August signals that the end of summer is coming soon. It has gone way too fast. There have been several great family get-togethers, a lovely wedding, and a longer-than-usual visit from Heather, Thomas, and the two cutest babies on earth (our great-grandkids) Skyler and 'Tasia.

    On my birthday list, Megan, Paul and Liz' daughter, is earliest. Megan is a grown up young lady now, but this is my favorite picture of her, taken by Liz many years ago.

    Next, Vern's cousin-in-law, Helen Nordstrand, turned 94! She lives in Hudson, Wisconsin. Helen and I have a strong friendship built over the years by letters. In all that time, we have only met a couple of times, but I feel very close to her.

    Thomas Earl Withrow, Jr. became part of our big family when he and Heather were married a few years ago. He is an "August" person.

    On Jack's branch, we have Wayne Nancarrow and Cole Carpenter.

    And, last, but far from least, Vern's and my only summer baby, John Joseph Nordstrand, who has grown up to look amazingly like my brother, Jack, for whom he was named!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU ALL

    John and Nan used his birthday as an excuse to take a day away from regular duties and hike into the Cascades to enjoy the feel of being "out and away". They had a beautiful day for it, not too warm, but bright and sunny. Their hike took them through forest land and up onto a ridge with beautiful views and past several mountain lakes where they did their "catch-and-release" thing in water so clear and clean they could see the fish coming up to their bait.

    A very special gift was given to Vern and me on the day after John's birthday. Bless their thoughtful souls, they brought us a couple of handfuls of mountain blueberries to remind us of the many hikes we had taken with the kids when they were growing up. How very sweet!

    Dave and Anne have been doing "short" hikes with some members of their rowing group on Sundays. A recent one was to Lake Melawkwa, a hike of about four miles in (and up) from the trailhead near Denny Park.
     I was reminded of the time Miggs and I did this hike in the early 30s and got so hot and sweaty that we peeled off our clothes and went swimming, only to hear the young voices of a Boy Scout troupe coming up the trail. We ducked down behind a big rock and stayed in the water until the Scouts went on around the lake and out of sight. That was the last time we went hiking without our swimsuits in our day packs.

    Met with Sandra Brame, my late cousin Elaine's daughter, and her friend, Natasha, at History House. We got lunch from the nearby PCC deli and Nancy joined us on her lunch break. We heard more about the log house Sandra and Gary are building on acreage near Stanwood. Sandra is The Reverend Sandra Brame and she performs marriages. She mentioned she has done several at the Bell Chapel in Snohomish, where John and Leslie were married in early July.

    I was asked to write a short bio of Florence for a mostly picture book about Green Lake that is in the process of being put together by a young lady named Brittany Wright. I was very happy to do that. I am looking forward to seeing the book when it comes out.

    Heather sent us some charming pictures taken of Skyler's first haircut.

Skyler's locks last month, before his haircut

    Nancy and Daniel have been taking turns working on ridding us of one very large nest of yellow jackets that has grown up inside the foundation of our house. The entrance is tiny, a mere crack in one of the foundation blocks, but the mass inside is awesome. Nan risked getting stung by crawling into a cabinet to take a picture of it. So far, they have doused it 4 - 5 times, both inside and out, and we can still see an occasional occupant of the nest going in or coming out.

I like this observation...
"We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress--" Will Rogers

Dixie/Dorothea, Senior Editor

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