Summer 2015

Summer started off with a bang:  the big family reunion and road trip.  I wasn’t even home from that spectacular journey for 24 hours before we headed back up to the Breitenbush River to camp with all our Oregon friends and family.  Grammanette and Janet and Henrique joined us, and Uncle James too.  The joyful surprise was that James was here to stay, and would now be living in Corvallis too!  The weather was blisteringly hot and Detroit Lake was lower than I’ve ever seen it, but we all had a great time with our lawn chairs in the river, playing cards.  We spent 4 nights up there and then at last it was time to come home and return to “normal life.”  I can honestly say during the whole 2.5 weeks of time off I didn’t think once about any of my worldly responsibilities–the true goal of a vacation!  Where are we sleeping, what are we eating, and what would be the most fun to do today?–that was the extent of my concerns.  Ahhhhhh….

It felt like we did quite a bit of camping this summer, which suited me just fine.  We spent a night at Fern Ridge Reservoir after a day at the Oregon Country Fair and also a night up at Alsea Falls.  Gee I guess that really wasn’t that much but we did get out once a month.  Josef loved it, and fit right in.  At some point up at Breitenbush, he decided to just go to the bathroom in the woods like any self-respecting man, and from then on out he was pretty much potty trained.

Our ducklings were quite large by the time we got home, and I cordoned off a nice little section of yard for them to explore.  I bought a goofy little barn replica for them to roost in and generally tried to make things as peaceful and pleasant for them as possible.  Now we just bide our time until the eggs arrive!

This summer was unusually hot and dry.  It seemed to have all the plant life a bit confused.  Our apple and plum trees produced far less fruit than last year, and all the local berry bushes fruited about a month early it seemed.  I was nonplussed with the output of our garden this year, and I’m at a loss as to exactly why it was so meager.  At least the tomatoes and lettuce did well since fresh salad is my principal summer lunch.

The hot weather did make for many gorgeous evenings, and with Grammanette here to pinch hit on bedtime duty, I was afforded many free evenings to go on glorious sunset bike rides with Rachael, Sarah, Janet, Malynda, and James.  Probably the most enduring memory of this summer will be looking over my shoulder to see five smiling faces, gliding through golden farmland and glowing amber under the setting sun’s rays.

Josef’s most enduring summer memory will probably be the sidewalk construction that took place in our neighborhood throughout the summer.  It was a source of endless fascination for him, and quite convenient for me as well.  With no school to occupy his mornings, I found myself scrambling for activities to pass those bitter hours between 6 and 9am.  Thanks to the sidewalk repairs, all I had to do was whip up a little picnic, plop Josef in the stroller, and walk two or three blocks until I found the “worker men.”  Then we sat down and enjoyed our meal to the sound of pavement cutters and backhoes.

Another thing that seemed to be a highlight of his summer, and certainly mine, was his newly discovered love of roughhousing.  It happened sometime in July, after I had just returned from a week working in Los Angeles.  For some reason or another, Josef decided during my absence that he really liked me and that I was a blast to play with.  It made it hard to work from home, for every time I would leave my office for a drink of water or to stretch my legs this adorable little boy would come running up to me pleading “Do you want to roughhouse on the big bed!?”  It was pretty hard to say no.

Oma and Opa came to visit us for a whole month in August.  They took Josef to the zoo, to his first baseball game, and to a park almost every single day.  It was a real treat to have them so close.  We had many a fine meal in the warm summer evenings in our back yard.  Other highlights of the summer included riding the ferris wheel at the county fair and a rollicking jam session at Gramheart’s 60th birthday party.

Scroll down to see videos below the photos.