This is the week that the beginning of summer arrived. Now, judging from the heat of the past while, one would have judged that summer had arrived a while back, but this is the week of its official arrival.
Summer is long anticipated, especially by youngsters, with the vacation days, time to play in the yard and street, time to go to the pool or the tennis court, time to ride bikes and skate, time to attend vacation Bible school, time to practice the piano a bit more than usual (yeah, right), time to vacation and travel with family.
June is a month of celebrations for our family. Our granddaughter, Kelsey, married Dakota on the 10th at St. Anthony's on the Creek, near Lowell. It was a lovely ceremony in the woods, with a reception hall and dance floor nearby. We rejoice with them; they've waited patiently for the right time to make this happen. She is an elementary school teacher and he anticipates becoming a firefighter/emergency medical technician.
Our daughter-in-law, Cynda, celebrated her birthday on that same day. Then, two days later, I observed and celebrated my own birthday with family members coming over, bringing the meal and so that portion of the day ended and my husband took me out for a steak supper. It was all a real treat.
Our daughter, Rebecca, and her husband, Kevin, will celebrate their anniversary this week. They were married in our back yard after having met online, a very romantic story.
The roses in our yard continue to bloom, a sure reminder that June is upon us. My favorites are the pink and yellow Knockouts. The hydrangeas in our backyard are looking great in their blue, and the bright yellow daylilies are looking good, both in our yard and all over town.
Another thing growing at our place are the Concord grape vines, on our backyard's side fence. We planted them last summer and now find that they are doing quite well, setting on little green girls. They cause me to remember when we grew grapes a number of years ago in our Iowa home, where we had an old metal swing set frame. Here is the idea I had found in a magazine: Build a "grape house." It consisted of fastening chicken wire on the sides and ends -- forming a tent of sorts. Then plant grape vines and wait. They grew and formed the walls of the house. With some old rugs on the grass below, and some little chairs, we now had our grape house, a lovely summer hide-out for the small grandchildren when they came to visit. They could reach to the walls and ceiling and harvest a snack of Concords.
Here's to a happy June!
-- Jan Mullikin is a Siloam Springs resident and former employee of the Herald-Leader. She can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Community on 06/22/2016