The 109th LVCS alumni dinner was a success. Ed's "remarks" were the hit of the evening. Even his mother would have enjoyed the details and his delivery.

We learned that kindergarten started at LVCS to get Ed off his mother's hands, that his sixth-grade class started a stampede of Carl Fuss's milk cows on a field trip, that Mr. Jedrzejek made his driver's ed students start a standard shift car from a dead stop halfway up Mill Street in the middle of winter. If you visit Mark's blog, you can hear the speech. Bravo Ed!

Jim did some sneaky reporting, trying to get the LVCS Lunch Ladies to help him win a "Lunch Menu Bingo," Martha almost won a hanging basket, and we all walked home through the cemetery without getting lost.

That was last night. Today started with breakfast at Dinas and the requisite familiy photo. I'll give you two, just to prove that I was there.

And now it's time to eat again: Martha's rosemary potato salad (no mayo), Mark's mesquite-wine chicken (done on the grill in the garage, because we're in the middle of a monsoon right now), a blueberry pie that we're trying to resurrect from the freezer, and Martha's Nieman-Marcus chocolate chip cookies (a recipe Mother found at the nursing home). Cindy and I managed the cheese and crackers.

mother's day? father's day? parents day!

Finally, we were all healthy and could celebrate the mother/father days. So what's one of the first things we did? Compare medical scores.

Tom had just had a physical, I have had tons of blood work recently, Cullen just had a physical, and Bridget has a good memory. No surprises, it looks like we are related: low cholesterol scores (all of us), low iron on the Cowley side, low blood pressure (all of us). I highly recommend this. Who needs a game of Monopoly when you can compare printouts?

The biggest addition to the garden this year is Tom's new drip irrigation watering system. This was the "gift" that went on giving. He had to calculate and buy all the 1/2-inch vinyl tubing, 1/4-inch feeder tubing, and various drip regulators, some adjustable. Then came the installing process and calibration of tubing into 9 hanging baskets

and on into the garden proper.

Reminds you of the strawberry fields outside Buffalo, doesn't it?