Birthdays and more

The irises are in bloom. I brought in the ones beaten down by the rain. It has been a long wet season. Mowing is nearly impossible - the mower has been stuck multiple times and sits there immobilized even now.

This borrowed photo reminds me of the tap routine we "Dancin' Divas" are working on--"Singin' in the Rain." And also tells me that we can find joy even in unpleasant or difficult situations.

Holidays, birthdays, and home messes, don't leave much time for focused writing. On the other hand, these life events are bunched together which allows for greater efficiency. Deal with them all at once and then get back to work. 
This week was bookended by our 75th birthdays. I am eight days older than Michael. Lovely greetings kept coming in over several days, and the celebrating included a lovely Monday morning breakfast at a favorite local eatery--The Bridge.
My friend does not want to be photographed, so her head was cut off intentionally. I wanted you to see her exquisite art. She paints sea shells and makes pendants and pins.

It was a week of school endings. Our little great granddaughter Rebecca graduated from pre-school.

Elijah's eighth grade celebrated with a formal dance.

Saturday we had a May-birthdays pool party. Stephan worked long and hard all week to repair a leak and get the pool up and running in time for the weekend. A brief break in the weather allowed for a wonderful family celebration. It was a delight to see the young folk enjoy themselves in the water. 

We planned the event to include a send-off for my nephew, Daniel (front left), who is moving to Portland, Oregon, in a couple weeks. Malachi also reported on his cross cultural experience in Philadelphia. And my youngest brother, Alan, rode in later on his motorcyle. Overall a wonderful evening.

25 de mayo is also a very important patriotic holiday in Argentina, so I played the national anthem on my cell phone and sang along with El Himno Nacional Argentino.

The next day there was a BIG event going on in Indianapolis. Michael had purchased tickets as a belated birthday gift for Stephan.

Here is Stephan's perspective:

Yesterday my dad (Mike Koch) turned 75 so they had a big party for him in Indy and 350,000 people came. Also, they figured since there were so many people there to celebrate my dad’s birthday they might as well celebrate the fact that he’s a Veteran and they had him stand up for it. Also, some of the people who came had some really fast cars so they decided to have a race. Some French guy won but the American made him work for it. Happy Birthday, Dad! 

Can you believe that after that long day, these guys stayed up until midnight to watch the replay of the Indianapolis 500 ?!