2014 Week 20: Birthdays

Each day the to-do list is longer than what I am able to accomplish. I try to prioritize and not waste time, but am not always successful. One morning I spent hours cleaning up the flower plot, rearranging the rocks, and planting some annuals. This will be the 'before' view. We'll see what it looks like at the end of the summer.

Tuesday evening daughter Leah and neighbor Glenda and I had so much fun making cards with a group of ladies.

Most of the time, however, was taken up doing the regular things that need to be done as well as prepare for our weekend travel.

Friday afternoon we joined my mother and two brothers in Warsaw to sign papers to do with the Hoyt family house in Argentina. Ivan and Kim live not too far from Santa Rosa and really enjoy getting away to that idyllic area for a respite, gathering there with friends and colleagues, or renting it to others. We are grateful that it is still in the family.

In the evening we enjoyed a tasty meal at Mother's--Kim's tortilla soup, Mother's baked squash, and mango desert.

What a surprise, when we took off the tablecloth, to find white spots where the soup bowls had been. However, what followed proved to be our evening entertainment, at least for us women as we compared quilting notes and observed the men try to solve the problem.
The first step was to consult google. Next, try different products (Windex, furniture polish, toothpaste, etc.), and finally apply elbow grease. Rubadub dub, three men... The result was quite amazing. Have you ever had that problem?

Mike and I spent the night at Mother's and left Saturday morning for Normal, IL, where we met up with friends from last year's Circle Tour of the Basque Country. Some of them will be on the team again this June. The cycling members went out for a 50 mile ride in the afternoon.

The Demmings with their new little one sporting a little Basque T-shirt. She rode last year in utero!

Sunday morning Tate and Chelsea (in the green tees) treated us to a birthday breakfast along with our hosts, Pastor Dave and his wife Sue, and our friend Dane, also visiting from Upland.

On the same street as the restaurant was this artsy store that belongs to the pastor's DIL and her friend who are like two peas in a pod, hence the name The Pod. Fascinating, I thought. It looked like the kind of place where Mike's more way-out pieces would sell.

At the church we met up with other dear friends who were with us in 2013--Suzi and Allison.

Our travel time, four hours each way to and from Illinois, was spent reading a recently released memoir by our friend Greg Livingstone, You've Got Libya. Absolutely fascinating. So much we didn't know.

When we arrived home around 5:00 PM, our family was waiting for us with a meal to celebrate three birthdays. Here they are singing the Krazy Koch song to all three. Not much makes Matt smile!

Mike's on the 26th, Rita's on the 18th, and Matt's June 10th (when we are gone)

Everyone contributed. The food was wonderful and Kayla made a beautiful cake.

So this is where we are:

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Psalm 91:10 

What will the future hold?