July 2013

Our very own blueberries

Small trees, but lots of cherries

Rhi and Rowan visit Aunt Rachel

July is Wisconsin is always full of outdoor activities, and this year was not exception.  Mark and Hilde mowed and weeded and picked, keeping very busy around all the other commitments, but the yield was wonderful.  Starting with a final picking of strawberries in the beginning of the month, they enjoyed a bountiful harvest of tart cherries, which meant cherry soup, cherry cobbler and cherry jam!  They worked together to freeze peas for the year and then moved  into raspberries and blueberries.  Big beautiful blueberries this year!  The zucchini and beans are coming along nicely also.  Pickles and corn are starting.  Gardens are great exercise, and wonderfully bountiful!

The most joyous news is that after over 5 weeks on hospice care and virtually no movement except by the lifting to wheelchair, Hilde’s father Ray has improved!  His vertebrae are stabilized and he is now on therapy to regain mobility, walking a little further every day with the walker.  Since the doctors had been telling us to ‘be prepared’ and seemed frankly perplexed that he was not dying in extreme pain, we are grateful for God’s goodness and that those doctors were wrong.  Hilde mother Arlene is progressing nicely and should be starting weight-bearing therapy soon.

Hilde found that the way to deal with worry about parents is to pray and then go and work hard at something.  So the garden is nearly weed-free, the garage finally got cleaned out and stalled sewing and crafts projects were tackled.  Mark and Hilde constructed and mounted a side door for the main shed (after 24 years the old one had reached the sagging and crummy stage).  Smaller projects were checked off the list also with others planned for August.

In the many business travels with Mark, Hilde has usually found something to do and things to see, but she found Preston MN to be a bit more challenging, being so small there was not even a McDonalds, only a grocery, a big fish float and a small drug store.  On Mondays, no restaurants are open, and the only place for a hot breakfast was the bowling alley!  Still, it was certainly restful, as several nights Hilde and Mark just walked around looking at fireflies.

As is the tradition, Hilde had lunch with Irene on a date between their birthdays---what a treasure long-time friends are!  Mark and Hilde also got to join Fritzes at the end of the month for lunch and a send off for those intrepid parents, Jim and Kayme, who set out for Yellowstone with little Rhi and Rowan, accompanied by Uncle Paul.  That adventure should be one to hear about. 

The scenery in Rudolph is always lovely, but the sun setting over new bales of hay seems just a perfect representation of summer

Sunset over Rudolph hayfield