Meandering with Mary Etta: Wrap up August and on to September and Oregon coming up . . .

Myra Welling, Cindy Fields and ME at Albion Basin wildflower hike, Big Cottonwood Canyon.

July/August in the Midwest.

Minnetonka memories for one week.

Harriet's beautiful backstroke.

David's ingenious rigging to turn off/on his light switch.

Kayaking Lake Calhoun with Erik.

Summer baseball tournaments. Tom making a hit.

Hannah making her way through Steinbeck for the start of school.

Newest member of the family, Snowflake.

Dear Splashie.

Mark's community garden plot. Erik packed out a bundle of goodies.

It may not be obvious that this is a clever method of keeping cukes cool in ice water. The tall appendage at the upper right of the sink is the channel through which cukes are added to the ice cold water prior to pickling.

I wonder if Karen has carried on Erik's methodology of pickling dills.

300-year old Bur Oak at the edge of the community garden plots.

Cancer Center tour--

Mark at the labyrinth in the healing garden.

Memory bricks for DPP and MEP.

Beautiful and interesting art throughout the Cancer Center.

LEED recognition.

Dedication day--

Table centerpiece.

Tom, Mark, the director, Anne, Karen, Erik.

Minnehaha Creek boardwalk entrance at the Center's parking lot.

Off to Northern Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati, in Fort Thomas and then Taylor Mill for two weeks.

The girls and I played at their playground in Fort Thomas while Bruce and Faith did the last clean up of their rental.

At this point in time Alice didn't like her picture taken. I later learned from Faith that the anticipation of just a single stick of gum at the end of a photo day was enough encouragement for a ton of photos.

Over the Roebling Bridge of the Ohio River to Cincinnati and the Great American Ball Park. No team has a more appropriate sponsor name for their venue than the Cincinnati Reds. I didn't know baseball could be so fun. Loved the hoopla of a home run, the antics of the grounds crew and their "YMCA" routine at the 7th inning stretch,

What a great setting at night as the lights come up and the riverboat lights cruise the river, the hawkers hawk beer, ice cream, peanuts ..., the fans pay 22 bucks for 5 bottles of water, 8 for 2 snow cones, 7.50 for a beer .... I was tempted just to at least give the hawkers a tip for the ambiance--they each have their personal style. The little girls were terrific.

Who cares that the Reds got beat by the Rockies.

Next stop the zoo. Manatees feeding on large heads of lettuce captivated Myra.

The Cincinnati VA hospital where Bruce works.

The Children's Museum at the old train station.

An early in-car birthday for Alice--"The Kissing Hand." Pre-school will be starting next month.

Fun at the park near the art museum. The girls did really well with their mom and friends, the Bakers, at the museum giving me some gallery time on my own.

Home to water the tomato plants on the deck, playing in the yard, swinging in the under-the-deck swing, chalk art on the floor tiles and cement foundation wall. Nothing but fun and games.

Can you tell this is Myra on the foundation wall?

The Underground Railway Freedom Center.

Loved these huge textile wall hangings.

All the exhibits were very thought provoking . . . almost to tears at times.

Story time.

Reflection time on the terrible ordeals of runaway slaves crossing the Ohio River at night from Kentucky. Gratitude for those, both free-blacks and whites, who dared to help them on their flight to Canada and freedom.