Bring On Summer!!

First Gram G roses of the season!

It's about time!!  June 2, the wait is over!  Not since early February has dumplings been served at Gram G's!

Little grandson, Jake, helping Gram G make dumplings for his Birthday!!

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June 4...WHERE is Gram G???

She showed up in Wauwatosa, WI!!

Blew in from the West...kind of like Mary Poppins

FOR...

Olivia's high school graduation!!

pre-graduation older generation family get together

Chuck, Burt, Brian, Angie, Uncle Joe, Anna, Gram G

Mama and three of her babies!

When you don't want your picture taken

Graduation evening!

Louisa, Chuck, Olivia, Anna, Emilia

Emilia decorated for the party

A fruit cake...

Constructed the frames and arranged the flowers!

Olivia is attending Colorado State University, majoring in mathematics and to play horse polo!

Mama and three of her babies...

Hanging out with Angie for a couple days

And local wildlife...

Enjoying a few hours downtown Milwaukee

Lunch with Olivia and her cousins, Eva and Addy, and Uncle Chuck.

Waiting for a "Hop" trolley ride

June 11, time for Chuck to deliver me to the airport.

Thanks, Chuck, its been a great time!

The airport has several creative floor mosaics.

Arriving Portland...

Hello Mt. St. Helens and Columbia River!

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Nice to be home to recombobulate for 8 days...

June 20, off to the Portland rose test garden

With a few of the garden club ladies

    
When you are looking for a man of bronze!!

Since 1912 the Royal Rosarians have served as the Ambassadors of Goodwill for the city of Portland.

Jesse A Currey was the founder and first rose curator of the International Rose Test Garden.

"For you a rose in Portland grows."

The test gardens grow hybrid variety roses.  There are awards given for the most fragrant and colorful.

My favorite rose and fragrance...Octoberfest

Friday, June 21, I felt tricked, but not cheated...

June 21 is a disturbing day for me because after it being the time of longest daylight, the tide turns and shorter daylight sets in.  😕

However, I discovered on Friday that the summer solstice happened on Thursday, June 20 at 4:50PM EDT.  I missed observing it.  So I thought.

 

Turns out that is 1:50 PM PDT.  I took the above picture at 11:15...well, I was a few hours early but really close in the eons of time.

FYI This was the earliest in over 200 years.

Strawberry full moon falling on the first day of summer.  It's the peak season to harvest strawberries in the Northeast.

REFLECTIONS

It's been a busy first half of 2024!  I have to keep checking my few thousand pictures to remember what happened and when!  And "Where is Gram G?".  I now need to remind myself to enjoy the summer months,  the temperate temperature days, anyway.

I plan to "summer in the Couve", at least until late October.  I remember last summer that having morning tea on the deck was quite relaxing.  There are oodles of chores and projects that should be accomplished.  I will evaluate in the fall how much was actually done!  But, right now, "Bring on summer!" 

(Apologies for the random white backgrounds.  Digital technology has once again outsmarted me.)

This has been a good 4 GeoGram weeks in the life of Gram G.

"See! the winter has past; the rains are over and gone.  Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land."  (Song of Solomon 2:11-12)