Chickens Are My Friends

Shoutout to Wendy: Thanks, for getting chickens; and baby ones, at that.

Here's Wendy's order that arrived day-before-yesterday.

Whew! What a ride. One day in an egg; the next day in a box.
Everybody is just fine!

Oh, look! Water! Taste it! Look, these B-Bs are food!

Who are you, holding me? Are you a giant?--No, I'm Aidan.

And where else did you think we'd be?--The living room, of course.

I can report that they are growing exponentially having nearly doubled in size by this morning when I stopped in to have another look.

A week or so ago Marge's siblings all gathered in PA to celebrate their nonagenarian aunt and uncle's 75th Wedding Anniversary. Her sisters all stayed with us for their first night before going on to the celebration...

Mary, Marge, Caroline, and Pam.

The early risers had coffee on the patio...

Their brother John and his wife Debbie joined them later at their hotel...

All five siblings together.

Other parts of the country weighed in from time-to-time.

Keoni is loving the mountains and sent us a cliff photo...

Rocky Mountains.

Aidan and I got another walk in, recently. My knee is holding up well now for this little adventure on the rough field pathway. For a time Wendy couldn't mow the paths, or any of the property for that matter, because it was so wet. One day when Aidan was mowing he came across a clutch of very young fawns curled up, hiding in the tall grasses.

Here Aidan and Wendy are working together...

Everything now is so wonderfully green. Aidan captured this.

Phil, over in Tucson, let me know he is still the party animal with picture evidence of his Fourth of July get-together with friends.

Carla and Phil.

Next up:

From the Sports Desk: Via Sonja's smart phone, via FB, via Sandy's screenshot, via text, via Photos edit, now presenting to you...

Utah--Elijah pursuing summer basketball had a special moment. In his mother's words...

Go Elijah! #34. 

Then, from New Mexico we heard from Val and Tim who were out there horse-backing under those great big skies. What a treat to see them.

Good going, you guys!

Jeanenne and Larry have taken another of their grown kids and their family to Disney World. This year, it is the Joyces and their children Harper and Della. Jeanenne said she is using an electric cart this year. Yes, photos via, via, via, via, via...

Sandy picked up her pencil again and shared a bit of her recent renderings. I have no doubt she misses her little Scottie dogs...

You can see the horse theme runs through the family.

So good hearing from Paula in Tucson, too, and learning what she has been doing lately. It's called Sketchnotes...

Paula and Carl's recent trip to Wash., D.C.

Locally, Marge and I sensed a fine morning happening and hopped in her car to zoom over Pennsylvania byways to cross the Delaware River and visit Frenchtown, New Jersey. Lunch first, then wanderings that included walking across the clearwater river's bridge...

Mexican food in Frenchtown. They got everything right but for the tortillas which have devolved into a hybrid corn and wheat mix. Or maybe I'm getting snobby about my tortillas.

The perfect temperature, clear skies, a Saturday, and everyone who owns a motorcycle in Pennsylvania and New Jersey was on the road.

Crossing the Delaware was a lot easier than Washington's.

On the drive back, a Thrift Store stop yielded $21 worth of stuff for my future kitchen when I get the word I have an apartment...

The bag holds six, five-piece place settings of flatware which was $6.50 total. The rest was on sale.

Back to the Local News Desk: From prior postings you know there is a friend of Marge's--Pat--who moved back here from Florida to look after a son afflicted with a worsening illness. She is also on the waiting list where I will be living (and so are a couple of other friends of mine). Marge and Pat made a plan that when I move out Pat will move in here until she too can move into Dock Manor. We are calling Marge's the Dock Manor Halfway House.

Here's an aside to photos from this week's trip to State College that Marge and Pat made. The botanical garden at Penn State was in bloom this time. It is a fairly new garden...

Pat stopping to smell the Hydrangeas.

Their fave--the Children's Garden.

Marge is retiring completely in November. Later on, after Pat and I have both moved out of her house, Marge will sell the place and move to Ohio where two of her three sisters reside.

In the meantime, with the weeks dragging into months since I got word that I get the next available apartment, Marge and I decided we could be three here at her home and invited Pat to move in now. So, she will be here August 2nd which rises to an official move-in date since the movers bring the furniture that day. We'll actually be moving stuff over several days before that.

How do you shift all that stuff when your body says, "Ouch, haven't you noticed the grey hair, the wrinkles, the sore feet? --No container bigger than a Bankers Box or a Trader Joe's grocery bag. Nothing heavier than a sack of oranges and a couple pounds of hamburger.

Things that need to stay in climate-controlled housing.

Things unharmed by heat in the attic.

There's more than this but you get the idea.

I spotted a small, comfortable couch and bought it. It's being kept at the warehouse or store where I got it. Once I sign a lease and ACTUALLY SEE the apartment, I'll go to the Harleysville Mattress store and get that essential item there.

It will be a one-bedroom with a kitchen, living/dining room, full bath, closets--one is walk-in. Two windows. Dock Manor. Scroll down. It's the one on the left, not Dock Village.

Well, you ask, "What about Toby?" It's a wrench when I say he'll remain at Wendy and John's. He's an outdoor cat now with complete run of the barn and the grounds. I am sad about that but happy he is okay.

So, I will talk to my plants. They don't climb up on my shoulder and purr like Toby used to do on the farm's back porch while I wrote to you, but they have their way, too. Just look what this Tillandsia air plant does with air and a soak in some pond water...