One sure way I’ve found to peel kids away from the video screen is with the promise of food. If they can bring a friend, it’s practically fail-safe. So here we are proving my point for lunch at Bagelmeister. I sensibly ordered a chicken salad croissant. These giggling ladies ordered dark chocolate croissants, a cinny bagel, and two over-sized to-die-for cookies. Lunch? Not hardly. We could call this appetizers. After a nice visit and a lot of sugar-infused laughing, we headed through a fast food drive-through to score some sandwiches, fries, and smoothies. Keith too is a proponent of the “Dessert First” coalition. I never understood why?

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It has taken me a couple of months to monitor our spend out of various accounts so I could calculate how much money we could safely afford to reassign from liquidity to investment. Then I had to decide, based on average spends, where to take the investment money from. Then I had to decide where to invest it. It was an exciting day for me and Keith came along to sign paperwork (re joint accounts). When I was at Verve working with my favorite teller Kieshia, I accidentally snapped this photo when I set it down to do electronic signatures. I thought it was lovely and captured all the important elements of the day. Serendipity. Love it.

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Another Cruise Night at our darling little custard stand. The cars are gorgeous. It’s so fun to visit with people. But my favorite part is still the free cone to participants. It’s impossible to beat the Flavor of the Day!

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I love it when our daughters share their own daily daisies with us via text. Today, Maggie snapped these shots of her adorable sons tearing through the house, tormenting each other, and roughhousing about the yard. She noted how cute Jaspir and Roland were in their accidental matching outfits. This has to be a glimpse of the May house back in the day when Keith and his brothers were little hellions. Love it!

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Keith’s eye exams are an annual comedy special with Dr. Kosikowski. He’s a stand-up god in a white lab coat. Dry with kind of guy. Sure makes getting dilated a pleasure. And then this happened. The pre-exam done by his nurse involved him covering one eye and telling her if she is holding up one finger or two. He said the wrong number by mistake and quickly corrected himself. Then he was flustered and did it again. So he said, “I’m sos sorry. The big numbers confuse me.” I died laughing and so did the nurse.

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For some time now I have been hoping to put together a graphic design and web design faux business with Kallie to give her a revenue stream while encouraging her skills and increasing her ability and confidence in these areas. We are doing a trial balloon on our first assignment (very simple). It gets her on Squarespace while serving one of my goals. It may be moot if she does indeed move to Houston, but you never know what things may be important in the future. The work ticket above is the first part of a three-part project that gets progressive more difficult. I am psyched about this and can’t wait to see how it goes!

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I can’t even count how many people have asked Keith how to support a child’s art talent, be it their grandchild, child, or student. Yesterday, Mary Hash asked on behalf of her borther Hank regarding their 15 year old grandson. I decided we should write Keith’s tips so we could offer a list to everyone who asks and post it on Life at 240. Well, by yesterday night, I had a first draft of one of four groupings. By today, it is a full-fledged de-book and I suspect it might become an online class. I just can’t stop myself. These projects excite me to the core - and how fun is this to write a little e-book with Keith. He is an excellent editor and has added immensely to this already. I made the graphic image you see with this Daisy as a working title page, but I love it too (needs more color and I have my doubts about the font). This is a great little project!

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I think one thing for certain, part of my legacy will be an enduring love of parties. This afternoon, Lilly was seeming bored so I snatched the bag of Olympic medals I’d been saving for just such an opportunity. Paper. Pencil. And she was off to the races, planning a Backyard Olympics Party for friends. It just so happens I have Bomb Pops on hand which will fit her party decor perfectly. I suspect all the contestants will be on Team USA. I It is a joy to watch her make this party in her head, put it on paper, and, next, bring her vision to life. Officially a co-creator of the universe!

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Well, despite the busy season and action-packed summers, I am hoping maybe participants in our Fabulous Family Photo Contest can spare a minute to send me their entry. I don’t have high hopes, and thought seriously about cancelling it for the summer - but then we miss sharing all those lovely moments with each other. I decided to send out the invitation and see how it goes.

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I have been hosting children in my kitchen for almost fifty years. This is the age where they spread those gorgeous wings and go behind the school, walk to DQ, ride their bike to a friend’s house. It is such an exciting time for them. I watch as we are no longer a hub for activity, but a rest stop to hydrate, eat treats, check their hair, and phone their friends to plan the next mini-adventure. Five decades and pretty much the same drill. Even more, really. I did the same with Chris Martell and Karen Marini. Oh, so exciting to be on the cusp of a real teenage existence! Here is the stopover of Presley and crew for bottles of water, cups of jello, and party mix nuts before the next leg of their summer’s journey. I am so grateful to be a little part of this fun.

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I gave Lilly and Piper their own boxes of sidewalk chalk. Not the giant baby ones, but the many-colored nice ones that real artists use. I followed them over to the school next door where I pretended to be reading some texts on my phone so I could stall to get a photo of them. I suspect they were camera-shy because they didn’t want to look like they were little kids. Anyway, my stealth paid off and I was able to capture their afternoon. I just love it when the grandkids hang out at our house and have their friends over. It is one of the joys of life to be surrounded by happy children.

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After all this research I have been doing on parenting challenges lately, I decided to take all my notes and write some Granny Bunny articles on some key topics that clearly are universal and need attention. Then I decided to expand the project to 26 projects which I have now started to research (with tons more ahead). I think it might be really useful for other grandparents if I can write it clearly and give examples. I think this might be a nice little section of a Granny Bunny website and has great potential for adjacent offerings. I just love this. It’s like having homework!

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Yes, we are stuck — but we got unstuck and completed our second business meeting on P.J.’s Projects. We completed a proposal for investors and did a good deal of vision and strategy discussion. Presley has a good head for this and was so enamored with the ideas she came up with. One needs that type of enthusiasm in a start-up so you have the passion and emotional depth to weather the hard times. She pushed through our first big barrier and came up with two good approached. I am so impressed with this young woman. Wow!

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Presley wants to earn money to buy a snowmobile. Last week she asked me if I would help her start a business because she is only 13 years old and can’t get a job. Today we worked on that. We honed a concept, named it, wrote a tag line, outlined a business, wrote a proposal to help with distribution and funding. We also started at the very early stages of a branding plan. Presley picked some working colors and is going to design her own logo. Our “business parties” and “branding projects” have given her confidence and an understanding of some of the fundamentals. This will be fun!

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This wonderful man was the best father I have known. He was good at all the typical stuff: piggy back rides, tightening ice skates, and even occasionally playing Barbies, but what elevated him in my mind was his example. He has the truest heart and the highest character. If you are ever on his wrong side, you should take a hard look, because you are probably wrong. He is kind, caring, and steadfast. I think he deserves a parade and a concert and everyone should wear t-shirts with his face on them for what he has sacrificed and given of himself for our children. But he is not like me. He takes what life hands him, self-contained and certain of himself no matter what accolades or accusations surround him. He has a happy day no matter what swirls around him - and today was no different.

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With help from Mollie with the purchase, Dan was delighted on Father’s Day with his “six foot cock.”

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Morgan and Ada are great little gardeners. Today, Miss Ada sent us a video tour of her bountiful and gorgeous Flower-Vegetable-Herb garden. This is a tiny peek at the endless plants they lovingly care for with lots of love and even fertilizer I suspect. When I was her age I had my first garden. Keith tilled up a patch of our yard in Marshfield that was about the size of our car’s footprint. I planted for two days, hoping I was doing everything right. No Google back then, kids. After a killer sunburn and about a week of watering, I was so excited when the first growth peeked out from the soil. Soon it was apparent, they were all weeds. I was not aware of this practice of starting the seeds indoors then planting the little plant. I just dug holes and put a teensy seed in each one. I imagine they are still there, rolling their pretend eyes at my incompetence. You can imagine my pride and exuberance when I see my progeny and her beloved  make the world blossom. Alleluia!

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It was a delectable breakfast this morning with Kallie at iHop. Pancake the Clown at left wearing the hilarious beard and mustache. Griller the clown is on the right looking ravishing in her old, scruffy ,blonde wig. Pancake ordered Pancakes. Guess what Griller ordered? French Toast! Griller (pronounced gree-yay) is how you say “Toast” in French. Voila. Although the clowns entered in cognito, they secretly donned their noses to bring cheer to the cheerless. Kallie was like lightening on her camera phone and clicked off three snaps before the tricksters even knew what was happening! 

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Think preparations for a Beauty Pageant. That’s what the night before a car show feels like around our house. Tomorrow there is a Father’s Day Picnic and private car show at the home of Tom & Linda Kiser. Since Keith is an honorary member of the brotherhood, we are invited! Here’s the man doing the mani-pedi and all that stuff. I wonder if he’ll sleep tonight. So fun to see Keith thrilled. It’s how I imagine him as a little boy.

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Ada shared a photo of her beautiful supper. Here is what she wrote:

The first year we gardened, 2021, Morgan foraged some beautiful oyster mushrooms at the end of the summer. We breaded and fried them and served them with pasta we tossed in pesto we made from basil we grew along with the peppers and tomatoes. It was such a special meal. I’ve never looked at mushrooms or basil the same since. (The sprinkling of cheese is Parmigiana Reggiano).

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