Crescendo

Crescendo is a good word.  It means a gradual increase in volume or intensity.  In music, a crescendo moves from a gentle sound that builds and builds until crushing sound envelopes you.  In our little part of the world, a crescendo of sadness is building and building and will soon culminate as our third son, Tony, his wife, Carmen,  and their three wonderful children, 13, 9 and 7, move away to follow a dream out in the state of Oregon.  We wish them well and hope and pray that it will be a great move and they will build a beautiful life out there.  We know we've been unusually blessed to have had their lives so entwined with ours these past few years.  But still the sadness looms.  The children have been our playmates and gateway back to the innocence of childhood.  We've watched them blossom and learn and establish personalities, likes and dislikes, and show glimpses of special talents. We know them all well now and can be confident that our connection is forever but we also know that our relationship will be changing.  Hopefully, we'll be able to travel the 2000 miles annually, especially since our second son, Dan, his wife, Cori and son, Ben, are out there too, in Vancouver, Wa.  We'll try to utilize all the hi tech communication devices that we can master but in our heart of hearts know that it won't be the same.  But that is life, ever changing and not always exactly as you'd like.  So, we're savoring  every one of these last days we have, swimming and laughing and singing.

We'll let them go and wish them well, let the cescendo of sadness envelope us and then exit the other side, delighting in the every day pleasures of our life, looking forward to the visits of our 1st son and his children who only live 130 miles away, and start to plan next year's trip out west................The pictures I've included are showing how our apple trees are faring this year.  Bing had to put seven foot fences around some of them because last year we saw deer standing on their hind legs to reach the low hanging apples.  We've heard that apples are scarce this year and two different ladies from town are asking to buy our apples.  And then a picture of a cucumber inserted itself.  Enjoy!