August this year was kind of a hum-drum month.  A major contrast to August last year!  The garden harvest and preserving was pretty much over.  My daughter and her family were no longer here.  The pandemic kept us from going anywhere or seeing anyone, and the heat kept us inside more than usual.  And YET!…I do still have a few favorites from the month!  9 to be exact.  Not surprisingly, almost half of them (4) revolve around my two granddaughters. 😍

Favorite #1

August started out with my son Danny and his wife Erin arriving safely in Lithuania after being in New Zealand for 5 1/2 months.  I’ve really enjoyed video chatting with them and seeing their new surroundings.  Danny texted me pictures throughout the month.  I am including a few of my favorite ones here.

This is one of the very first ones he sent.  It is a view of Vilnius from the top of the hill of three crosses.

These next two are ones he took while they were out for a walk about a week after they arrived.

 

 

This was taken once they were finished with quarantining.  Danny said he celebrated with a beer, while Erin celebrated with some shopping to prepare herself for her teaching job she would begin soon.

And Danny took this one on his birthday.  All these pictures make me yearn to visit them!

 

Favorite #2

Cara and her family left to go up east and visit Paul’s parents around mid-July and wouldn’t be back until the middle of August.  However, the girls now each have an iPad, so that is one of our new fun ways to communicate!

Helen texted me this picture early in the month.  They had all visited a pewter shop where she got a necklace with a sea glass pendant that she wanted me to see.

 

And Edie sent me this one later in the month while they were at their new place in Houston.  As you can see, the girl LOVES to play! 🤣

 

Favorite #3

 

I was really glad to get this text message!  Even though my Orangetheory Fitness studio has been open for some time now, I was not ready to place myself in an environment of heavy breathing and sweat.  I had the option of freezing my account, which would mean keeping my membership active while not being charged monthly membership fees.  The freeze was going to end August 22nd.  I had decided that once it ended, I would just have to cancel my membership since I’m still not ready.  So I was glad to see they extended the freeze.

 

Favorite #4

On August 13th the Bovets returned from up east!  They were only here for a couple of days, though, to pack up their belongings to move into their new digs in Houston.  And I didn’t take many pictures at all.  However, I did get these two of Helen:

 

While they were up east, Helen was given a lot of fancy hand-me-downs from her Aunt April…all of them beautiful Indian clothing.  She modeled this one for me.  Since they had been traveling, we were keeping our distance from each other again.  No hugging, staying at least 6 feet apart. (ugh)  So these pics were taken in the garage, where we had been chatting from our door to theirs.

And here’s the outfit from the back.

I took one other picture, and that was of the family in the car two days after they had arrived getting ready to leave again. ☹

 

 

Favorite #5

I have this little glass birdbath that I bought about 5 years ago and stuck in our flower bed.  It has been pretty well ignored ever since. So it was in pretty awful condition.  The glass even broke off of the base.  Earlier in the summer, Big Eagle cleaned it up and glued it back together for me.  I’ve had it placed out by the bird feeder now, and I’ve been keeping it clean and have been changing the water daily.  Only problem was I hadn’t been seeing it get any use.  I had about decided our efforts were for naught, when THIS finally happened:

 

So, yeah…that made me happy!

 

Favorite #6

 

My brother Jack had ordered the Blu-ray of this movie, and it came with a regular DVD, too, so he sent the DVD to me!  Big Eagle and I really enjoyed watching this movie.  I did not realize ahead of time that it involved the story of the Manson family and Sharon Tate.  Didn’t really know what it was about.  I only knew that it starred Leonardo DeCaprio and Brad Pitt, and I believe it is the last movie that Luke Perry acted in before his death.

It definitely reflected a lot of the culture from back in that day.  At one point a commercial for Heaven Scent cologne is played in the background, and I think I surprised Big Eagle when I sang along to the whole commercial.  He didn’t remember that commercial at all.  I texted with Jack since watching it, and he said the extras and deleted scenes that are included in the DVD are pretty interesting, so I need to go back and watch those now.

 

Favorite #7

As I am typing this post, the process is much faster than it used to be thanks to this:

 

FIBER OPTIC!  YAY!  We are now experiencing internet life of the 21st century!  Our electric company, United Cooperative Services, has provided us with this opportunity, and we are SO HAPPY to say BYE BYE to Dish satellite.  The box was put on our house on the 17th, and 10 days later the installers did their thing and got us up and running.  Whereas before I would start uploading pictures for my post and just walk away from my computer to do something else because of how L-O-N-G the upload took, now the pictures are up in a matter of seconds!  We bought a Roku stick for our TV and can now stream shows and movies like most of the rest of the world.  And we don’t have to worry any more about using up all of our data!  It’s unlimited!  Big props to our electric co-op.  This would not have happened except for them.

 

Favorite #8

I loved receiving this in the mail from my granddaughters in Houston:

 

Helen sent me a sample of her new line of make-up: Helen B Makeup.  Above you see a brush set, an eye shadow kit, lip gloss, lipstick, eyeliner, mascara, and blush.

 

Here they are opened up.  A unique feature of all Helen B. makeup compacts is the broken mirror.  You won’t find it anywhere else.  It’s exclusive!

 

And Edie sent me a magnolia seed!  I have yet to plant it.  Need to get it into a pot soon!

 

Favorite #9

The Bovets came back up on Saturday the 29th to spend a week with us.  What a great way to end the month!  And this time since they had been social distancing, we were able to be in close contact again.  ALL THE HUGS!  Again, the only pictures I got in August were of Helen.  She and Cara came over and hung out a little bit the night of the 31st.  I clicked away while she had fun striking different poses.  Here are a few of the shots I got:

 

 

 

 

So fun to have them around again for a while!

 

And now September has arrived!  Some of the bloggers I read started gushing about it being fall back on August 1st.  I can’t get on that bandwagon.  August is definitely still summer as far as I’m concerned.  But September 1st is another story.  Yes, it’s still hot, but things WILL start cooling down some this month.  They already have a little bit.  I feel like I can actually start thinking about getting into a little bit of a fall mode pretty soon.

How about you?  Maybe you’d like to look back at August one more time before we get any further into September.  If so, what were some of YOUR favorites?  Maybe you’d just as soon forget August.  Leave it in the past and look forward to a new month.  Helen and Edie start school on the 8th.  Their first 6 weeks will be on line.  Erin has already begun teaching in Lithuania.  There the students and teachers are physically in class.  What is fall going to look like for you?  Is there anything you’re especially looking forward to in September?  I’d love to know these things or anything else that’s on your mind.  Please feel free to leave a comment!  And enjoy the rest of this Labor Day Weekend!