Our lovely mimosa tree has been blooming for six weeks. In the daylight, the leaves spread and resembles a fern. At dusk the leaves close. The sun is finally breaking through the haze from the "microwave fire". No not in my microwave. It is south of Mosier, but the smoke has blown our direction.

New Front Porch

We try not mention bike out loud because Ryder gets so excited that he can hardly contain his enthusiasm for his bike. He loves to ride and it doesn't matter whether it is indoors or out. His bike doesn't have pedals so no chain to get tangled in. He has learned to balance and steer. He gets up speed and then coasts along.
We have a wonderful new front porch that Ben built. He arrived on Tuesday, off to Home Depot Wednesday to fetch a load of lumber and an assortment of hardware. In just four days we have a most excellent deck/porch complete with railings and solar powered post lights. He also installed a new porch light, new house numbers and doorbell button. It has been way to hot to sit and enjoy the even the evenings. Ben said he lost 2 pounds. It must have been water. It was over 100 degrees every day that he was here. We couldn't handle it for more than a few minutes. Guam prepared him to handle the unusually hot weather here. It was so nice to have him here. Vale spent a couple of days and nights here. That was an extra treat for us. We hadn't seen him for several years. He is just as sweet as ever.