Despite the heat and moving fatigue, I couldn't help gravitating to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. No, I have no credentials to anything going on, but thoroughly enjoyed a lunch at Reading Terminal Market by the Convention Center where the caucuses were happening and an hour or so to people watch as conventioneers streamed into the block-sized market.

While I ate my Soul Food, hundreds of others lined up at the myriad food booths and everything else on display there. Behind me in my line at the Soul Food booth was a Nun on the Bus! You might not know friend Gloria and I around 2013 went to the Tohono O'odham and Yaqui Reservations where tribal members met the nuns to tell how it was for them with their millennial-old nations divided by the Arizona/Sonora Border near Tucson and the border-crossing problems. We were proud to transport Sister Simone Campbell and another of the nuns to their Tucson housing afterward. The bus had broken down and was in the repair shop. Parishioners provided the housing and transportation.

What a surprise to find the nuns in Philly. They are at it again on a 16 state trip this time.

SEPTA workers were in their best uniforms, the floors and bathrooms in Jefferson Station were clean and in some cases refurbished. Helpers and information were readily available. Ben Franklin was probably smiling atop City Hall with democracy in action beneath his feet.

It was a good thing I sat down with my meal a bit early because the place rapidly filled and the lines grew long. Camera people from the networks to Convention Center workers were packing the place.

One of the places to sit down and eat the lunch you buy at Reading Terminal Market.

When I headed back to the train station an angry man pushed a pamphlet in my hand titled Beware Sharia Law is Coming. I gave it back and said, "No, it's not".

The trains ran on time but I heard that they were late during the early rush hours.

Whew! Final schlepping of stuff to Marge's where I'll be living. For all intents and purposes, it is done. And, when I woke up this morning it came to me that it is the third anniversary of my arrival in Pennsylvania.

Wendy has kindly agreed to let Toby continue to rule the barn and barnyard. It seems inhumane to now confine him to a household after his mega adjustments over the last three years, though Marge welcomes him, too. The other cons of his coming with me (I'll miss him a lot) are the outdoor presence of a couple neighborhood cats--one, distinctly an alley tomcat (whole)--so there'll be yowling, fights and rescues from Toby's penchant to solve fights by climbing trees and not coming down; and he bites. Yes, he is tom-catty and when petted, he bites. Rats! And that reminds me of his dietary supplements of rats and mice so available at Rhapsody Ridge.

This is tough. I'll miss him. Yes, I know I'll see him often and will contribute to his food supply that Wendy provides in the barn as well as flea and worm control. Still.

I'm deeply grateful for the years with Wendy and family. The boys continue to be a joy and there will be much more for us to do together and share. It's only 17-20 minutes depending on traffic. Wendy and John had an "empty nest" over the weekend due to me being here in my new residence and the boys at their music institutes. No doubt Keoni was completely surprised they showed up in Washington, DC, Sunday evening for his final concert in Kennedy Center's Summer Music Institute where he was the Concert Master.

And, of course, it is HOT! Everywhere. Hillary is being nominated in Philly this week. The SEPTA transportation system had to pull 120 cars off the regional rail system due to faulty welds on them. SEPTA was borrowing cars at a frantic pace to keep the system going with all the DNC and the 50,000 strong protesters busy gathering. Folks, I hope and pray for sanity and clarity to emerge from the political landscape this heat-domed summer so our already great country can get on with the business of intelligent governance that works every day toward upholding decent, thoughtful choices for every person. Let the hate-filled, government-bashing, simple-minded, selfish, me-ist, racist, misogynistic, gender-bashing, my-way-or-the-highway drown in that famous bathtub and be reborn in a revelation of We Can Make it all Work for...everybody...let's go talk to these other folks over there and see how we can all put good minds together and continue making our great path better and better. There is so much to be done!

Tomorrow, it is my plan to catch the regional rail and go eat lunch somewhere in Reading Terminal Market next to where the caucuses are taking place down in Philly. Maybe, I'll see somebody I know and get to shake their hand or wave, or maybe just catch a smile.

Well, time to put away more stuff. Here is the desk pieced back together again...

Thanks, to Wendy for helping haul stuff out to the car. And, thanks to Marge's nephew Jonathan who is visiting and helped schlepp some of the stuff upstairs...

Jonathan.

My pony Subaru has done yeoman service and is now parked in front of Marge's. We trade spots in front of the house. Late yesterday, storms were going through...

A Week Far, Far Away

It went incredibly fast. As awful as air transportation has become, it still has an amazing quality hurtled passengers through the atmosphere from one city to another almost 2000 miles away in four and a half hours. How glad I am to have done it so that I could be present for Granddaughter Sonja's graduation last Friday where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Social Psychology.

You may have seen the graduation photos and videos on Facebook where I posted them. Today, we'll post them here and add some since I am back at my laptop.

Time to go.

Jeff and Elijah front and center.

Graduates!

Time for the cookies and punch. Tim, Elijah, Sonja, and Jeff.

 Tim and Valerie hosted a big lunch at the Outback afterward. The cookies didn't interfere with appetites. Eveningtime at Sonja and Jeff's, Tim and Valerie grandparenting Dimetrios and toddler Kingston.

Early the next morning Great Grandson Elijah went with Grandma Valerie and Grandpa Tim to their home in New Mexico for a couple of weeks.

Kingston was well-rested the next morning, rearranging the living room and pumping iron...

Kingston with his 3# weight.

...and, watching some age-related cartooning.

Even though I greatly missed Elijah, it was great to have some time with his brothers and their incredibly busy parents. Kingston is 18 months old matches their energy and now makes sound rhythms and shouts as he laughs and joins in with his own language whenever he hears conversation. He'll soon be talking.

Dimetrios absolutely loves bubbles.

There was time to find a church nearby on Sunday. I happened upon a friendly, welcoming Episcopal church in Ogden.

Wish I'd thought of finding out some of its history as it's an old sanctuary out there in the land of the Latter Day Saints.

Sonja had work to do Monday and Tuesday. Jeff handles the kids during the day and they trade later in the day and are helped by a night nurse for Dimetrios during the sleeping hours.

I had time to go to the Golden Spike National Monument where I was disappointed that the two engines were not in evidence due to a manpower shortage that day. Still, it was nice to be there again and it wasn't hard to imagine how remote that event was so long ago.

We were able to get together for a final supper on Tuesday at the Golden Corral. No trouble being well fed there.

Driving through downtown Ogden there are horse sculptures and I captured one through the car window...

Back home the moving to Marge's is back underway despite the heat bubble roasting everyone right now.

From Wendy while I was away...Toby's solution for the heat wave.

Marge's cousin Candice is visiting. Independently, they emerged from

getting ready for an evening out and found they'd dressed nearly identically...

Marge and Candice.

A quick hello before taking off tomorrow for Utah and Sonja's graduation day. Lots to celebrate today. Aidan and John are heading off to Virginia for Aidan's summer music camp with lots of new packing paraphernalia to make his first stay away from home a good one. Today, we celebrated that and Keoni's birthday, mine that is coming up waaaaayyyy too fast, Keoni's concertmaster assignment  today for Kennedy Center Summer Music Institute...

Aidan chose the Harleysville Hotel to celebrate with wings.

I've just finished packing most of what I'll take with me tomorrow to Utah. Whew!

Soccer season began yesterday evening.

Aidan and I enjoyed some more drawing together...

Aidan's getting more and more adept with his pencils.

I'm enjoying soft pastels.

The next day he was inside his room for hours. Later, I found what he had been doing...

Lionel Messi is now up on the dining room wall. 

Aidan put his Nutella and berry crepes on the menu one morning.

Toby's eating habits gave him tapeworms so he has had to have them purged from his system. He really didn't care as he stretched out in the heat...

Cat of Pompeii.

The Queen Anne's Lace are everywhere again. Remarkable how they are regarded as an invasive, undesirable weed. (They came from England.) Yet, they've been here a couple of centuries. I love how they grace intersection corners, utility pole bases, roadways, fences, and fields.

A cool and quiet awakening in my bedroom at Marge's. The early morning backyard was peaceful, dim and lovely. And best of all the temp was down considerably due to a thick cloud cover.

One of the pond Koi that lived through winter's super snow.

The giant-leafed tree makes extraordinary shade, but is the culprit scattering the enormous pods that defy normal grass cutting machinery.

Evidence that Marge's house and yard once were part of farm life.

Driving early back to the farm I found that John was already working on his weekend list out at the barn. Together, he and Wendy, moved on to painting after her goat/milking chores were completed.

Run-in shed painting.

Jazzy and Ella are in the foreground. Nice seeing them now utilizing the entire far pasture field. For weeks they and Austin paced the gate wanting back in the near pasture. The near pasture is lying fallow to reduce the worm population they'd developed.

My walk was cool even though it was mid-day. The chickens were taking a rest from their exertions in the grasses of the barn lot.

Spiders' webs were easy to see with the early morning misty rain that highlighted them.

A ladybug-like insect sat atop one of the pasture posts.

At the end of my walk, the dogs wait at the barn lot gate to escort me back to the house. Toby meets me near the barn. Today he was ultra itchy.

I gave him a good, long brushing up on the porch, and he settled on the table next to the chair where I was reading.

Aidan and I had a drawing session this evening while we were at the kitchen table. Pleasant as could be. Keoni called while we were drawing to wish Aidan well on his trip to Heifitz next week. Keoni will be playing in the Kennedy Center Summer Institute live-streaming orchestra performance tomorrow night and (I think) Tuesday night.

Aidan played one of his cello pieces before we got started on the drawing. This is a portion. I love hearing him develop more and more ability and nuance. Actually, I just plain love hearing the beautiful music he is making.





I miss Keoni in our mix here but am glad for his music world developing, too.

Aidan and I are afraid we are missing the raspberries this year--his and my trips start next week. The berries are beginning to ripen right now. I saw a cardinal busy eating barely ripe ones today. He was very shy though so I missed the photo of him.