Zanna’s photo of the kids on their last day of school starts off this post. It really captures the truth that H&G are very, very good, affectionate friends. They hold hands when walking, wear each other’s shoes (well, Gus wears Harper’s), lay next to each other to warm themselves up after swimming, give/get piggyback rides (Gus: “Harper is really strong.”) It just warms my heart.

Last Saturday was Harper’s dance recital and Auntie Jane flew in from Alaska for the event. Harper got lots of flowers and then, sweet girl, on Monday she brought Karen and me two of her roses.

Cardboard boxes are still treasures and Gus lugged two to the condo on Friday. Usually he makes robots or rockets but this time used the cardboard to creat a Superhero/Bad Guy card game. The Superheroes were Grandma, Harper, Gus and Gus’s best friend, Liam D. There was only one Bad Guy—me! However, Grandma told me later that Gus told her there was another Bad Guy, a boy from his class who was in “time out” a lot.

And we had our first picnic, tried out another playground, tried out another swimming pool,built tents, got some free ice cream, listened to Caribbean musicians, read umpteen books, made special art for Grandma and then hid it in her easy-to-find knife drawer, perfected the art of making frozen grapes, and Harper had fun using Grandma’s blush to make herself up to look like she had a cold.

Blessings abound.