Cool Summer Evening

Jeannie and her daughters, Leslie and Cecelie, arrived at Woodsong yesterday afternoon along with the two shit-zus, Lucky and Leah. (Elijah could not come because he had been put on a bus with his church youth group to attend the music fest Creation in the mountains of Pennsylvania, where the kids camp out in tents. Elijah's group got as far as Ohio when they learned the torrential rains had made it necessary to cancel Creation for this year. They were going to an amusement park and some other activities at a church there, and then turn around and come home. Fortunately, by the time Elijah gets back to Freeport, his dad will be home from the conference he's been attending in Florida.)

Jeannie had picked up Samuel in Marion, so he and Cec were soon at play. Gerald added to the evening's entertainment by taking the kids on a ride on the "mule" around the lake before Sam's dad came to pick him up. Lesley entertains herself with her guitar, her telephone, and communicating with friends on myspace. She is briefly between part-time jobs right now--her first in an ice cream parlor and the new one to be at a radio station. Geri Ann was tied up with Pom Pom actitivies until this afternoon when Vickie brought her down to join the fray.

Since it was such a cool pleasant evening, tonight we ate sandwiches for supper out on the deck with the hummingbirds. After Cecelie succeeded in her begging Gerald for yet another "mule ride," the kids played croquet on Geri Ann's new set she brought down. (I hid ours years ago at Pondside because the kids were younger then, and I was afraid someone was going to get hit in the head with a ball. I have no idea what happened to that set.) Geri Ann's brother-in-law had been teaching her the game, so she taught it to these cousins--and to Gerald who joined in their last game, which they finished after dark.

Parents have come and taken the two local grandkids home now. Sam has a job to do yet tonight. Samuel has been hired to feed his friend's dog and cat while the family is in Florida. He will make $20 and he takes the responsibility very seriously. Summertime and the living is easy--but the kids are learning to work hard as well as play hard.