June is Gone!

(Meg at Softball Camp.)

Hello From Whidbey Island!

Again I am late in posting. Next month, I'll probably post three times -once after each guest group leaves. That's the plan for the next month: lots of company! Jim is busy getting the kitchen cabinets ready for the refacing we should receive today. We are waiting for somebody to deliver the new doors and the covering for the cabinets. We are waiting.....I am counting out sheets, towels and blankets for the many beds we'll fill over the next weeks. And, I'm cooking and doing laundry.

Here's what's going on up here. We are having a big July 4th party, and this year we get to have four couples Libby has invited over the last three years. They all decided they could come this year! Scott and Missy and Meg arrive on June 29 to stay the week. The other guests arrive starting on Jul 3. (Libby on Jul 2) We are putting people in the guest rooms, the Garden Room, Missy and Scott's house, and the pop up camper. (We even have a dog coming along for a visit!) We are so happy to include our son-in-law Rich and his wife Pam as members of the 4th party. We'll be 18-20 people for the BBQ, I think?? The number keeps changing. We'll have all the regular food and fireworks and hopefully nice enough weather for a sail during the day. The boat is scheduled to leave at noon and return in time for BBQ at 4PM. We'll send that group off on the 5th and welcome a new group, Libby's friend, Eva, and her two girls for 4 days beginning the 11th. We'll send them out and about on Whidbey Island and over to Friday Harbor for a visit to the Whale Museum. There's lots to do here. They'll leave on the 15th and our friend Debbie Miller and her two boys arrive on the 19th for 5 days. We'll take them to see Beauty and the Beast in Mt Vernon and spend a day at the animal park in Sequim (if we can get a ferry reservation). They plan to go to the Whale Museum, too. That week will be Whidbey Island Race Week so there will be lots of boats to see, racing up and down Penn Cove with their spinnakers flying.

To get ready for all this, we have replaced the bi-fold doors on the pantries in the kitchen, bought a new sofa for the family room, and Jim added a window and a ceiling fan to the Garden Room. We are still planning to add the wall board out there, but the window has changed everything and seemed the priority as we were making a work schedule. And, we are hoping we get the top cabinets done for the 4th...if they arrive in time.

We also added geraniums to all the pots outside and the window boxes in the front. Things are finally blooming and we are hoping spring will finally get here. The sun shines off and on but it is still very cool. The local strawberries are not out yet; somebody said we are three weeks late on everything this year. We'll eat good food for all the visits and include crab and salmon since that's what they all want. I'm doing some things ahead of time and saving wear and tear on my body.

In August we'll be sailing lots and have no plans for company. The weather should be great for cruising around in the San Juans.

We are still holding our own at the church, but now we are talking about how to grow spiritually and spending less time on the worry about the building. That is a Bishop worry, and we need to let him do that.

I am knitting all the time, one thing and another. I have socks going all the time, and now I have started another shawl. I finished a bag for a friend and it has to be felted. Then, I'll begin a sweater for somebody. We'll see. I also knitted two baby sweaters for babies in Africa, a project the local Methodist church is doing. It's the 5-hr sweater and really is easy, but pretty, too. I'm using up lots of acrylic yarn for that since it can be washed so easily.

Hope you are having a great summer-spring-whatever it is at your house. Happy 4th of July, The Whidbey Wagners.