Let's wrap up June! . . .

 My peony bush bloomed.

💗

 I want one of these things.

 I wrote to NASA 'cause that's just what I do.

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/overview/

(I'll let you know if I hear back, haha)

I had my house painted.

(Oh...hahaha...just noticed I'm in the pic.)

I MADE IT TO A MASTER'S SWIM WORKOUT AT 7A.M. THIS PAST FRIDAY!!

No pics.

🏊

First master's swim in probably 7 years! I swam in the second slowest lane with a probably 85 year old woman. I think I could have handled swimming in the third slowest lane...but I'll tell you, it's not like it was easy or anything.

I got home around 9a.m. and proceeded to bust apart a seven foot, 35 year old garage work bench, including figuring out how to use a reciprocating saw, loaded it, old paint cans, misc wood and shutters into the van for the county clean up day the next day. That's what swim energy will do for you.

Then I ate a Klondike bar in the middle of the day, which despite seeing my almost 50 year old waist size is way out of the ordinary for me, and took a nap, also, way out of the ordinary for me. Also results of "swim energy."

Ha!

Picked a late round of rhubarb and just tonight have started making rhubarb ice cream. The kids are super excited!

Haha!

So yeah . . . how'd you wrap up June?

Didja think I was actually not going to do any before and after's on the little ol' painting the house story??!!

😛

Shoulda been it's own post but I just ran out of time so...

Before

After

Before

 After

Depending upon the lighting or your own biology of vision, you'll see blue, gray, or blue-gray in the color. It's called Gray's Harbor. I've heard it all when it comes to the color. And, it's not even the color I had swatched on the house for a week trying to decide about. You can seen three different really dark colors in the top before picture. Didn't end up with any of the and picked this color after a two hour marathon in the Sherwin Williams store by myself, never saw it on the house once. I'm super glad I like it, whew! I've also had quite a lot of discussion about putting the shutters back up that I had taken off the house when we chose to paint it that light beige color, (which always rang a slight pinkish look to me). Back then, we talked about throwing them away and decided instead to put them in the garage rafters. My painter thought the house would look great with three shades, white trim, house color and a third for shutters so I got excited about it, paid to have them painted and then changed my mind. I put up a couple on the side of the house and have settled it once and for all.

No Shutters.

(My back yard neighbor Gordon is beyond ecstatic, he was quite clear about his opinion on the shutters! Haha).
And . . . the three bushes on the left are coming down asap!

💖

Let the swimming resume . . . !

So . . . still no word on our little lake.

And, with all my focus on waiting for word, I completely managed to forget that there's a public county lake 15 minutes from my driveway to waterfront. What??!! How did this escape me?

This past weekend I got a spur of the moment invite from some friends to meet up there, it jogged my memory of the place and tonight I headed out for my first evening swim from buoy to buoy.

I did 12 back and forths in the 30 minutes I had before the 8:30p.m. out of the water time.

Looks like the biking and blading might have to be put on hold until fall.

😃😃😃

🏊

 There's the buoy to buoy path.

Haha, expert graphics!

The lifeguard had no idea of the distance.

Gonna grab some batteries for my old swim watch and see if it tracks distance.

If not, I think a 30-45 minute swim rocks.

Then, the park closes at 9p.m. so I have a little stretching time in the grass.

As you can see, most everyone is gone at this time of night.

There was a family off to the left, that was it.

Perfect!

 Little fishing dock over to the right of the swim area.

I hope William will agree to come with me and Liv to our evening swims now.

He's really into fishing this summer.

Sky while lying on one's back stretching.

Now . . . if this isn't enough great news . . . one of the two Masters Swimming email lists I stay on for the "some day that I might join again," finally scored me a workout time I can make. What??!! I actually had to register with USMS again (even got a COVID bargain fee!), and how nice they still had me in their system from like 7 years ago or something like that. It's going to be a bit of a stretch but, once a week, beginning at 7a.m., at a pool 25 minutes from my house....YIKES!...I'm going to do a one hour and 15 minute swim work out with an actual Masters group at an outdoor pool. Many other morning Masters swims start at 5:30a.m. and have the commute time to the pool, so having a 7 a.m. start time is really good for this group.

Once a week, on a day I don't teach...I got this!

Starts this week.

😁😁😁

🏊

Rainbows without rain . . .

Wow!

 Livia and I were treated to this awesome display of beauty on our way to t-shirt buying this past week. I was pulled over on the side of the road for both shots. (-:

I was in such awe of these beauties popping up having had no hint of rain for days before nor any in days to come. Another delightful summer day...and within 10 minutes of relishing in this unexpected rainbow time, I was then thankful that Firestone was in the Old Navy parking lot as a number of red lights had come on my dashboard within three minutes of t-shirt buying arrival. The next day saw me shelling out way too much $$$ for blown hoses, thermostats and such. And...with that we've just about summed up life, haven't we? (-: There are rainbows and beauty one minute and trials and tribulations the next, and then the rainbows return and then the trials return . . . repeat . . . BUT . . . I am grateful that my Christian faith keeps my heart and mind on the promises given beyond the  earthly rainbows and trials!

Praise God!

 Notable pic because she never lays here, despite it being what I think would be a great dog-laying place.

Maybe she's waiting for me to put a cushion on it?

She does however love to stand there and watch the land of squirrels and joggers through the windows. And, as such, please ignore the dog slobber all over the window, I wiped them down today!

(-:

This past week Alli also met a turtle for the first time.

I let her sniff and nudge, gently, as it was a painted turtle.

William proclaimed it must be the neighborhood turtle, mascot even, as he helped it across the street earlier that day, my neighbor said she saw it crawling on a hill nearby and I saw it crawling through my back yard a couple weeks ago...surely all sightings were the same turtle, our neighborhood mascot! (-:

I've got some video of Alli trying her best to be brave in the face of the unknown...and not really succeeding. She's got a big ol' bark for approaching strangers, but zowwie was she shaking in her boots with the turtle!

Ha!

Well, Hello There! . . .

Whoa!

Hello!

Ha!

Not often we have or even lead with this ol' mug, eh?

Thought I'd step outside of my comfort zone, haha!

(-:

Liv, William and I have enjoyed a couple trips so far to my brother J's place on a great little lake. This pic is from last weekend, Liv took it after we'd finished kayaking and I took a leap into the middle of the lake for a brief float/swim. Yes, it got to hoodie weather when the sun started to set, absolutely gorgeous summer days we've had lately. It has been dee-lightful! Heading back up to 90 this weekend I hear.

His prize catch of the night was this Crappie.

I'm not sure how people identify this fish without laughing but it is what it is, ha! Everyone keeps saying it with a completely straight face, totally unaffected...you'd think I grew up with three brothers or something!

😂

Find out more about the Crappie (😂) here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crappie#:~:text=Crappies%20(%2F%CB%88kr%C9%92,genus%20are%20popular%20pan%20fish.

Here's the lake the next morning.
No, we did not fish all night.

Pic sent by J.

Awesome!

Our little family lake that we've gone to for years and years, as you know, still hasn't proclaimed if it will open or not. So strange they haven't decided to open with all the state parks opening even for camping, but the owners are in the older age bracket and check each and every member in upon arrival, maybe that's it.

Enjoying summer!

💕💕💕

 Liv and I have taken to biking our back roads in the last few weeks. Can you see our shadow hands high-fiving? I've found biking to be a little more relaxing, but still a good little bit of a work out, than roller blading. I'll still blade but there's a larger degree of, "I'm going to kill myself on these things," cloud that still blades alongside me. Haha!

Soaking in the summer!

I'm still teaching online lessons, and a few in-person, having crafted myself a fantastic summer schedule that still covers all the bills. So beyond grateful!

A little bit of this and that . . .

 I'm still a fan of the part of the bible app that lets one place scripture on their own images. This one caught my eye as I was scrolling through mine recently. The buds are from this past spring.

 Sign of the times hanging from the rearview mirror!

 I've always loved collaging my fridges. This is the latest top and bottom as of yesterday. The bottom usually gets less attention for design. (-: I've bee doing this since I was a kid, used to collage my bedroom door, then my dorm room cork board and now my fridges. It was shocking to me, haha, when my realtor told me to take it all down when I was selling our family home in 2016, I was like...in my head...what, people don't want to see my great life collaging??? 

Ha!

A blatant attempt . . .

To make myself feel like they don't spend an uncomfortable-to-me amount of time on electronic devices of one kind or another...and, in writing that...that they have so many different electronic devices of one kind and another...

 Livia has wanted to paint her room for some time, we're moving at a snails pace despite all the "time on our hands" at home, but made some great progress two weeks ago...haha!  I've learned that Livia is an amazing "taper" and is great at it and that she takes on a big project with a great attitude and effort.

 The yellow, white, pink stripe design we moved into in 2016. Lara had this room for two years and then Liv moved in, she's wanted to paint for some time. She chose a really light gray and wants to make colorful triangles of different colors and sizes on one wall over the gray.

 We've finished two walls and have two to go...well...yes...four walls total. (-:

We've had a little pause because we move furniture to one side of the room to work on one half of the room instead of moving furniture out of the room. On the second side of the room is her bed, with lots and lots of stuff underneath it. I have a good feeling we'll finish in June!

Hahaha!

 This gal kept a good look out at all this mysterious and new activity.

 Now this guy...

Someone I have pegged at being a top chef in Chicago...

Chicago, 'cause it's closer to home...(-: . . . 

has been busy in the kitchen.

This day's creation was a chocolate chip cookie in a cup!

Found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9feY4a3dOU&feature=youtu.be

He also whipped up an edible cookie dough.

See a theme?

(-:

He's a fan lately of H&H everything bagels (I used to get them fresh in NYC and recently found them in the freezer at Busch's, what??!!), where he cooks up two pieces of bacon and makes a BLT on the bagel. He even toasts his bagel in melted butter in his pan, no toaster for this guy's sandwich! He is a master at smoothies as well. Many of his include greek or plain vanilla yogurt, bananas, squirt of honey, orange juice and ice. He always makes enough for me and brings me a filled-to-the-rim glass. (-:

But still...WAAAYYYYYYAAAAYYYY too much computer playing!

😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑

Ben's Confirmation Clematis . . .

Is absolutely the most gorgeous it has ever been.

I'm grateful to have such beauty to tie in to remembrances of Ben and his confirmation.

But at the same time it does bring a little flow of tears.

Still...

Isn't our God just beyond awesome in His creations on heaven and earth? . . . Yes, He is. (-:

2019 (scroll to bottom)

2018 (scroll down again)

2017 (yet again...scroll down)

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

2016 was our first spring/summer at the ol' homestead and I was just coming off the first most brutal year I'd ever experienced so hadn't placed the plants I plopped in a hiding spot of the yard in the fall of 2015 when I was still just in the "hoping I get to live there" stage (the owners had moved to Thailand or something so I knew I could put my plants in, if I didn't end up living there I wouldn't have had the right timing to dig things up in the winter and move somewhere else, it was a total long shot, and it worked! (-:).

Tis that time of year again . . .

Time to get thee to the Arb!

 An outing with the 10.5 (already quite teen-like) and 13.5 year olds.

Here they are heading down the rhododendron path.

Don't they have beautiful smiles? (-:

Get ready for it...could be a good few years of seeing the backs of their heads!

Hahaha!

Jump here for a quick sec to see a sweet smiles: http://pierceadventures.blogspot.com/2016/06/well.html

 Perfect timing to have caught a great array of colors.

(Last year we only had yellow's and orange's yet it was June 3 and there were substantially less peonies, take a peak: http://pierceadventures.blogspot.com/2019/06/yesterday-last-weekend-before-that-and.html)

Every time I see these I ask myself why I haven't gotten on board the rhododendron boat yet in the yard. I LOVE them!

Ummmm....??

Hmmmm...??

Interesting placement,

Right in the middle of the garden,

When you're solidly all in on visiting this year thank you very much!

(-:

 Yes!

Ahhh...here are the children now amidst the pink peonies.

(-:

We hiked the path to the river too.

Ahhhhh....

Next to the whites!

The dears next to richly colored peonies!

(-:

And we're out!

About a 38 minute visit.

😉

It was a beautiful night for a graduation! . . .

Last night.

(-:

It was supposed to be a "drive through" type of event, we all selected our time on sign-up genius. Then, over the weekend one of the moms put out to everyone to gather in the parking lot for the whole 6-8p.m. time period to cheer all the graduates on and for the kids to see each other one last time, especially under the three month absence. Most everyone was game. By the time we got to Tuesday though, the Stay at Home order was lifted, an allowance was made to gather in groups of 100 outside and a so sweet graduation night took place, quite warm, but just so sweet!

💜💜💜

Awww...A sign (that I modified in iPhoto to remove the school name) showed up in our lawn Tuesday morning.

And by 11:42a.m., at his arrival home, it was ripped out of the lawn by the 8th grader.

(-:

Oh my goodness . . . 

Here comes a little retrospective.

💜💜💜

August 3, 2011

Eight days away from turning five.

A couple weeks from starting kindergarten.

I'm sure I must have given him a haircut in those couple weeks.

(-:

💜💜💜

June 4, 2014

End of second grade school party

Can you even fathom the idea of putting your fingers in public bowling balls right now?? Crazy times!

💜💜💜

The "twins" on graduation night!

These two have been in class together for about five years now.

On the basketball team they were #1 & #2, and #2 & #3.

Their faces open each other's phones.

Caught William mid-blink.

During the quarantine William just about caught up in height it turned out.

A covid graduation.

It took almost exactly the two hours planned to run this far more personal and lengthy process for each individual student (maybe 22 or so in his class). All perfectly social distanced but the best actual graduation I've had for the previous three 8th graders in the family.  Everyone cheered and clapped when the graduate received their certificate, but while the quieter talking between graduate and teachers/administrators was going on all the kids were hanging out together, tossing the football in the parking lot, enjoying kids that no one had seen in three months. Then they'd stop and clap and hoot and holler again. Never got this personal moment of reflection, prayer, words of support and encouragement when the whole class gathered in the big gym and all the parents and family sat out in the seats. The families came up with the graduate and stood under a little awning while this was happening.

So special!

💜💜💜

Moving on to high school!

Be still my heart.

💜💜💜

May the Lord bless you and keep you, William.

May He let his face shine down upon you and be gracious unto you.

May the Lord life up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

🌟🌟🌟