Proof III--of the work to come

My Work is Cut Out for Me

My four cubic yards of mulch were delivered today, so in the cool of the mornings and evenings to come, I will be shoveling, pushing a wheelbarrow around, dumping and spreading this gorgeous stuff. Won't need Curves for a while! Chuck can't help much because he has just left for the four day Christians in the Mathematical Sciences conference at which he gives the main address (aimed for at least some of it at a more general audience), which he has entitled "Bach to the Variations of Calculus." He spent every spare minute during our travels the last two weeks researching whether there was any intertwining between the Bernoulli family and the Bach family...nothing definitive but enough evidence to give rise to his speculations. He'd make a good historical fiction writer if ever he wanted....

The last trip was successful on several accounts. Jenny found and made an acceptable offer on a cute/charming cape cod house a mile south of Hope's campus after viewing 15 of them in one day and a repeat of four the next. (Anyone who wants to see pictures, let me know. Cute or charming are the operative words for both the house and the tourist-friendly central and campus areas of Holland) Karen has made a great transition to summer volunteer work at a nursing home and in the nurseries of a large church (sanitizing and then organizing/putting away the toys) under the watchful eye of a super nice job coach whom we've hired. We watched her friends and her bowl and play "challenger" softball and Chuck grilled out for the home's residents. A happy trip. Next time we go back, Jenny will be moving in and Karen's home and the men's home will have their annual family picnic. Let's see, that's less than a month away!

Proof II

That our honorary grands (two and one on the way) have enough cuteness and cuddliness to give our hearts great joy and that the mutual admiration society between "Ohio grandpa" and Andrew is still as strong as it has been since his parents brought him home two and a half years ago.

Proof I

That Ellen graduated. She would have provided visual evidence herself already except that her computer is in the UNC computer hospital and so she couldn't upload pictures. We had a super time with her terrific roommate and great friends.

A lovely aroma is wafting...

...through our living room and dining room. However, we won't be able to wonder at it much longer because in a couple of hours we will be leaving for NC (Ellen's graduation), VA (honorary grandkids loving), PA (stopover with Jenny), OH (an overnight to allow us to mow the lawn, water the newly planted flowers, and do the laundry) and then MI (Karen loving and designated-by-Jenny as assistant house hunters ). See you in a couple of weeks!

Spring beauties

The early warmth in March followed by the deep and steady cold in April did the flowering trees in. The forsythia and magnolias were killed while they were out and those trees we look forward to all the long winter--the pears, the crab apples, the cherries, the lilac--all struggled even to blossom. However, the low-to-the-ground woodland beauties survived. Here are some forget-me-nots and white and purple violets from my backyard in the tiny vase (I took the picture too close up for you to see its delicate markings) that my mother gave me. Today I picked the first of the lily-of-the-valleys. They have spread all over one back corner of our large shaded lot.