The Weather That Was Desk: Good temps, mostly sunny, delightful weather all day long. You could even say it's fall weather but for the humid warm air that keeps pumping up north from the ravaging hurricanes experienced by so many others. Let's hold them all and our inland, earthquake-stricken, Mexican brothers and sisters in a moment of light and love as they deal with catastrophe.

Here on the home front; the soccer season is over. The last game Wendy wore new shoes which I admire...

Organized music has resumed for Aidan and he is now in the high school orchestra and Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. Way to go, Celloman. There will soon be concert and performance dates to put in the calendar. Keoni will have his Junior recital in November in Georgia. Wendy and John will be going to it while I backup Aidan on chores detail. Also, feeding that still growing young man.

My sister Sandy has been giving updates through the summer on her daughter, my niece Paula who so recently was gravely ill in St. Louis. She is continuing to recover her health and strength; even able to make plans for a short visit to St. Louis from her home in Dixon, Missouri.

More good news: November not only brings forth a number of family birthdays but, this year, Sandy will be here that month. And, Marge has pointed out some Quakertown antique shops which will see Sandy and I browsing their wares. Much else in the general area attracts our attention, too, besides all those birthday cakes.

Speaking of sisters, as you know from last posting, Marge and two of her sisters visited Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Here is more from their communications...

Marge, Pam, Mary and a friend of theirs.

I love this picture they took.

Jeanenne has been delving into the world of watercolor and just sent these early renderings that she made into a book...

Shoutout to Jeanenne: Way to go! I love these. Thank you, for sending them.

The young man who has so wonderfully accompanied Keoni and Aidan for music tryouts and performances is an accomplished pianist in his own right. He helps with the active music program at our church and pulled together a number of great music events all summer long. He gave a small concert himself recently. I managed to miss the first phrases of The Minute Waltz but there's enough of it to enjoy...






And, in other news, this came from Sandy delving into multiple storage boxes. She snapped a photo of a painting she found that our dad made when he was a young man. I have vague memories of it on a dining room wall when we lived in Houston...

Dad's nickname in his early years was Whitey because of his white-blond hair. He signed this Whitey. As I delve into my memory, I think he drew and painted for fun with a friend who also was nicknamed Whitey. They had to have been late teens when they were doing this. His friend, again from my deep dive into memory, went on to work in Disney's studios. There are other drawings that some of us might have, I believe, and perhaps we can digitize a sharing of them.

It's nice knowing there are fish and frogs out there in the little pond. I like feeding the fish when Marge is away. As I walk up to the pond, I often hear a plop splash into the water and I know I've missed seeing one of the frogs again. But I sometimes hear their nighttime concert when our patio door is slid open.





Other news from the Health News Desk: Finally, something positive came from that implanted monitor reading by a cardiology specialist--how those episodes I had a year ago happen. They're non-life-threatening, it's overkill to stop driving (all praises!), and there are medical and procedural answers to prevention and future care or considerations, one of which is an increase in a med.

A morning when I was blogging to you here on Marge's patio. It's easily one of my favorite places. Yes, I do miss Toby.

But, Marge brought me a little friend for company when I'm on the patio...

Yes, indeed, we're all mad here.