Cheers to a great summer!

ok, folks... I started this post a while back, but I am obviously behind on blogging and even some emails if I owe you one. I am working on catching up....
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Hello from the depths of summer heat and travels! One would think that there would be more time on my hands to blog in the summertime but that simply was not the case. We have had a jam-packed summer and it has been lovely. I'll get this blog all caught up here, and then we can resume as though it's a new school year, since it's back-to-school time around here. I won't promise more frequent posting but I will assert my sincere desire to post more.

I think a fairly standard definition of summer based on the school calendar is Memorial Day through Labor Day. So I will begin this update with Memorial Day.

I have been fortunate to have seen every sib in the Ahern family between January and June of this year. John was here in January, in March I was in DC and saw Abe and Bekah then Rachel in L.A., and then Nate and I saw Rachel and Ed in Norman in May, and Mary Grace was here in June. And we will close off this summer over Labor Day visiting Canaan Hills and the entire family for the wedding of Grace and Jason. Whew!

So as I just mentioned, we were in Norman, OK in May, over Memorial Day weekend. Nate and I packed up the car and drove north where we camped in Chickasaw National Recreational Area and rounded off the trip with a visit to the Knudsens and stopping to see my parents and the new Baby Hendricks in DFW on the way home.
Shortly after we returned, Grace arrived in Houston for a 2+ week visit with us while she went through some violin training a couple miles from our house. It was nice having another body in the house and someone else to share runs and spend the evenings with. We all had fairly busy schedules during this time but we managed to give Grace a taste of the city and even made it to an Astros game and a Houston symphony performance at Miller Outdoor Theater.
A week or so after Grace left, Nate and I went to Alaska with a group of new friends. It was breathtaking just seeing the majesty of God's creation. We spent some time in Denali National Park and the Kenai Peninsula/Homer.

We also had the opportunity to go to Canada this summer. I had a conference there and Nate came along. We managed to find enough time to tour Vancouver while we were there. What an awesome city! It was clean, friendly, and breathtakingly beautiful.
This is a very condensed version of our summer, but it's the best you're gonna get! Cheers to a great summer!
And today, I leave for Grand Junction. Grace is getting married!!

Our Overcup Oak

14 months ago I brought this tree home from an Earth Day giveaway at work:

Here it is now! It's growing fast!

Recycling

It's the little things in life that make me happy.

Our condominium complex just put a recycling bin next to the regular dumpster. Hallelujah! Easy access recycling. I have been moping around for the past 4 years kicking myself for tossing aluminum cans and plastic in the trash. Realistically, all I had to do was set aside a separate bag or box for recyclable items and then drive them over to the nearest recycling center. My excuses included the following:

- too lazy
- not enough space for extra bag/box of trash (this could be solved by having a garage or utility room but we have neither)

These excuses amount to nothing. Think of all the plastic and aluminum and glass I could have recycled. My father would keel over knowing how much we simply dumped into the trash. He in fact did scold me once or twice but the horrid excuses above rang loud in my head.
Thankfully, we've at least been faithful recyclers of paper and have taken frequent trips to the various paper recycling bins around town.

But now, we can dump even our paper into the recycling bin in our own complex. I feel I will now change the world.

Recycling is really an easy, effective way of doing your part in reducing the massive amounts of trash that goes into landfills every day. So don't follow my example of making excuses. There are NO good excuses not to recycle.

Even the Grand Canyon recycles. Our cabin had separate trash cans for recyclables and non-recyclables. This, indeed, enhanced my Grand Canyon experience.

Berries

I was tipped off by reading a blog post from our friend and talented painter, Sarah Hazel. For the rest of the day, all I could think about was blackberries, just within walking distance from our condo along the buffalo bayou trail. I can't believe in all these years, in all the countless times I've run past this field, that I've never seen these wild blackberries. Well, better late than never!

Here are the results from an approximately 1-hour picking. What to do? Maybe a pie.

Blueberries will be ready for picking soon! This will be our 4th annual blueberry picking extravaganza! Can't wait!