There is a young woman in a small village next to us. She is an attractive blonde with three adorable young children and a very handsome, ruggled husband who is a full-time welder and a volunteer firefighter. She is a leader in the "Embers", the volunteer fire department's women's group who help with the annual breakfast fundraiser, the booth at the village festival and all the other activities. 

She is very sweet and nice and popular and everything I just said about her and her life is important.  

It is important because that is how to help you afford healthcare in this country.  

Megan has cancer. And the fire department is rallying to make sure she can afford treatments. 

Last Sunday the fire department sponsored a Chicken BBQ.  Every business and family in the village volunteered to help.

Firemen barbequed the chicken and roasted the corn. There were cups of cole slaw and homemade baked beans. A local candy maker donated chocolate covered pretzels as a dessert. 

There were over 100 raffle baskets donated for drawings.  There was a second raffle for more expensive tickets that included a freezer and a 1/4 beef donated by a local beef producer.  

We were smart to get there early because they sold out of the 400 dinners in 45 minutes. And because it was the week after the village festival, they still had some boxes of hamburgers in the freezer and were able to start frying burgers for those who missed out on chicken.  

I have not heard the total amount raised, but it will be substantial.  

Megan's family is lucky that they have life long ties to the village, that they are well known and, to be honest, they are an attractive and sympathetic family in photos. Because that is the formula to raise money for health emergencies.  

Rose O'Sharon

I've shared this story before. My sister in-law Peggy had Rose O'Sharons planted around her house.  She was splitting them and gave me three baby plants. 

When she was 33 years old she got up, got dressed and went to her eight year-old son's soccer game. She was standing with my brother and her 5 year-old daughter when she suffered a massive heart incident and dropped to the ground.

Despite numerous doctors in the crowd, nothing could be done. She was dead as she fell.  

This was over 31 years ago and it seems like yesterday to me.  And my Rose O'Sharons are a memory of her. 

For most of the summer my gardener (Mr Merry) has been at war with Japanese Beetles. 

The Japanese Beetles can devour every blossom on a bush in a few hours.  

Mr Merry is winning the war! 

More. And More. And More.

 

This morning. 

We Did It

I started at Christmas. I wanted a date during the summer that we could schedule a family portrait.  This is no easy feat with a family of twenty-two.  We needed to work around school schedules, job schedules, vacation schedules, child custody schedules, and anything else they threw in.  By mid-January I was able to call the photographer, pay the deposit and schedule the photo session.

Then I had my heart incident. As soon as I could catch my breath in the ER, I made my husband promise to have this portrait done whether I was there or not.  I might have been a little crazy. 

We were scheduled for sunrise on Sunday August 2 which worked around teens with summer jobs and sports.  Then my daughter's best friend scheduled a wedding the night before and we had to move to evening. With lots of recontering we managed to move 22 schedules to make it work, even with the out-of-towners. And the photographer's schedule so I guess 23 people's schedules. 

The day dawned and the photographer started texting. We did not have a venue large enough to put all of us indoors. The sun was shining too brightly during the day with storms forecast in the evening.  We ended up moving the session up by one hour and did have heavy winds. 

Luckily my photographer is magic and not only was able to get 22 people looking at the camera at the same moment with their eyes open, but they all had a pleasant expression on their faces too.  She actually provided 61 finished proofs of this menagerie, but I only needed this one. She gave us separate family groups, girls vs boys, grandkids, the OGs, and more.  

There was a Mexican restaurant across the road and I treated them all to dinner for being such good boys and girls. 

We did make reservations, you can't just show up with 22 people.  

I am so grateful that everyone was able to show up and they all looked so nice.  My anxiety was through the roof (for no reason, I get like that) and this will probably be the last time I will be able to gather them all in the same spot at one time.  There are two college students in the bunch, two more rapidly approaching college and it is just getting more and more tricky to sync these schedules.