we're back!

It's hard to know where to begin a description of our week at Melrose. There were lots of small projects (most of which fell into Ken's domain as handyman), errands, meals, a family reunion, early celebration of my birthday... The collage here is a mere sample of the week: honeysuckle blooming in the backyard; the low country boil birthday dinner prepared by our friends Jimmy and Barbara (yumm!!!!--thank you again, J&B!); a walk down to the river with Ken's sister, Margaret, who flew in from Denver for the family reunion; and a beautiful Victorian house in a small, county-seat town where we played tourist one day.

In all it was a great week. As noted in an earlier post we had incredible weather, and for the most part Ken was spared any "heavy lifting" projects to give his system some time for rest and recovery. I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of reading one afternoon, so made about two chapters of progress in my current book, Three Cups of Tea. It wasn't the kind of relaxation I had hoped for, but there were lots of compensations for that each day. I was grateful just to be there, to hear the birds, to walk as often as we could over at the local park by the lake, enjoy time with Mom, and simply soak up the beauty that is Melrose.

Today I am settling back in, settling the dogs back in, and looking forward to a little Cinco de Mayo gathering tonight with friends. Details of the week will unfold in upcoming days, with more pictures to share! Stay tuned, and know that I look forward to getting caught up with everyone!