Where Has August Gone?

Good Morning Monday! It is August 27^th!!! Unbelievable.  Where did the month go? This whole summer I had so much going on, I can identify a month with something that I did that made it breeze by – May was rocks in my yard (and in my head); June was deck (and body) demolition; July was outa town, outa state, outa sight! August seems to have been a blur… star time, friend time... and it flew by just as quickly.  

I always thought that burning the candle at both ends, as I did in that "other" life I led, was the reason every day zoomed past without my taking the time to enjoy, relax or reflect. I'm fortunate to have that time now - an hour here and there to savor a book or puzzle, watching the birds at the feeders, playing (or vegging) with the doggies - so much time to enjoy just living, and yet I can still see the calendar pages flipping like they did in the old cartoons to indicate passage of time.

I'll never forget the feeling I had the spring between 6th grade and 7th when I stood in the elementary school playground and looked up at the junior high a block away thinking, "Oh no, I'm only halfway there! Six more years!" Little did I know, from that moment on time would speed up and speed by so fast that, until now, decades later, I'd be trying to lasso the remaining moments of my life...

Whether I have an hour remaining or a million hours, my time will be spent in awe and gratitude for the life I've lived, the moments I'm now experiencing and the anticipation of what's to come! Live Well!

Family Time

In mid-July, I was able to travel home to West Virginia to spend some time with my sisters and their families. What a wonderful time it was! I stayed almost two weeks - long enough to enjoy the routine of just hanging out yet not so long that the brothers-in-law were ready to oust me (almost, but not quite.)



Billy & Rita

Myron & Skippy

Here are pics of my beautiful sisters:

Rita, Florance, June, Rosa

Rita, June, Rosa, Florance

We spent a lot of time around Florance's large dining room table playing Scrabble, Banana Scrabble, Sequence, and a few other games. One afternoon my nephew Christopher invited us to grill hot dogs and marshmallows at his fire pit, something that's become a bit of a tradition. The kids, and grown-up kids, had a fun time.


Haven, June and Rosa

Mayra

Sarena, Haven, June, food




 


Little cousin Lakin and Florance

Drew and Crissy





Because of the rare weather phenomenon call a derecho that had gone through the area the end of June, there were many downed or broken trees on Muddy Creek Mountain, where most of my family lives.



Look at the way this one was split - it looks almost like mini-blinds:



Such devastation, and although there are thousands more trees in an area this dense, it still looks like something broken and torn. The smell of leaves and branches dying was deeply pungent.  So much clearing to be done on the land.

Rosa kept us well stocked with peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge and seafoam candy. If you haven't had seafoam, you're missing a rare treat. Some call it divinity, but it is lighter with a distinct brown sugar flavor.

You can't go home without being a part of the wildlife.  From the animals on Rosa and Billy's farm to the perpetual kittens at Florance's, there's always someone to cuddle. 

That is, of course, unless you come too near Billy's honeybees or Myron's hornet's nest:



From sunrise on the way to West Virginia, to sunset on the way back to my beloved Colorado, the trip was a delight!

And the very best part of all was falling back into the arms of my Douggy and those two howling hounds!