The 1st Day of Summer

So much has happened since I last posted the end of January! I'd thought that time would slow down when I no longer was burning the work/social calendar at both ends. It's amazing, though, that time clicks off quicker than ever. I'm so busy with projects and outings and getaways, that the end of a week comes and goes without my even realizing it.  I used to wake up saying to myself - "What day is it...Tuesday? No, it can't just be Tuesday!"  Now I awake thinking - "It's Thursday already?!?" Life is all about perspective, isn't it?

I'll do a little pictorial timeline of the past few months:

We headed off to Oahu, Hawaii the first week of February with Doug's sister and husband, spending a week there in the sun and surf. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary and my retirement from 30 years at my job.

It was beautiful and unlike anywhere we'd ever been. We stayed at the Ko Olina Resort, enjoying the relaxing lagoons and warm, sandy beaches. The North Shore was our favorite spot, from huge crashing waves to succulent garlic and coconut shrimp. We were also fortunate to have family and friends there and had great times with them!




According to the calendar, I spent a lot of time eating out! Breakfasts at the Pancake House with my buddies Laurie and Maureen and at Mimi's with my John Denver group of ladies. Lunches with MDA friends, Georgetown with my JD buddies, and a volunteer luncheon at Cherry Creek Nursing Center.

Dinners were the best though! Dinner with Phil and Sarah before she and I enjoyed an evening of Canvas and Cocktails - a gift from her for my birthday.

Dinner with Rob and Vanessa before going to the play "American Idiot", a gift from him for my birthday.

The annual St. Paddy's Dinner at our friends', the Sonne's, preceded by a mini-Puzzle Pod with LaVon and Cyndi! (Earlier Pod, same pals!)

I spent time playing with Barbies this spring - making new clothes, sharing with my friend Carole, sprucing up the Barbie closet. All this was in conjunction with painting and reorganizing the '70's-themed guest room, or what I lovingly call my Marcia Brady Room. I was in the middle of working on it when my heart throb from the 60-70's, Davy Jones, passed away. Surreal to be listening to his music, seeing his pics and hearing of his life as I was working on the room.

March saw the excitement of my son, Phil's engagement to Sarah George, on the first day of spring at Copper Mountain Ski Resort. Since then, there have been fittings, conversations and lists filling our lives.  The wedding is set for September 21st, the first day of fall!

As the weather turned nice, I began working outside and went crazy with all kinds of projects. The first was to put a rock border around my tree, to match my neighbor's landscaping (as seen in the background of this pic.)

Once I got started, however, there were more and more places that wanted to be bordered, like under Hector (who recently got a haircut and now has nice grass growing under him)

and then along the front walk in the flower bed, and not to be outdone, around the mailbox in front. Almost 2 tons of grey rose rock was hand loaded and transported, in numerous trips, in my little Sebring, Breezy. My elderly neighbor Marvin helped with the unloading and is standing at the ready when I break down and add a new rock garden along the edge of the yard (along the road in the background). Breezy is all for being done with that project!

And then came the deck...we knew it needed replacing, as the boards under our feet were feeling quite mushy. A few places had been patched, but the time had come to just deal with it. Originally, we thought we could just take off the flooring and put on new boards ourselves.  Unfortunately, bad wood, termites and moisture had beat us to it...this is what the underpinning looked like...

After several quotes that didn't fit our budget and not much confidence that we could do it ourselves, my friend Jody suggested I have her son take a look at it. He is redoing it using pressure-treated wood and a nice composite for the floor.

We're thinking it might all be completed today!

Another project I found interesting and took up was to crochet a birthing mat for women in Uganda.  My friend Laurie mentioned that she and a group from her church were doing it, so I decided to help out.  It starts with plastic grocery bags, cut in three sections, then connected and rolled into balls of "plarn" (plastic yarn).  Then using a large crochet hook, make the mat 4' x 6'. WOW! Quite a project, taking several hundred bags and probably an equal number of hours.  It was very rewarding, though, to hand the completed mat back over to her for shipment to Uganda in June.

Here is how it looked at the beginning of the process,


















and this is the finished product!

In early May, Doug and I took a little weekend jaunt to Boston to visit our good friend Cathy. Out on Friday, back on Monday and a lot of sites in between. We saw our friend Rich Trzepacz and spent an afternoon with his sister/husband in Maine. We even tipped our hats to The Bush Compound in Kinnebunkport.

That Saturday, we went to see a Red Sox/Orioles game at Fenway Park - home of THE best sweet Italian sausage dogs! Doug's talked them up for years, and Cathy always brings packs of sweet Italian sausages with her when she comes for July 4th each year. They are just as good - no, better - than he declared!

The Orioles beat the Sox 8-2, which was OK with us, because Doug has loved the Orioles since he was a kid. 
After the game, we stopped in at Sweet Caroline's near the Park to catch the Kentucky Derby.  I had more than my share of Mint Juleps! Grand time all around!

We also had time for a little camping outing a couple weeks ago.  We shared some huge laughs (and wine) with our friends. Of particular note was the game Boochie Ball.

This stance of Mike Abbott's was over the top, for sure!

So there's the past five months in a nutshell. It was just as fun putting together the pics and remembering the moments as it was experiencing them in the first place.  Life is to be lived, and Doug and I are doing our best!