Grams and Grandad live in South Texas where the weather is sunny and hot. While I've been reading from my friends in other climes that their summer is almost over and they're getting ready for fall, here in South Texas summer is just settling in. We usually don't have any cool weather until well into October and then it starts very slowly with fronts that sweep through and drop temperatures for one or two days at a time.
It hasn't been unbearably hot and dry this summer. By this time last year the grass was dead, everything was brown, and we'd had day upon day of temperatures over 100 with no rain for months. This summer has been pleasantly different. Don't get me wrong ... it's still very hot here ... 98 degrees this afternoon. But at least we've had some occasional rainy days to break the monotony this summer. That also means that the grass is green and has to be mowed once a week.
It's been a great summer so far. Grandad is feeling so much better; he actually has energy to mow the lawn and wants to get out and about on the weekends. He's going to cardiac rehab sessions three times a week and doing very well. Last weekend we looked with longing at our "new" used bicycles that we gave each other for our anniversary last November. We've only ridden them a couple of times because Grandad just didn't feel up to any exercise. Now that he does feel better, we've decided that we'll wait a few weeks for the weather to cool off.
Early in June when my mother-in-law celebrated her 80th birthday, we all got together at my brother-in-law's house for lunch and spent the day together. We intended to have the entire family together for a family picture, but some of the in-laws couldn't make it. We took pictures anyway and we got a good picture of us with our kids and my mother-in-law.
We took our first real vacation since 2003. A week in Massachusetts for just the two of us was wonderful. We never once wished that someone else was with us. We enjoyed just spending the time together doing what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. We made our own plans and kept our own schedule. We slept late almost every morning and ate a leisurely breakfast before heading out to see the sites. We had lunch in the mid-afternoon, continued our site-seeing, and headed back to the hotel fairly early each day. Then we would either order dinner in or go someplace near the hotel. We truly relaxed together for the first time in years with no worries about Grandad's health or anything else. The weather in Massachusetts was cool and beautiful and there are so many sights to see. We didn't see everything we wanted to see, but we didn't push ourselves to the point of exhaustion either. I already want to go back.
We spent a day at Six Flags Fiesta Texas with Katy, Travis, Mady and Ezra. It was hot that day, but it rained off and on during the day so it wasn't unbearable and the park wasn't overly crowded. I spent a good part of the day riding kiddie rides with Our Little Princess. It was my first trip to an amusement park since losing 125 pounds and I really enjoyed being able to fit on the rides for the first time in years. However, the next day I felt bruised and all my joints hurt. I've concluded that perhaps 56 years old is too old for roller coasters and the like. My future visits will be limited to the kiddie part of the parks with Our Little Princess.
Ezra came home with us on Monday of last week and stayed while her Dad took a summer class and her Mom worked. We really enjoyed having her, but at 17 months old she's quite a handful. I was exhausted from keeping up with her. I met her other Grandmother halfway between here and San Antonio on Thursday afternoon and she spent the rest of the week with her Nonnie. While she was here, she and Grandad got her foot tangled up in his recliner and she ended up with a compression fracture of her foot. She's been in a splint for a couple of days and today she got a cast. She chose purple. Actually, she really wanted black, but her Mom thought that would not be suitable for a baby. It doesn't seem to be slowing her down very much, but it will keep her out of the swimming pool for a few weeks and will also make bathing her a bit of a challenge. She really hates to have to lean back when you wash her hair.
She's finally starting to talk quite a bit. She calls herself Rah-Rah and instead of Grams she says Mams. She tries to say Grandad, it comes out Man-da. She expresses herself very well with sign language. She knows the signs for more, eat, milk, bottle, among other things.
I've finally finished the first of my clean-out and re-organize projects here at home. It took more than a week to go through all the papers that were stuffed into our 4-drawer legal-sized file cabinet. We had more than twenty years of tax returns and bank statements of our own. Additionally, we had several years of my parents bank statements and other paperwork. By the time I finished shredding, I had four 33-gallon trash bags full. What remains is not even enough to fill a whole drawer. So now I'm in the market for a small 2-drawer cabinet that will double as a night stand in our guest room. This project took more than a week, so I've been hesitant to start my next project. I'm trying to decide among the several things that need organizing. One is cleaning out Nick's closet, which still has clothes from before he went to college and a lot of other stuff that he probably wants me to keep for him, but doesn't actually want to take to his own house. (By the way, his house is huge and has way, way, way more storage than mine.) Another project is re-organizing my craft closet. And the other is cleaning out the walk-in closet that Grandad and I share. I really need him to help with that project so it's probably going to be Nick's closet next. I think I can be heartless enough to actually get rid of his stuff and reclaim that closet for myself. I'll report on that later.
For the rest of the summer, I have received both a federal and county jury summons. That will take care of at least two days and the federal summons instructs that I will be on call for 30 days. I'm expecting to continue substitute teaching this fall. Hopefully, I'll finish jury duty early enough to start soon after school starts.
We are looking forward to fall, but it's not imminent here in South Texas. According to our local "celebrity" weatherman, Dale Nelson, this week marks the halfway mark of our summer. So y'all go ahead and buy yourselves some sweaters and boots. We'll be wearing flip-flops and capris for several more months.
Life is good!
In the 36 years we've been married, we have spent countless hours searching for keys. That was easily remedied by hanging a set of hooks that are designated for keys. No one is allowed to put their keys anywhere else. I even had to impose this rule for our adult children and their spouses when they visit. Life is too short to spend it looking for keys. 
