Actually we have been together for 13-1/2 years but officially we’ve been marriage for 11.

Celebrating Number 11

On August 8th we dinned together at McCormick & Schmicks at Easton to commemorate our first day as man and wife.

Most of you will remember that we were actually married in Michigan because that’s where we became engaged exactly one year before. The setting is one of the most memorable places we could have imagined. An outdoor chapel sitting high on sand dunes overlooking lake Michigan. There were friends and family who traveled a long distance to be with us as we said our vows. Since this site is where the yearly AMUUSE camps are held there were many other friends already there and they joined in. The day was beautiful and we couldn’t think of anything that would have improved that day. We look back with many memories and gratitude that we have found each other.

WOW….sixty three years of marriage. That’s a hard number to wrap one’s head around and as I hear them tell it, they can’t believe it’s been that long either.

63 years of marriage...

A neighbor sent them a very nice fruit basket partly to celebrate the occasion and as a thank you for some dog sits that Mom does for them when they travel. It is a truly a beautiful gift and much appreciated.

Mom & Dad each turn 87 this month and both are surprisingly spry. Dad is still working part time as a watch maker and Mom is very active in the Rocky Ridge Condo Social activities. She is known to just about everybody there as Little Mary.

They are shown here in their condo with the fruit basket.

We really don’t have many overnight guests and it wouldn’t seem an especially good time for guests to come calling given that we have the house torn apart. However, it was a special occasion that

Cindy and Ginny

Cindy Benbow Boehling with her daughter Ginny came to spent a few days with us this month. (Cindy is the youngest child of Charles T. Benbow, Jerry’s first cousin). These guests came here all the way from Greensboro, NC. It would be nice to say that they came just to spend time with us, but that wouldn’t be very accurate. Their visit here was mostly to attend the Dublin Irish Festival being held in our area. Both of them are big fans of some of the bands that were appearing during the festival. Besides being cousins Cindy and Mr. Jerry share a birthday. We always thought it nice that she choose to be born on his big day. Oh yes, there are many, many years difference in the year they each were born. (likely you can tell that from their photo)

Every time I see Cindy I am reminded of the remarkable resemblance she holds to her Grandmother, our Aunt Thelma Benbow. Aunt Bow, as we knew her, was always kind to Mr. Jerry and we miss her.

In July and likely June we told you about this swarm of bees that just showed up one day and how we had a bee keeper come put them in a box so that they would be protected. This month we struck a deal with the bee guy to sell us a hive of our own and to put our bees in it. Well, we now are a proud owner of our very one apiary (isn’t that the name they call that thing?). Yes, I looked it up to see that it’s a place where bees are kept.

Bees being moved to new home	Queen bee shown here

We’ve had good intentions but as of this date we haven’t bought the rest of the stuff needed to open the hive and tend the bees properly. That will come but we’ve been so busy working on the house we haven't had time to do that.

The fellow who sold us the hive said that perhaps we should feed the bees to give them a good start. He brought us a five gallon bucket of old honey that he couldn’t use (yep, that’s 80 pounds of the stuff). We cut it down with water and fed the entire bucket to them. Each day they could consume about two cup of honey. Just imagine how long five gallons would last at that rate.

In the first photo you can see the bees being moved to their new home and the second one shows the queen in the middle of the shot.

Mostly the news from here is that we now have a contract with someone to update our home. Plus we have agreed to do some of the work ourselves. Our part is to remove carpet, trim and doors. When we agreed to this it seemed like a one or two day job but it’s turning out to be much bigger than we had ever imagined. As you know, we had already taken out two walls on our own and after we signed the contract the real work began. Some of the rooms required little attention but others have been very time consuming. At this time we have removed most of the kitchen cabinets and stripped the wall paper. There are many things yet to be done as we wait for the contractor to get permits and begin the work.

You can check out the progress of our remodel project on the web.

Click here for remodeling photos

Looking at old living room	Old kitchen being torn apart

Around here August means back to school and

Ready for the 2nd grade

our Mr. Jacob began his next step in life in the second grade. He is reporting that he likes his new teacher and so far things are going well for him. As we have come to expect he is very closed lipped about what he is learning from day to day, but we do know that he continues to excel in reading but that’s about all we know.

It’s the end of another news month for us. Next month there will be lots to tell about our house project. Stay tuned for that. Meantime drop a card of email, or even pick up the phone if you have time. We love keeping up with your world too.