We've really had some beautiful sunsets this year, or at least we've grown to appreciate  them more.

It was nice to be out  on the water the evening in July  that this was taken. And of course even better than that we enjoyed tall our company this summer.  It brightened up our days through the pandemic around us.  

It has been two and 1/2 months since these pictures were taken and now the  boys are back in school. And we are in our house freezing tonight. Actually, we are not freezing, but right now the temperature is 54. We've been used to much warmer weather.

Note Maggie. Even she was impressed by that sunset.

 

This is our granddaughter Lauren and her husband to be, Pat. Their wedding has been delayed  due to the  Pandemic.  It is good to see them having a good time in New Jersey fishing. This picture will be too small to see the fish Lauren caught, if you are checking in from your phone; but she did catch at least one. It is camouflaged by her hair in the picture top left. Being together is the best part.

 

These cuties don't have lightning bugs, by any name,  where they live in Colorado; so they always look forward to catching them shortly after the sun goes down when they visit us here in Ohio.  I keep a jar, for that purpose, with air holes in the lid. At least I think we had holes in the lid this year. Anyway they caught quite a few this time. Oliver is holding the filled jar.  It isn't easy to see; but it is fun when we turn off the lights and  watch them light up the room. 

I spent too much time on this layout with all the fancy stuff, the mask and sketch, but it was fun. Sadly, the sketch doesn't show up as well here as it does on the layout itself.
 

 I love this  girl, Julia. She is a go getter. She is tough, not easily slowed down. I predict she will get whatever it is that she goes after. You can see her here on her skateboard, even though she had hurt her toe pretty badly the day before.

Lake Life

Lake Life  is certainly a wonderful thing, especially here where so many choose to enjoy their free time. For those of us  who live here year round, it is a lot of  work, but worth it.   The summer is wonderful. This year seemed to be even better, since  so many had extra time and the incentive to get outdoors.

We are so  blessed to have grandchildren  with whom to enjoy these beautiful days on and by the water.

However, it would be even more pleasing to have them here year round!

 

 It was a lovely summer and it was great having kids around much of July, but I really miss them now.

At least I have lots of pictures, so that when I have time, I can do layouts for the  books that I'll be able to enjoy once I'm no longer able to do this.   

Well the weather here has shown a favor for fall. I'm fine with that, since it is my favorite season of all.

But I do miss seeing all the fun the lakes provide in summer. Here are Mason and Ashley enjoying our neighbors kayaks in July. 

Life goes on. Not only has the weather changed, but the 'kids' are back to the books and off to the colleges of their choice. 

These pictures  give  me a reason to look forward to next summer while I enjoy the next three seasons, which all have their good  points. 

I really could not enjoy the south as much as I do the changing seasons.
 

Julia, her brothers and their parents joined  others in their  family to pick blueberries in  the Columbus area in July,  It must have been a good year for the berries because they had a big haul. 

 Here  I am with two of my triplet grandchildren. Ashley and Mason were here for a week in July while their brother Aussie was in Wyoming.

We had a great time. We like to play games and we finished every day off with Rummy-0. Then of  course there was the lake. They enjoyed boating  to our favorite ice cream shop and kayaking all around. They also had a lot of fun at Lake Anna., which they found to be a great place for Pokeymon.

Mason is one of the triplets who has just started college at Tennessee Tech University.

Mason's father,  Greg,  posted a tribute to him on Facebook. You can see it here on the layout at the lower right hand corner. 

For this layout, I used Ashley's Dad's tribute to her, which he posted on Facebook. It explains why he calls her Tiger, and much more. She is one of the triplets they have sent off to college this year. All three are freshmen at different colleges. It is a very  hard way to become an empty nester.

 Ron likes to get up early and eat breakfast out with friends. It is good for me because  I don't like getting up early or eating breakfast out. For one thing, I don't want much breakfast and there is a lot to do most mornings.  

Ron is fortunate to have good friends who like to start their days in a fun way; and now  that most of them are retired, they can.  Hank here is still working, but he was able to be there before work yesterday. In the past they've had several more fellows who joined them. And some still do occasionally. 

We call these guys in the photo, the  three amigos. I am thankful that someone snapped a picture of them yesterday at the Wally Waffle in Montrose.

Here it is August and we are still suffering a loss of freedom due to the  Pandemic. Whether or not it is necessary, we are still limited. Thankfully we don't live in California, Washington or New York. Their freedom is almost entirely gone, unless of course they want to burn buildings, or do harm, then they rule.

These pictures were taken on July 3, which didn't seem to mean much this year, since all our public celebrations were shut down. No public fireworks, etc. We were trying to do what was right by our fellow man and stay home as much as possible. And when we were in public, we practiced social distancing and wearing masks. You can see Ron's mask here as he returns to the driver's seat. 

We were anxious  to see our youngest son, John, his wife Beth and their kids.  They would arrive in  two more days. In the meantime, we were busy spoiling our baby, Maggie.

On the spur of the moment,  I asked Ron if he would like to check out the park across Cottage Grove Lake from us. This is hard to believe, but  both of us have lived at the lakes most of our lives, and yet neither of us had explored  this park. I had driven in, again on a whim, once before, probably at least 30 years ago, found the parking lot, turned around and drove back out.We had no idea it was so lovely or that it was on rolling grounds with a quite steep hill. We liked the trip so well that we've decided to spend some more time there again soon.  By the way, Maggie loved it, both the walk and the people we met along the way.

 

Tie Dye is Back

 Tie  dye is back and the grandchildren are wearing what they made. Caleb and Oliver made shirts.  I'll have to show them later. Julia has the whole outfit. She models it well.