Kathleen's Korner at TheStidhams.com

Well, I thought I would spend a few minutes catching folks up to date.

The visit with my great aunt and her sons was wonderful. They are such kind and good people. Never enough time, of course, to do and see everything we would like… but enough time to sit and talk about important things and be “family.”

The garden is lovely. The blueberries are starting to get ripe. The dahlias are blooming and just lovely (as usual). The veggies are looking just fine. The raspberries are exuberant as usual, and the strawberries, when we can find them in the weeds, are delicious. Trailing blackberries will be next… yum!

The office will be my next project: need to clear out almost everything to get ready to replace the leaky skylight and the wallboard that was damaged this last winter. Hoping the damage will have been minimal and easy to fix. THEN I intend to organize and rearrange in such a way that we can keep things navigable even when I am in the midst of a creative tornado.

I am almost ready to add the scarves to my official website… I have pics of the ones I gave away, just need to load them and get a page set up. Seems like a small detail, but it’s hard to find the time (or energy) to sit and grind out code these days.

I bought a new swimsuit — size TEN for the first time in years, and it fits! I was so happy I went out the first afternoon and sat in the sun for a half hour, and promptly got a little pinker on one shoulder than I had intended. Will have to go at it a bit slower, I think!

The children are well. M’s surgery went just fine, and he was painfree by the next day. G is really enjoying his music camp experience. So glad my father was able to help us send him.

T has been interviewing every few weeks, trying to find a job that pay a little better. I am hoping that I can get some more cards and scarves made and start selling them before the end of summer, but I think I need to get the office/house/yard in shape first. Things that won’t take much money, but are necessary if I have to go “out” to work for any reason.

And, I think that’s about it. Need to check the kitchen and all before I turn in tonight.

Hope the new month will go well for all those who read my blog — and all those who don’t. If you can spare some thoughts for an acquaintance of mine, Christopher S has been redeployed to Iraq, and we hope he will return home safely.

I wasn’t able to write last night — got some kind of nasty bug in the afternoon and it really laid me out flat.  I am still tired, but wanted to give my report.

The elderberries are almost all eaten. As predicted, the flickers and other birds truly have enjoyed them.  The dahlias began to bloom on the 20th, we have the bright yellow and one purple already!  The peaches all fell off the one tree that wasn’t damaged by curl this year, so no peaches will be in our yard this year; but we should get a good (though small) crop of plums.  The cherries are starting to get ripe, but I am afraid the birds are getting to them just as they are almost sweet…

But the strawberries, raspberries and the trailing blackberries are coming in and they are delicious.

The roses all look so lovely — and sweetwilliams, poppies, and various wildflowers are all over again.

It has been pleasant weather the last couple days, and the forecast is for warm and sunny for the foreseeable future.  We are ready for it now!  🙂

And the children came home for the summer today, the bus dropped them off at the end of the driveway and Lucky waited to meet them.  An excellent start to our garden season.

Well, I have been enjoying painting silk scarves. Think I am getting the hang of it! Hope to be able to sell some at some point. They take longer to make than cards, but are a nice change of pace.

M’s last concert in school is tomorrow night. G will hand out programs, and T and I will help in other ways. He will also play for the 8th grade promotion ceremony next week. We are all looking forward to hearing him play.

G is looking forward to summer vacation, I can tell! He is so full of energy… and he will be taking two classes at the summer music camp in town: violin and trombone…

M will not be going to music camp. He will have oral surgery on the 28th, and braces will also be put on his teeth. We don’t know for sure what it will be like, but are anticipating he will be unable to play the trumpet for a while. He has some new piano music to try, and some books that he will enjoy as well.

Later in July, we will be taking the boys to Vancouver Island for their first international trip. Then they will have Y-CAMP the last week of July, and all of August for excursions closer to home. Hope to see my grandfather and his partner at some point this summer also, but not sure when or how. It is a longer trip than we can easily make now that we have the bigger dog.

I think that’s the big part of the recent news. Life continues, mostly good with a few challenges to make things interesting. May your life be as pleasant.