Genealogy

We scanned some of Karen's family photos for a project Karen is working on, and I decided, "Why not show the whole world?" We think some of these are real classics...

Karen's dad

Karen's mom with her brother

Karen's paternal grandparents

Karen's maternal grandparents

Karen's paternal grandmother's parents

Karen's maternal grandfather's parents

Corn in the backyard, week 4

June 22

Worldwide viewership!

Our blog is barely rolling and we already have a visitor from Israel! Never mind the fact that their visit lasted for 0:00 minutes, the internet is still a powerful tool.

Sunrise and sunset: June 20

5:18 AM

8:31 PM

A colorful beginning and end of the longest day of the year. Even after all these years, my mind still has a hard time accepting the fact that it is only June and the days will continue to shorten until December 21.

Almost ready to pick...

The cherry tree in our yard has been an overachiever this year, and it looks like we are just days away from harvest. They are sour cherries so they are not a hit with all of the family, but it is nice to have fruit growing in the yard that requires very little work.

Corn in the backyard, week 3

June 15

Seeking out some socialization

We needed to run over to a friend's house to borrow a dress pattern, and we all agreed that we would stay no more than 15 minutes since we knew they were busy with the garden and yard work preparing for entertaining their extended family. Who do we think we're fooling? Time flies when you're having fun, and the fellowship is always so sweet it's hard to tear ourselves away. Our apologies for catching them all in their work clothes.

Halo, Misty, Willow, & Echo listening to Karen describe Gretel's new swimming costume as Lily looks on. Notice the sweet corn and popcorn in the background (I'm salivating already).

Making the guests feel welcome on the new swing.

Echo, Halo on Willow's lap, Meadow, Indigo, and Anchor on Misty's lap all sit in rapt attention. I wonder what very clever thing Karen was entertaining them with...

You can see Arrow on the left in this shot. It appears that Halo's attention span has been exceeded (two moderately clever things?).

Our family enjoying a little snuggling time with little Shepherd.

I also apologize to John for pulling his family away from their work when there was plenty to be done.

The Site

More details in a couple months....

Family dinner at Uncle Stan's house

Our normal Sunday evening tradition of late is to have supper at Karen's brother's house. This week Karen's Uncle Bill and and Aunt Aline were visiting from Connecticut and Karen's Uncle Phil and Aunt Barb were also able to join us. Uncle Phil was diagnosed with lung cancer last year and Uncle Bill took the opportunity to come to Illinois to visit the family members that live here.

Uncle Phil and Karen

Gretel and Lily

Aunt Jeanie, Aunt Aline, Aunt Barb, and Uncle Phil

Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Stan, Aunt Jeanie, and Aunt Aline

Uncle Bill, Grandpa, and Grandma

Aunt Barb and Uncle Phil

A wall of corn growing in our backyard

I intend to take a photo from our backyard looking west each week this summer, or at least until the corn is so high that the view looks the same each week. Included here are the first two weeks. Since the corn was planted late this year in many of the fields in the area (nearly relentless rainfall) it's running shorter than normal for this date.

June 1

June 8