Vern awoke on the morning of June 2nd with a raging fever.  He was transferred to Northwest Hospital and diagnosed with pneumonia.  After several days there, he is now residing in the rehab. section of Arden Rehabilitation & Healthcare center, where they are trying to get some strength back into him. He has a long way to go.
        As always, our caring family has joined forces to make him comfortable being there. The rest of us think it is a pretty nice place and they seem to be taking good care of him.  Of course, he just wants to come home, which can’t happen unless/until he gets stronger and able to do more for himself.
        Dave and I had lunch with him a couple of times, and Nancy joined him another time, and we can testify that the food they serve is good. Liz made him a cozy, blue and white fleece blanket, which she and Paul brought to him on Father’s Day. He has a lovely bouquet of sky blue, silk hydrangeas put together by Hildy. Dave brought him the vintage picture of Vern, John, and Paul cutting firewood for the cabin.

Vern

        We all visit.  He has had company almost every day, I’m glad to say.
        Please, everyone, keep him in your thoughts.

JUNE BIRTHDAYS…

        Our youngest grandchild, Paul and Liz’ daughter, Zoe’s birthday is the 7th.

Zoe

        Brother Jack’s oldest grandchild, Amber Trigg, is a June child. Sorry, I do not have a picture.

        Both of Dan Lightfoot’s parents had June birthdays, and although they are both gone now, we remember them with love as two of the nicest folks we have ever known.

        Bernice, Mel’s wife and Ralph’s mother is another we remember with great affection.

Bernice

        Our container garden is growing very well and has provided me with some lovely, crunchy lettuce. The various tomato plants are lookin’ good and all show blooms, but no baby tomatoes as yet.  I have put a cute “dodo bird” out there to keep everything safe and well and am being sure to keep the area watered.  It was a good plan to bring my garden out by the kitchen door.. 

My Dodo Bird Garden

        A replica of one of Columbus’ ships, The Nina, has sailed into Lake Union and is moored at the Wooden Boats dock at South Lake Union.  Nan and I, fortified with hamburgers and a shared shake, drove down to view her across a neck of water.  She isn’t very big considering the length of the voyage and conditions through which she, and her sister ships, sailed on that historical voyage in 1492. 
        While we were there thinking “history”, a couple of modern seaplanes landed close by, and took off again with sightseers….. to remind us of where we actually were in time.  A nice contrast.

Nina Replica

        Another June date for which we are grateful  is the 23rd.. the day Nancy Lee Putnam traded “Putnam” for ”Nordstrand” and became the wife of son John.

John & Nancy, 1991

        They plan to take a couple of days away from their busy schedules here to mark the occasion with a visit to the picture book town of Leavenworth just east of Stevens Pass in the Cascades and on to Wenatchee and who-knows-where-else on the far side of the mountains. 

        Dave called to tell me about a bicycle ride he did over the weekend.  The weather was cooperative. He pedaled something like 45 miles and has some sore muscles, but enjoyed the outing..

Dave on Recumbent

        Between “fun” things, he is spending a lot of time at the cabin near Skyhomish, putting it to rights after the floodings that have happened several times over the past few years and which have left silt to rot the foundations of both the cabin and the “shed”.

        One lovely evening, Anne invited me to dinner with them at her house. Dave picked me up.   Her sister, Betsy, was there and Ryan, too.
        Dave grilled steaks and Anne and her sister provided the rest of the wonderful meal… including a fine pastry with rhubarb and cream. We had lots of good conversation and catching up.  I hadn’t seen Anne or Betsy for quite a while.
Ryan was kind enough to drive me home afterward, saving his dad a double trip across Lake Washington  He’s a good kid.

        The Fremont Fair and Parade drew a huge crowd, as usual.  This year’s parade had a very special float. In August, there will be a brand new statue placed in Fremont in honor of J. P. Patches and Gertrude, characters from a childrens’ program from the time our kids were growing up.  In anticipation of this, History House entered a float this year, at the suggestion and great help of the Fremont Arts Council.  Paul and his daughter, Zoe, spent a lot of time painting it to make it look like the old “set”. Liz stitched together a wonderful “Sturdley, the bookworm” and a brown dog, named “Griswald”.  Derik Loso and Barry Fritz dressed up as the evil Boris S Wart and the hero SuperClown, and worked a lot on the float. Derik put the walls on the float with help from Paul, and added some great props. Barry made a beautiful Grandpa Tik-Tok, and an ICU2 TV set. On parade day, Paul walked beside the float, while most of his family, including Liz & Nan, provided the power to take it the length of the parade route.

J.P. Patches Float

Derik Loso as Boris, Barry Fritz as SuperClown

        June went by in a flash!  Seems like we wait all through the gray times for a glimpse of fair weather.  Amazingly, this year we have been seeing a rash of hot days that keep this “oldie” cooped up in the house with the air conditioner.  For me, the thermometer needs to be stuck somewhere between 68 and 75 degrees or I start to pant.  I don’t think it was always like this.  Just since I became so “mature”.

Thought for the day: (I agree, wholeheartedly)

        If you can’t be a good example--then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.

                                                                     -Catherine-

Dixie/Dorothea, Senior Editor

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