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