And now from the Good News Desk: After extensive, informational contradictions of both internet and bricks and mortar searches, Wendy's dishwasher is being replaced tomorrow. I will applaud the arrival and do dances and burn incense for its successful, timely installation.

Toby is lying quietly beside me on the porch after his morning patrols of rodent and/or bird possibilities. Sebastian, the rat terrier, is checking Toby's last breakfast grounds to see if there's a scrap or two left from yesterday -- or maybe the day before, or last week. Nevermind, any more details.

First things first.

Keoni left on the train early this morning and is in Washington, D.C., where he scored a Mercedes-Benz Lyft ride to his hotel where he'll be among friends and new faces enrolled there for the Kennedy Center summer music institute. His Fourth of July apparel was lying on the dining room table yesterday. I told him to wave when the cameras broadcast his presence at the DC fireworks.

The sox match. He'll be sort of a human flag.

Aidan says Keoni should have just bought a big flag and wrapped himself in it. I think that might be too hot, though.

Keoni and I had a couple of days of activity around Wendy, John and Aidan's absence. It was a great time for visiting with Keoni and lots of "manual labors" were accomplished -- me, chef and kitchen scullery duties; the violinist, goatherd and farm duties. Aidan reported lots of kayaking -- Wendy and John experienced a lengthy timeout.

Box by box, stuff is shifting to Marge's. It surprises me how much stuff I loaded into my Subaru three years ago. It surprises me how rich a landscape of friends has been cultivated in that time. It surprises me the network of belonging that steadily weaves itself into my days.

And now from the Good News Desk: After extensive, informational contradictions of both internet and bricks and mortar searches, Wendy's dishwasher is being replaced tomorrow. I will applaud the arrival and do dances and burn incense for its successful, timely installation.

Toby is lying quietly beside me on the porch after his morning patrols of rodent and/or bird possibilities. Sebastian, the rat terrier, is checking Toby's last breakfast grounds to see if there's a scrap or two left from yesterday -- or maybe the day before, or last week. Nevermind, any more details.

First things first.

Keoni left on the train early this morning and is in Washington, D.C., where he scored a Mercedes-Benz Lyft ride to his hotel where he'll be among friends and new faces enrolled there for the Kennedy Center summer music institute. His Fourth of July apparel was lying on the dining room table yesterday. I told him to wave when the cameras broadcast his presence at the DC fireworks.

The sox match. He'll be sort of a human flag.

Aidan says Keoni should have just bought a big flag and wrapped himself in it. I think that might be too hot, though.

Keoni and I had a couple of days of activity around Wendy, John and Aidan's absence. It was a great time for visiting with Keoni and lots of "manual labors" were accomplished -- me, chef and kitchen scullery duties; the violinist, goatherd and farm duties. Aidan reported lots of kayaking -- Wendy and John experienced a lengthy timeout.

Box by box, stuff is shifting to Marge's. It surprises me how much stuff I loaded into my Subaru three years ago. It surprises me how rich a landscape of friends has been cultivated in that time. It surprises me the network of belonging that steadily weaves itself into my days.

From the Bad News Desk: Wendy's dishwasher is kaput. Manual labor time.

Just in from Janie in the Southwest: It was 115 degrees yesterday with no relief in sight. The killer heat has taken two hikers and others who got lost may not have made it either. Take care my friends in the Southwest.

There has been a great deal going on in our music sphere. Some snippets I captured...

Keoni was a guest violinist with the Dali Quartet summer camp concert.




Keoni, Seth, and Peter put together a small concert at the church. Seth is the assistant to our music director and plays piano and organ at our church. He helps put together several summer concerts which benefit young musicians.




The three of them each played a solo and combined as a trio on several more pieces. As an encore, they did Pie Jesu.




My video recordings are far from ideal, but you can get the idea.

There were several other music events during the last several days as well. The house sounds like a conservatory since both grandsons are home right now though each will be off and running to out of state music camp/institutes.

Aidan's repertoire now includes Brahms. The piano part is on the iPhone attached to the amplifier. Here is a snippet I captured a couple days ago.

He was playing this piece in its entirety the next night when I was settling in my bedroom for the night. I put on my robe to come sit on the stairs to listen.

The sound of the chicks is gone from the living room. Saturday was the big moving day to the barn.

Toby's wire crate served as the moving cage for all 13 of them making about four trips to the space cleared out in the barn since Toby likes chasing chickens. In a mad moment of total cat play he thinks it's great sport to chase the old hens who manage to stay just out of reach. So far, his marauding instincts haven't done them in. The young poults might not be so lucky. I hope they are big enough to free them on Fourth of July - Independence Day!

Now they're part of barn life.

The spontaneous music moments are a tug that I will miss as I relocate my living quarters to Marge's where I was in the winter. She has graciously invited me to house-share with her and gradually I am taking her up on it. It is not far away so I will be back at the farm often, enjoying the life there as well. Aidan promises to play his music for me, and I know Keoni will do that, too, whenever he is back home.

A clump of Wendy's flowers...

From the Good News Desk: Grandaughter Sonja over in Utah is getting her Bachelor's Degree in Social Psychology next month. I want to be on hand for that wonderful milestone in her life. This young woman has accomplished this along with rearing three sons, surmounting great challenges with determination, hope, and a calm equanimity that I have admired in her since her birth.

The season is developing. The fields adjoining the property have just yielded 160 bales of hay to supply the goats next winter. The bales are stowed in the barn now. All that grass and those flowers will wind up in Wendy's refrigerator as milk, yogurt, a variety of cheeses and in the bathrooms as soap.




The man at the wheel is also one of the county supervisors.

Aidan has one more day of school come Monday.  He, his mom and I are going to the theater in Philly later today to use the tickets my sister Jeanenne gave us for Christmas. You might remember the theater comped the tickets after Wendy's face-injuring fall just before the performance. We will walk carefully this time on the uneven sidewalks.

Keoni is going to a rehearsal and he and I will go over to the concert at the church this evening for friend and piano accompanist Seth and cello friend Peter's performance. Next Friday they'll be a trio with Keoni's violin added to the performance.

The chicks continue their exponential growth...

One of the two boxes John joined so they have more room. The aroma rises to the second floor.

Friend Hobie has a beautiful setting at his home not far from here. I was there along with some others one recent evening...

Tucson Weather Desk: In Tucson, friends Paula and Carl reported the recent temperature...

I thought scorching only happened to shirts on ironing boards.

They also had a visitor in their yard in the Catalina Foothills. Carl captured his image...

He is approximately 10 inches long. A Gila Monster youth. I hope he has a good summer on this hot terrain.

...and, my wishes for cooler times for my southwestern friends.

There was a family event to celebrate over in Utah. Great Grandson Dimetrios graduated to Middle School...

Shoutout to Big D: Congratulations! Well done. I love you. And many thanks to his wonderful family, friends, helpers, and for God's abundant love.

________

This week the raspberries are blooming here in Pennsylvania. We look forward to fresh bowlfuls.

Keoni and Aidan woke early Saturday morning from their teen years' torpor to join their dad putting up more goat fencing to stop the clever boy goats from escaping their man-pen.

It didn't take the entire Saturday. Wendy began prepping a room in the barn for the chicks. The dust of their scratchings in their boxes has layered the living room with the finest pulverized dust imaginable and the aromatic mingling with that of wet dog is difficult to describe. It has to be experienced.

But, they are still cute...and ever so much fun to watch.

This one has six toes. Not to worry. It's normal, but I can't remember the name of the breed.

The hens that came with the barn have been basking on top the patio table that once stood in my condo patio until I started more of my down-sizing.

Little do these ladies know what awaits them in their near future that is now growing in the living room

Wendy is sure one or two of the chicks are cockerels. Though I'd rather they were all pullets, my chief concern has to do with Toby's now well-developed predatory nature. He still hangs with the dogs, but his cat nature rules when it comes to rodents and birds (his bug education happened in Tucson). Often, he appears with a suddenly very wide belly. I captured his hunting success on video, but will spare you. Aidan says, "Toby, don't play with your food!"

This last Thursday I was at Jesse's BBQ joint for a lunchtime.

Buddies of mine. Dick, Jimmy, and Dave. Sarah who is usually with us was away celebrating her daughter's school event.

I'm starting to feel about the grasses like I feel about the trees. The variety and prolific growth continue to amaze me. Just as the spring buds and flowers burst forth on the cacti in the Desert Southwest with some unfathomable, vibrant energy, the growth here in its own way is rocket-fueled out of the wintery cold into the season of growth and completion before the next long sleep and renewal. Walking through has become a privilege and a grace at the same time.

The beautiful old Mulberry tree recently trimmed by the arborist (who rescued Toby from its heights) is leafing out, but it may not prosper anymore with a disease it has. It was especially beautiful early one morning as the sun rose.