June, June, Wonderful June!

Human beings must be solar-powered.  That must explain why people can get so much done in the days with longest daylight.  The energizing sunshine gets folks going full-steam, and the Henkels steamed along rapidly in June this year.  It helped to have the month start while they were still visiting Sussex and a full day with the lively grandkids! 

  

June was focused on outdoor work and berries.  Mark and Hilde labored long and hard to twice completely weed their large raspberry bed and used lots of dried grass from the continual lawn mowing to mulch them.  The blueberries got attention also---they look very good and almost ripe.  The couple also went and picked strawberries twice, rejoicing in having a really well run patch (Arnold’s Strawberries) just a couple miles away.  The luscious berries ended up on top of oatmeal, ice cream, shortcakes and lemon pie, plus lots of berry smoothies for Hilde.

June is also a wonderful month for getting together with folks.  Mark and Hilde picnicked with Paul and Pat Onan, had lunch with Dr. Stevens and got to share father’s day with the Fritz family and Jim, Kayme and their kids.  It was a lovely day for it with a breeze and Paul’s tall parsonage trees shading the gathering.  Jim and Mark practiced forms a little too!  And Hilde got to enjoy a luncheon with her “gold” friends from crafts, which is always special.

In addition to the mowing and weeding, Mark and Hilde dug in and each wrote the required ten-page papers for the taekwondo promotion later this summer.  Getting that out of the way allows for work on the difficult cheunkwon form and reviewing the other forms.  They also tested a small, but promising group of their own students, and Mark spent a day repainting the  north side of the big shed.

The whole month was the wonderful  succession of early summer blooms, with roses, poppies,  iris, catalpa, bluebottle, plus all the wild flowers.  Watching the birds , especially hummingbirds visit the deck flowers is always a joy.

June went out with a bag, in several ways.  On the 28^th Mark’s brother Phil gained a new grandson, Philip Daniel Laufman.  The family continues to expand!  Then the blistering heat of the final three days had everyone looking for cool spots.  Spock snoozed in the culvert, Mark and Hilde went out to Big Eau Pleine and zoned out looking at the water, and the month ended with storms, power outage and generally wild weather.  Lots of summer sizzle!

Marvelous May 2018

Finally winter and cold gave in to a marvelous month of warmth and color as Wisconsin experienced a “fast forward spring” and the birds returned amid a succession of bloom which was both intoxicating and invigorating.  From the first bloodroot to trilliums to tulips and anemones, Mark and Hilde enjoyed them all.  

The fruit trees were glorious and stayed full of blossom for quite a while.  Hilde finished up her slew of doctor and dental appointments and Mark carefully hardened off his great crop of tomatoes (three varieties) and peppers (two types) in preparation for planting.  With plenty of rain, the asparagus started and flourished providing many meals with delicious veggies.

The garden got planted in one long day this year.  Mark and Hilde put in 7 rows of corn, plus beans, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, three rows of onions, eggplants, flowers, rutabaga, 18 peppers and 20 tomatoes.  Then a second day was spent fencing the entire area, weeding the summer raspberries and cleaning up the blueberries.  It felt very good to get into the summer routine of outside chores, with weeding, mowing and trimming.

The month also brought three very different kinds of celebrations.  First, Mark and Hilde, with all the St. Paul’s congregation, said farewell to Pastor Baur and wife Rachel as he retired and moved to Dubuque.  Mid-month, Dr. Stevens returned to the YMCA classes for a “Founder’s Day” celebration with self-defense review and birthday cake. And then a grand gathering of cousins of all degrees for the funeral of Lynette Altenburg, 93 years old.

Mark and Hilde headed down to Palatine for the Mother’s Day weekend and delighted in cuddling little Hazel, who is growing and cooing and sweet.  It was nice to take care of her and let her parents go out for a movie together.  

At the end of the month, Mark and Hilde went to Sussex for a different grandparenting gig while Jim was teaching in Grenada.  Grandpa Mark took kids to and from school (as his grandfather did for him a long time ago!) and worked on minor repairs and mowing.  Hilde enjoyed feeding and caring for the grandkids, weeding the raspberries and taking lots of pictures.

It was a very welcome surprise for both Henkels when a neighbor renting the field to the west of them cleaned up the three piles of rocks which had impeded their western view for all 29 years in Rudolph.  In doing so, he flushed out an old skunk (which Mark took care of) and gave them a much more attractive perspective for sunsets and other times. Mark also cut off major chunks of an old pine which was shading that asparagus patch, trimmed other trees and even got a little legal work in around all the outside stuff.  The return of warmth and sunshine has invigorated both Henkels.

No rock and weed pile on the horizon!