Lovely July

We have been enjoying a week at home, with very little comings and goings.

The weather has been warm, hot by Seattle standards, with lovely clear mornings and moonlit evenings.

Each morning I go out for my walk, about 3.5 miles, + or - a bit, on the neighborhood street, past the school, back up a long gradual hill and then over to a neighborhood park.

This morning there was a Western Swallowtail butterfly on my second floor bedroom window screen.  I think it slept there.  It was a lovely surprise first thing this morning.  

On my walk I encountered two young Cooper's hawks playing in a sprinkler in the park.

Each morning when I walk in the park I see the same elderly man.  He shuffles along in an old man gait, and he looks to be at least 20 years my senior.  Yesterday I spoke to him for the first time beyond just greeting each other, since I startled him by saying good morning while coming from behind him.  I asked him how far he walks each day.  "About two miles'" was his answer.

Today I may have committed a social error, because when I met him on the path, I stopped and asked him his age.  "I don't... I don't ask, and I don't ...,"  he responded while waving his hands as if to make the question go away.  Ooops.  I said, "Aw, you don't tell."  I thanked him and moved on.  From now on we'll smile, nod and say "Good morning".  But I do admire him very much.  I hope I can be out there doing two miles a day in twenty years.  I walk to be out of doors, for weight management, and so that I can keep on walking.

After I was back home, showered and organized for the day, Jill and the kids came over.  Jill is working on photo albums this summer, and needed photos we had stored on our computer.  The kids came with entertainment, a craft project.

 Egg carton caterpillars. They also each made me a pipe cleaner bracelet.

Isaac and I checked the garden.  We picked a few peas and ate them, and harvested more zucchini.  I sent most of it home with them.  I made eight loaves of zucchini bread this week, which is in the freezer until they need it.  I sent some of that home with them too.

Irene and I went on a flower walk.  She likes to pick flowers, but she knows I want certain of them left in the garden, so she usually just takes one of each thing.

The first sweet peas FINALLY are starting to bloom.  Now I have a little bouquet of fragrance in my kitchen.  Those are chocolate cosmos mixed in, also very special, and they really do smell like chocolate.

We found the first lily,

 Butterfly bush in bloom,

 and the first zinnias.

We all had lunch here, just as I have been doing every day this week.

I have just finished typing up our trip itinerary.  We will be leaving next week to attend a family wedding in Pennsylvania, which means we will fly to Philadelphia and then we have built a rental car road trip around the wedding.  This trip will be almost all about family, as Tom will finally get to places in Pennsylvania and Ohio to track down some Reeder family history that has had him stumped for a long time.  We will walk in the footsteps of some of his ancestors.  I'm hoping the weather doesn't have us melting into puddles.

I have just sent off instructions and a schedule for cat care to the kids.  Josy is a family project, as was understood when we agreed to adopt her.  She's enjoying summer too.  The cool, dry patio is just the place to be.

That's where I'm heading next too.