5 Quick Takes (or something like it)

-1-

Soooo I fail at blogging.  Sorry.  I've been busy and unmotivated.  Who wants to sit in front of a computer when there is so much else to do?  I think I'm giving up on Jen's 7 Quick Takes and seriously just doing 5.  I just might move the day from Friday to Saturday.  Any encouragement you can give me to blog would be appreciated...unless you think I should just give up! That's okay too.

-2-

The last time posted anything I'd mentioned I'd been away.  This summer's project has been clearing out my grandmother's house.  It has been an incredibly painful process in many ways.   The emotions that come from a situation like that are bad enough.  My dear grandmother passed away last June - the last of my grandparents.  We were blessed to have her live to the good old age of 93.

The last several years of her life she lived hundreds of miles away from her home with my parents.  She was a very sentimental person and extremely stubborn. Even in her frailty she insisted that she wanted to return to her beloved home.  She insisted that she would be the one to sort through her well-loved possessions.  Naturally, none of that ever happened.

Now a year after her passing we are left sorting through her life's worth of things - jammed packed in to every nook and cranny of her house.

It is pretty unbearable. It is tiring work.  None of us live around there anymore, which means we have to travel and infringe on the hospitality of my father's side of the family.  We are all fairly sentimental people as well.  Oh yes, and since the house has been sitting for over 5 years it has sustained a lot of damage from lack of repair, the constant rattling from major train tracks just over the fence, and the mice who decided to take over once my grandmother and her beloved cats left.

It's ugly.  I'm so exhausted from this project.   We all are. It's not over either. We're looking at another trip up there very soon.  Any prayers and encouragement you can send my way (or my mom's) would be appreciated.

-3- 

Rudy: The sweetest golden-doodle puppy in the world~

One highlight of having to travel to clean my grandmother's house is visiting my father's family.  While were were staying with my uncle and aunt the other week, my son fell in love with their two cats and dog.  One of the cats is named "Peanut Butter." My little guy loved this cat so much and she graciously tolerated him.  He ran all over the house calling her "Pea-jelly." He usually calls the sandwich the same.  So silly.  We also were able to spend a day out at the Ancestral Cottage. 

-4- 

He finally went on his first couple boat rides (the first was on a sailboat!) and spent many hours in a little float hanging out in the water.  He LOVED it all!

He found it all very relaxing:

Tired Sailor.

-5-

Since we've been back we've been keeping very busy.  We've gone peach picking, zucchini picking, and blueberry picking.  My refrigerator is exploding with deliciousness.  I've slowly been working on canning and freezing.  I really need to hurry up though! The stuff won't last forever.

Trying to see if there's even one zucchini in that field (we ended up with a lot)