Ellensburg women

Here we are in Janette and Gaylen's back yard waiting for our breakfast on Thursday morning. The only essential Ellensburg feature missing from the picture is the wind. It wasn't blowing!

Home sweet garden

Most of a month away - in prime gardening time - made me appreciate my garden. It also meant I had a lot to do in June and July. Hence not-so-many posts this summer. The vegetable garden was waaaay behind, but looks good now and most of the heavy outdoor work is done; so I can relax and just water, weed and harvest for what is left of the summer.

Tired tourists

Raegan was tireless, but the rest of the D.C. tourist group had to take frequent breaks. Here Carla and Peg take advantage of a pretty garden spot with some benches. We loved the sculpture gardens and the grounds at the Smithsonian. Raegan took us to the zoo to see Pandas and to Ford's Theatre for a narration about the Lincoln assasination. We spent a lot of time at the Spy Museum and at varous Smithsonian museums. The view from the Washington Monument was hazy the day we went up, but awesome just the same; and our evening trip to the far edge of the Tidal Basin to see the new Roosevelt Monument and the Korean War memorial were impressive. Mostly we just walked and gawked. One day we figured we were on our feet for 11 hours.

Washington, D.C.

Raegan and I were practicing for our "argument before the Supreme Court" because I mistook the columns in the background for the Court. As we got nearer it became clear that they were House offices and we were still a long way from the Supreme Court building, which is far more impressive. Oh, well. We had a good argument anyway.

Michael's graduation

Michael Anderson, my sister Carla's son, graduated from law school at Catholic University in late May. Carla, my sister Peggy and I went to (the other) Washington for the occasion -- and to take in the sights. We took along Carla's granddaughter and Michael's niece Raegan, 10. Her mom is Tracy Clark, Carla's daughter. Here's the post graduation picture with Mike's dad, Jay Anderson, Carla and Raegan, surrounding the newly minted attorney. Mike has since taken the bar exam and is waiting for results. He has a clerkship with a DC appeals court, where he will research and write for a panel of judges. His wife, Bronwyn Coltrane, is an assistant principal at a middle school in Washington. They love living in Washington and have no plans to move from the area, although they will probably move to one of the outlying communities in order to have a larger home.