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!