a birthday

Dorcas had a birthday and we all had cake.  Leah helped to blow out the candles.

black walnut cake

Dorcas made a two-layer black walnut cake on Saturday. Black walnut is native to North America; the tree produces fine hard wood for furniture and the shells are one of the hardest natural substances.

birthday 66

Every time June 29 rolls around I get one year older. Family came and helped me enjoy the day. They watched me blow out the six candles. I blew upward to keep spittle off the perfect icing. I said a few profound words of wisdom but I forget what the gist of it was.

photo by Joel

birthday and job change

Over the weekend we added boards to the table, cooked up some stew and paused for Ryan's 29th birthday, replete with ceremony; and we gave Sarah the floor to talk about ending a 6.5 year tenure at Ephrata Hospital and starting a new job at Lancaster's big hospital. They together told us about their imminent trip to Kalona for a wedding. Dogmeister Brutus tries to hold up and be brave and share the stage with le Montreal coq we bought this summer. (Cake pic by Joel; Sarah pic by Stephanie)

Ryan's birthday party

Ryan turned 28 and proved he still has the puff to take care of the candles at the party we threw for him Saturday.

Besides our sixsome (Sarah, Ryan, Joel, Steph, Dorcas and me) we had guests--Milton and Lois, and cousin Chris from Oregon public radio. Steph, with her new apple laptop, pulled up Chris's recent story which went national.

Last and least were the two hounds, Simon and Brutus, who I noticed did not help to sing "Happy Birthday" and didn't get any of the food. They did regale us with some antics. (pics by Joel)

Special couple at wedding shower

These are important and exciting days. Joel and Stephanie are getting married Nov. 10. It's kind of like building a new pyramid, a new Rome, a new civilization. You don't do it in one day.

Bible scholars point out that the wedding at Cana was probably a five-day shindig. The point is not being an extravaganza. The point is the rock-bed deep foundations.

Last week friends threw a wedding shower. I put up a pic of the gifts. Here's the couple having the first piece of cake.