Ah, the wonderfully lazy days of summer are upon me. This is the first summer I've not done something--classes, teaching summer school, travel--and I'm finding it hard to get motivated to do much of anything. I have been reading and puttering around the house and yard. I've been trying not to spend hour upon hour idling away time on the Internet. I've been good about going to the gym. And that's about it for June.
To recap the month:
The 70th wedding anniversary in Kansas was quite enjoyable. Since we don't have children, and I'm not the one who started the company, I was able to mostly blend into the background, thus avoiding most uncomfortable conversations and a splitting headache. The luncheon on Saturday was wonderful--larger than originally planned with 75 friends and family attending, including Paul's aunt and uncle on his father's side. They were traveling from Ohio to Oklahoma and planned the trip to coincide with the gathering. I love Paul's Uncle Tom--he's a bit of a renegade among my very straight-laced inlaws. He is loud, he drinks, he smokes, he is opinionated. I find him harmlessly amusing--a breath of fresh air and a great conversationalist. I think the rest of the family thinks he is a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Of course, they also think I'm a bit flightly as well (it's the liberal arts degree). I was able to have dinner with my girlfriend who lives in Emporia and see her new baby (and husband and 3-year-old). Paul and I had a fantastic time at the Royals baseball game. The final score was 16-11--obviously not a pitcher's duel but entertaining for the crowd.
After "The Event," Paul's grandmother, who was having trouble before that weekend but refused to visit the doctor until afterwards, was admitted to the hospital. She was in for a few days to have a variety of tests. She was released with some medicines for sciatica and the heart trouble she was having. Of course, if you ask either of Paul's grandparents how they're doing, all they will say is that they're "doing fine" or "getting better" so we don't know exactly the state of her health right now. But as I was telling one of Paul's cousins, while I know that at some point we will be in Kansas for a funeral, Grandmother has been saying for the past 20 years that she might die at any time. They stopped snowbirding in Texas because she didn't want to die down there. At our wedding almost 7 years ago, she mentioned that she didn't think she'd live to see great-grandchildren (she now has five). Last summer, she said she didn't think she'd make it to this summer's celebration. I know she is going to be right at some point but in the meantime, I'm very thankful that she's simply crying wolf.
My mother came to visit for five days shortly after we got back from Kansas. We had planned to do some little projects around the house--even had it all planned out. Instead, we went shopping. And then we sat and read. And then did more shopping. And got pedicures. And I got a fabulous pair of shoes that I'll probably only wear a few times but they were fabulous. My mom agreed and bought them for me as an early birthday gift. With any luck, she'll forget that she did that and I'll get something else fabulous and wonderful in November. Maybe while wearing my new shoes.
Last weekend, Paul and I spent time at Paul's parents' cabin near Chama, NM. They've had the place for about 20 years but we haven't used it much in the past four years after the inlaws bought their sailboat in Maryland. The lady who co-owned the cabin with them passed away recently and Paul's parents are now mulling over buying the other half, letting us buy the other half, selling the property, keeping it but renting it out. I'd like them to keep the place (and I know Paul really wants them to do so) but our offers to buy have fallen on deaf ears. Paul thinks his mother won't let his father sell it as long as we have interest in it. So, I've invited all my family and friends to visit the place and hopefully, we will be able to use it more often. I should throw the offer out there to all those in Internetland as well. Want to visit Northern New Mexico? We've got just the place.
We finally had rain this week--the first since last October. Unfortunately, it came in an hour-long deluge on Monday evening. Tuesday, we had a nice rain at the house but the Downtown area got pummelled. I spent most of Monday evening wandering around the house looking for leaks. Ever since the big rain in 2004 when we had several serious leaks, I get a little twitchy when the skies darken. Thankfully, the house stood firm, the inside stayed dry, and it was wonderful to get the rain, even in deluge form.
So, that was June in a nutshell. I don't have any real plans for July--perhaps a trip back to TX to visit people there. Paul is going to a conference in Florida but since neither golfing or sitting on a beach is very appealing to me, I'm not going to be going with him this year. (Next year the conference is in Hawaii; I'll probably be more willing to sit on a beach there.) At some point, I'll upload all the pictures from the past month. In the meantime, I'm going to get back to my book.
