Happy Birthday, Jessica!!

June 21, 1997, Jessica was born. She has grown from a cute little baby to a lovely young lady. We want to share some of those images today as Jessica turns 12. Happy Birthday, Jess! You are a wonderful granddaughter and we love you very much. Enjoy your day!

Ryan's Day

We are a day late posting this, but Ryan spent the day with us on Thursday and we took some wonderful pictures of his activities. He learned to play dominoes with Grampy, steered the paddle boat, and enjoyed the playground. A perfect day!

Summer!

The sun is shining, it's warm, the birds are singing, breezes blow, kids are playing outside as school has ended. It is finally summer. Having spent a couple of days at Portage, we are home today and back in the routine of planting. Today was tomato day. The huge tomatoes that were inside were tied up today on stakes and moved outside to harden off a bit. You will see a picture of two tomatoes ripening. That plant suffered a major injury to it's main stem while being moved. If you look carefully you can see where Dr. Gary used a band-aid in hopes of saving it. Whether this surgery will work remains a topic for the future. Also included here is one of the many pots of flowers that Gary has created to enhance the yard. A few pictures from our stay at Portage finish out today's offering. The lake

was like glass with the clouds reflected in the water. Glorious day! The only drawback at home today is that two of our neighbors have decided to hot top their yards at the same time. There are rollers, trucks, lots of equipment everywhere to disturb

the peace. Time to go back to the lake!

Arctic Farming

The pictures you see here today were taken on a dark, wet, cold day in June. With temperatures in the 40s and 50s, Gary has had to resort to a mini greenhouse to enable the green peppers to go into the soil. Perhaps the same steps will have to be taken for tomatoes and squash. Today Gary built pea fences to support peas that are thriving in this weather. The lettuce and herbs like it too. He has also planted pole beans and you can see the poles next to the peas. Finally the flowering crab apple tree has blossomed. The flowers add a touch of summer where the sky doesn't bring any sun or warmth.

Jon

Jonathan Louis Cole - Today is your birthday! We have gathered a collection of photos of your younger days to share with the family on your birthday. Who would have guessed that the little, skinny, blond-haired blue-eyed boy would turn into the caring and skilled adult that you are? We have many memories of your


childhood. and hope you will enjoy the few that we share here.

Saturday

These are pictures of a Saturday at Portage. As you can see, lots of family members got together to face the blackflies and the rain that ended a lovely day. Jon had a birthday cake and chicken and hot dogs were enjoyed by all.

Busy Day

Today was very busy as Ryan came to spend the day with us. We went swimming early this morning. When we returned from the pool our good friend Dale was here and at work building a work bench and potting table in the garage. Ryan loved the new shelves as you can see. The afternoon was spent gardening, building puzzles, and watching television. Dale gave us a moose planter which Gary painted and filled with flowers. Ryan is seen above admiring it. Gary has been very busy filling pots with flowers, as you can see. We put out three hummingbird feeders which are popular with a large number of  these tiny little birds. We ended the day with Matt and Jo bringing Chinese take-out from the Jade Palace.