here are pictures of the quilt that I emailed about the patterns. My mother made this quilt - I believe starting it in either high school or early marriage years. It was put aside for quite a few years to raise us kids, and then she decided to finish it about when I was in my teen years. Quite a project! I treasure this heirloom quilt greatly! There are 12 panels, each having a different old-fashioned elegant lady with various items - bouquets, parasols, butterflies, etc., - and each has a lovely bonnet.

"Sassy" lady

Showing quite a bit of "shoulders"!

Sweet Dreams

You know how dogs will often jerk their legs while they're sleeping -- "chasing rabbits in their sleep". Well, after lunch, I was sitting reading for a few minutes, and Abby was sleeping on the floor nearby. Pretty soon, I heard this thump-thump-thump. I looked over at her, and she was sound asleep wagging her tail. I guess that's one happy dog having a pleasant dream!

Happy Fourth!

Dick was playing around videoing the fireworks from last night, so we'll say a "Happy Birthday to the USA" with this video.

We had some hail on Wednesday afternoon. This was one of the larger stones, but it had been outside for probably 15 minutes before I ventured out and got it. I don't know how large it was when it fell. The yard was littered with leaves, but overall we didn't seem to have any real damage. Dick will look over the siding and the roof later today to see how it looks. (Of course, there weren't many stones this size, or we would have quite a bit of obvious damage!)

Feeling the Pressure

Okay, okay...it's been a l-o-n-g time since I've blogged, but I do check everyone else's blogs almost daily, so all of you make sure to keep up the good work!

Here are a few random pictures and comments:

Abby and Reyna are shedding big-time, so we do brushing sessions and still have lots of fur/hair to vaccuum from the floor. I guess it's just that time...

(I was not brushing Abby in this picture. I don't do that in the house! It was just a neat picture of my pal.)

Abby had a "Kong" dog toy that Drew and Carrie gave her about a year ago. (Kongs are really, really hard rubbery toys that are supposed to be indestructible.) Here's a picture of Abby destroying her favorite one. It was a barbell, and now it's a ball!

We went to a Gimple family wedding (cousin Tony's son, Logan), and here's a picture of Aunt Ellouise with her sister and Grandma Gimple -- three lovely ladies.

Dick and I went to Kansas City this past Friday and greeted Carrie as she flew in from Erie in preparation for a week of working at CUMCITO, a camp in the Ozarks for KC inner city children. Carrie had worked at this camp while she was in college and really loved pouring her heart into these very needy children. She's working all this week alongside a dear friend, serving at the teen girls camp. We spent all day Friday with Carrie as well as Saturday (Sonic, Wall-E at the movies, a little shopping at Cabella's for Dick, some KC BBQ, and Sonic again!), taking her to the camp mid-afternoon on Saturday. Dick and I stayed in KC overnight Sat. night as well, just for a little time away since Dick's been putting in a lot of hours at work. It was a great get-away!

This morning, Dick and I went to a pretty big church in the Kansas City area just to visit -- no real connection there; our pastor had mentioned he'd visited there once some time ago. Well, this morning was not their "typical" Sunday morning. We were blessed to be part of their worship celebration in sort of commissioning a "daughter" church to a different community there in KC. The church plant has been more than two years in developing (with lots of prayer and thought and preparation even prior to that), with about 25 people committing to intentionally separate from the church and start a new church to reach this new area. It was really exciting to see their desire to choose to leave the "ease" of being a part of this big, well-functioning church and stretch out of their comfort zones to begin a new church. We really appreciated the morning of worship.