SAD TIMES/HAPPY TIMES

I find it difficult to believe that it has been almost a month since we posted our last blog. A few of our friends have emailed us wondering where we are and we appreciate their concern. August has been a very busy month - sometimes happy and sometimes very sad. We traveled back and forth to Orleans, Mass. on Cape Cod to visit my brother and his family frequently. Each time, it seemed that he had failed a little more, even though he kept a positive outlook and always said "I'm OK - just the usual reaction to the Chemo" and his Oncologist said he was doing fine. Unfortunately two days after our last visit his wife, Barbara, called to let us know that he had some difficulty breathing and was in the hospital on a ventilator. We headed back down with heavy hearts to find that the cancer had spread to his last good lung and that nothing could be done. He was taken off the ventilator three days later, on August 16th, and passed away with his family and a few close friends surrounding him. He fought a short courageous fight over the past year and I am so thankful that he did not suffer at the end. He will be always be remembered and missed by all.
On a lighter side, we will only be here for about three more weeks , so we are scrambling to help Michelle with a few things around the house. We will be leaving around September 11th - heading to Port Clinton, Ohio for Robert's 50th high school reunion and on to Wisconsin to visit a few of his cousins before heading back to the Southwest. We are planning on being back in Arizona by the middle or end of October.
In the meantime, I'm still taking care of the boarding dogs. This is a picture of one of the gangs that were here some for a week, some for two week along with a three of Michelle's dogs. There were a total of 10 - not all in the picture - the three little ones were on the ramp to the house. Yaeger, the big German Shepherd; Snickers, black lab; Diesel, 6 month old Mastif, Cooper, some mix; Zoe, who knows; Isabella and Mary Jane, Silky Terriers; Sophie, Boxer; Possum, Australian Shepherd, Sophie, King Charles; Shelby, King Charles. That was an interesting week or two! Thankfully we have not had that many at one time again, but they were fun and each one has a different personality - just like children.
The flower boxes and beds have been keeping Michelle and I busy, but they have drawn a lot of compliments for friends and neighbors. They are especially enthralled with the vegetables that we included in the flower boxes, like peppers, egg plants, and squash. The vegetables have actually done very well in the containers. We have one egg plant that has had produced three huge egg plants. The tomatoes and peppers are loaded with fruit also, but are a little behind since we did not get them in the ground early. We have been picking a few tomatoes at a time as they ripen and there is nothing like a home grown tomato fresh from the garden. Nothing beats a fresh tomato, mayonnaise sandwich, yum!
Robert and I went to a concert in the park in South Glens Falls last night with my cousin, Paul and his wife, Pat. I love these small towns that still draw the majority of the community to these events. It was a lovely evening of sitting on the lawn in our folding chairs enjoying Irish Ballard's from a local group out of Albany. We are going to try to get to the Washington County Fair this week - hopefully the rain holds off.