July ~ Summertime

A light wind swept over the corn,

 and all nature laughed in the sunshine.

~Anne Bronte

The corn fields in our neighbourhood exploded this past month...

from knee-high on the first of July to well over my head.

Every year a miracle!

Before I go back to the beginning of the month...
let me share a few photos of our trip to Iowa corn country last weekend.

We spent the weekend at a family reunion at my brother's farm in northeastern Iowa...
with family from British Columbia, Manitoba, California and Texas.

We toured the Amish community nearby, the John Deere factory and museum,
visited Backbone State Park...

...and hung out at the farm.
Did I mention a lot of good food?

Family gives us two things; one is roots, the other is wings.

We have both!
It's always good to gather the family.

And now...back to the beginning of July.

We took the youngest grands camping early in the month.

 First Lucy and Micah... 

...then Ryder, Ranen and Maggie.

Ladder golf is the camping game of choice...

...and cooking over the fire is always fun 

(even if the fire is not a real campfire!)

Our grand finale was a night at the water slides with with whole gang,

followed by a picnic in the park and a bit of a birthday party.

Sweet Lucy is seven!

How can that be?

Since the RV was packed anyhow...

we decided to head for hills after camping with the grands.

We had a fun time in Tulameen!

On the farm...

the third crop of grass was harvested.

Most of it is in the bunker...

...but one field got baled.

I delivered more twine to the field...

and Lucy rode with Grandpa on the tractor for a bit.

The grands have mostly outgrown the swings...

but can be found swinging from the crossbars on occasion.

Dad has had his ups and downs this past month...

but he's up again. :)

Last week we took him to visit his old friend, Harv...

and got a picture of the two of them with the Model T Ford that they restored together some 30 years ago. 

Some things get better with age!

Where were you on July 20th, 1969?

It was the day Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

We watched it on a black and white TV.

And then the youth group that I was a part of,

 headed to Harrison Lake.

My friends and I caught I ride in a blue 1969 Nova (Acadian).

The driver and I began a friendship that night...

that eventually led to marriage two years later.
That was 49 years ago.

On July 31st we celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary.
That was yesterday.
We had very sad news in the morning...
and weren't in a very celebratory mood...

...but in the evening we had dinner on a patio at Harrison Hotsprings.
We counted our many blessings.

I am so thankful for these forty-seven years of 'togetherness' we have shared...

...and we are looking forward to journeying on through our sunset years together.

And now...

on to August and the last of summer 2018.