Butterfly

Ethereal Gold

The girls had some caterpillars in jars last week. We had opportunity to observe their chrysalis development and hatching. Top to bottom: The true gold on the green is amazing. How does He do that? The wings can be (faintly) seen developing color under the green. In a few days the green has become transparent and the butterfly is fully developed in the chrysalis. The gold is still visible though. We meant to watch it hatch, but missed it. Fascinating and beautiful design from the Great Designer.

Seeds

Daughter L. is a passionate photographer. I just finished sorting a bunch of her pictures and saving the best shots in a folder, and want to periodically share some of them here. I am quite proud of her work. This batch is from a sub-folder called seeds. Sometimes I don't know where she finds these beautiful shots. She SEES everything!

Sixty Years

Ralph and Lois had a 60th Anniversary open house yesterday. It was also Ralph's 80th birthday celebration. Ralph and Lois introduced my folks to each other on a blind date.

Old friends-Harold, Ralph, Myron and Dean (my dad).

Husband, and best friends Chrys and Lorna.

This cute guy was hanging around.

Today we had a birthday party with the other side of the family.

Niece Andrea and Uncle Kevin.

Above-Glenn and Gaylin's family.

Below: Niece Ashley and fiancee' Steve with her niece Ivy.

And...Mother wanted a picture of us, so here it is!

Date with Dad

Mom and the girls left yesterday morning for the family reunion on the other end of the state. Husband went out to spray the beans-a bit behind from all the wet weather, so pushing to get over them again. Dad and I went in to visit Aunt Marilyn and stopped afterwards for lunch. It was a great date, topped off by the sharing of banana cream pie. Today we attend the 60th wedding anniversary (and Ralph's 80th birthday) of my "other mother" Lois and Uncle Ralph.

Sweet Corn!!!!

We had our first sweet corn of the year this week. YUM! Bought some in a little town south of here when coming home from the dentist. Husband does not plant it anymore-for various reasons-none of them valid-so we have to buy it like everyone else. Mom and Dad got here last night, and brought home a couple dozen that we had for supper with fried chicken breasts. I have been putting the leftovers into the freezer for the winter. Corn chowder. YUM!

Easy Corn Chowder

Chop 3 slices bacon. Cook until crisp. Add 1 small onion, chopped. Cook 4 minutes. Cut kernels from 4 ears of corn, and add with cobs to pot. (Yes, put the cobs in, too!) Add 1 med Yukon Gold potato (or other), peeled and cubed, 3 c. chicken broth and 1/2 tsp pepper. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 min. Discard cobs. Puree 1/2 in blender, return to pot. Stir in 1 c. half and half. Simmer 5 min. Ususally I double this, and sometimes skip the puree-ing step.

I found these cute vintage salt and pepper shakers. They are especially fun to use with our sweet corn ears!

Friends

Got to reconnect with our friend Quentin over lunch yesterday. He was our hired man and lived with us for a couple of years when I was in high school. Later in the afternoon, we celebrated with our friends (and relatives) Bob and Marilyn at Bob's 75th birthday celebration. We spent a LOT of time together with them when the "big" kids were young. Husband enjoyed sitting around and talking about being kids with his cousins.

Ice Cream Social

We had a nice, dry, hot evening for the ice cream social last night.We served about 280 people.

The homemade pies sometimes get taste tested ahead of time. Quality control, you know!


Pork loin slicer.

The serving line forms into the shade. Drinks by Spencer and Jessica. Mother mingles with neighbors as hostess.


Lovely guests Kris and Ali, Andrea, Bekah and Ivy. (Some of our nieces!)

Another darling group: Cade, niece Megan, cousin Les and Cohen with an excellent cone! (Last three pix and one of Mother by Meg. Thanks Megan!)