Poor Betsy's 29th

But first a few pix from the week: John and Hero, above, as John talks on the phone. Note John's black eye (he fell and banged his head while running up the Timp trail with Amy and Chris). Below is Claudio on the lawn.

And here is the tail end of the beautiful sunset that evening. I was too engrossed in the bright gold to orange to coral to pink to purple to remember my camera until the last minute.

Today we were planning a full day birthday celebration for Betsy's 29th, going out to eat, possibly shopping, the park, the canyon, whatever. The first hint was when she walked in--"ahh, I feel sick," and she was. Poor Betsy. We still went to lunch but she ate exactly one bite. Here she and Ethan relax on the grass.

Ethan explores the garden:

We still have another tree with peaches not quite ripe. Our pears are turning in the basement--I should have bottled them today, but I was planning on a busy birthday celebration. Didn't happen. Betsy went home early.

And now (that is, after posting these garden pix of course), I'm going to finish up my psych prep for patient appointments on Tuesday, and get ready to go to Honolulu with Rob and the kids in the morning. He invited me, and after dithering around, I decided that I'm up for spontaneous adventure. He said the job is unpleasant enough that his only motivation to keep going is to make sure he takes a lot of trips (John and I travel free too, as his parents--this is the first time I've taken advantage of the perk since he started working for Delta). We'll take a bus from the airport to a hotel in Waikiki and just stay on the beach the whole time we're there. I need to find a swim suit that fits and pack my pajamas, but that's about all. We'll be back early Tuesday morning.

Here are photos of some of the roses in the garden. They haven't put on their usual exuberant September flush yet because it's still so hot, but they're getting there. The deep red Cesar Chavez roses in the front yard are blooming again after taking a rest during the summer heat (I didn't get a photo of them, but there's a vase full on the counter).



This yellow rose must be tender--the new shoots are covered with aphids. I don't know why some get the aphids and some don't.


I'll take my camera to Hawaii and post the pictures when we get back. Betsy finds out boy or girl with an ultrasound on Thursday. Hooray! Either would be great!