Lots of family time

The week started last Sunday after I blogged....Elise had a concert with the Memorial Baptist Choir that evening so Steve, Beckie, Emily and I drove to Columbia to hear her.  We stopped at Steven and Tamara's first to have supper and then Steven joined us at the performance.  For being a church choir, this group is extremely talented.  This is the third year Steve and I have been able to attend this annual event.  Elise is second from the end on the right side of the back row...

A close-up of the stained glass window you can see in the photo above.

Here we are after the concert.  I guess we all got the matching clothes memo....

Here is a photo of Emily, Larkin and me as we picked Emily up for the drive to Columbia.  As always when a bunch of us get together, the two-hour drive to and from Columbia and the supper was full of great conversations.

While Elise was making vocal music last weekend, Kirsti was making instrumental music in the Nebo Philharmonic Orchestra at an outdoor concert that was part of a children's fair.  Alice and Ivan got their faces painted at the event.  I am so happy that Kirsti is playing violin again!  

We have had lovely cooler temperatures all week.  Fall is definitely around the corner.  Why one of my iris plants decided to bloom is a curiosity, though

My pumpkin patch is doing great.  I think a white pumpkin seed infiltrated the seed packet, though

I had my last two string demonstrations this week - one on Monday and one on Friday.  I am SO glad to be finished with that part.  Hauling that bass is such a pain!  And I have to take it in the Element which means no air conditioning.  Thankfully, the weather has not been hot but I still get wind-blown.  

Linus had surgery on Wednesday to remove another lump - this one on his back leg.  There was more skin leftover to stitch together so he does not have a big, open wound like the first lump.  But, he still licks so the cone of shame continues.   And, because he was anesthetized, they cleaned his teeth and pulled a few more (he was already missing several teeth).  He now has only eight teeth in his mouth!  Good thing we feed him ground up dog kibble mixed with wet food.   Steve does the grinding with an old blender we have.  It is a very noisy activity so he grinds in bulk every other month or so.

Wednesday was a big day because Sarah also arrived!  Thankfully, her flight landed mid-day so I was able to make the two drives down and back from House Springs (round trip is an hour) where Open Door Animal Sanctuary is located to drop Linus off and then to pick him up at the end of the day.  Sarah will be here for two weeks and we are so happy to have her visit.  Usually, she comes at Christmas but there are a few autumn-related things she wants to do.  Julina drove over from Indiana on Friday night so she and Sarah could attend the Renaissance Festival in Kansas City on Saturday.  They picked up Elise and Steven along the way and the four of them spend the day together watching jousts and other shows, wandering around booths, eating turkey legs (maybe?) just like old times....  I will attach photos when I get them.

Thursday night, Sarah joined Steve and me for a watching of "The Others".  That morning, she helped me haul a bunch of mulch to an alley flower bed behind our house and we did some water coloring together in the afternoon.  She helped Steve do grocery shopping Friday afternoon after having lunch with Beckie.  Next week we will be camping for three days so stay tuned....