Well June has been quite a busy month. Gabriel returned from Cal poly, Susie had her two month check-up, Pearl finished her first year of High School and we hosted our annual Summer Solstice party. Susie is feeling better, though she is still having problems with her left ear. Her check-up in Houston was positive, no growth. We are trying a few things related to the ear, mostly topical steroids, to see if we can open up the pathways for the fluid in her mastoid air cells to drain. I’m sure this is contributing to her fatigue. Hopefully in July, we’ll get the all clear for her to start swimming.
In the meantime, we had a barrage of visitors in June. The Barber Clan came over to our home for breakfast. They were in town for a family holiday from Cambridge, including all their grown boys (I hope they did not go away hungry :-). They were on their way to New Braunfels to enjoy the water activities/ outdoors there. They tried to stay to the end of the Brazil vs. Chile game, but had to leave during extra time. What an exciting game, edge of seats through to the last penalty shot.
Susie’s brother Doug stopped in on her actual birthday. He was driving from San Francisco to Chapel Hill, as they are selling their home located in the outer sunset. We have quite a few memories of that place, mostly filled with guitar music, laughter and Dungeness Crab. It was nice visiting with Doug that evening and over a Dan’s Hamburger for lunch the next day.
We rounded out the week of 4th of July with a trip to Balmorhea. We have dear friends (Dave and Karen Smith) who own The Eleven Inn. This is the first trip we’ve taken, since Susie’s recurrence in September. So we wanted to keep it driving distance to home, kinda strange to think that 6.5 hours of driving is nearby. As usual our partners in crime (aka The Mahaffeys) joined us for the trip. We did an evening into Fort Davis followed by the Twilight/ Star Party at McDonald Observatory. It rained that evening and was quite cloudy, so the Observatory did a presentation on satellites. Towards the end of the presentation, the skies cleared and the group got the run of the telescopes. We spent the following afternoon soaking in the cool waters at the State Park and ended the day with making steaks and baked potatoes outside.
We ended the holiday weekend, visiting Susie’s siblings Charley and Kim with their respective families out in Bastrop. It was nice to see everyone and laze around in the pool a bit. Unfortunately, I think the events of June pretty much exhausted Susie (and me). So, rest and relaxation are in the mix for July (or so that is the plan/ hope :-).
PS: I love the Tim Howard Secretary for Defense hack on Wikipedia! Well done to bring a smile after such a gut wrenching US game against Belgium. I enjoyed even more seeing the Stand with Israel sign in Harper, TX, as we headed into Fredricksburg for dinner.
