Today I paid a visit to Kathy and Lou's deck. They have "Deck Daze" almost every Sunday. I haven't been in awhile and I missed those crazy people so off I went. Today the party was a little thin...mostly family and a few friends. I'm "extended family" so no one was a stranger to me...that's not to say that some of them aren't strange...but I know them all. So I sauntered right in and was greeted by Jake, their dog. He's large and wonderful but currently suffering from a pinched nerve in his back somewhere. (I feel for you buddy and I know what you're going through)
The first stop was to hug Lou. Lou always gets the first hug. The second stop was to hug Kathy. I thrive on hugs and it's been too long since I've seen these guys. It was nice to know I still fit right in. In my family, once you're in, you're in for good. Seems like Kathy and Lou live by that rule too. Ahhhhh extended family is great!
I greeted everyone as I came upon them and whipped out my camera with this blog in mind. Kathy informed me that Joe would be leaving in a half hour to go to bootcamp. I got here just in time to take some pictures before he left. I didn't realize he was leaving today! I took a few pictures, talked to everyone and got caught up on what they've been doing, and before I knew it Joe was preparing to leave...saying his goodbyes....giving out hugs. I got a picture of Joe handing everything in his pockets to his mother, Lori. Empty your pockets, boy!
There was a chorus of good luck wishes and last minute reminders to stay in touch and he was gone. I had a teary eyed moment as I watched him leave...remembering the party at the German Club with Philip before he left for bootcamp. Nobody said it, but I think we all harbor a little fear for Joe. Everyone is proud of him but still the fear is always there.
The next thing I did was check out Kathy's garden. She was complaining that her squash is putting out blossoms but no squash. Sound familar? If you've been reading my blog all along, you'll remember my garden (of mostly squash) was very gay for awhile. Seems the squash end of Kathy's garden is currently singing show tunes too! I looked at each blossom and every darn one of them is male. So I explained to her the difference between girl blossoms and boy blossoms and that if the bees aren't doing the job you have to "diddle" them yourself. She looked me straight in the face and said "I am not diddling my garden." (I think it's important to note here that Kathy knew immediately what I meant by diddle....I had a big grin on my face.) She then extended to me an invitation to diddle her garden myself any time I want. And of course I will do that for her. That's what extended family is for!
The video above are the pictures I got that weren't blurry. It's harder than I thought it would be to take pictures of people that suddenly become camera shy. What's with that??
