Speechless

Could it be?  I haven't posted in a month?  I've run out of stuff to say?  I've had company.  I've had some sick sister tending to do.  I've been overwhelmed with a lot of  "working through it"  Anyway, no more excuses.  I'm writing.

For the fourth of July two of my three brilliant and beautiful daughters came to visit and brought a new boyfriend along as well.  We had a grand time exploring, hunting agates, looking at water, squabbling and visiting.  The boyfriend reacquainted himself with cowboy clothes, saw a lot of empty country, met the family.  He's still the boyfriend, so I guess that went okay!

The dog was oh so happy to see his girls.  This dog started out as number two daughter's pet.  She acquired him to mend a broken heart after some dirty boy cast her aside.  But alas, another boy (the one that she married) soon entered the picture, and the dog found himself without a person willing to give him all their attention.  So he moved on.  Daughter number three became his true love, and in spite of other pets, boyfriends, room mates and abandoning him for years, she is still his first, best and truest love.  I pale by comparison, and really am just the human he is stuck with.  If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with....

While the daughters were here, we went agate hunting with a dear old friend.  Many pretty rocks were hauled home, and some beautiful pioneer country was seen.  Oh yes, and the boyfriend hauled home a bunch of animal bones for an art object.  I can't wait to see it finished.  Creativity that reflects the meaning of a place and time always thrills me, and I can't think of a better way to express the desolation and terrible beauty of that part of Wyoming.

The following week another sister, brother-in-law, niece and grandnephew came to visit.  It was so lovely to see my beautiful niece as a mother.  Her perfect baby boy was at the age of extreme cute and cuddly and I had so much fun visiting him.  Oh yes, seeing the sister and hubby was great too, but I have never had much luck dandling either of them on my knee and making them giggle a funny toothless, drooly, giggle.

That weekend started out with a trip down memory lane in Laramie.  Laramie has become more of a town than it was when I lived there back in 1982.  Due to our lovely, long, wet spring the trip from here to Laramie was absolutely stunning.  Shirley Basin is velvety green.  Unbelievable.  I have never seen a living, growing thing there before.

UW is much the same.  Shinier.  More sophisticated.  But that could be just old age speaking.  I met an old friend for brunch while I was there.  He was always the sweetest boy, and he still is!  A sense of wisdom and gentleness about him that has only grown wiser and gentler with age.

And that's when the rest of the month began.  My brunch was interrupted by a frantic phone call from my sis. Sick.  Come get me.  I picked up a gray looking, miserable sister and we headed for home.  Because my tough Wyoming-bred sister does not really ever complain about aches and pains and feeling badly, I opted to take the scenic route home, through Sybille Canyon.  The canyon was undergoing some extreme road repairs and we had ample opportunity while waiting for the pilot car to take in the sights.  Lush, lush grass, beautiful green trees, sparkling water, blooming flowers.  And a poor groaning sister.  By the time we got back to Casper, she was in agony.   The nurse sister was called and the emergency room was the next destination.

My tough as nails sis was diagnosed with pancreatitis and spent the next week in the hospital.  It is so hard to see one you've always known as a rock of stalwartness suffer in illness.  I am a fusser.  I want to hover, straighten bedclothes, demand constant attention from nurses and doctors, and make what hurts feel better NOW!  I could never be a nurse, I would overdose all my patients on pain meds.  The sis has no appreciation for that sort of mommying, so the recovery hasn't been all that great for either of us.

I do have a few photos to share from a couple of "wanders", but mostly this month wandering included hospitals, pharmacies and doctor's offices.  And I have been so rattled, that any other wanderings had no camera!