Snap Chat State of the Union

I give up on August. Meet me in September.

I'm post-dating this entry.
It's actually mid-September and I've been spending the past six months trying to do this blog thing all backwards, remembering things that had happened, and then posting about them.
Here's the facts:
I'm doing some great LIVING, and some awful remembering.
I love summer. 
Here are a few pictures from August.
It was great!

Hiking.

Girls Camp.

News from our missionary.

Family visitors. 

 Kimball's.

 Sunday driving.

 Visits from Enrique.

 Sister time.

Together time.

 Tomato time.

A week in Manhattan.

 Gardening.

 More Hiking.

(Sleeping Giant State Park, CT)

 Friendships.

You trip to Western Mass and find a piece of (art) work.

I took Leeli and Rooney to UMass for some after-church lunch-ing.

For the first time in the four + years we've been dining as ("family eats for free!") Enrique's guests at the University, the cashier did NOT want to believe that the two beauties at my side were all family. I'm pretty sure she thought they were just students masquerading as family to get a free meal.

Whatever.

We WERE in it for the free meal.

And time with Enrique, of course.

He's the real deal.

He wanted to showcase the artwork he found in an abandoned building on campus. He had plans to decorate a friend's room when they weren't looking.

Fine art. Both the painting and the guy.

It's OFFICIAL: He's a college GRADUATE!

Goodbye April, Hello May

Too much life, not enough time.

Lemme sum up:

Instead of blogging about life, we've been LIVING it!

Fast and furiously.

There were events, vacations, visits and togetherness that didn't get documented.

April was fantastic, and now it's May.

Enrique just finished his four years at the University of Massachusetts.

He graduated with a double major in

Middle Eastern Studies

and Psychology.

We can't wait to see what's next for him.

To commemorate his accomplishments, ALL of us! gathered on campus to take some pictures and share a meal. It was memorable.

And fun.

Having all the boys

-and-

all the girls together

makes us HAPPY.

We're a good team.

More and more our key players seem to go more than they come; 

Thank heavens this guy is a constant, and not a variable.

He knows when to huddle up and talk strategy.

There's no one I'd rather have as my co-captain and team leader.

back to work

Spring break wasn't over, but I had to take Enrique back to work. I packed his lunch and dropped him off at the library on a very quiet campus.

 The temps were cold, the air was crisp and the sky was BLUE. I stopped a few times on what has become my very favorite scenic route home.

 No photographic regrets.

Wandering on Wednesday

I partnered up with this handsome guy for a fun and educational outing to the National Heritage Museum in Lexington.

It was his Spring break after all. Actually, unlike many of his peers who were bombarding the social media networks with images of beaches and fun in the sun, Enrique spent it writing a paper and heading back to work (on campus) before the week was half over. Reality can be cruel.(He also took advantage of mom's laundry service, a few extra hours of sleep and some home cooked meals) It was good to squeeze in a tiny bit of extra curricular activity.

The Scottish Rite Free Masons own/run this free museum (suggested donation) that is filled mainly with artifacts having to do with customs, costumes, artifacts and relics related to the Masonic organization.

 We both learned quite a bit. The Masons are a fraternal service organization. We are most familiar with the Shriners, who are a part of the Masons. They run the free hospitals for children. They also organize a stunning parade. For many years we took the kids to their annual parade at Dartmouth in August. They know how to parade like nobody's business.

 I was intrigued with how a Mason earns various degrees in the fraternity... this galloping goat came up a couple of times in their display cases, and I couldn't help but laugh a bit as I read some of the descriptions.(I hope that's the response they were going for.)

I have a few ancestors who were Masons.

The Masons have an extensive library at this museum as well. After my first visit here, my sister and my mother were able to solve a family history mystery because of the Masonic records. More on that in a future post. 

We capped off our morning with a visit to my new favorite middle eastern cafe.

I was delighted that Enrique also found it to be definitely worth the trip.

visiting Enrique

Enrique played his last gig in the UMass hoops band as an undergraduate.

(unless they are selected to play in the NCAA tournament)

in case you think you're missing something

It's been about a week and a half since I discovered the dryer wasn't working. Actually, it seemed to work, it just wasn't DRYing anything. The heating element has died, I have deduced, and, in a laundry-dependent household such as ours, I celebrate the hard-working longevity of such a thing.

Since we're still living life at a minimum of 65 mph, we are currently adorning our mantel with cool patterned socks and color coordinated buntings made of the laundry variety, instead of researching our future dryer options.

(your strong and biased dryer testimonials welcome in the comments section below)

Morning Boy is starting to perk up enough to have moments when he claims to be bored. I'm grateful. He still sounds like a smoker when he coughs and is found resting on the couch when he thinks no one is paying attention.

Enrique has been pronounced flu-FREE and has flown off to UMass to jump both feet into his final semester as an undergrad.

I miss him already.