It was a family month, for sure. We drove north for Camille’s annual family reunion, and Bob spent a couple of nights in Denver with daughter, Emily. We had stopovers in Virginia, celebrated Camille’s 65th birthday, went out on the lake with friends, worked in the yard, discovered some interesting critters, and enjoyed bountiful summer harvests.
ROAD TRIPPING
We stopped for a night in Exmore, Virginia on our way north and spent the night in Winchester on the way home. See more photos of these two towns on our Virginia page.
NEW JERSEY
Brother Joseph flew in on Monday in time to dine with Cousin Frank and his wife Shawn, and a few other family members. The next day, the three of us walked the boardwalk at Avon-by-the-Sea where Camille and Joseph lived the year Kennedy was assassinated.
CAMILLE’S BIRTHDAY PORTRAIT
James captured Bob capturing Camille’s image on her 65th birthday after dinner at Tarantella’s in Medford Lakes, New Jersey.
PENNSYLVANIA
In keeping with tradition, brothers and sisters dine at the hotel the night before the reunion. Read more about our time in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
REUNION
A whole afternoon of soul-nourishing music and connections. Mom sang to three generations and Cousin Brian joined us from Maryland. Check our our Family Reunion 2019 page.
BOB GOES WEST
Bob turned around the day after we arrived home and flew to Utah for an audit, then skipped on over to Denver to spend time with grandson Nolan and his first college roommate, Ned. Check out: Go West (not so) Young Man!
MEANWHILE
Camille was fending off night visits by a hungry raccoon. Spot was not keen on sharing his porch with an animal who evidently had no regard for house rules, so Camille began bringing the bird feeder in at night.
GUESS WHAT THIS IS
A leaf? A strange looking moth? Camille’s friend, Linda was the first to correctly identify this as two moths mating. Turned out they were of the species Paonias excaecatus, or Blinded Sphinx Moth. The mating moths were still in position seven hours after we spotted them outside wall of our pole barn.
BIRTHDAY LUNCH
Linda takes a photo of Camille (you can see her in the mirror) sitting down to a celebratory lunch of gingered beet and fennel soup, toast, sauteed shishito peppers, and a loaded salad.
CRAFTY BIRDS
Also while Bob was out west, Camille discovered a wren’s nest in a coil of rope hanging inside the garage.
TWO WEEKS LATER
Newly hatched wrenlets, pink and featherless.
SHAINE SHARES
Our generous friend Shaine, a talented gardener who keeps chickens, gave us 19 pounds of home grown produce and a dozen beautiful eggs. Camille started a batch of pickles right away, and got to work on three meals worth of green beans.
ADRIFT WITH FRIENDS
Although Camille had to twist Bob’s arm a little to get him to let loose of his desk for a day, we made it out to the lake with Helen and Ted and had a whale of a good time. So fun! Check out our photos on: On Jordan Lake
RETIREMENT PLANNING
The boxwood has been such a pain to trim that we couldn’t see ourselves maintaining it in our 70’s. So we took it down. Camille uses loppers and Bob will follow up with a chainsaw. Here she stands, proud as can be, with the last load of boxwood branches.
MIXED FEELINGS
We always run to see the county mowing rigs when they get to our ditch. Watching them conquer the unconquerable feels like winning the lottery. But this month they passed us by, choosing to lower their blades at the neglected piece of real estate next door, an act of omission that left us with an odd combination of disappointment and pride.
GARDEN TO FORK
A day’s harvest of sun gold cherry tomatoes and shishito peppers. Hassleback potatoes and zucchini fries made in our new favorite food toy, the Cosori Air Fryer. The air fryer uses less oil, cleans up faster, keeps us from using the oven in the summer heat, and produces irresistible snacks and meals.
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THIS MONTH’S QUOTES:
“Well, it has been something that they’ve done for a long period of time. I mean, you know, there aren’t that many ways you’re going to get people to schools.” – D. J. Trump, politician, on busing
“The production of bullshit is stimulated whenever a person’s obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic are more excessive than his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that topic.” – Harry Gordon Frankfurt, philosopher
“Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.” – Pablo Picasso
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